1. www.runnersworld.co.za 67 66 MARCH 2011
By Bronwyn Burns
Illustration by Kian Eriksen
TheWallisascommontorunningasblisters,musclecramps
andinjuredhamstrings.Everyrunnerhashitthewallat
leastonce.Orhavethey?Wasitjustaroughpatch,
orwastherereallyapaintedsignthatsaid...

2. www.runnersworld.co.za 69 68 MARCH 2011
t the Kaapsehoop
marathon, I start out
with the intention of
cracking a sub-4:15 PB
since I’d been told it was
a ‘fast downhill’ race. It’s
an all or nothing gamble.
I start out feeling strong, until the route
takes a turn onto a dirt road around the
midway mark and it seems like it is
anything but downhill – one of those races
when you wonder whether someone pitched
up the night before in a little red bakkie
with an industrial-size pump to inflate all
the hills.
And then I begin to feel as though all
my energy is draining out through my feet.
From comfortable sub-6s, I suddenly slow
to a shuffle. A stream of runners pass me as
though they are on high-speed. But someone
has flicked the slow-mo switch on me.
My partner Stuart Wainwright, a winner
of the Trevor Forsythe 10-Day Circuit Race
and pace-setter of the 11-hour Comrades
bus, is running with me and tries to be
encouraging. So I make the effort to pick
up the pace, but it’s clear I’m not in the right
headspace – I trip over my own lead-filled
feet and take a tumble instead. As far as I’m
concerned, I’ve blown, bonked, hit the wall
– call it what you want, but I’m reduced to
a walk and I no longer care about running
another step, never mind PBs.
Still, the partner tells me I’ve yet to hit
the wall. He’s adamant that the wall is the
moment when you have nothing left to
give – nada, zip, zero; call the bailer van,
it’s game over.
‘You’ll know when you’ve hit the wall,’
he reminds me. We’ve had this debate before
and I’m still not convinced. ‘Trust me, you
just hit a little rough patch, a bump in the
road. You still finished, you’re still standing,’
he says.
Dejected, I argue: ‘It was like trudging
through soggy concrete!’ A little bump in
the road? I had to climb over that ‘bump’ for
the last 15 kays.
Vasbyt
And so I started to search for the true
meaning of ‘hitting the wall’. The topic
comes up again at the Comrades Pasta Party
and I’m in good company with a handful
of experts.
hypoglycaemia and running out of every bit
of energy. In my opinion, it can’t happen in
anything shorter than a marathon.’
The real wall
Wainwright claims that the ‘real wall’ is
something that not everyone experiences.
He reckons it all comes down to how hard
you are prepared to push yourself when
you get that it’s-not-my-day feeling: ‘Some
runners slow down and accept that their
body is not up for it, while others use the
opportunity to push themselves to a point
of mental and physical exertion to see just
how much they can take. They push
themselves through the levels of discomfort
until eventually they fall over.’
Comrades coach Lindsey Parry explains
that there are two walls you can hit on a race:
‘Our bodies have a limited supply of energy,
so even if you are running at a sensible pace,
if you do not replace lost energy you will
eventually hit a wall caused by low blood
sugar. You can recover from this type of wall
by eating food and by taking in regular
drinks with glucose or gels.’
The other, he says, relates to training:
‘The number one way to avoid hitting the
wall is to train appropriately for the time
goal you have set yourself. Linked to that is
ensuring you set a realistic goal that will
allow you to maintain a manageable pace
for your current level of fitness. You will
then need to stick to the race plan and avoid
going out too hard on race day.’
But, on the flip side, Parry adds: ‘You can
definitely come back from hitting the wall,
but you will not be able to get back to the
same pace as before. You will need to run
a little easier and ensure there is a steady
supply of carbs from that point on.’
The distance factor
Novices often talk about hitting the wall on
a 10km race, while seasoned runners remain
firm about the long distance factor – usually
a race that takes longer than two hours.
It seems ‘the wall’ evades an easy
definition. I ask sports scientist Ross Tucker,
whose first response confirms this: ‘Tough
question! Mostly because there is no
difference between how you feel hitting
a rough patch or the wall. Hitting the wall
is a symptom, not a condition.
