Toronto Tales - Fire & Ice : Lessons From Iceland.

The Fire & Ice race is an annual challenge held in the Icelandic Highlands every August. It is a 250km, 6 days, self-sufficient stage race; this means you run/walk/crawl every day for 6 days in a row, while carrying all of your food and gear in your pack. The only things provided by the race organizers are the tents to sleep in, hot and cold water, and obviously a beautifully plotted course which takes you around volcanoes, past waterfalls, through rock covered plateaus, and across ice cold rivers. It is a test of your physical, mental, and emotional endurance and not everybody finishes. Torrential rain, freezing temperatures, scorching temperatures, and physical ailments all contribute to a rugged and gritty race that isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Who would do this to themselves? This girl. I love tea and ridiculous challenges.

On a whim, I signed up for this race in February of 2017, which gave me 6 months to prepare. I had never been an endurance athlete, I am more of a rhino than an impala, but I am always up to try something new. The six days of the race were broken up into the following kilometres: 40km, 40km, 70km, 40km, 40km, 20km. Yes, you read that correctly. I can say that this experience humbled me, taught me, lifted me up, and broke me down. Through it all, I learned some critical lessons for life, and I thought that I would share some of my experience here with you.

1. Preparation.
   The old adage “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Was an obvious motivator in my approach to training and race prep. We had mandatory gear that we had to bring, and we had a mandatory number of daily calories that we needed to bring with us. I calculated every calorie that I was consuming per day, and with that also came the corresponding weight of the food. I had to carry all of this food, plus my equipment, on my person the ENTIRE race. Each calorie and gram was inputted into a spreadsheet, as was my hydration and electrolyte drinks. I also realized that I needed to put some serious mileage on my body in the lead up to the race, so every day of training was planned between the sign-up date and race day. Every day on my calendar was either mileage, weights, or rest. Needless to say, when you have a large goal, such as this, having a well laid out plan is critical for the reasons that I described BUT I discovered an added benefit when the race was about to start.
   
   I traveled to Iceland and in the days leading up to the race I had jitters and of course, I asked myself “What was I thinking!? I’m not a Viking!”. I think that self-doubt is a natural emotion that creeps up on, and whispers in your ear, when you are about to embark on any journey. The knowledge that I executed my training as I had laid it out allowed me to feel confident in my readiness. Cathy Freeman, the famous Aboriginal sprinter from Australia would use the phrase “Do what you know.” To relax prior to a race, because she knew that she had done the work. Sticking to a carefully laid out plan not only makes you ready in a physical sense, but it will make you emotionally ready for the event. This peace of mind is priceless when undertaking a large task such as a race, running a small business, developing a curriculum, or even a Halloween party!
   
   
2. Critical Failure
   Well, the afternoon before the race began I caught a GI bug, a nasty one. I couldn’t eat or drink, I had a fever, and I was unable to sleep the night before we began. My breakfast did not stay down, nor did any of the fuel that I consumed during the 40km stage. I was gutted, literally and figuratively. After reaching base camp, the medical team tried to give me medication both by pill and by injection, neither helped and I was unable to re-fuel or re-hydrate after a grueling 40km. Every time I tried to eat or drink, my body wrung itself out like a washcloth (great ab workout). It was also pouring rain and almost freezing, so this complicated matters as our bodies require calories to generate heat for itself, therefore no matter how many layers I put on I was shivering uncontrollably. I was still unable to eat the next morning, and I was pulled from Fire & Ice after the first day. How did I feel?
   
   Devastated. Inconsolable. Barfy. I understood the reasons for ending my attempt, though, and upon my return home I sought out guidance via reading. Explorer Ernest Shackleton said “Better a live donkey than a dead lion.” Which made me feel that exiting the race was the best decision for my health. Reading Jocko Willink’s Extreme Ownership allowed me to view my failure as a learning opportunity. I gathered amazing information on better equipment and alternative fuel sources, the process of training for this race got me in wonderful shape and I learned about my body, and the outpouring of love from my family and friends reminded me that love conquers all. When you don’t reach your goal, do you do a post-mortem, or do you try to forget it as soon as you can? Had it not been for my post-mortem exam of Fire & Ice I wouldn’t have come to accept the experience, I wouldn’t have logged what I learned, and I wouldn’t have been able to move on.
   
   
3. Cards.
   Sometimes you can do all of the hard work, and you still don’t get the outcome that you expect. When I returned to the northern city of Akureyri, I spent one night in the guesthouses that we had stayed at prior to the race. In conversation with the owner, I let her know that I had caught a terrible GI bug and was flying home early the next day. She exclaimed “Oh, you know what? I will give you some apple cider vinegar!” which was so lovely of her. I was very appreciative, and when she came to me with a small bottle of the cider she followed it up with “People think I’m crazy because I drink this every day, but I’m the only person on the entire staff here that didn’t get that bug that you have!”. And there you have it.

6 months of training, no life, testing gross food and other fuel sources, buying expensive equipment, weighing everything that I could, lapping up the support of my family and friends…and I caught a GI bug from the staff at the guesthouse which rendered me unable to execute. REALLY!? Yes, really. At this point, I realized that sometimes reaching our goals just isn’t in the cards. Sometimes you can do everything right, and things still don’t go your way. And you know what? That’s okay. You just get back up, dust yourself off, wipe the vomit off your face, and get back at it. Which is what I did. In the aftermath of my Fire & Ice experience I found Brazilian jiu jitsu, and my next journey had begun.

~Sarah Lachowsky