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To Break the 2-Hour Marathon, Runners Will Have to Change the Way They Fuel

oharlow — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This May, Eliud Kipchoge, Lelisa Desisa, and Zersenay Tadese will toe the start line in Nike’s Breaking2 project, an attempt to run the first-ever sub-two-hour marathon. To succeed, they won’t just have to train for speed and stamina. They’ll also need to master a new fueling strategy.

“Typically, the higher the relative intensity, the more difficult it is to ingest liquid or food substances,” says Brett Kirby, a human bioenergetics expert at Nike Sport Research Lab in Beaverton, Oregon. Running at a demanding 4:35-per-mile pace inevitably presents challenges for how to properly fuel.

To maintain such a fast pace for 26.2 miles, runners will need to consume more carbohydrates than they’d typically ingest during a marathon. While it’s possible that they could run for two hours without taking in carbs, the runners’ pace would almost certainly falter near the end, says Asker Jeukendrup, exercise physiologist and co-founder of . That means their guts need to be trained—just like the rest of their bodies—to be able to take on this workload and prevent any drop-off from their split times. They’ll have to practice fueling at shorter intervals so their intestines grow accustomed to absorbing and using the energy to keep muscles fed and firing, says Jeukendrup. Through trial and error during training, the athletes will nail down a formula for what they should ingest, and when, to avoid GI pain.

“The laboratory results are really clear that higher intake will result in better performance.”

The first test for this strategy came on March 7, when Nike ran the half-marathon Breaking2 attempt. Two runners finished under the 60-minute mark—approximately the pace they’d need to hold for twice that distance during the marathon. One runner fell off the pace slightly and finished in just over an hour. Nike used the race to test nutrition strategies that could be used in the real event. The trial took place at the planned venue for the attempt—a Formula One racetrack in Monza, Italy—so the climate and surface conditions would be the same.

In the test, Kirby rode a moped and passed out bottles of a carbohydrate blend—tailored specifically for each runner—on every 1.5-mile loop, or approximately every seven minutes. That’s about twice as often as fluid stations appear in typical organized marathons. “Research shows that drinking smaller volumes more frequently can be beneficial, so we are looking at providing hydration and nutrition offerings at smaller intervals throughout the race,” Kirby says. This research formed the basis of their strategy for the half-marathon test run. Nike hasn’t yet specified whether the nutrition timing in the half will be the same in the marathon or what the precise makeup of the sports drinks will be for race day. But the solutions could be a mix of carbs like fructose and glucose since ingesting multiple types during a race typically makes them easier to digest, according to Jeukendrup. Runners have also been directed to eat foods high in nitrate beforehand, such as leafy greens and beetroot. Nitrate may relax the muscle cells within the blood vessel wall, which improves muscle oxygenation, efficiency, and contraction force. In addition, the runners will avoid foods that are high in fiber.

Jeukendrup’s prior research supports Nike’s efforts to significantly boost carbohydrate intake for this type of run. His work compared a marathoner ingesting 20 to 25 grams of carbohydrates per hour to one ingesting 40 to 50 grams per hour. “The laboratory results are really clear that higher intake will result in better performance,” he says.

During the race, Nike will provide a specialized fueling plan for each athlete based on how they’ve responded to the test run and training. Regardless of the exact final number, ramping up intake to 60 to 90 grams per hour—the goal range for the runners—will work only if practiced extensively. “It’s a huge amount if you aren’t used to it,” says Jeukendrup.

It’s also important to look at the past performances and fueling approaches of each athlete, since any person’s ability to eat during a big effort varies dramatically. The Nike team found that the athletes had never developed extensive race nutrition programs, so they had little knowledge of how well the runners would tolerate different types of sugar or carbohydrates.

To fill this data gap, the athletes hit Nike’s environmental simulation chamber. There, researchers tracked environmental conditions, core body temperature, skin temperature, body fluid loss, and muscle glycogen levels, with the end goal being a bespoke fuel plan for each athlete. Variations will include delivery method (think: gel versus liquid), temperature, concentration of liquid mix, and type of carb in the mix (think: glucose versus fructose).

When the three runners finally put their strategies to the test in May, sports scientists will be watching. “It’s definitely at the limit of human physiology,” says Jeukendrup. “That’s why it’s exciting.”

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These Inspirational Quotes Will Make You Faster

sperkins-pom — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Can inspirational quotes make you a champion? It worked for six-time Hawaii —and he wants to share his moral support with us mere mortals.

The legendary triathlete’s new book, , combines scenic photographs with Allen’s own spiritual thoughts. The finished product reads in bit like a series of inspirational posters, but also as a serious reflection on healthy competition.

We talked to Allen about the book, triathlons, and the spiritual work he does with .

OUTSIDE: What made you decide to write a book of inspirational quotes?
ALLEN: For years, people asked me, ‘What did you think about during races? How did you hold it together?’ I always felt I was falling short of explaining the essence of what I was doing.

How did you begin to compile the quotes?
I was on a retreat with Brant Secunda in Japan. I was lying down and these quotes just started coming to me, out of thin air. It was like a faucet. By the next day, I’d written down 35 to 40 quotes. I thought, these are pretty cool, but I didn’t have a vision for what to with them. Five years later, I decided that I needed to pair them with photographs from nature.

Why is nature such an important part of the book?
We are hard wired to feel good in nature, and the quotes have everything to do with us feeling good in life. That is how I raced best; when I felt good about life. I trained in San Diego in the winter and Boulder in the summer and I just loved those environments. You’re running by the ocean and then riding in the foothills of the Rockies. It doesn’t get any better. Nature has always been a huge part of my training. When you go outside and immerse yourself in nature, you inherently feel better.

