SYNERGY PRODUCTS AID ULTRAMARATHON RUNNER

For most, finishing a marathon is an incredible feat of endurance and strength, but for ultramarathon runners, 42 km is just the beginning.

Ultramarathons are any race longer than the standard 42.195 km marathon. They range from anywhere between 50 km to thousands of kilometers, and some of these races take multiple days to complete.

For Marcel Höche, a Synergy sponsored athlete, these races are his life. At 22, the German ultrarunner is one of the youngest competitors in the sport. He is the German National Champion for the under-23s in ultrarunning and in 2015 he set a Best Performer 12h run for his category, meaning no competitor his age was running farther than him in a 12-hour period.

Marcel fell in love with competitive sports at 7-years old and ran his first ultramarathon when he was only 19. Since then, he has held a sincere passion for racing stating simply that it’s just what he likes to do.

His training is extensive and tedious, with daily routines constantly switching between long- distance runs (30 km at 4:20 per km) and speed sessions that allow him to push his body to its limits as an athlete. Due to the heavy physical toll caused by ultramarathons, Marcel began using Synergy products in February 2016 to help him train and to aid in his performance during competitions.

“When I started to train harder, I changed my diet and Synergy’s products have really helped me with that,” he said.

A big fan of Synergy’s V3 System, Marcel uses Mistify each day to help with the physical stress the sport places on his body.

He is also a firm believer in ProArgi-9+, using the products multiple times throughout the day both in training and in competition.

“I like e9 a lot, it has everything I need in a tough situation,” Marcel said. “Minerals, energy and amino acids. It really is a perfect mixture of everything that I need to perform well.”

But even with physical training, proper diet, and the help of supplemental nutrition, Ultramarathon runners are inevitably met with some very difficult moments.

“In every race I hit a wall,” Marcel said. “When that happens, it becomes incredibly difficult for me. The most extreme instance was when I set the 12 hour Best Performance in 2015.”

Marcel said that he had been running for over 7 hours and still needed another 5 hours in order to complete his performance, but his body was struggling and he started to shut down mentally.

“I began talking to myself,” he said. “I remember saying, ‘Marcel, it’s only one more marathon, just one more and then you will be the best in the world in your age class.’ I had to tell myself to keep going, to just do it. No matter what, I knew I needed to keep moving forward. And that mindset really saved me.”

Marcel has been actively competing in ultrarunning for the past 3 years, some of his latest achievements and results include:

1. 3rd Overall - Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival 65 Km 30.04.2016
2. 3rd Overall - Brocken-Challenge 13.02.2016
3. 2nd Overall - Stadtoldendorfer 12-Stunden-Lauf 11.-12.07.2015

Marcel continues to perform at top levels within the sport and is looking forward to continuing his good form for future races. He has his sights set on an ultramarathon race in Germany this summer and is fully prepared to put everything he has into giving his best performance.