Interview with Steve Born

by Karl Etzel, Silicon Valley Cycling Center

Steve Born, Senior Technical Advisor to E-Caps & Hammer Nutrition has won the Furnace Creek 508 and finished the Race Across America multiple times. He has a wealth of experience preparing for and competing in ultra-endurance events, and he shares some of that experience in the following interview.

A common theme for many ultra-endurance athletes, whether it's 24 hour mountain bike racers, Ironman competitors or road racers, is the need for "comfort food". In such long events it can be mentally tough to live on nothing but gel & energy drinks (even great tasting Hammer products!). What is your advice regarding the incorporation of these"comfort foods" into the race fueling regimen?

Having done several ultra distance events, I agree that it can be challenging to "go liquid only" during these long events. Whenever I train or race for periods over 12 hours I will incorporate some solid food into my fueling regimen, if only to maintain sanity (satisfying the need to chew "real" food). However, solid food, no matter how high of quality it may be, always takes more time, fluid, and bodily energy to digest and assimilate. I have found (and noted that other athletes have experienced the same) that if I rely too heavily on solid food there's a tendency to experience symptoms such as bloating, nausea, and lethargy. Therefore, if the athlete chooses to use solid food during their long events I suggest the following:

• Make wise choices - That means low or no refined sugars or saturated fat. Those cookies or muffins that are being offered at the aid station may look tempting but they're not what your body craves in terms of fuel. If solid foods are going to be consumed I suggest eating foods that are easy to digest (I prefer things like bagels, crackers, bananas, that kind of thing) and foods that you've already used in your training (race day is not the time to test out that new energy bar).
• Use it sparingly - Solid food consumption is a nice diversion from consuming liquid or gel fuels but, as mentioned above, it's a more time & energy consuming process for the body. If you must eat solid food I suggest doing it sparingly, almost as a reward of sorts ("When I get to mile marker ___ I'll reward myself with some solid food"). Make solid food consumption the exception, not the rule.
• All this being said, I do not think it's at all necessary to consume solid food during an event shorter than 12-14 hours; it's not "wrong" per se, but just not necessary. I think this is especially true for half or full iron distance triathletes; it's difficult enough to tackle three distinct disciplines and digestive functioning is certainly not firing on all cylinders at that time - it's pretty compromised in fact. For these athletes who simply must eat solid food I suggest doing so during the bike portion, when it's a lot easier for the body (compared to running) to digest and assimilate solid food.

Along the same lines, what is your advice for the rider who finds themselves on a long training ride, many miles from home, with nothing but gas stations and convenience stores to provide sustenance (recognizing that planning ahead with plenty of proper fuel is always the best option)?

Of course planning ahead - bringing additional powdered fuel with you - is always the best idea. Personally, when I do long rides I like to make Perpetuem in a highly concentrated form, a paste-like consistency, which allows me to carry several hours worth of fuel in a few Hammer Gel flasks. This frees up my water bottles so that I can drink (and enjoy) plain water to maintain hydration. If I know I'm going to be out for more hours than I've made fuel for I'll usually carry additional powder with me so that I can make more when stopping at a convenience store.

Still, at one time or another we've all found ourselves far from home with no fuel and having to rely on the offerings of convenience food store. If that's the case I'll make choices that are closer to what I know my body wants in terms of fuel, which means food that's as low in refined sugar and saturated fat as possible.

What is your take on the use of caffeine, both in day to day training and in racing situations? How about other natural stimulants, such as guarana, which appear in many drinks these days?

I am a coffee drinker, though I maintain my intake to morning hours. I find that if I overdo it with coffee my stomach gets very irritated. That being said, I believe that caffeine, used judiciously, has positive benefits for endurance athletes, especially during the early morning hours of 24-hour events; that's really the only time I use it. As you know, caffeine has CNS stimulating properties and may have a diuretic effect, neither of which would be desirable in the middle of a hot day of racing. Used sparingly, and at key moments though, caffeine has a definite place in the "arsenal" of endurance athletes. The problem I would have with athletes using caffeinated drinks is not so much the caffeine in the product but all the refined sugar that these products are typically comprised of.

There is a lot of talk (& hype) in the media these days about the Atkins & other "low carb" diets. Is there any appropriate place in the endurance athlete's training for such regimens, say for instance early in the season when shedding a few pounds from the holidays might be a goal? Is there anything that endurance athletes can learn from this trend?