Did you write this book for triathletes?
I wrote this book for everybody. There’s not one photo of an athlete in it. There are no numbers or formulas. It’s meant to test people on a deeper level. Obviously, there’s a sport slant to a lot of it, but it applies to personal challenges in any arena.

Should someone read this book straight through? Or take their time with a few quotes at a time?
When I had put everything together for the book, I sent out a PDF to people to get feedback. One of the guys I sent it to I thought was as far at the end of the spectrum of people who might like it as possible. He finally called me, and told me he’d at last finished reading the book. He’d started reading quotes and flipping through the pages, and then realized he could only look at two or three quotes each day because he would start thinking about each one. I think a lot of people will read a little bit at a time and go reflect on it.

The book contains positive quotes, but it also addresses problems such as being stuck, jealous, or grappling with self-pity. Do you deal with all of those?
I’ve had to overcome all of those things. I didn’t want to make the book just about fluffy positive things. I was feeling sorry for myself all those years I didn’t win races. I could be in the lead at hours five, six, or seven, but I couldn’t be in the lead at the finish line. I had jealousy and self-pity when Dave Scott kept winning and I couldn’t. We all have to find a way to move beyond those things.

Your best known race is the 1989 Ironman Hawaii battle with Dave Scott. What did that win mean to you?
It was an amazing race because we were side by side for eight hours. It had never happened before, and it hasn’t happened since. It was a defining moment for me. I made the switch to finally having the race I wanted to have. It was the first time I really integrated the soul-body concept. I really embraced how the internal space dictates what is going on outside of you.

What happened mentally with you in that race that enabled you to push through to the finish line?
Dave was surging at the half marathon point. I remember looking around at the black lava surrounding us, and thinking that it was the most amazing creation nature could make. It was like a cloud had lifted. I stopped thinking about everything and became a vehicle for performance to take place. I think almost all great athletic performances happen when you are in that space.

What was the tougher race: The duel with Dave Scott or your final Ironman Hawaii victory in 1995, when you had to make up 13 and a half minutes in the marathon over race leader Thomas Hellriegel?
I would say the final victory was the hardest. When I was racing with Dave, we were side by side the whole time. There was zero doubt about how he was feeling. With Hellriegel, I was racing a guy who’d passed me on the bike and I didn’t see again for hours. It was very hard mentally to keep going and say this is something that could turn around.

How did you keep going when you were that far back?
I knew I had to make up 30 seconds per mile in the marathon. It seemed so impossible. I threw off my heart rate monitor. It would tell me if I was running out of gas, and I didn’t want to know that.

What made you a great triathlete?
Tons of guys have the same genetics as me. I’m not a freak of nature genetically. There are a lot of guys with better numbers. But the numbers in the logbook don’t necessarily tell what you will do in competition. I discovered how to persevere in difficult moments. When you just want to quit, you have to surrender to the moment, and find a calm.

What did you love about Ironman Hawaii?
I loved that Ironman is such a complex puzzle to figure out. The wind, the heat, the energy of the Big Island. Everyone willing to give 100 percent. I really loved that.

Have you been surprised by the enormous growth in the sport of Ironman?
When I started in 1982, there were 1,000 people in the race in Kona. You didn’t have to qualify. There were very few Ironman races to enter. Now, there are races everywhere. I think people do this sport because of the community of people, and because you test yourself and challenge yourself.

What do you do in the retreats you host with Shaman Brant Secunda?
We teach retreats all over the world. We’ve been doing it since 1998. The Art of Competition is a teaser of what you can get if you develop your mind and body, which is what we work on at our retreats. We get a huge range of people at our retreats. Everyone from world class athletes to inactive, overweight individuals. The way we set up the workshops is so there’s something for everybody.

Do you also work with triathletes?
I do training camps periodically. I’ll be in Boulder in August. I talk about both the physical and mental because there’s a lot of misinformation about training. I believe in getting fit in a way that is healthy instead of burning yourself out. I tell a lot of Ironman stories because it brings to life that even champions struggle.

Do you still do triathlons?
My day-to-day exercise now is surfing. I live in Santa Cruz and absolutely love it. I get out on the water most days. It’s my cardio, my strength, my stretching, and my nature fix. I also run and lift weights.

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CrossFit: Coming to a Preschool Near You

sperkins-pom — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Across the country, a rapidly growing number of children and teens are spending their after-school hours jumping, sprinting, climbing, and lifting weights at CrossFit gyms.

Once just a spot for intense, adult-only sufferfests, CrossFit boxes are increasingly welcoming younger members. The number of CrossFit studios in the United States offering CrossFit Kids programming—a strength, agility, and movement-based fitness protocol for children ages three to 18—has doubled in the past year to roughly 1,800 gyms. An additional 1,300 schools, rec centers, YMCAs, churches, or other organizations offer CrossFit Kids classes.

“It’s snowballing at this point,” says Mikki Martin, who co-founded with her husband, Jeff, in 2004.��“It’s kind of happening everywhere.”

Since founding CrossFit Kids a decade ago, the Martins have received a variety of over and a program as rigorous as CrossFit. Many observers assume that kids are engaging in the same type of intense workouts as adult CrossFitters. The Martins respond by explaining that the workouts are tailored for every age group. CrossFit Kids doesn’t load children with weight until they reach age 10 to 12. Before then, they max out with small medicine balls or light dumbbells.

