8/4 28.5 miles of Pemi Loop Failure

[surf88]

Josh and I left the parking lot at Lincoln Woods at 3:20 AM Saturday morning. I chugged 32oz of Gatorade and ate 4 Eggs. I had been struggling with a stomach bug all morning and had to make a few pit stops on the way up (sorry TMI?)but figured it would pass. We made it to Flume just around sunrise at 5:53AM. It felt nice and cool above treeline still but we could tell it was gonna be a scorcher today. I had 2 32oz water bottles that had to last me till Garfield Spring. Last time I did the Pemi Loop in a day that had been adequate. But today ended up being a lot hotter and muggy than last time. Our pace was similar to last time I did the Loop with Clif. Liberty- 6:38 Lincoln-8:07 Lafayette- 8:42 Garfield- 10:35 Galehead Hut 12:30. I finished the last of my rationed water around Garfield Pond and by the time I got to the spring I was pretty parched. I filled my bottle to the top and drank it down, filled it again and drank it down. Then filled both my bottles and mixed in some G2 for the trip to Galehead. Josh had been mixing in Gatorade to all of his water and in hind sight so should have I. Near the jct of the Gale River Trail my quad muscles started to ball up and spasm. Josh gave me some of his Cheese-its and it seemed like the salt infusion worked immediately. I felt good from there until Galehead. At Galehead Hut I got a bowl of lentils that were extra peppery and I sprinkled on a bunch of salt but it was probably too little to late. 2 more bottles of water into me at the hut and 2 into my pack we started up South Twin. Completely aware of how daunting this section of the hike is from last time I hiked the loop clockwise I tried to pace myself really slow for the steep climb. About half way up Twin Way the spasms came back with a vengeance. I would climb about 100 feet and rest, repeat until we were just where the treeline is almost at the top. I'm pretty good at ignoring pain but muscle spasms were getting just too bad. to enter into the part of the hike without escape routes. I apologized to Josh for messing up his loop and told him I had to pull the plug, fully aware that we were past the crux of the hike. Going downhill wasn’t nearly as bad for my quads as going up so dropping down Twin Brook seemed like the best and only viable option at this point. Plus 13 Falls would be like an Oasis on a day like Saturday. Hiking back down Twinway I had to eat crow passing all the people that we told we were doing the loop to at the hut which was a bit humiliating, It was lovely to arrive at 13 Falls and take a soak in the cold pools. My quads felt so much better afterward. As always the 8 miles out from 13 Falls took forever and the prospect of hot pizza in Lincoln was the thing that made us move faster. We got back to our car around 6:30 the total mileage of what we hiked ended up to be about 28.5 miles not much less than the 31.5 of the entire loop. But I had to make a judgment call on this one, and it was the right call because with no supplies to spend the night in the woods the Bonds could have become a pretty lonely place to realize I wouldn’t be able push myself any further.
I truly believe my problems were purely from not enough salt, and I'm sure the stomach bug dehydrated me a bit too, I'm am more trained now than when I completed the Loop in a day last time, but this time was a scorcher I should have been mixing more Gatorade into my water. It was crazy how much I drank and never needed to pee. (sorry TMI again ) I drank 288oz and only 64 oz of that were mixed with Gatorade
I took a bunch of pics up until I started to hurt than I put my camera away so my pics are only from the first ½ of the hike:

 

[The Unstrung Harp]

Still an awesome effort!! Figuring out fuel/hydration is so tricky. Have you ever tried using Nuun tabs? Not sure how they compare to Gatorade but a slew of my ultrarunner friends swear by them.

 

[Summerset]

Looks like you made the right decision and still ended up with a big hike! I had a similar dehydration issue which result in a failed Presi attempt in June (had a successful traverse in July). Unstrung Harp is right, it is tricky getting the hydration and fuel balanced just right and adding a stomach bug issue makes it that much harder!

 

[erugs]

It's never easy to back away from plans, big or small. Thank you for sharing your story here (except for the TMI parts).

I, too, recently cut plans short on a loop to Carter Dome and Height. I didn't go out to the view, and I bypassed Height, but it was the right thing to do under the circumstances of every other step killing me due to heel pain.

 

[eddie]

Here's my philosophy on hydration when over-exerting - When you think you are hydrated enough, keep on hydrating! Must also hydrate in advance, boozing the night before is not a good thing. Electrolytes are extremely critical in regular (hourly) doses i.e. lots of Gatorade or Gu. I now exclusively use Gu Roctane on trail runs.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Let me reference this post (itself a linked article) from not too long ago: Are we over hydrated?

Tim

 

[eddie]

Hi Tim, I previously read that and I have trouble with the concept of over-hydrating. I know I can drink 3 liters in 8 miles on a hot day and still hardly pee after a long event. Maybe it's just me.

 

[surf88]

Thanks for the tips. Especially the recomendations on the Gu Roctane, and the Nuun tabs. I sweat when its below zero so on these kinds of days I loose alot of fluid. In the end I think it wasnt the lack of hydration, but the lack of electrolyte replacement that got me. Regardless it was a beautiful trip. The sunrise on Flume was amazing. I really liked how this shot came out.

 

[akafuzzjones]

There's always the next time.

 

[DougPaul]

Hi Tim, I previously read that and I have trouble with the concept of over-hydrating. I know I can drink 3 liters in 8 miles on a hot day and still hardly pee after a long event. Maybe it's just me.

Sounds like you are either ingesting too much salt or not drinking enough (dehydrated). Ideally you should produce a reasonably normal amount of (clear or light colored) urine.

It can happen in the heat, particularly in the desert and can be life-threatening. A big problem for the doctors at marathons is distinguishing between severely dehydrated runners and hyponatremic runners on hot days...

Info on hyponatremia: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001431/

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

Thanks for the tips. Especially the recomendations on the Gu Roctane, and the Nuun tabs. I sweat when its below zero so on these kinds of days I loose alot of fluid. In the end I think it wasnt the lack of hydration, but the lack of electrolyte replacement that got me.

The primary ingredient of electrolyte drinks is salt and you can make a perfectly good drink yourself at a small fraction of the cost of commercial drinks:

Recipe:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showpost.php?p=54650&postcount=21

Additional info:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4914
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7093
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7351
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=11541
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6133
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16598
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18975

(Yep--one more shameless plug for my home made electrolyte drink... )

I also sweat heavily and can become hyponatremic by the end of the day if I drink only pure water. (The sweating depletes salt and I end up pissing water out as fast as I drink it in.) The above drink prevents it.

Doug

 

[surf88]

The primary ingredient of electrolyte drinks is salt and you can make a perfectly good drink yourself at a small fraction of the cost of commercial drinks:

Recipe:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showpost.php?p=54650&postcount=21

(Yep--one more shameless plug for my home made electrolyte drink... )

I also sweat heavily and can become hyponatremic by the end of the day if I drink only pure water. (The sweating depletes salt and I end up pissing water out as fast as I drink it in.) The above drink prevents it.

Doug

Good info. I love homemade gear. I'm gonna link to that post on my site.

 

[eddie]

Sounds like you are either ingesting too much salt or not drinking enough (dehydrated). Ideally you should produce a reasonably normal amount of (clear or light colored) urine.

No I think I just sweat like a pig.