I offer this with some trepidation. As you will see, stupidity plays with the best of us. I ran the Bluff 50K starting the race an hour early. The RD was nice enough to allow me the early start, as my wife was graduating from 9 hard months of work getting her Yoga Instructor’s training certificate. I am not new to endurance level racing having done multiple 1/2 Ironman races, a full Ironman, and multiple ultra distance trail races. I had sent my application in for the Bluff more as a motivational tool for the season, than for the actual race, and had fully expected to DNF at Renee’s Way. However, race day way gorgeous, the trail comfortable and I felt pretty good. With my longest training run only being 15 miles, I decided to give the distance a shot. Renee’s way was the kicker, with great soup and great volunteers. I said to my self (as many do at that point), “it’s only another 10 miles” and I took off for the finish.
After crossing the finish line, I had (2) Silk almond drinks and a handful of candy. Since I had to make the graduation party, I immediately left for home. Got home, fed the dog, showered and had an eight ounce Perrier. I made up a bottle of Recoverite to take with me to the party and brought a bottle of sparkling water. The Recoverite sat in my car, as my stomach was off and I couldn’t even consider drinking it. I took the bottle of water and went into the party. Lots of people, plenty of food and I simply walked around talking to people, and not drinking or eating, but all the time, carrying my water.
At one point, I was talking to a person, and all of a sudden, I felt flushed, weak kneed, and my vision blurred. I said I have to sit down, and headed for a couch, but never made it. When I work up, there was a huge guy bending over me, asking if I was all right. He turned out to be an ER Doc from Brooklyn, and was asking me questions. I looked at him and asked how long I was out; “30 seconds, are you having any heart pain”? I said, “I’m dehydrated, get me orange juice or something with sugar now”. They brought me ginger ale. They had called 911, but I was fairly recovered by the time the paramedics came. I refused ambulance service, drank a ton. I have high blood pressure which I am medicated for. My BP was 115/70 by the time I sat up, which meant that I went low and is one reason for passing out.
I saw my Doc the next day. She said I had a concussion ( I had hit a couch on the way down) and needed “brain rest” for up to two weeks. This past week I have been in a total fog, with today being the first day of real coherency (hopefully, cuz I think my writing is OK so far).
I knew better, I know better, but some of us (or only me), think that because we have survived in the past, that our bodies don’t need the same recovery time. I should have eaten, I should have drank the recoverite, I should have drank a ton of water, I should have stayed home and put my feet up. I should have sat down at the party rather than being on my feet walking around talking to people after a 32 mile/ 9 hour tail race.
I now have a much unwanted concussion to add to the list of sports injuries.
Whoa! Glad you are on the mend. It was a cool day and I think I too drank way too little water and consumed too few calories. For my first few 50k races, I set an alarm on my watch to remind me to take a sip of every 15 minutes, but, you know, I’ve become WAY too CLEVER and HARD CORE to do that on a regular basis..
Thanks to your cautionary tale I will go back to a sensible hydration/nutrition plan. Sorry, that you had to go through all that to scare me back to my senses.
Take care!