“People see high-end, top athletes doing amazing things on CrossFit Games on TV, and they assume we’re doing the same thing,” Mikki says. “CrossFit Kids is developmentally appropriate to age.”

Although weight training can benefit teens, heavy weights should not be used with young children, says Dan Gould, director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University.

“I’m real leery of weights prior to puberty,” Gould says.

For kids younger than teenage years, CrossFit Kids also emphasizes play over competition, the Martins say. The .

“Prior to puberty, I’d have concerns about putting kids into really structured workouts,” Gould says. “You have to make it fun.”

Adult CrossFit classes are typically timed, but the kids’ programs largely are not. Preschool classes never use a clock, and kids age 10 and younger rarely do. Even preteens do most workouts without timing, as form tends to dissolve once the clock starts, the Martins say. The average workout ranges in length depending on age group, anywhere from 20 minutes for preschool children to 60 minutes for teens (including an academic study hall segment).

CrossFit Kids also emphasizes proper form over lifting heavy weights. The Martins say they make sure their clients—youth and adult—know how to set their back and pick things up off the ground. Though CrossFit Kids teen classes are structured to be competitive, they’re not based on who is the fastest or strongest but who moves the best. While competitions exist for CrossFit youth, the Martins believe the primary goal should be to make kids stronger; they support competition only for teens who have mastered basic CrossFit skills.

“It doesn’t make sense to load a child when they don’t move well,” Jeff says.

The Martins started CrossFit Kids after they began adapting CrossFit workouts for the middle school and high school teens attending classes at their martial arts studio. They lived across the street from the local high school track and noticed that many students seemed unmotivated during gym classes. They wondered if CrossFit could provide teens the motivation to become stronger and faster.

Right off the bat, the Martins found that teens loved the physical challenges—and told their friends to come with them. Since CrossFit is so varied, kids could find some element to succeed in, be it a gymnastics move for a smaller teen or weight lifting for a heavier kid. Children who aren’t coordinated with ball sports can typically master some CrossFit move.

“It gives kids something that they are naturally good at and something they have to work at,” Jeff says.

Some youth use CrossFit as a supplement to other organized sports teams. Cathy Goldstein signed up her 10- and 14-year-old daughters for Brand X CrossFit Kids to help them in soccer, volleyball, and water polo.

“Since working out with the CrossFit Kids program, we have seen a significant increase in their strength, conditioning, and mobility,” Goldstein says.

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The Rise of Run Commuters

sperkins-pom — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Pam Walker doesn’t take the easy way to work.

Two days a week, the 46-year-old clinical emergency medicine pharmacist runs 15.6 miles over hilly dirt roads to her job at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After work, she laces up her shoes again and spends another 2.5 hours running home to suburban South Lyon.

Walker recognizes that most commuters consider her distance runs to and from work a little insane, but she insists that the sunrise runs past farms and horses mentally prepare her for the long workday ahead.

“Those running endorphins help with my creativity for projects,” Walker says.

Walker is one of a growing number of people who are maximizing their exercise time by running to work. (TRC), which launched in April 2011, is a website devoted to tips and stories about run commuting, including backpack reviews, advice on how to get started, and regular blog posts from site users.

It all suggests that run commuting is becoming increasingly popular, says Kyle Torok, one of TRC’s founders. In the past year, TRC has seen its number of users—60 percent of whom are American—increase 191 percent.

“We hear from people all over the world who have started run commuting in recent years,” Torok says.

The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t break out statistics on people running to work but tracks that about 3 percent walk, which could include runners. In major cities, that number is typically much higher. In Boston, for instance, 15 percent walk to work.

Most of the runners sharing stories on the site cover three to seven miles each way during their commutes, Torok says. The site plans to send out a survey in late summer to collect more information on run commuters’ demographics and motivations. Torok says more women than men share stories on the site, but that might just be indicative of a woman’s inclination to engage in social online activity.

Most run commuters take it up to avoid traffic and transportation costs and to put themselves in a better mood for the workday. Running to work isn’t as fast or efficient as bicycle commuting, but it allows for a harder workout.

For commuters with nonstop work and family lives, run commuting is often the only chance they have to exercise. TRC’s other founder, Josh Woiderski, has two young children and a third on the way and finds his commute time the best way to log his miles.

There is one considerable hurdle—every run commuter has to figure out how to clean up when they reach the office. “We hear from a lot of women that they have to be more presentable at the office,” Torok says. “Men typically feel they can be more scruffy.”

Torok, who works for the government and has no office shower, goes into a locking bathroom and uses wipes to mop up the sweat. He keeps a large pack of Huggies baby wipes in his desk drawer, along with deodorant, soap, comb, and towel. Other showerless run commuters get even more creative. If they belong to a nearby gym, they use the locker rooms there. A German wrote to TRC about his practice of keeping a small washtub at his desk. He fills it with water in a private restroom, stands in it, does a sort of sponge bath to rinse himself off, and then empties the tub in the sink.

Then there are the logistics of transporting clothing and gear to and from the office. This often involves more planning than bike commuting, as runners don’t have the luxury of strapping panniers on a bike and filling them with daily supplies.

Torok uses the days he bike commutes to carry heavier loads and haul extra work clothes to the office, where he keeps a supply of five pairs of pants, six shirts, and two pairs of dress shoes. Even if run commuters don’t want to leave a full wardrobe at the office, Torok recommends they always keep the most critical clothing items in their desk drawers. “The most important thing is an emergency pair of underwear and socks at your desk, because they are so easy to forget,” Torok says.

