BLOG: Babyboom

It becomes more and more difficult to wake up. I just had my daughter on the 18th of February. I can get out of the bad with no issues, but I feel like completely beaten and broken. I need my high fat coffee with spirulina caps, I need a couple of hours writing and thinking, I need at least 30minutes mobility and then we can talk about running.

I even try waking up at 3am when my wife feed our baby, because it is something to share and something I want to know about and take part. However there are times when I am totally unable. When I am pulling 12hour bike-messenger days, I am completely smoked afterwards.

I took a B12 shot, vitamin K and D and really upping my salt, magnasium, curcuma, bitter melon, ginger, ginseng intake. I drink giant smoothies with wild herbs collected freshly in the mornings. I use chickweed, plantain, nettle, cleavers and mallow. These are the one I really know and can find all over the place.

I, however am really positive and can see the light at the end. I feel that I can still push my body and can still gain speed, endurance, power and would need just a couple of real nights to complete recovery.

I am still fascinated by speed and acceleration, but some longer outings start materialising in my mind. I really like ultras and long mountain adventures and looking forward to do one or two this year.

I don’t think that I will engage in anything bib-number related, but there is the 10th edition of a night-hike where I think am able to bring down the record, but also the Grand Traverse de Mercantour what also is a possibility. I have the experience of not sleeping basically 4 nights in a row during a 220km walk/run with 20000m of gain, with only 15minute catnaps, so pushing through one single night during a 212km hike is not going to be a problem. The terrain is medium difficult and there is only 12000m of elevation gain. I am not intimidated by it, however again, like always, the speed and the speed-endurance aspect over long time what comes in as a scary factor. 47:31 is the record. I checked out his strava and basically he blacked out around 160km and 28hours or something, so he was doing the last 52km in like 19hours. I have friends who went unbroken with significantly heavier backpacks walking only at 58hours.
My only goal is to do it 1minute faster. Nothing else. There is also the final stage of a basically 60km downhill. There is a 1000m climb at the very end, but outside of that, it stays very much a descent. If instead of 15hours, you can do 10, because you preserved your muscles and head, you can carve back 5hours of latency. Anyways, I am really thinking about doing this traverse with the very little help of my wife, on the longest day of the year.