Thinking about tackling a vEveresting or just want to know more? Here’s a short summary to how mine recently unfolded. Hope you enjoy the read and I’ve included a food summary at the bottom!
One of the top things on my cycling bucket list is to complete an Everesting; one ride of 8848 vertical meters on a single climb. I quite enjoy climbing – mostly; you don’t have to be fast and I love the challenge of just reaching the summit on any climb. I had been training specifically for longer (150km-200km) hilly races but in mid October my events got postponed to 2022 so I now had a big schedule gap to fill. Luckily, LUPA Crew legend Anthea Oliver was planning a virtual Everesting 10K and twisted my arm (without much effort) to give it a vEveresting a try.
I would need to be able to ride 12hrs+ and really wasn’t sure I would have the endurance to go the distance. Not being a regular endurance athlete I’ve had a hard time with my nutrition in this learning phase and finding what works for me on long intense rides. So I asked my Coach if this was even a remote possibility given he has done 2 in real life and in true Coach Chops style I get “perfect turkey burner… saddle up and see how far you get”. Ok then, it was on.
I generally average over 300km a week with 3000vm so my training was about as good as it was going to get 7 weeks out. 5 weeks out I decided to give the Basecamp (4424vm) a try so I could test out how it felt, trial nutrition changes and see how my body responded. I came in quite a way under 6hrs with an average of 2.8w/kg for the Basecamp. This was a pretty hot pace for me and I suffered through the last lap with some major bloating and feeling a bit psychologically down about my food struggle and my body’s weaknesses. But it was a good trial and knew I’d be making some adjustments for the full distance.
The key was focusing on riding in Zone 2 at a steady comfortable (all day) pace and to fuel my body well – both leading up to the day and while Everesting. I spent the majority of my remaining training weeks riding tempo/FTP with lots of smaller climbs (10-30min climbs) at max efforts. On Christmas (3 days out) I started my carb loading – just a simple change to more carbs over protein in each meal (more pasta, bread & rice). I ended up gaining spot on 1kg and felt rather uncomfortably full the morning of the attempt. It was going to mean slower laps because of a small change in my watts per kilo algorithm; but it would likely mean I’d have better fuel reserves to draw on when it got nearer the end of the day.
My alarm went off at 1:30am on the day. The early start would mean an early finish in the day light hours to sloth around – plus leave some room for if I needed to take a longer break than just the 11min descent time. After a weigh-in & profile update (rule requirement to make sure your Zwift metrics are accurate) I had a small breakfast of protein porridge, berries & a banana even through I did not want it. It was a cool rainy day, all day; so pretty much perfect indoor condition for the day. I waited until about 2:30am and then headed to the garage pain cave to get started. At 2:44am I was on the base of Alpe Du Zwift and underway feeling quite excited (and nervous); joined about 15mins later by Anthea. We both had our own tunes on while we chatted the hours away on Discord (mostly Anthea, strong chat game from her – not so much from me).
I opted for a slow start strategy – don’t get carried away and stick to 2.5-2.6w/kg like a metronome so that it felt easy for as long as possible. Lap 1 was actually my slowest lap at 73 mins; and from there I just settled into a rhythm and my lap times got faster to around 71 mins. The hardest part every lap was the very first 1.5km in just getting the legs to turn after having a rest (and I soon came to hate the long stretch to bend 6). Plus at 100% difficulty setting meant each corner was a pain with the massive change in gradient and release of tension so there was a lot of focus needed to keep on the pedals at the right times. I had practiced this a lot over the months so it wasn’t a surprise. I felt really great until around the end of Lap 4 when my knees started to get a little sore, more annoying than painfully sore. It wasn’t something I got on the vBasecamp so I just put it down to spending more time in the saddle at low cadence and just persevered upwards.
I reached the halfway point at just over 6hrs so was feeling on track and pretty confident I’d have enough legs to make it. It was also easier mentally as I had already come this far once before so it wasn’t completely unchartered territory. I hadn’t blown up like a balloon from eating so I was feeling really pumped that everything was about as good as it could be. At about the same time my family were then up to say good morning with the promise of a hot pancake at the end of this current lap (lap 5). I was so excited for that pancake! It was the best and kept me going for the next two laps quite comfortably. Don’t underestimate the mental & physical boost a surprise food delivery can bring! Every lap became about a food reward to look forward to keep my mind occupied and excited.
The chats then got a big boost when the ladies hoped on in lap 6 & 7 – checking in and sharing all the Christmas news and chatting about upcoming races/training. It kept the spirits high, as there was much laughter and news to share. It was quite relaxing and I found I could just zone in and out of the conversation as needed. While no one can do the climbing for you, having great Sherpa’s to help carry you through mentally and keep your thoughts positive make a big difference. I also made a quick change of bibs for the last 2.5 laps after a solid 9 hours in the same pair as I just wanted to feel somewhat fresh for the home stretch.
