Day: April 29, 2006

7H35, camp departure.

At 2 kilometers, Serge stopped us because he was feeling weak: his eyes were shining, which is a sign of fatigue.  He asked for a Coke.  For the first two hours it was rough going, with his stomach in his mouth, then it passed.  We were descending slowly and came upon trees and some cultivated fields.  There was no let up from the wind, which luckily was favorable.  It was a desert-like and very mineral environment.  There was quite a bit of traffic.  The week-long Labor Day holidays have started and during that time all the administrative offices are closed.
Tomorrow, after crossing the Alau Mountain range, which we have been in since Osh, we will be back in civilization. Without any doubt, the past seven days have been the most beautiful and our eyes and heads are full of https://sergegirard.com/old/old/images.  We will never forget the calm of our camping, so near the sky.

A few people have asked me technical questions concerning Serge’s equipment.  Here are some answers:

Shoes: They are custom made in Osaka by Mizuno.  Serge changes them every 1000 kilometers, instead of the 500 initially planned, but he doesn’t like to give up things that work and it’s always a struggle for him to change.
Clothing: His equipment is by Mizuno.  He runs with a double skin that keeps him warm and eliminates perspiration, even though he perspires very little.  He wears a zippered, microfibre sweat shirt on top and doesn’t like changing that either.  He wears shorts and long pants, even when it’s hot.  He keeps his pants on because that way he doesn’t have to put sun block on legs to prevent sunburn.  He changes his socks every day.

Meals and feedings: Breakfast (Nescafé with sugar, Petit Beurre biscuits, cereal with yogurt, fruit juice.  We have run out of kiwis) dinner (pasta or rice or mashed potatoes with meat, which he seems to need when he is in a race because at home he eats very little meat).

Feedings take place every 4-5 kilometers so there are about 16 per day.  Serge drinks a lot (today, for example the humidity is 22% and we are still in altitude).  Serge drinks ½ a liter at a time.  He does not take any energy drinks.  We sometimes prepare salted or sugared water.  He also drinks Coke Cola and coffee but it agrees with him less and less.  Fruit compotes have been eliminated from his feedings because Serge things they were giving him acidity.  He drinks soup, freeze-dried noodles, Bolinos (prepared food), rice cakes (right now we are out of these) Grany bars, fruit pastes, clinutren (a sort of hyper-protein yogurt), Bounty bars, fruit and something new for the last four days: Spirulina

His body: Since Osh, Serge has been running with a thigh support bandage because he has severe pain at the back of his right thigh.  He doesn’t take care of his feet and is always bothered by a corn or an infection.  His heartbeat does not vary, whether he is in altitude or it’s hot.  A daily average is 90 to 100 beats per minute (info given by his Garmin GPS watch).  His weight has stabilized at 55 kilos, an idea weight for Serge when he is on a cross-continent race.