Investing in the right running backpack is also key to a comfortable and successful run commute. The search term “running backpack” brings the most people to TRC, suggesting it’s a priority for those considering running to work. TRC’s running backpack roundup includes price and size details for 24 different packs, from brands like UltrAspire, CamelBak, and Black Diamond. Some of the packs also link to lengthier blog reviews on the site.

Torok relies on a snug hip belt and chest strap to keep his pack from swaying as he runs; side compression straps distribute the weight. The wide availability of both gender-neutral and women-specific running packs makes it easier for commuters to find a backpack that fits.

Many run commuters prioritize gear that can withstand a variety of weather. Blog posts on TRC tackle running through subzero temperatures in Ottawa winters, waterproofing packs with plastic grocery bags for rainy runs, and enduring the heat and humidity of sweaty East Coast summers.

Though the stories on TRC vary from Walker’s monster rural commute to quick city jaunts, Torok believes all run commutes are inherently interesting.

“You smell the honeysuckle, the lemon pie factory, or the smoky barbecue,” Torok says of his run commute through Atlanta. “You sometimes get that on a bike, but you never get that in a car.”

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How to Beat the Blerch

sperkins-pom — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

When The Oatmeal comic-strip author Matthew Inman first started running, he invented an invisible fat cherub called the Blerch.

In Inman’s head, the Blerch represented the chubby self he was trying to run away from. The Blerch earned that name because it was the most disgusting sound he could think of, “like mayonnaise squirting from a tube,” Inman says. On those early runs, Inman told himself that he just needed to keep jogging until the next stop sign or tree, or else the Blerch would catch—and become—him.��

Years later, after he’d logged hundreds of miles and shed his extra pounds, Inman decided to turn the Blerch and all of his reasons for running into a comic. Within days of publishing it online last July, the strip, called “,” had received several hundred thousand Facebook likes. “It went crazy,” Inman says. “It seemed to resonate with a lot of people.”

Not only did runners love it, Inman found, but also rowers, CrossFit enthusiasts, martial arts practitioners, and all sorts of other athletes embraced the Blerch. They loved Inman’s honesty about why he runs: for therapy, for selfish reasons, and “so I can treat my mouth like a garbage disposal.”��

Now, Inman has turned the popular comic strip into both a book and a race. The 140-page book, which bears the same title as the first running-themed foray that debuted on Facebook, comes out on September 30. Inman recently took four months off from updating his website with new comics in order to finish the book, which will be his fifth. The new book includes tips for what not to do in a marathon, such as sprint at mile one or have 15 water bottles attached to your body.

, “Beat the Blerch,” taking place on September 20 and 21 in Carnation, Washington. Each day, runners will compete in a 10K, a half marathon, or a full marathon. Race volunteers wearing Blerch fat suits will chase runners, and aid stations will have couches, cake, and Nutella. “It’s a former fat kid race,” explains Inman, who recruited local race directors Roger Michel and Porter Bratten to handle the logistics for him.

When registration opened for Beat the Blerch, the race sold out all 2,000 spots in 20 minutes. Inman ended up opening a second race day so some of the runners from the wait list could enroll. Half of Beat the Blerch’s participants are coming to Washington from out of state, which is why Inman chose the Snoqualmie Valley River Trail for the race.

“I don’t want to send runners down Aurora,” Inman says, referring to the busy, motel- and parking-lot-populated thoroughfare of Highway 99. “I want to showcase how beautiful Washington State is. And since I’ve got 2,000 runners a day, I can’t put them on Cougar Mountain. They’d destroy it.”

Inman already plans to expand Beat the Blerch to other states. Assuming he can secure a permit, he’ll run the race in San Diego this fall. He also wants to put on an East Coast race, likely in Philadelphia or Boston, next spring.

Though Inman first started running to lose weight, he now relies on his jogs for other reasons. He often fleshes out ideas in his head for new comic strips during afternoon runs at Seattle-area running areas like Discovery Park, Green Lake, or Cougar Mountain. Inman works from his house on Puget Sound, but figures he wouldn’t really get anything done between two and five in the afternoon anyway.

“You can convince yourself that you’re working, but you’re really just on YouTube or Facebook,” Inman notes. “Getting out to run really helps me come up with ideas. When I run, I fall into this weird little zone that’s almost like meditation.”

Inman has delved into both marathons and ultramarathons. He ran his first road marathon after a friend suggested it, and ended up placing second in his age group.

“I got a plaque, and the last time I’d won anything was in the fourth grade,” Inman says. “From there, I was hooked.”

Rather than sticking to the 26.2-mile distance and trying to get faster, Inman decided to also try an ultra. He compares ultrarunners like himself to stumbling mountain goats who stop and graze on food along the way. By contrast, marathon runners, he asserts, are trying to be cheetahs.��

“It was kind of a selfish, lazy thing,” explains Inman. “Rather than run a ton of marathons and improve your PR, you just keep running longer. Unfortunately, there’s nothing longer than an ultra, so soon I’ll have to run an ultra in a bear costume, or do something else to make it harder, so people will still be impressed.”

Inman didn’t pick a simple 50K to kick off his ultra career. Instead, he listened to a friend who had done the White River 50 Mile Endurance Run near Washington State’s Mount Rainier. The course’s technical trails, which traverse up and down two mountains over their 50 miles, total 17,400 feet in elevation change.

“It was a horrible idea,” Inman says. “There were f-ing ladders going up the mountain. When my friend finished, they had to slap his face and pick him up off the ground.”

