I Am a Different Man Now - Running 71 kms on UltraBiome
He never expected clarity to arrive mid-stride - yet that’s exactly how it happened. Somewhere between the silence of dawn and the rhythm of his feet on gravel, a thought emerged: “I’m not the same man who started this journey.”
Ten days before the run, he began taking UltraBiome capsules - a high-density microbial formula. They named it UltraBiome 20(XX) for its twenty fold density. The protocol was aggressive: double the dose every two days. On day three, a misstep - he jumped to four capsules too quickly and spent the evening with bloating and mild stomach cramps. Skipped a day. But instead of backing off, he adjusted. Slower increments, gentler meals, more water. By day ten, he was up to ten capsules without issue.
At 2:00 a.m. on race day, he rolled out of bed with a strange calm. Picked up one of his running companions. They drove through the dark to Lake Velence, the course for the day’s ultradistance experiment of 90kms. At 4:00 a.m., under a sky still velvet and quiet, the three started to run.
In the very same year, his fuel ran dry around the 40 km mark - a wall of fatigue, fog, and gut slowdown. But that day, something was different. At 43 km, he didn’t crash - he got hungry. His body wasn’t shutting down. It was asking for more.
He took salt tablets regularly, kept a disciplined water intake, and had different foods prepared: bananas, cooked rice, nut butter, honey gels. But what surprised him wasn’t the fuel - it was how little he needed it. His legs stayed light, muscles silent, breath even. Zone 2 to 3 heart rate for most of the first lap - no spikes, no panic. No fear.
It wasn’t until he crossed the halfway point that he remembered the capsules. “Could this be the microbes?” he wondered. The UltraBiome formula wasn’t just designed for digestion - it supported lactate metabolism, mitochondrial function, and immune balance. And the first idea came when they supported the Hungarian Open Water Team in Paris. And now, it was showing up in his stride, in his silence, in the absence of exhaustion.
Not everything was perfect. The knee pain that had haunted him for years still lingered. It flared on the inclines and slowed his descent. But this time, it didn’t feel like a limitation. Just… information.
That morning, as he looped around the lake, he realized something more profound than endurance had changed. His microbiome had shifted - and with it, his capacity. Not just to run - but to listen.
Next week: “How to Survive the Second Half” — the mental, microbial, and metabolic strategies for pushing through when things start to fall apart.