Full Belly and Hard Head Help in Iditasport

Rocky Reifenstuhl burns calories the way most of us burn gasoline--he bikes to work every day, he bikes to running races, and, during the Iditasport race, he bikes a chunk of the Iditarod trail. While riding, he doesn't mind being a human guinea pig.

Reifenstuhl, a geologist with the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys in Fairbanks, is a two-time winner of the Iditasport, which this year featured a 100-mile bike, run or ski over a portion of the Iditarod trail beginning at Big Lake, Alaska. During the decade Reifenstuhl has pedaled the snowy miles of the Iditasport, he's allowed researchers to collect his blood and urine, ask him about what he's eaten during the race, and even ask him personal questions, such as "Do you feel worthy?" before and after the race. Reifenstuhl and other racers' willingness to be physically and mentally prodded has resulted in a few insights on what it takes to propel the human engine over several hundred miles of winter terrain.

Samuel Case, a researcher with the Human Performance Laboratory at Western Maryland College, performed several studies on Iditasport competitors.

Case, who has finished the race twice, examined what Iditasport athletes put into their bellies in a study published in "Alaska Medicine."

High-carbohydrate energy foods were ingested by all, some in alarming quantities. During the 24 hours of the race, one athlete wolfed six Power Bars, four Cliff Bars, three Ultra-Fuel Bars and 16 quarts of the sports drinks Ultra Fuel and Gatorlode. This was in addition to a spaghetti meal provided by race officials at the turn-around checkpoint in Skwentna, midway through the race.

Case compared the energy intake of Iditasport athletes to that of ultramarathon runners (who run races in excess of 30 miles), and triathletes (who run, bike and swim for a combined distance of more than 100 miles). Iditasport athletes gobbled twice as much food, measured by energy content, than warm-weather ultramarathon runners or triathletes. Case wrote of several reasons the Iditasporters stoked the fire so vigorously: the Iditasport took longer to complete than ultramarathons and triathlons; it involved more energy-consumptive activities, such as biking in soft snow or pushing a bike; and the Iditasport takes place in cold weather, which demands more energy from athlete's bodies.

Those athletic bodies sometimes rebelled at all the sugary snacks. Twenty-one percent of the athletes Case tested reported some sort of "intestinal distress," which Case wrote might have been avoided if the athletes used all those super-carbohydrate bars and drinks while training for the Iditasport. Case also stressed that athletes need to drink at every opportunity during cold weather to remain hydrated, and most Iditasport participants guzzled accordingly.

In another study, researchers, including Case and Steve Bailey of the Medical University of South Carolina, examined the personality traits of Iditasport competitors. Reifenstuhl was again a subject. At the pre-race meeting, Reifenstuhl and others were asked 80 questions pertaining to their mood. The barrage of questions included whether the athletes felt anxious, carefree, aggressive, guilty and worthy. After the competitors crossed the finish line, researchers snagged them and immediately asked them the same 80 questions.

Using a formula called the Cattell 16 PF Inventory, the scientists found Iditasport athletes shared personality traits with professional rodeo cowboys and high-altitude mountain climbers: intelligence, dominance to the point of stubbornness, imagination, tolerance of inconvenience, and self-sufficiency. Sounds like the description of an Alaskan to me.