Against his better judgment, Inman signed up for the race in 2011, along with his brother and the same friend from the White River run. His friend once again collapsed at the finish line. His brother took so much Aleve and Tylenol that, by the end, his liver revolted. As for Inman, he ended up feeling so good, he found himself running seven-minute miles over the last stretch of trail along Skookum Flats to the finish line.��

In 2013, Inman and his brother decided to enter the race again. This time, it was Inman who fell apart. He became nauseous by mile 20, and ended up dry heaving for most of the rest of the race. This was about a week after he’d published his running cartoon, so he was wearing a special Beat the Blerch T-shirt.

“Everyone saw my shirt and said, ‘Go Oatmeal!’—and there I was, puking by the side of the trail,” recalls Inman. “I’m thinking, ‘F- me, I’m going to DNF this race wearing this stupid shirt!’”

In the end, Inman managed to make it to the finish line. Inman says that his memories of the nausea and pain aren’t bad enough to keep him from signing up for White River again, though this year he has to be in San Diego for Comi-Con International that same July weekend.

These days, if Inman wears a Blerch shirt on his runs, he chooses a version with a very small logo so someone would have to look very closely to see the connection.

“It would be like Eddie Vedder wearing an Eddie Vedder shirt,” Inman said. “It feels a little weird.”

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The Road Less Sprinted: The Rise of Fastest Known Time

sperkins-pom — Thu, 22 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

A growing number of trail runners are finding a new way to test themselves, and it doesn’t involve race fees, bibs, or finish line chutes.

Instead, they’re enlisting their own stopwatch, navigational prowess, and determination to set trail Fastest Known Times, or FKTs. They pick a route, decide whether they’ll receive any outside help in the form of food or aid along the way, and try to cover the distance as fast as possible.

“FKTs allow for a lot more individual creativity than official races,” said ultrarunner Anton Krupicka.

In recent years, the FKT phenomenon has become increasingly visible. A web site——now exists dedicated to record keeping, enabling runners to look up existing records and post their own. The site has several hundred threads dedicated to FKT attempts.

“I think there has been an increased interest in FKTs,” said Peter Bakwin, who runs the Fastest Known Time site. “There are a lot of really cool areas that will never have races on them. Wherever you live, you can find a route.”

Some of the recent attention to FKTs emerged because elite trail runners have tackled major efforts. Whereas elites used to prioritize races over FKTs, Bakwin said, some are now making speed attempts the centerpiece of their season, due to both personal preference and growing support from the companies that back them.��

who many consider the best in the sport, has built his career around setting speed records on mountain routes.��

Sponsors, in turn, have followed suit in embracing FKT efforts. The North Face sponsored Hal Koerner and Mike Wolfe when they set a speed record on the John Muir Trail last year. Rob Krar, who set the record last year on the Grand Canyon’s Rim to Rim to Rim route, believes his effort on the iconic route—along with a couple of top race performances—helped land him a sponsorship with The North Face.

Public awareness of trail speed attempts has increased as sponsors produce videos and blogs highlighting FKT records. Jornet’s sponsor, Salomon, helps create online videos about his efforts, leading to global recognition of Jornet’s pursuits. New Balance sent a film crew to Colorado last summer to track Anton Krupicka’s attempt to set a speed record on a route up and over a series of 14,000-foot peaks. And Patagonia made web video of the record-setting-run Krissy Moehl and Luke Nelson set on the Trans-Zion trail. Moehl, who also set the women’s speed record on Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail last year with Darcy Africa, said Patagonia prefers that she attempt FKTs and trail adventures rather than just stick to traditional races.

“Patagonia likes the storyline that goes along with it,” Moehl said.

Both elite and amateur runners who attempt FKTs say they’re drawn to the grassroots element of the endeavor. Rather than traipsing through the woods with hundreds of other race competitors, they’re on their own in nature. For trail running enthusiasts, that’s often what drew them to the sport in the first place.

“For me, it’s returning to the roots of why I love mountain running,” Wolfe said. “The joy and freedom of moving through the mountains in a minimalist style.”

FKTs also enable runners to tackle routes in which races will never take place. Permits will likely never be issued for races in wilderness areas or National Parks, such as the Grand Canyon’s Rim to Rim to Rim trail, or Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail.��

With speed efforts, runners can pick their run day based on personal health, fitness, weather, or convenience, and not have to worry about a designated race day. FKTs also provide a compelling challenge for athletes who want their adventure to include navigation and strategic planning.��

“Races are an adventure, but one where you can blow up and get a car ride back home,” said Matt Hart, who set the Zion Traverse record in 2010 and tries to go after a new FKT each year. “There is more adventure, more risk in trying for a FKT. You have to estimate your abilities and go for it.”

But even the most ardent supporters of FKTs acknowledge that there can be downsides. Some runners simply prefer the support and comfort of directional race flagging and aid stations, and don’t want to navigate a wilderness area on their own. Krar said that some athletes might end up in trouble because they chose a route above their ability level.

Criticism also can arise if too many runners are attempting to cover a trail as fast as possible on their own terms. Bakwin and Krar noted problems with large volumes of runners in the Grand Canyon trails in recent years. The runners can overwhelm toilet facilities at the bottom of the canyon and sometimes blow past mule trains and walkers. Of course, very few of these runners are actually attempting FKTs, but observers can easily lump solo or two-person competitive runners into the category as huge groups of runners.

