The heat is on for 24-hour race
By William Sichel
(Story dated July 14, 2005)

Sanday-based ultra-distance runner William Sichel hopes to overcome the disappointment of his enforced retiral in Basel in May with a good performance in Austria this weekend.

In the second of his special articles for The Orcadian, he explains how preparations have been going.

I'm now all ready for my run in the World 24-hour Championships to be held in the small town of Worschach (population of around 1,250) situated in the beautiful alpine valley of the river Enns near the town of Liezen and about 100 miles south east of Saltzburg, Austria.

I will be running in the 'open' race as I haven't achieved the UK Athletics qualifying standard for the British men's team - and no one else has either!

I was a late entrant into the sport, and even at the age of 51, I am still training and racing hard to try and achieve my 12th Great Britain 'vest,' despite the fact that the selection standards, published by UK Athletics, have been raised to reflect improvements in world standards over the past few years.

So it's getting harder and harder to make the grade.

Much has been learned after my 'hiccup' in the Basel 24-hour event in early May, when a number of circumstances coincided and I pulled out at half way.

This was the correct decision, and I have no regrets that I made it.

What went wrong?

Well, I started a bit too fast - probably over eager to achieve the British team qualifying mark of at least 140 miles - then the weather turned severe, which compounded the error and finally I started getting cramping in one of my calf muscles.

By that time there was no chance of achieving the qualifying mark so I made the judicious decision to stop and save my strength for another day.

These long ultra races can be vicious. Just when you think you are getting the hang of them, they turn round and kick you in the teeth.

Each race is a huge journey into the unknown but then that is part of their appeal as well.

The importance of correct pacing is paramount, especially as the races become longer and longer.

Marshalling of scarce resources can determine success and failure. Deciding on the correct pacing plan can have a bigger effect on race outcome than your fitness going into the race.

This is because being able to pace yourself well over the entire duration of a 24-hour race, makes the best use of what you've got, in the time available and preserves speed for longer.

I have come up with the concept of 'positive' and 'negative' walking to tackle this.

Virtually every runner does some walking in 24-hour races.

'Negative walking' describes the situation of running until you can't run any more and then starting to do some walking i.e. the walking is seen as negative because it results from the inability to run any more.

'Positive walking,' on the other hand, recognises that some walking is going to take place, so a plan is drawn up that involves running and walking from the start of the race; for example, run for 25 minutes and walk for five minutes.

During the fast walk you can take in food and drink. Hence the walk interval becomes a positive tool aimed at preserving run speed for longer.

The alternating run and walk sequence also forces a change in muscle recruitment patterns which helps to keep the muscles fresh for longer and delays terminal fatigue.

The correct nutrition for optimal performance is always a primary consideration for me.

Following an item on John Beattie's Sports Weekly radio programme, regarding "liver fuelling," I got in contact with Mike and Stuart McInnes from IsoActive in Edinburgh.

Mike is a pharmacist who has come up with a theory that promotes the idea of liver fuelling for improved sports performance.

He believes that fuelling the liver and hence the brain, by means of fructose-based foods and products is a forgotten area of sports science.

He has advised me on methods to correct this for my 24-hour performances.

The Austrian event has a history of very hot weather - the high 20s during the day, dropping down to about 10C at night.

I'm often asked how I manage to cope with the heat experienced at some races when I'm coming from Sanday. A very good question.

Since my first international appearance for Great Britain in 1996 at the World 100km Championships in a very hot and windy Moscow, I have had to face this problem.

I researched the area of heat acclimatisation, realising that there was little point in travelling far and wide to major international events if I wasn't prepared for the eventuality of hot conditions when I got there.

The excuse "it was too hot" simply isn't acceptable to me. With easy access to worldwide weather forecasts and previous race weather information, it isn't difficult to find out if the chance of hot weather is high. By 'hot' I mean more than 20C.

With the appropriate preparation, I can now compete well in temperatures up to about 30C.

I am still affected by the heat, and performance will be reduced, but with sensible tactics and good nutrition, I am able to perform to a high level without physically damaging myself.

That's what acclimatisation allows you to do.

So what do I do?

Endurance training itself does give a certain level of heat acclimatisation, which is a good start.

On top of that, I do a minimum of seven special 'heat-training' sessions during the last three weeks leading up to the event.

Nowadays, I do these indoors on the treadmill. I have to monitor myself carefully doing this, as this tapering period is one of easing down in order to freshen up for the forthcoming competition, so this extra stress has to be applied with great care.

Ambient temperature will be at least 20C with no wind, ventilation or fan. A heat source is used, if required, to reach this temperature.

Then I wear additional 'sweat clothing' during the training session so that I am sweating buckets.

I gradually build up the layers of clothing as I increase the intensity of the sessions. Initially, thin layers are worn. For the final few sessions waterproof layers are worn for maximum effect.

Sessions last about an hour and are run at race pace. Drinks are available at all times.

I have been doing this once or twice a year since 1996 so have got used to the stress it imposes on mind and body.

I usually fit in some heat experience in a sauna and steam room as well.

A word of warning to anyone considering attempting this kind of preparation. It isn't advisable to suddenly start doing this type of training with no build up, as the effects could be dangerous.

The 'heat-training' sessions induce the sweat glands to produce more dilute sweat and more copiously than normal.

Core body temperature rises during heat training, sweating begins earlier and blood flow around the body is shifted with more blood being shunted to the skin, so that heat can be lost by conduction, convection and evaporation.

And if it isn't as hot as expected?

Well I'm trained to withstand an additional stress and am fitter for that.

• In addition to The Orcadian, William is sponsored by the Ayre Hotel, Crantit Dairy (Orkney Ice Cream), dion_networks and Loganair.