‘Strictly speaking, hitting the wall means,
No more. A rough patch means slowing down
to prevent premature failure, but hitting the
wall is a physiological failure when you
exceed a certain level of glycogen depletion,
damage to the muscles, or high body
temperature. At that point, the brain stops
exercise before the physiological changes
actually become harmful,’ he explains.
‘For example, a body temperature of
40 degrees is high, but it’s not dangerous.
If it reaches 42 degrees, you’d have a
problem requiring medical intervention.
So there is a “short-circuit switch”, call it
a safety switch, that stops you from doing
irreversible damage to your body.’
And for those novices who still feel
convinced that they well and truly bonked
on a 10km training run?
‘There’s no distinct point, there’s no
moment where you suddenly hit the wall
– it varies depending on how well trained
you are, how well fuelled up you are, and
how you’ve raced up to that point,’ says
Tucker. ‘If you are a 50-minute 10km
runner, and you go off and run the first 8km
in 32 minutes (one minute per kilometre
faster than your ability should allow), then
you’re going to be unable to finish. Have
you hit the wall? Not if you define it as
running out of fuel or overheating. But
who cares? Either way, you’re not going to
finish that race without a lot of walking.’
Underlying causes
Dr Jon Patricios, a Johannesburg-based
sports physician and member of the Rockies
Comrades panel of experts, agrees that it is
difficult to pin down exactly what ‘the wall’
is and what the underlying causes could be:
‘There’s no single blood test that you
can take to explain hitting the wall. The
variables are subjective and difficult to
measure. They are often multi-factorial,
and can include potential illness such as
a lingering viral infection, over- or under-
training, and nutritional deficiencies.
Considering all of these requires thorough
evaluation and each case is unique. Often
there can be a combination, such as
overtraining lowering your immune
response which may predispose you to
a viral infection.
‘One of my patients, a high-level
Comrades runner, “hit the wall” at about
30km this year and then bailed at 60km.
When assessing her after the race, we found
two contributing factors: The most significant
was a training programme that was way
too short on recovery, involving seven days’
running per week – often with more than one
session. There were warning signs from about
five weeks out, but these were ignored. The
second was a Coxsackie virus infection, which
can often be chronic and persist for months
with fatigue. I am sure the two were linked.’
Medical causes include infections, most
often viral (these are significant as they can
affect the heart); failure to perform as well as
early signs of heart disease; and conditions
that may first be associated with fatigue,
such as kidney and liver disease, anaemia
and cancers.
‘Some
runners
slowdown
andaccept
thattheir
bodyisnot
upforit.’
The Rough Patch
You struggle to warm up and soon start
slowing down rather than speeding up.
Every kilometre feels like three, and you start
to wonder if the kay markers are wrong.
You lose interest in achieving that PB but you
still want to finish the race.
You experience muscle cramps or tiredness,
but by easing off the pace you can still keep
going.
You start to feel better after a short walk and
some water or energy drink.
The Wall
Nomatterhowhardyoutrytopushyourselfto
keeprunning,youjustcan’ttakeanotherstep.
You no longer care about finishing the race,
never mind getting that PB.
Your heart is pounding in your throat; you
start seeing spots.
You’re staggering sideways rather than
forwards.
You can’t resist the urge to lie down right
there in the road and an incredibly intense
craving for sugar is all you can think about.
Rough Ride or Bonk?
Distinguish a rough patch from The Wall…
‘I’ve only ever hit the wall properly once,’
says nine-time Comrades champion Bruce
Fordyce. ‘During the Golden Reef marathon
I hit the wall 30km in. One minute I was
running and the next I couldn’t even shuffle.
I was out. No choice but to step off the road.’
‘The difference between hitting a rough
patch – which happens to all of us on
Comrades – and hitting the wall, is that you
can vasbyt through a bad patch, throttle back
a little, have a drink and hang on. Your vasbyt
for hitting the wall is to come back next
week and try again. When you hit the wall,
you have nothing left; it scars you and you
make sure it never happens again.’
I start thinking about a time trial a couple
of weeks earlier when I set off at full tilt and
suddenly found myself on the side of the
road, dizzy, nauseous and waiting for a friend
to fetch me in her car.