“I’ve heard a lot of reports of runners not obeying common courtesy because they’re on the clock,” Bakwin said.��

For these runners, time—and making records of it—means everything. The history of FKTs likely dates way back, but long-term record keeping is tough to uncover. That’s why Bakwin started the Fastest Known Time web site roughly 10 years ago. He and friend Buzz Burrell made sure to dub the records on the site Fastest Known Times, as there can always be existing speed records that no one knows about. The site encourages runners to use GPS, photos, and other methods to verify their times.

“If you want to go out there with no GPS track and no witnesses, that’s great, but then don’t publicize it and ask sponsors for support,” Burrell said. “If you’re going to publicize yourself, then document yourself. It’s a package deal.”

In addition to keeping records, Bakwin wants the site to tell stories of both trail triumphs and failures. He’s more interested in someone’s trail experience than the end time result.

“I wanted to have a place those stories could be saved,” Bakwin said.��

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From Drug Addict to Ironman

sperkins-pom — Sun, 18 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

In his new memoir, athlete and coach Shane Niemeyer opens up about his journey from a drug addict and convict to a top Ironman competitor. The Hurt Artist, co-written with and set to release May 20th, reveals how Niemeyer’s suicide attempt in prison marked a personal turning point. Today, Niemeyer lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado, and has qualified for the Ironman World Championships four times. We talked to Niemeyer about his new book and life story.

OUTSIDE: Was it hard to open up about your past?
NIEMEYER: My past is my past. There are a lot of things I’m not proud of, but they happened. Going through the process with the writer, Gary Brozek, helped me examine my life in a way I wouldn’t have otherwise. We talked for hours at a time. I was really open to him. If I were writing the book alone, I would have left some things out. It was painful.

How well could you remember the parts of your life when you were doing drugs?
There was a stretch of my life when the only way I could piece things together was through criminal justice and rehab records. I’d been to three different psych units and rehab four or five times. There was a two-inch file of documentation on just one psych institution I was in.

Why was your suicide attempt in prison a turning point for you?
At that point in my life, I had no hope. I had despair. To look at death by suicide as a viable solution is a really tough place. Having come through that crisis in tact really shook something inside of me. The only thing I had left coming through that was freedom, because I had nothing to lose. Before, I was afraid I’d be a failure. On the other side of that, there was a huge relief, and an emerging sense of hope and gratitude. I realized how lucky I’d been. I knew I needed to quit using drugs and alcohol.

What was it like to start physical training in prison?
Prison is a place to reform yourself. All you have is time. If you can use that time to your advantage, you can really create a new life. In the beginning of me working out, there were no facilities. I was really out of shape. My liver was still swollen. I was really toxic. I was overweight. It was hard in the beginning to walk up stairs.

How soon did you start to see a physical transformation?
In the beginning, progress is so fast because you’re not working from much. For my first workout, I did a few sets of six pushups and a few sets of sit-ups. It was something. The next workout, I did more. In four, five, six months I was lighter and much fitter.

Were you the only one training in prison?
There was definitely a group of inmates working out. I was probably more serious than most. I wanted to be more than fit. I’d developed an urgency that I needed to achieve something great.

Why did you choose Ironman training?
I think I took a very pragmatic approach to taking a new identity for myself. I needed to improve as a person. The physical part was crucial for a lot of reasons. I didn’t know what to do with my guilt and shame, and the exercise became an outlet for those emotions. It was like a release valve. I knew I needed to do something big to swing my life the other way. I wanted to channel my extreme behavior in another direction.

Do you think Ironman training appeals to you because it is another form of addiction?
Everyone who is a competitive cyclist or swimmer of runner is a little bit tweaked in the melon. Distance triathlons definitely suit people who are a little compulsive or imbalanced. Most well-rounded athletes do other things, and Ironman is pretty one-dimensional. I know a lot of elite athletes who freak out if they miss a workout. There’s an obsessive element to it. I try to avoid being too over the top, but if you only want one thing, to be successful you have to be one-dimensional.

How do you avoid fixating too much on your training?
A lot of athletes talk about themselves so much. My training and my workout. They lose touch with humanity and what’s going in the world. I try to make sure I follow the same process I did in prison. I try to stay in the present moment, be aware of what I’m doing, and be aware of others around me. I try to be compassionate. I read a lot and try to expose myself to new ideas.

How has your wife, triathlete Mandy McLane, helped you stay grounded?
She takes me down a couple of notches. She’s a professional athlete and one of the top women in the country, but she identifies herself as a speech and language pathologist first.

What were your biggest mistakes in starting Ironman training?
I read an article in prison that said pros going to Kona biked 280 miles a week, ran 50 miles a week, and swam seven days a week. I tried to jump onto that. I spent a lot of time over-trained. I still tend toward that at times. Another huge gap has been my lack of attention to detail in nutrition. If my caloric intake is off 20 percent, it impacts my entire day.

What was your first race like?
I raced a Half Ironman. It was very demoralizing. I didn’t realize I could have cramps like that. Everything locked up on me. That was five or six months out of prison. I didn’t realize how I could get to the point where I could finish a whole Ironman three months later.

Did you finish that Ironman?
The whole Ironman actually went a lot better. Crossing the finish line was a culmination of 14 months in prison, and all the training I did there. It meant I’d stuck with something, that I’d achieved something. I hadn’t achieved anything in so long.

What are your racing goals this year?
On [May 17] I race . I want to go Top 15 and get my spot to Kona. I raced and qualified for the a couple of weeks ago, so that is one box checked off.