Towards the end of Lap 7 (probably at the dreaded long stretch to corner 6 that was the thorn in my side for the entire day), I started to get wobbly & then the last full lap just felt like the hardest slog of my life. My legs were feeling heavy, rotations were getting harder seated, my knees were aching and protesting about going on, and I started to feel mentally fatigued and brain foggy. All the small things started to slip my mind – like taking a drink every 5-10mins soon stretched out to 12-15-20 mins; or I’d forget to change gears coming into the corners and I just wanted to get it over with faster but couldn’t go any faster. It was that frustration point where you just can’t do anything more than what you are doing. Once I got to the final 5 bends it was 100% about the will to succeed and see it though – it was so close that failure was just not an option at this point no matter the physical pain.
On this final descent I really sucked in a lot of big breaths wrapped in my towel keeping my body warm; I needed to mentally refocus for the final half a lap (plus stuffing in some mini snickers bars, some snakes, a sprite and some more salty chips helped buoy my spirits). I had 400vm left to go and decided to go as hard as I could and empty the tank to the finish for the sub 12hrs finish. It was gritty and pure determination to conjure up the 2.85w/kg max at this point – my heart rate didn’t budge but geez my legs felt literally on fire with every rotation. I was focused so hard on counting down those metres, pushing and pulling the legs though and checking the time while poor Anthea listened into my overly heavy breathing through it all.
I rode on a few extra metres just to be sure and called it done at 208km 8870vm in 11:58hrs with Anthea cheering in the background. I couldn’t bring myself to ride back down – I didn’t want to go over 12hrs (plus who needs the extra Zwift XP anyway at that point, sorry Anthea!).
After a quick sit down to enjoy the moment (a relieved tear or two may have been shed), I got straight onto my Recovery Shake and a quick shower so I could then cheer on Anthea for her last lap in the 10K (while stuffing my face some more with home made bagels). I did a post ride weigh-in and was down 2kgs straight away so knew I really needed to stay on top of my hydration and food for the next 24hrs to not be a right mess for days.
I honestly thought my knees would never hold my weight again after I sat down for the afternoon on the couch, bending my legs was just painful. Weirdly, I got also quite sore skin all over my body – particularly on my arms and chest where it all felt bruised and tender to the touch, even the lightest brushing from my shirt was making me wince. I had tight hamstrings, which were expected, but I felt good in the back, wrists, palms and not even a sore butt. By the next morning everything seemed to be fine – knees were tender but not sore and I was mostly just dealing with fatigue and a bottomless stomach pit.
All in all – I’m just super stoked to be a 1 of the 366 women who have successfully completed a vEveresting worldwide!
x Marcel Smithers
THE ALL IMPORTANT FOOD PART
It always interests me to read what people had available for their Everestings or epic challenges/events and then seeing what they actually ate. So here is my vEveresting food diary. I went overboard with snack options for the day; best to be prepared for any flavour cravings (and I knew I also still had access to my cupboard being at home).
- 20x Maurten 100 Gel
- 2 x Em’s Power Cookies (Chocolate Cranberry)
- 2 x OSM Bars (Apricot)
- 4 x GU Stroop Waffles
- 10x Maurten 160 Drink Mix
- 2 x Maurten 320 Drink Mix
- Pure Nutrition Lemon Electrolyte Mix
- Pure Nutrition Pineapple Electrolyte Mix
- Pure Nutrition Low Carb Lemon Electrolyte Mix
- 1L Orange Juice
- 6 x Mini Sprite Cans
- Box of Mini Calippos
- 2 x Packets of Natural Confectionary Snakes
- 6x Mini Snickers Bars
- 1 x 500g Christmas Cake
- Dried Apricots
- Kettle Sea Salt Chips
- 4 x Bananas
- Seedy Vogels Crackers
- Peckish Rice Crackers – Cheese Flavour
- Kumura & Pumkin Dip
What I actually ate/drank:
- Water – 3.2L (about 375ml per lap)
- Maurten 160 x 8 (500ml per lap)
- Pure Nutrition Lemon Low Carb Electrolyte – 200ml
- 2 x Mini Sprite Cans (500ml) – [End of Lap 7 & 8]
- 8 x Maurten Gels [about 30mins into each lap)
- 3 x GU Stroop Waffles (end of lap 1, 2, 3)
- 1 Homemade Pancake with Maple Syrup (in two serves end of lap 5 & 6)
- 1 Banana (half end of lap 5 & 6)
- 5 Natural Confectionary Snakes (end of lap 7 & 8)
- 3 Mini Snickers Bars (end of lap 7 & 8)
- ½ bag of Kettle Sea Salt Chips (end of lap 7 & 8)
Don’t worry – no snacks were wasted over the coming days, as I was pretty much a bottomless pit!
Things I loved – Stroop Waffles; not something I would normally eat on most of my rides but they were the right mix of sweet, salty & crunchy and I just wanted them all but I saved one as a back up.
Things I despised – Electrolyte mixed drink. I had about 200ml of it for the whole ride, simply preferred water that day.
What helped – Not doing it alone made a big mental difference from the half (plus knowing I could easily make the half!). My chat for 12 hours was pretty average (sorry Anthea) but it helped to have someone to whittle away the time and when a bunch of the ladies jumped on for laps & chats at a more sociable hour in lap 6 & 7 it was quite a boost to hear about their Christmases and have the encouragement. Plus all the text messages and DMs were awesome to have so many people checking in, wishing me luck and just sending good encouraging vibes!
Will I do it again? Absolutely – but I’ll focus on completing one outside next as my endurance hours improve 🙂