But Fordyce believes that hitting the wall
is only possible in marathons and beyond.
‘Hitting the wall is reaching a point of
Stockbyte

3. 70 MARCH 2011
GettyImages/GALLO IMAGES
ISTOCKPHOTO
Internal association – runners
who focus on how their body feels while
running.
External association – runners
who focus outwardly on the race
environment and things such as calculating
split times, anticipating water stations, or
competing with other runners.
Internal dissociation – runners
who let themselves be distracted by things
such as daydreaming, working through
day-to-day concerns, singing silently (or
aloud!), or solving mental puzzles.
External disassociation – runners
who focus their attention outwardly on
events unimportant to race performance
such as conversations with other runners or
the scenery.
Stevinson and Biddle found that
runners who hit the wall tend to use
internal dissociation much more frequently
than wall-avoiding runners, contending
that being distracted from sensory signals
and elements of the race environment
indicates that those runners were not able
to judge their pace well or recognise when
to refuel.
On the other hand, they suggest that
paying too much attention to the body
(internal association) can cause runners to
magnify their levels of discomfort so that
the wall seems to appear much earlier and
for a longer period of time.
Their advice? Focus most of your
attention on external race-related factors
and make intermittent checks on your body
rather than monitoring yourself every step
of the race.
And a little chit-chat with those around
will do your spirits some good too.
Beat
The Wall
Astudyentitled‘Cognitiveorientations
inmarathonrunningand“hittingthe
wall”’by StevinsonandBiddle,published
inthe BritishJournalofSports Medicine
in1998,describeshowmarathon
runners’mentalstrategiesinfluence
whetherornottheyarelikelytohitthe
wall.Theyidentifyfourtypesofthinking:
provision of fuel for your brain. Glucose is
the main fuel used by the brain. The main
role of liver glycogen is to maintain a
constant blood sugar level to fuel the brain.
‘Your brain uses carbohydrates while
you sleep, so by the morning your liver
glycogen levels are low. During a run, the
liver glycogen depletes, and a mismatch
can occur between the uptake of glucose
and the production of glucose in the liver.
The result is hypoglycaemia, which
includes symptoms of dizziness, nausea,
cold sweat, reduced mental alertness, loss
of motor skill, increased heart rate,
excessive hunger and disorientation.
These symptoms are often described by
athletes who experience hitting the wall.’
(Re)fuel
When it comes to running out of energy,
one of the most common analogies
runners use is that of a car running out
of fuel. But Tucker argues against this:
‘You can never run out of fuel
completely. It’s not like a car that runs
out of petrol. If your muscles had zero
glycogen, you’d have a serious problem.
And so your brain ensures you stop
before this happens.’
Your body has fuel enough to last around
two to two and a half hours, and if it is not
replenished, your brain will intervene.
‘That is an oversimplification of what
really happens,’ says Tucker. ‘There isn’t an
imaginary barrier at say 32km where you
suddenly go lights out. What happens
leading up to that point is probably that
you’ve been slowing down, or feeling
progressively worse but still trying to force
your pace to stay high to keep up with
your group or maintain target pace, until
eventually you simply can’t.
‘Having a rough patch, on the other hand,
can pass and you can usually keep going.’
Tucker suggests that if you drink some
Coke or nibble on sweets and give your
body a short break, you can pick yourself
up again. But he cautions that you’re never
quite the same that day – it usually takes
a long walk to return to normal. So while
it’s not game over, it’s certainly the end of
whatever time you were after.
Patricios concurs: ‘Hitting the wall
appears to have more severe symptoms
of tiredness and weakness which simply
do not respond to slowing, rest or
massage. More muscle groups are often
affected and there is an absolute inability
to push on.’
www.runnersworld.co.za 71
‘Youcan
neverrun
outoffuel
completely.
It’snotlike
acarthat
runsoutof
petrol.’
Stop The Bonk
Be realistic about your goals. Review your training leading up to race day and determine
whether you are ready for an increase in pace before you line up at the start.
Train harder. Sports scientist Ross Tucker
explains: ‘You hit the wall when you exceed what
your body is capable of managing. So if you run
out of fuel, it’s because your fuel demand exceeds
what your body can supply. If your legs have
taken a pounding and you’ve caused mechanical
damage, it’s because they’re not accustomed to
that kind of repetitive loading. The key is to be
properly trained for what you’re doing, and then
to be accurate in how you pace yourself.