How have you done at Kona in the four years you’ve gone?
I haven’t had a good race out there yet. I can be very insecure at times, wondering if I belong. I’ve been trying to work on my mental game. The heat also plays a role, and I’m trying to work on my nutrition.

Do you regret any part of your past?
I regret that I hurt people, my family, my community. I hurt society. You’re not making any contribution. The lying and the deception. Not being a good person.

Are you in a good space now?
I am definitely in a good place. My life is the way I envisioned it when I was in prison. My former life seems like a bad dream.

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Nuun Takes an Energy Shot

sperkins-pom — Sat, 10 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

In April, sports drink company Nuun announced it had signed on runner . The Seattle company, which makes low calorie self-dissolving electrolyte tabs, also has a new CEO and a new product, . Nuun’s revenue grew 20 percent last year, and the company predicts growth of 30 percent this year. We talked to CEO Kevin Rutherford about Nuun’s recent moves.

OUTSIDE: Why did Nuun sign Kara Goucher?
RUTHERFORD: She is incredibly true to her Nuun connection in that she already uses Nuun, so it becomes a authentic and genuine partnership, and not forced. We have a large ambassador program, but Kara is the biggest name.

Why did you take over as CEO last December?
What really drove me to the company was the culture and employees. We’re really just a bunch of athletes on a mission. From a business perspective, I believe that culture is everything.

What are your own athletic pursuits?
I’m a runner and triathlete. I’ve done an Ironman. I’m training for a Half Ironman in Racine, Wisconsin in July.

How well known is the Nuun brand?
We’re strong in the sports specialty channel, but yet we still have a ton of opportunity for growth there. Overall awareness is growing but still low. It’s probably below 20 percent with our target consumer.

Why did you launch Nuun Energy in March?
A lot of energy products are very high in sugar and caffeine and not necessarily healthy. We’re trying to give you the benefit of energy without an unhealthy product. Nuun Energy has B vitamins and half the caffeine of a cup of coffee.

Will Nuun Energy sell?
The interest level seems incredibly high so far among consumers and trade. At event sampling, the Nuun Energy cherry lime flavor was as popular as some of our top flavors. It’s too early to tell what will sell the best off the shelf.

How are things going with Nuun All Day? (Dissolving tabs intended to be consumed throughout the day, and not just during athletic competition)
It’s a sleeper. All Day has done okay but distribution has been a lot more limited. I want to re-vamp the story and help people understand why we created it.

What is the audience for Nuun All Day?
We have athletes, but also natural food consumers. We get more females, and people into less traditional sports such as yoga and hiking.

Most of your customers are cyclists, runners, and triathletes, but now you’re targeting the golf market too. Why?
There’s absolutely an interesting opportunity there. There are several pros on the tour who use Nuun and got hooked on it. High electrolyte levels help mental acuity, which is big for golf.

Beyond revenue growth, what are Nuun’s larger goals?
Nuun is first and foremost all about addressing a chronically dehydrated society. We also have the goal of getting more people active, and reducing obesity as a result.

You’ve talked to Seattle-based running company Oiselle and Kara Goucher about this larger goal. Why?
Kara really connected with our mission statement. She is incredibly inspirational to many, so the difference we can make collectively is really powerful. We’re also going back and forth with Sally [Bergeson] at Oiselle on what we can collectively do to get people to be more active.

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Sticking It to Diets: An Interview with Matt Fitzgerald

sperkins-pom — Thu, 08 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

In his new book , Matt Fitzgerald argues against the idea that there is any one “best” way to eat. Along the way, he covers popular diets such as Atkins, the raw-food movement, and the Paleo Diet, each time exploring the dangers of excluding an entire food group. By the end of the book, Fitzgerald replaces the dogma of dieting with a proposal he calls “agnostic healthy eating.” In time for the release of his new book, we caught up with Fitzgerald to discuss what belongs on the modern athlete’s plate.��

OUTSIDE: What led you to write Diet Cults?
��մܳҷ��鴡��:��Mainstream science is on one side, saying there’s no single ideal diet for humans. But all around us, popular diets are claiming that they are the healthiest diet for all. It’s a fundamental contradiction. My gut instinct was that it was not rational to say any one diet is the best way to eat. I wanted to offer an alternative.

Why are people so passionate about diets?
Food is such a basic symbol of identity. We become emotionally invested. Even three-month-old . I think we are all susceptible to the mythology that one diet is best.

Have you ever fallen for a diet cult?
Maybe supplements in some cases. I am becoming much more skeptical toward initial positive research on supplements, because if you wait long enough, some negative research comes out too.

In your book, you propose we embrace agnostic healthy eating. How do people eat like this?
They don’t demonize any nutrients. No entire food categories are eliminated. They have fruits and vegetables with almost every meal. There aren’t a lot of fried foods or sweets. It’s pretty basic stuff, but can fuel the best athletes and weekend warriors like us.��

Do a lot of people already embrace agnostic healthy eating?
The silent majority of health conscious eaters out there want to eat healthy and are turned off by diet cults. In my exposure to world-class endurance athletes, very few Olympic-caliber athletes do any kind of diet with a name. They don’t demonize any nutrient. My personal instinct is that I don’t want to trust fear mongering salesmen who vilify a lot of the food people eat.

