The Badwater Ultramarathon has the reputation as perhaps THE most difficult running race in the world. It is a race I have always been fascinated with, because of the extreme conditions and extraordinary distance. It’s a race that I have always wondered if I could possibly finish.
This is how the Badwater race website and race director Chris Kostman, describe this extreme 135-mile ultramarathon run:
“The start line is at Badwater, Death Valley, which marks the lowest elevation in North America at 280’ (85m) below sea level. The race finishes at Mt. Whitney Portal at 8360′ (2533m). The Badwater course covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ (3962m) of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ (1433m) of cumulative descent. Whitney Portal is the trailhead to the Mt. Whitney summit, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Competitors travel through places and landmarks including Mushroom Rock, Furnace Creek, Salt Creek, Devil’s Cornfield, Devil’s Golf Course, Stovepipe Wells, Keeler and Lone Pine.”
My fascination with this race led me finally, to deciding to learn MORE about it — the conditions, the competitors, the extreme environment. I want to know what makes a Badwater runner “tick,” and I want to learn how each deals with the extreme mental and physical challenges that an event like this presents. And yes, I am hoping, someday, to have the opportunity to attempt it. I tell the folks I coach (and my kids) to HOLD ON to their dreams and go after them, so I have to practice what I preach, right?
The BEST way to learn more about this race, is to GO THERE for the race, and be a member of a SUPPORT crew. Each runner in the race has his own support crew of 3 to 4 people, that drive along the course and help by providing food, fuel, hydration, ice, and just about anything else the runner needs during their attempt.
Through a nice stroke of luck (getting onto a support crew for such a small field of runners is very difficult to do, actually - limited opportunities!), I was able to get on to the support crew for a very accomplished runner from Italy, Roberto Aldovini. This is Roberto’s first attempt at Badwater, but make no mistake, he has many other very impressive ultramarathon finishes on his race resume!
I asked Roberto if he would let me “interview” him for the blog, so that I (and you) could get to know him a bit better and also, to allow us to see a little bit more deeply inside the preparation and mindset of a Badwater runner.
I hope you enjoy it!
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Coach Al: Roberto, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Roberto: I’m 37, born the 18 April 1972. I live in Bornato, small town of the north of Italy (just to give you an idea I’m 60 Miles from Milano) and this give me the opportunity to train on mountains and do a lot of trails. I’m not marry but sooner or later I will. I’m an attorney. I have always played basketball and I did a lot of GYM in the past. I discovered the running and the ultramarathon in particular just recently and it changed my life ( I mean that it steals many of my free-time but instead of making my life more empty it makes my life full, richer: I appreciate more every single moment and every single pleasure of life - like having a beer with friends).
Due to my work, I had to train during the lunch time and often in night. The Saturday is my favorite moment because I can wake up, made my breakfast and then going on the mountain to run in the sun or in the snow until evening. They are very beautiful place and I feel in complete harmony with the nature.
Coach Al: When I first began to learn more about you and your running, I became aware that you had finished what is one of THE most difficult and challenging ultramarathon events in the world in 2008, the Spartathlon, in a very impressive time of 35 hours.
Can you tell me, besides your 2008 Spartathlon finish, what are your most proud athletic achievements to this point in time?
Roberto: “In 2007 I arrived 16 at Nove Colli Running (www.novecollirunning.it), that is a race of 202 km with 4000 m. of climbing. It is held in Italy, in May. This made me very proud because it was the second race of my life and we were in 88 runners and just 28 arrived at the end. I never suffered so much as I suffered during this race because I was not trained enough and I did not have enough experience to face a race like this. I finished it thanks to the support of my girlfriend that follow me by car. The Nove Colli is a very very difficult race, you have a time limit of 30 hours. It is also a beautiful race. I hope to been able to finish it under the 25 hour in 2010.
Then in December 2007 I arrived 7 at Boa Vista Ultramarathon (www.boavistaultramarathon.com): this is a race of 150 km non stop in the desert. it is held on the Boa Vista island, near Capo Verde, Africa. One of the most beautiful race in the world.
In April 2008 I arrived 10 in a 24hour, that was held in Bergamo (Italy). This was my first 24hour and I can say that this kind of race are mentally very challenging.
