Changes

* '''Distance'''. The extra 35 miles beyond the 100 mile distance is more than 35% more difficult because fatigue is cumulative. Consider that at mile 85 in a 100 miler, the end would be in sight, but at Badwater there's still another 50 miles to go. I've run 130-146 miles in 24 hour races a few times, but a 24 hour race generally provides optimal running conditions. * '''Heat'''. The heat causes several problems. There's the critical problem of overheating and getting heat illness, which normally involves the vomiting that compounds the problems. But even if you avoid overheating, the heat means a much slower pace than would be possible in the cool, making the race take much longer. * '''Descents'''. The long descents tear up the muscles, further slowing progress. Even if you're well prepared and take things carefully (which I did), there is some unavoidable damage. I had far more [[Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness| muscle damage]] from Badwater than my previous 100 milers. * '''Multiplication'''. The above factors mean the race takes a lot longer and so sleep deprivation becomes a problem. I didn't find sleepiness too much of a problem, but the deprivation did cause mild hallucinations and intoxication.

* '''Sore feet'''. My feet became sore quite early on in the race and by the last third were remarkably painful. It's been suggested that the heat of Badwater cooks the soles of the feet, making the pain of the continual pounding worse. The pain was a little less with the slightly firmer [[Altra Olympus]] than the [[Hoka Bondi]], and massaging the foot seemed to provide some temporary relief.* '''Blisters'''. For the first time in many years I got blisters on my feet. The combination of socks I use has generally [[Blister Prevention| eliminated the problem in the pastblisters]], which made me a little blasé. I should have changed socks far more often, cleaning and checking my feet at the same time. * '''Chaffing'''. I had a problem with chafing, as even with the low humidity, some parts of the body remain constantly wet. This is combined with the fine dust and sand that acts as a skin abrasive. Smothering the area in Desitin helped a little. * '''Checklist.''' I didn't have a checklist for the ascent up Cerro Gordo, and I'd have avoided several mistakes if I used one. I didn't take enough calories up the mountain, I forgot the Pulse Oximeter and my headlight batteries were dead. Luckily the race directory happened to be coming down the mountain and bailed me out with some fresh AAAs! * '''Morton Stretch'''. I didn't try to do a [[Morton Stretch]] until around mile 110, which was way too late. By the time I tried, I could not get my quads to stretch properly.

* '''Less racing'''. The three 100 milers I did in the months prior to Badwater impacted my training more than I'd have liked and I would have been in better shape if I'd have raced less.* '''More Downhill'''. I should have done more [[Downhill Running]] and less [[Heat Acclimation Training]]. The downhill seems to be the most valuable aspect of my training, and I think more would be better. =Basis Monitoring=I wore the [[Basis Activity Tracker]] during Badwater to see what it would record. As you can see below, my skin temperature stayed reasonably cool for most of the race, a reflection of the effectiveness of my cooling approach. I'm not sure how much I trust the perspiration rate as I was being sprayed off with water regularly, which may have confused things. You'll notice that the Basis detected my nap around 3 AM which is pretty cool.[[File:BadwaterBasis.jpg|none|thumb|800px| This is the data that the [[Basis Activity Tracker]] recorded during Badwater. The Basis web site only displays one days data at a time, so this is two days stitched together. The orange balls are the number of steps taken, the purple line is skin temperature, and the blue line is perspiration rate. The temperature scale for skin temperature is on the right side of the graph in Fahrenheit.]]