The 45-year-old athlete, who was met at his home in Tardet-Sorhol (Pyrenees-Atlantiques), feels “new man” from September, but these years “injured”.
He made headlines late after his 2022 victory at La Diagonale des Fous on Reunion Island. belonging “overeating attacks” » caused by the ketogenic diet, then energy deficiency syndrome.
In 2018, he met a man who would train him for three years and immediately put him on a diet of depriving the body of carbohydrates to force it to use other reserves, especially lipids. Target : “The ideal silhouette of a high-level runner”I’m losing weight quickly.
Amateur athlete is ready “some victims” become a professional and escape “food, birthdays, Christmas”. Convinced by immediate results, he ignores his fatigueson irritabilityses sleep disorders.
“12 kilograms in ten days”
First “crisis” happens after a few months: binge eating episode which causes him to consume large amounts of food and gain four kilograms in a few days.
“Except I have a race coming up, so I go on a full diet and walk a third of the distance in agony.” Blown up his coach, whose name he does not want to name and who calls him ” weak “he’s drowning.
The French ultra-trailer spends calories on training that he does not absorb, but a series of starvation and attacks of hyperphagia every two months. “The shortest was three days and the longest was four weeks, I gained 12 kilos in ten days, it was disgusting.”.
The French ultratrailer spends calories training that he doesn’t absorb and experiences starvation and bouts of hyperphagia every two months.
Photo by GAYZKA IROZ / AFP
Both 2020 and “huge depression”he spent twelve days in the clinic. “Only my parents knew, and I made them promise not to tell anyone.” When he leaves, the attacks get worse every two weeks. “How many times have I had to cancel things, I’m lying”– he whispers.
His victory at the Diagonal de Fus? AND ” miracle “ without “No Glory”. “I had an attack ten days before, followed by a no-flour diet for five or six days. I won, but things are not going well.”.
This won’t happen in 2023“stop eating” before the start of the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). “After 20 kilometers I feel overloaded, I want to vomit, my stomach explodes, and under the pretext of hypoglycemia I eat tons of gel and bars.” energy.
Suffering from significant muscle damage and kidney damage, he gave up after 80 kilometers. “I almost gave up my career”– admits Benat Marmissol, who is still hurt by the doping charges stemming from his departure.
Search for extreme sports and RED-S syndrome
After numerous consultations, everyone concentrated “about eating disorders”he meets Gilles Reboul, a visceral surgeon from the Gironde, who tells him about energy deficiency syndrome.
“Nobody mentioned RED-S, even though I’ve been calling for help for years.”– regrets the athlete, who is now followed by Pierre Broussin, a sleep doctor, and Pierrick Loland, a doctor of psychology and researcher at the University of Lausanne.
“The trigger was the ketogenic diet, which cut off the fuel and led to very tight diet control along with very intense training volumes. It was completely exhausted, it’s RED-S. »– explains the latter.
“This discipline values suffering, and pushing your body to extremes is problematic.”– he notes.
However, Benat Marmisol “adore” always running and doesn’t want to “Going through all this in vain”. He hopes to shake up the tourism industry.where nutritional disorders persist “taboo”.
Today an athlete “accepted the fact of weight gain”welcomes Pierrick Laulan.
Winner of the May Snowdonia Ultra-trail tournament in Wales (163 km and 9200 m elevation gain), the Basque will start at the UTMB in Chamonix at the end of August. “If I am not completely saved, today I found all the tools to deal with this »he finally smiled.