Finally, this February I finished the Susitna 100 miles in Alaska. I did not made a good result (42 hours) but I was very happy in any case because when I arrived at Anchorage I discovered that all my baggage were lost, consequently I had to run with some items that I bought in Anchorage and without all my technical gears that I brought from Italy. I suffered cold during and I had difficulties with the sleds that brooked off in the middle of the race. In any case I have never seen place more beautiful of the Alaska. I’m totally in love with it. I also met one of our crew member during this race: Carole, we arrived together.”
Coach Al: Roberto, can you tell me why you want to run Badwater? What drives you inside to want to come to the most inhospitable and desolate place on earth to challenge yourself in such a grueling event?
Roberto: “I decided to compete in Badwater in October 2006. I never heard about this race before but at that time I was reading Ultramarathonman by Dean Karnazes. When I red about this race and its peculiarities I was impressed and, more over, terrified by it. I was so scared by this race that I decided that I would have compete in it (I do not like to live with some fears….or better, I have many fears so I tried to win them everytime that I can). I run the Nove Colli and the Spartathlon because I wanted to gain enough “points” to be accept in Badwater.”
Coach Al: What does your “average” Badwater training week look like, e.g. how many runs per week, the length of those runs, etc?
Roberto: “This is my typical training week (heavily dependent upon my work):
- Monday: I rest and I do 1 h. of GYM during lunch-time
- Tuesday: I run 30 Minutes during the lunch time and I do 20 minutes of GYM then I run 1.30 - 2.00 hours in the evening
- Wednesday: I run run 30 Minutes during the lunch time and I do 20 minutes of GYM then I run 1.30 - 2.00 hours in the evening dressed in heavy “coat” in order to simulate the heat
- Thursday: I run 30 Minutes during the lunch time and I do 20 minutes of GYM then I run 1.30 - 2.00 hours in the evening and after the run I do 45 minutes of sauna.
- Friday: I do 1 hour of GYM and in the evening I do 45 minutes of sauna
- Saturday: I run from 6 to 9 hours (it depend on how much time I have) and I do this running in the mountains
- Sunday: I run more or less 30 km. very slow
**Coach Al note: I had to laugh when I read that Roberto’s one day of “rest” is only 1 hour of working out in the gym! - Yikes! 
Resets the bar a little bit, doesn’t it?
Coach Al: Roberto, what kind of supplemental or cross training, if any, do you do, in addition to running? For example, cycling, strength training, swimming, stretching or flexibility training, yoga or pilates?
Roberto: “I did mention my supplementary training earlier as the GYM and the sauna. I know that the GYM is not exactly the better training for a runner, but before I stared to run 3 years ago I used to go to Gym everyday and I cannot loose this vice.”
**Coach Al Note: those of you who know me and read this blog KNOW I BELIEVE that “gym” work and strength training IS VERY IMPORTANT for any runner, Badwater or not, to run well and stay injury free! Roberto’s on the right track, in my humble opinion.
Coach Al: What will be the length of your longest long run in preparation for the race? And how many weeks out from the race will you do that longest run?
Roberto: “80 km on the mountain, 6 weeks before the race. Then I will reduce 10 km every week. My last run will be about 30 km a week before the race.”
Coach Al: Roberto, how are you preparing for the specific environmental conditions of the race? It will be very very hot, to say the least.
Roberto: “I made saunas of 45 minutes 2 times per week (I hope to arrive to 3 time per week) and I run 1 day per week in winter dressing.”
Coach Al: An event of this magnitude not only requires great physical preparation, but also mental. How are you preparing mentally for the challenges of the race, both in terms of daily preparation and for race-day preparation?
Roberto: “I’m reading everything I can read on this race. I try to figure all the pain I will have to face and I try to focus on it particularly when I’m running on Saturdays or when I’m in sauna.
I try to figure how should it be to arrive at the end of this race, what kind of sensation would be to be able to say “well, I have done the most difficult race in the world”. This particular thought gives me the strength to go on. Another stimulating point is that nobody believes that I can do it.
My only fear is that I spend many words speaking about my mental and physical preparation and it might happen that I do not succeed in finish it.
Anyway, I’m very motivated and I’m training hard (despite my work) and I’m trying to lose weight (I started in April from 84 kg. and now I’m 80 Kg).
Coach Al: Thanks Roberto! I am very much looking forward to meeting you out west in July, and to helping you in any way I can, to ensure you are successful! I’m sure everyone reading also wishes you the very best of luck!