Ultrahuman and experiments with Fasted Running

I have been experimenting with "Running on Empty", which loosely defined translates to running on a carb depleted state. I now regularly run all my morning runs on a overnight fast of about 10hours, by which time the blood glucose is almost depleted.

More from curiosity than anything else, I decided to be a Cyborg for 2 weeks - to try the UltraHuman program from the Bangalore based start-up. It uses a sensor patch which detects interstitial fluid to measure glucose via a probe. The patch transmits live glucose data to the "Continuous Glucose Monitoring" (CGM) app.

Day0:

Wearing the sensor. The product comes in a sleek package. During the recommended overnight fast before inserting it, I was quite anxious. Esp. after the instruction video indicated that there could be a "few drops of blood splatter". My heart rate went up as I inserted the plunger into my arm, cringing for pain, but lo! nothing happened. I was a Cyborg!!

After a warm-up, there is an apparent, 24hr calibration period. My sensor went flat during this time (see pic below). The customer service was prompt and shipped a replacement the very day.

I had to peel off the dysfunctional one and do the insertion all over again, minus the anxiety this time. It did take that 24hr to calibrate, see the night readings being haywire on day one below.

It was pretty awesome to see the readings and the variations - preprandial, postprandial and nocturnal - live and on the app. Also, the gamification built into the app, with a KPI of "metabolic score", it kept me checking the app quite often in those days. My glucose range stayed within the recommended range of 70mg/dL to 110mg/dL.

That got a bit boring and I decided to "run" some experiments! These are not your typical "I order XYZ from restaurant ABC on swiggy and my glucose went up to 180..." experiments. 

The guinea pig (read: me) has been on a "fat optimization" journey for the last few years. Bear with me, these were with n=1, age: 41kg; BMI: 21, with no randomized or blind test control sets.

Experiment #1: Tempo paced run

Control variable: 24k at tempo (5min/km) pace 

Treatment1: with '0' calories (empty run)
Treatment2: with carb intake at 5k and 14k during the run

The near linear drop in the glucose level on the top graph is probably an interpolation, but the important thing to note is that the end state glucose level at 8am. In the empty state, it was 60mg/dL, whereas with the gels it was at 70mg/dL. Also notice how the body recovered from the 60mg/dL to 70s without any card ingestion post workout. This probably indicates Gluconeogenesis, where the body is breaking down protein and fat and converting into glucose. Read more on this here -> Ultrahuman Blog 

Result: No Perception of Effort (PE) effort with or without gels

Experiment #2: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

Type: 400m x 20 repeats at 90% of Heart rate
Treatment1: overnight fast and '0' calories during
Treatment2: overnight fast, Gel (110k calories) after 6 intervals

In highly fat adapted athletes, Glucose should rise from stressful workout, without ingestion of carbs. The Gel seemed to have arrested the slide in glucose levels. In the past, I used to feel a serious lack of energy during the last few intervals. But overtime, this feeling has faded a bit - either I am not pushing hard enough OR I am getting better fat adapted (or both!).

Result: The Gel did make a difference, but needs some more experiment to discern if it was the gel or the water that went along with the gel!

Experiment #3: Easy 10k

Type: 10k at 60% - 70% of Heart rate
Treatment1: overnight fast and with '0' calories during
Treatment2: 35hour water-only fast and with '0' calories during

This was interesting. The first 10k after an overnight fast is the regular easy early morning run. As for the second 10k, after the 36hr fast, the first 2km or so felt tired - notice the glucose levels dropping to sub-60 levels. Then it felt good till the end of the run. Also notice how the glucose levels go up to about 70mg/dL post the run. Lipolysis, gluconeogenesis could be either or both in conjugation.

Result: There is a lot of merit in medium intensity exercise combined with fasting, to promote fat metabolism and maybe even accelerate autophagy. Certainly plan to continue this. My best is a 50km run bring up a 36hr water-only fast in 2019.

Experiment #4: Long Slow Distance (LSD) 50k

Type: 50k at 60% - 70% of maximum Heart rate (MHR)
Treatment1: overnight fast and with '0' calories during

Treatment2: increase in pace to about 80% of MHR 3.5hrs into the run for 2km

An early start on a cool day in Bangalore, ran for most of this around Cubbon Park, since it was weekend lockdown with the park closed. Paced a friend, Akhil for a sub-2 hour half marathon. The speeding up was from 35k to 37k, where we went from 5:30pace to about 4:45pace. You can see how this shot up the glucose levels. All this was done on an overnight fast. Initial dip in glucose level to 60mg/dL. This could be indicating fat adaptation. The increase can also be due to cortisol level increase leading to glucose increase. Notice how the increased glucose kept rising, despite no crab intake, even as I resumed running at 5:30 pace from 40k to 50k.

