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My Cradle Mountain Experience

Article by: John Lindsay

1. I carried two bottles, one with plain water and one with 120 calories of maltodextrin mixed with water. I followed Peter Cook's advice and bought a tin of Poly Joule from the chemist (about $11.00 for a huge tin), and made up small plastic ziplock bags containing 4 scoops plus a pinch of salt for taste, which I carried on the run and emptied into one of the bottles. I used 8 of these bottles which gave me 960 calories, and constituted probably 50% of my total water intake on the run. I found this product easy to take, almost tasteless and no sickly after effect like with gels, Gatorade, etc. I found however, that after a while a residue builds up on the outside and inside of your mouth, and it is necessary to rinse with plain water immediately after drinking the Poly Joule mix to avoid discomfort.
2. I also consumed 1-1/2 tubes of condensed milk, which comes to about 1000 calories. This got a bit tiring after a while, but it is an excellent source of concentrated calories with some carbo, fat and protein, so it served a useful purpose and I would use it again.
3. I supplemented this with a couple of slices of fruit cake.
4. I took a Succeed electrolyte capsule about every 30-60 minutes. As was stated in the race director's report, the weather was unusually hot and I sweated profusely. I was soon layered in salt, and I believe the electrolyte capsules helped me with water absorption.
5. I purified my water with my Safe Water Anywhere filter. After Bogong, I didn't want to run the risk of finding out later that the pure water was not as pure as it appeared. This is a very efficient filter which doubles as a water bottle, and that came in handy during the heat of the day when large sections of the normally wet track were devoid of water.

I'd like to hear from others on the run as to what they ate and drank, because I'm still a long way short of the approx 300 calories per hour that I'm told I need to consume for better performance in the 2nd half of the run.

I'm very pleased to have been given the chance to do this run. I missed the 11 hour cut off at Narcissus by 1 hr 41 minutes, but given that the winner was 1 hr 13 off his winning time from last year, I feel encouraged to have another go next year if my application is accepted. I think with more normal weather and further progress on the subject of calorie intake, I'll make the cut and finish the race at Cynthia Bay.

John has also written the following articles that are published on CoolRunning Australia :

• [Sep 2005] Glasshouse 100 Miles - Success in 2005
• [Feb 2003] Cradle Mountain Run Completed
• [Dec 2002] The Kepler Challenge - New Zealand
• [Apr 2002] Marathon Des Sables - My Saharan Adventure
• [Mar 2002] Six Foot Track 46km and back!
• [Jun 2001] Wilson's Prom 100km (short cut)
• [Jun 2001] Great Wall Marathon
• [Feb 2001] Cradle Mountain Run
• [Oct 2000] My First attempt at 100 Miles at Glasshouse
• [Aug 2000] Mt Kinabalu, Borneo Run Up

Feel free to E-mail him at jlindsa1@bigpond.net.au.

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