You know, I've never been a real big follower of specific diets. I just try to eat as clean as possible and I try to maintain a balance between food consumption and activity. I've been following (though not terribly conscientiously) a diet that is comprised of about 60% carbs, 20% protein, and 20% fat. I try to refrain from saturated fats and refined sugars, though I admit to caving in to the occasional weakness. I've never followed a specific diet such as the Atkins Diet when trying to shed a few post-Christmas pounds. I simply try to eat cleaner and I try to consume fewer calories than what I'm expending. In other words, I don't try to do anything too drastic.

Dr. Bill Misner at E-CAPS/Hammer Nutrition wrote a wonderful article about weight loss that I think addresses this issue very completely. It's on the E-CAPS web site in the "Knowledge" section.

One of the things he mentions in here that I found to work quite well is to cease eating after 7:00 PM. I found that when I did that, my weight dropped nicely, to where I wanted it to be. I have also noticed that when I've cut back on the starchy carbs at dinner and increased my consumption of healthy fats and protein at that time, my desired weight is more easily maintained. In fact, when I follow that basic rule - "Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, a pauper at dinner" - my weight doesn't fluctuate so much, especially in the off-season when I'm not quite so active.

Finally, a couple of questions on training. As a winner of the Furnace Creek 508 & a multiple RAAM finisher, you have obviously mastered the skill of riding into and through the night. For races that last 24 hours or more, what is the longest training ride you typically do leading up to the event? Is there a point of diminishing returns from a training standpoint? Are there any special modifications you make to the training regimen to prepare the body for these events that run non-stop through the night?

Early in my career I did 24-hour training rides on occasion when training for RAAM. I would ride all day long and at night someone would follow behind me in my van, illuminating the road, etc, until I had completed a full 24 hours. To be honest, the workout was more mental than physical and just to have some experience of what riding that long would feel like made that workout beneficial.

I stopped doing those types of training rides long ago because after a couple years of doing ultras I already knew what going for 24-48 hours non-stop felt like; I already had accrued that experience in two RAAMs. I found that I no longer needed the mental aspect of doing a 24-hour training ride and I felt that I could get a better overall week of training in by emphasizing a balance of quality and volume. In other words, doing a 24-hour training ride would leave me pretty unable to do anything of quality for at least 3-4 days afterwards. I felt that I could use the time more profitably if I emphasized quality over quantity.

And that's what I did in training for my Double Furnace Creek 508 record attempt. The longest ride(s) I did was back-to-back 200 milers. Basically though, I did a mixture of everything: long training rides, intervals, speed work, hill repeats. The best workouts I did were repeats up Big Mountain Road here in Montana. It's a pretty tough nearly 6-mile climb that I would do as many of back to back to back. I'd do one all out, trying to obtain a PR, and the rest I would try to accomplish in a specified time. I'd ride to the top, turn around, coast to the bottom and repeat. I think I ended up maxxing at 8 repeats up that road and I can remember barely being able to ride home; I was so whooped from that workout. So while it wasn't terribly impressive mileage-wise, it was a damn good workout. When I got to some tough climbs at Furnace Creek, especially on the second half of the Double 508 attempt, you can bet I relied heavily on the physical and mental benefits I had accrued from a workout like that.

So there's nothing wrong with doing a 24-hour ride or two in training to simulate what the event is going to feel like. For someone who's never done an ultra before perhaps that's not a bad idea, if only to garner some idea of what you're in for. My feeling is that once you have done a 24-hour race you have the experience you need, especially in terms of mental toughness, to get you through the next one. I think that having a mixture of all types of workouts - long, endurance rides (perhaps up to 12 hours), intervals, speed work (time trials of all lengths), and hill repeats - gives you a lot more benefit than just doing a lot of long rides only.

For me, going through the night, staying awake, and working through the rough spots (and there are always plenty of them) is really is a case of"mind over matter." I find that the longer I go the less physical it becomes and the more mental it is. So when I get into the night hours I simply tell myself,"This is what you do, this is who you are. You're an ultramarathon cyclist and you know how to get through the night. It's not that big a deal. You know the sun's going to come up eventually and it'll feel a hell of a lot better if you haven't wasted any time off the bike. So sit down, shut up, and ride your bike."