Ep.40 - When your race nutrition goes horribly wrong
Bob and Dina do a Leadville 100 race recap with Don Reichelt who is an elite trail and ultra runner from Fairplay, Colorado. Don returned to the start line of the Leadville 100 after a DNF in 2021 due to his lungs shutting down (from the numerous Colorado wildfires that affected air quality). And while this year he earned the big buckle with a sub-25 hour finish, it was not the race he had planned and trained for. You’ll hear his story as he breaks down the race details through a series of questions posed by Bob and Dina as they piece together what happened and attempt to provide answers. And heads up, we do talk poop, dry heaving, and crying.
We chat about:
Don’s food and fluid intake in the week prior to the Leadville 100
His race morning breakfast
Don’s fueling and fluid plan and how his body wasn’t fully cooperating from the start
How he made the decision to keep moving forward rather than DNFing despite extremely low calories and fluid intake with incessant GI distress
The emotional and mental battles throughout the race
Potential contributors and factors that may have played a role in what he experienced
Quotes from Don:
“Ultra running is a cruel mistress because you can control for a lot of things and then that one thing that you think you controlled for just goes wrong, like the nutrition.”
“Whenever you’re having a bad race as an elite racer, you can make a choice. You can pull the plug or you can move the goalpost of what success is.”
More about our guest:
Don Reichelt currently holds a 100-mile trail best of 13:16 which he set in November 2020 at the Tunnel Hill 100 and was the third-fastest trail 100-mile run in North America during 2020. He has finished on the podium at the Badwater 135, aka “The World’s Toughest Footrace” and also has had the honor of representing the United States as a member of the 2017 U.S. Spartathlon team, racing 153 miles from Athens to Sparta. Don also was invited to compete at the 2019 Backyard World Championship.
Additional top finishes include:
1st place 2021 Salt Flats Endurance Run 50K
1st place 2020 Cold Water Rumble 20 Mile
1st place 2019 Lean Horse 100 mile
2nd Place 2017 Keys 100 mile
Leadville Leadman Finisher
Don works for Oura as a Learning and Development Specialist and is studying part-time for his Doctor of Health Sciences in Global Health through A.T. Still University. He lives with his wife, Amy, and their 3 dogs (Wrigley, Bean, and Sprout).
Thank you to our podcast sponsor, Athlete Blood Test, who provide individualized, athlete-specific blood analysis to discover your unique nutrition, training, and recovery needs. USE CODE ISN22 for a 15% savings on any of their testing panels. Check them out on Instagram @athletebloodtestcom and Facebook at Athlete Blood Test. You can also email ABT for more information.
Don’t forget you can learn about the nutrition coaching and testing services Bob and Dina offer: Bob Seebohar at www.enrgperformance.com and Dina Griffin at www.nutritionmechanic.com
Listen to full episode :