Eat right. Dietician Nicki de Villiers
recommends that you consume 7–12 grams
carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per
day, depending on the intensity and duration of
your training. Eat a carbo-loaded meal
(140–330g of carbohydrates) the night before to
increase carbohydrate availability during the
race. Carbohydrate intake in the last hour before
competition will not aid in muscle glycogen
stores, but will protect liver glycogen and
increase the delivery of carbohydrates to the
muscles during exercise.
Taper. If you continue pushing yourself hard
too close to race day, you’ll be tired before you
even get to the start line. Don’t be afraid of
easing off on your training two or three weeks
before, depending on the distance of the race.
Tapering doesn’t necessarily mean stopping
altogether – a couple of short easy runs are good
for keeping your body loose and your mind
settled.
Warm up. Whether you warm up before or use
the first three or four kays of the race to do so,
make sure your muscles are ready to cope with
the sharp rise in activity.
Pace yourself. You will deplete your
glycogen stores more quickly if you use up too
much energy in the first half of the race, meaning
you’ll fast-track to bonking. It’s a big mistake to
start out too fast. Your heart won’t cope with
pumping enough blood to ensure enough supply
of oxygen to the muscles, and in turn your
muscles will have no choice but to burn glucose in
the absence of oxygen. Ensure you have a pacing
plan that is realistic and stick to it.
Refuel.Takeinalittleenergyoften,ratherthan
alottoolate.Figureoutwhatworksbestforyou
onyourtrainingrunsandallowyourbodytimeto
getusedtorefuellingbeforethebigrace.‘Taking
carbohydratesduringexerciseof45minutesor
longercanimproveendurancecapacityand
performance.Theintakeduringexercisecanhave
aglycogen-sparingeffectintheliverandpossibly
inthemuscles,’saysDeVilliers.
Focus. Monitor your body throughout the race.
The better you become at listening to your body,
the less likely you’ll meet the wall.
Eat, drink, sleep.Youknowallabout
carbo-loadingbynow,butyourbodyneedsmore
thanjustcarbs.Eatenoughproteinandveggiesas
well,takeyourvitaminandmineralsupplements,
hydrate,andremembertobelazyfromtimeto
time–getsomerestamidyourbusyschedule!
the correct fuel into the body may lead you
straight to the wall.
‘This process may occur over a prolonged
period in the build-up to a race when the
runner fails to refuel after each run, resulting
in a gradual depletion of muscle glycogen
stores, or may occur on race day when
insufficient amounts of particularly
carbohydrates are ingested for events lasting
longer than 90 minutes,’ explains Patricios.
Nicki de Villiers, a dietician at The High
Performance Centre in Pretoria, explains how
a lack of carbs can contribute to hitting the
wall: ‘Muscle glycogen acts as a readily
available fuel source for the muscles. The rate
at which your body uses muscle glycogen
depends largely on the intensity of running.
If you run at a low to moderate intensity, most
of your fuel is obtained from carbs and fat.
As you increase the intensity, your carbohy-
drate stores cannot keep up and muscle
glycogen becomes the most important
substrate. At very high running intensity,
muscle glycogen breakdown increases and
the muscle glycogen store begins to deplete.’
Liver glycogen (carbohydrates stored in
the liver) plays an important role in the
The second group is inappropriate
training – being inadequately prepared may
result in all systems being under-prepared
for endurance events. This applies equally
to the muscles and cardiovascular system
– quite simply, you may not be fit enough.
‘Overtraining is equally important, but
often harder to recognise and usually
diagnosed retrospectively. I explain to
patients that they actually become fitter
when resting,’ says Patricios. ‘Failure to build
absolute and relative rest into a training
programme means that the body’s systems
are continually breaking down and have
inadequate time to recover.
‘ This may only become apparent on race
day when both the distance and pace become
more challenging. Overtraining stresses not
only the muscles but also bones, tendons and
the immune system, as well as being
psychologically taxing.’
Nutrition
And then you have to take into account
nutrition. Even though your body may seem
healthy, failure to put adequate quantities of