Result: This was one my easiest 50k runs, LSD on empty? Check.

Experiment #5: Typical day

Type: No exercise
Treatment1: No exercise, typical regular home-cooked food

Treatment2: Full day, water-only fast

Fasting has lots of benefits to keep the metabolic score (a term UltraHuman uses generously (Read details here). It keeps all the 3 vectors - glucose variability, average glucose and time in target zone, within the limits.

In closing, even without having to go through these "experiments", the UltraHuman CGM is certainly a great biohack to get you good insights to how your glucose levels react to your typical day. I do wish they include lactate and ketone level monitoring in addition to glucose to given a wholistic perspective of stress & fueling.

Call to Action: If you have come this far into this post, follow me on instagram @ultrabhat (link here)!!!

Excerpts from talk with Aleksandr Sorokin

 Aleksandr Sorokin is a Lithuanian ultramarathoner holding the current world records for the distances covered in 24hours [309.4kms], in 12hours [177.4kms] and fastest time for 100miles [10:51:39]. He ran at a stunning 4:03/km pace for 12hours at the Spartanion 12hr race in Tel Aviv, Israel, last week, taking down his own previous records for 12hr and 100mi.

Check out his Wiki page here for more (link here)

Thanks to Sunil, some of us had the privilege to chat with the legend this Friday. Some excerpts from the chat here:

How did you get into running 24hr events?

I moved from half marathon to 100k, to overcome the life habits that he had picked up when he gave up exercise at 24yrs till he was 32yrs old.

Have you quit any race?

At the beginning it was challenging, run hard in the first half and suffer the second half. But I never quit the distance.

How are your second half more faster now? What have you done differently now?

No special secret – it comes with experience. It is more distributed power, more slower in the first half and it comes with experience

Training and Nutrition: Is there a big difference between 100k and 24h if any at all.

Not much difference in preparation. I have to keep a diet since I have a tendency to put on weight. The training week doesn’t differ much between 12 and 24hr. Peak weekly mileage is about 200k to 300k, with 40k to 50k as long runs and with 2 or 3 tempo runs. There is no run beyond 50k distance in training.

You like to eat colas and chips during the run. In training, do you do the same?

No special diet or food preference in training, chocolate bar and any drink for long runs, anything works. No special sport food or ingredients.

On coaches: Up to 2019 I didn’t have a coach and also had a job. In 2019, I turned professional and have a coach now. In 2017, I won Spartathlon without a coach, I would work on training plans and experiment with speed runs – speed and duration. {all you want to know of Spartathon - link here} Spartathlon was the turning point. Before that there was a world championship which didn’t go well. At the world championship I tried to run with a uniform running and it didn’t work. For Spartathlon, I reverted to an old tactic - to run as fast as he could in the first half and get a good lead, this tactic worked. From there I started believing in myself.

2019 world champion in Albi 279k, could have been more if there were less runners?

Yes. But I was happy with the results, because it was one of the best in the history of the event

In less than 2 years, you have gone up by 30km in 24hr race to 309km, breaking the 22 year world record.

Due to pandemic, work closed down and he had more time to focus on running and then also had a coach. Improved 12h run with specific training coach brought about – could do up to 2 to 3 training per day, coach tweaked the blends and made it more optimal.

Do you cross-train?

I do gym with weights and swimming and winter cross country skiing

What are your new goals, now that you have world records in 12h, 100mi and 24hrs in your name?

New goals: Primary focus is 24h to improve that record.

Do you plan to enter trail races?

Not into trail running prefer flat surfaces, may sign up for a 8hr trail run in the future.

What is your nutrition during run?

Prefer to eat as little as possible (only water) to stress the body to produce energy from reserves. During a run I take about 400k calories/hr - 200k per half hour. Sandwiches, banana or oranges or some drinks in the first part of the run. Hydration depends on the temperature - half liter per hour for the race.

Do you feel lack of motivation during these runs?

Night part in the 24h run is the tough part, it’s a wave you feel better and then feel bad, its about patience and waiting for the good phase. Try to be positive, think about his wife who support him, understand that it will be ok and just finish the run

You have some fun videos on Instagram w.r.t gym workouts?

Just teasing around and funny video is a way to entertain himself. Usually 2 or 3 sessions per day – run + weight training + recovery run in the evening. Speed runs max 2 times a week

What’s your favorite distance?

Favorite distance is from sofa to fridge!

How do you recovery from these runs?

Sleep is very important, sauna and physiotherapist who gives good massages.

How do you celebrate after a record-breaking run?

Just relief and no specific celebration

Key Learnings for me and couple of closing observation from my side:

There is no silver bullet to getting better – you got to put in the hard work. Sorokin’s humility reflects in every single aspect of his running – nutrition, training and racing. More legs to you, Sorokin!