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We talk to him ultra-distance runner Iván Penalba a few weeks away from facing his great challenge of the season: the Badwater 135. The very tough Californian race is his great challenge of the season. In 2022 he finished second in his first participation and now he returns to try to be the first Spaniard to register his name in the record of the toughest race in the world.
On June 25, Iván Penalba and Carmen Pérez board a plane to Las Vegas. After a 17-hour flight, they will land on solid ground at McCarran airport in Las Vegas, where Joaquín Candel, the head of Team Iván Penalba, awaits them.
Joaquín Candel is a Spaniard living in Las Vegas with a great knowledge of the Bathwater 135, especially of all its administrative and logistical-sports peculiarities.
The city of Las Vegas rises in the middle of the Mohave desert. After a week of acclimatization, with specific training in desert areas very similar to those of the Badwater, on July 2 Iván Penalba and the rest of the team members (Joaquín Candel, Carmen Pérez and the Mexican ultra-long distance runner Ósacr Hernández) will travel to the small town of Lone Pine, in California.
This small town of about 2.000 inhabitants and reminiscent of the towns of the Old West (which is why it has been the real scene of different westerns) is embedded near the Sierra Nevada mountains, Yosemite National Park and Death Valley, the place where Iván Penalba will face Bad for the second time on July 4water 135.
Lone Pine is the center of operations for the Badwater 135. That is where the welcome ceremonies, the collection of numbers, etc. are held. All the participating runners meet there a couple of days before the start of the event, whose starting line is about 200 kilometers away, in the Badwater, at the lowest point in the United States (85 m below sea level).
Iván Penalba: «In the Badwater The one who makes the best hydration decisions winslimentation»
42K: A few weeks away from the great challenge of the Badwater, is the preparation going as you expected? Has everything gone according to plan?
Ivan: The preparation is going great, which makes me very optimistic. It is true that some changes and adjustments had to be made along the way, but it is normal when you face such an extreme challenge that forces you to train many different aspects (physical strength, resistance,limentation, acclimatization to the heat...) and many months in advance.
42K: Has the preparation been different from what you did last year for your first participation?
Ivan: The experience of having run the Bad for the first timewater It is essential to know which aspects you should train in a special way. Until you experience it in the first person, you don't know what you're up against. It doesn't matter what they tell you, it doesn't matter all the information you have... to be able to aspire to win the Badwater you must have known it, lived and suffered in the first person.
42K: And have you introduced special training this year?
Ivan: Yes. I am doing more specific training for the heat and also for the very hard slopes both up and down the Badwater. This year the heat has arrived in Valencia later than in 2022 so I have had to do more training sessions and work in the sauna.
In addition to more sessions in the sauna, I have greatly reinforced my strength training to get stronger muscularly and to be able to face the tough climbs of the route with more ease and also the brutal descent of about 20 kilometers after the first ascent.
(Three ascents must be overcome along the 217-kilometre route, two of them very hard, involving an accumulated positive difference in altitude of 4.450m; the accumulated descent difference is 1.859m.)
42K: With how many kilometers of specific training will you reach Badwater 2023?
Ivan: The volume of kilometers of preparation will finally be similar to that of 2022, but the difference is that for this edition I am training much more for the unevenness. In the end, the mean will be between 250 and 260 kilometers per week. I only had a "puncture" for one week in May due to a virus that left me KO for several days.
42K: What has been and is being the hardest part of preparing for the Badwater?
Ivan: The organization of each day's schedule to meet all the requirements of the preparation. When you have to double training in the same day, you have to know how to adjust the alimeTraining and, above all, the breaks that are also a very important part of the preparation. Especially in the final stretch of preparation, starting in April, the demand for training has increased a lot. Right now I am training many hours and that requires measuring very well the recovery of the efforts with the alimentation and with adequate breaks.
More sauna workouts and more strength work
42K: Many people are surprised by the sauna workouts. Explain what the objective of this type of training is.
Ivan: Sauna training is to simulate as much as possible the hot conditions that we are going to find there. It is impossible to train anywhere in Spain in conditions similar to those in Death Valley, so the only option is to train in a sauna.
It is true that the sauna is usually at higher degrees, but the feeling of dryness and breathing difficulties are very similar. Adapting to extreme heat is essential to be able to face a race like the Badwater; The heat is the main enemy, more than the distance or the hardness of the ascents and the brutal descent of more than 20 kilometres. go to the badwater without prior acclimatization work to extreme heat is crazy. If when you get there you have doubts, it is impossible to have any chance of reaching the goal.
42K: And what exactly do you usually do in the sauna?
Ivan: The first few minutes are for acclimatization: I go in and stay seated so that my body and breathing adapt to the temperature of more than 60 degrees. Then I do mobility exercises and finally moderate exercise with a height-adjustable step platform. What I also work a lot in the sauna is the issue of hydration and alimentation, which is one of the most important aspects in the Badwater. The body does not assimilate food and drink with such high temperatures, so it is an essential part of the preparation.
If in a 217-kilometer race you make mistakes with hydration and alimentation is almost impossible to finish, so imagine yourself in the Badwater with the dehydration that occurs simply by standing still.
42K: After last year's experience, what changes do you plan to introduce before and during the race?
Ivan: The main change will be how and where I will spend the hours before the start of the test, which is at 23pm at night. Last year we were staying about 200 kilometers away and we went directly to the start, which means a certain amount of stress due to the journey of almost 3 hours by car. For this year we have looked for a small accommodation that is very close to the start to spend the day more calmly and be able to eat and rest well. The days before the race I will do acclimatization training very similar to last year in desert areas near Las Vegas, which is where the team manager, Joaquín Candel, lives.
During the race I am going to introduce some changes in nutrition with the aim of having more energy, especially for the demanding climbs.
42K: Do you think that the interest of the media and the general public is greater after your second place in 2022?
Ivan: Yes. I am very grateful for the interest that the media in the Valencian Community and also at the national level are showing me. It is evident that my second place in 2022 has made different media specialized in running and in the ultra-distance they are very aware of me, which in the end is very good because it gives me visibility that for me is very important so that I can in turn give visibility to my sponsors.
Ishikawa and Lewis, the two great rivals of Iván Penalba in 2023
42K: Who or who will be your great rivals in the test?
Ivan: The two riders who stood on the podium with me in 2022: Yoshihiko Ishikawa (1º) y harvey lewis (3º). The Japanese is, without a doubt, the rival to beat. He is a very experienced runner, who has won the race several times and holds the time record. (2019, 21h33'01” running at 5'57”/km). The American, Lewis, is also a rival with long experience and who has also achieved victory in Badwater on two occasions and has finished as many on the podium. He is an ultra-distance expert, one of the best Americans in history, and he knows the race like few others.
Then there is a group of 4 or 5 very powerful riders with the ability to aspire to the podium.
In the end we will be one 8 or 9 runners the ones that we will be in the fight for the podium. Based on experience and ability as ultra-distance runners, we are all very even, but many things influence this race in addition to good preparation and being good long-distance runners. Any errors with hydration or with the alimentation can KO you. In a test like Badwater The strongest does not win, but the one who makes the best decisions in terms of hydration.limentation; In other words, the one who doesn't make mistakes is the one with the best chance of winning.
If you want to know more about what Badwater, Iván Penalba's great challenge in 2023, you can read this other article from our blog: Iván Penalba wants to conquer the Badwater 135.
Text to 42K of :
Paco Amoros
Head of Communication for 42K
Graduated in Journalism from the CEU Cardenal Herrera University and master's degree in digital marketing. Head of Communication for 42K.
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