So elite endurance athletes are less likely to embrace diet cults. What about recreational athletes?
My perception is that amateur athletes are quite a bit more likely to go for diet cults. I have two theories on this. One is the sour grapes theory: That when competitive people find they can’t win races, the point of the sport switches from winning to doing it correctly. Barefoot running, Crossfit Endurance, and a lot of diets fall into that. Athletes who can win races don’t want to mess with the formula that works because a lot is at stake. The other part of it is that in today’s world, it can be hard to eat healthy. You have to swim against the stream. The diet cult does the work of how to eat healthy for you.

“The [Paleo Diet] doctrine is absurd. It is a fantasy.”

Diet cults tend to be trendy. That happened with the Atkins diet a decade ago, and the Paleo Diet in recent years. Are all diet cults destined to fade away eventually?
In the broader context, I believe diet cults have always been with us and always be. The Kosher eating of the Jews is a diet cult. The pleasure eating of the Food Network shows is an ongoing phenomenon. Vegetarianism has ancient pedigree. I’d guess some version of Paleo will persist because there’s something so fundamental in the idea of going back to our early paradise.

You devote a section in your book to the Paleo Diet. What’s your take on it?
The doctrine is absurd. It is a fantasy. The diet is based on a 19th-century misunderstanding that evolutionary adaptation moves at a glacial pace. The Paleo idea that no animal should eat anything it hasn’t eaten before is silly. There was the moment when chimps leapt out of trees and had to adapt their diet. Radical changes came. We started eating meat, cooking food, and traveling all over the planet. There’s also epigenetic adaptation, where genes you already have are switched on and off. Diet adaptation can happen very quickly. As for whether the diet is healthy: It can be very healthy, but the way a lot of people do it, with indiscriminate heavy meat eating, is not very healthy. I think people should eat a lot more fish and high quality meat. I see a lot of Paleo followers gobbling huge amounts of bacon.��

Another chapter in your book talks about the controversy over hydrating with sugary sports drinks. What do you think about this?
People have this premise that sugar and carbs are always bad and try to explain away 50 years of research. You don’t want a lot of sugar in your diet when you aren’t exercising, but sugar is a performance enhancer. When you’re exercising, you want the fastest fuel you can get, and sugar is the highest octane stuff. I’m a big believer in fueling for performance.

A number of athletes have tried low-carb approaches in recent years. Is this diet cult effective?
If there’s any nutrient an athlete should go out of their way for, it’s carbohydrates. We know athletes in heavy training on high-carb diets are better able to absorb that training. Very few Olympic-caliber athletes mess around with this.

What about all the people who don’t care about athletic performance, but just want a diet that helps them lose weight?
I call it the suck-it-up diet. The secret to successful weight loss is motivation. Get out of the mindset of finding one way that works, and realize a lot of ways work. You still have to choose something specific. Anyone who loses weight and keeps it off doesn’t just wing it. They have rules and stick to them, but they’re not necessarily the specific rules of a diet cult.

How would you rate your own diet?
It’s much better than average. My diet looks pretty normal, but is high quality on two levels. The first is that it’s weighed heavily toward the highest quality food types, such as fruits and vegetables. I have very few fried foods and sweets, and not a lot of refined grains. I eat more fish than any other kind of meat. It’s also quality in that I buy high quality food, such as organic food, and grass fed beef, and try to pay a lot of attention to ingredient quality. But I still have at least one beer a day. My wife and I like to eat out. We celebrated my birthday on Saturday and I had French fries at a restaurant, and I almost never eat them.

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If You’re Not Eating Enough You Might Gain Weight

sperkins-pom — Fri, 02 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Shannon Scott thought training for a distance triathlon would help her drop the few extra pounds she’d always hoped to shed.

Scott began working out for an hour and a half to two hours each day. When she didn’t lose weight, she cut back her daily calories to 900 a day. Still, she couldn’t get the scale to budge.

She signed up for , adding even more volume to her training schedule each week. Aware of the physical demands on her body, she raised her daily caloric intake to 1,200 calories a day, but wouldn’t allow herself to eat any more than that. Each week of training, she gained another pound.

“It was so frustrating and counter intuitive,” Scott said.

Scott is just one of many athletes who start training for an endurance event with the expectation of losing weight. While some do indeed drop weight, others feel defeated as they watch the scale move in the opposite direction. On forums of endurance web sites such as , conversation threads show athletes expressing frustration over weight gain during training.

For Scott and other distance athletes, the pounds come on because they aren’t properly fueling their activities. The body then develops a defense mechanism against the perceived threat of starvation, causing athletes to retain or gain weight.

Dr. Emily Cooper, director and founder of , sees Scott and many other patients who are perplexed because they’ve gained weight with endurance training. While some never had a weight problem before, far more have struggled with diets for years.

“It is super common in my practice to see people under-fueling exercise and gaining weight,” Cooper said.

Dr. Rick Kattouf, a trainer, author, and CEO of ., also frequently works with athletes who find themselves gaining weight with endurance training. Many of them decided to prepare for a marathon as a way to lose weight, and fear increasing caloric intake with training volume. When examining their nutrition plans, Kattouf often finds they aren’t eating enough before, during, and after exercise.

“The body goes into preservation mode,” Kattouf said. “It’s very frustrating for the athlete because they feel like they’re training more than they ever have before, and their body composition is going in the opposite direction.”

The scientific process that happens with under-fueled sports activity works like this: A workout session increases ghrelin, a hunger hormone that jacks up the appetite, slows the metabolism, and tells the brain the body is hungry. Athletes can mitigate the production of ghrelin by eating before and during exercise.

At the same time that ghrelin rises, the hormone leptin drops. Leptin reassures the brain that body weight is not too low, so without enough, metabolism drops and the body tries to hold on to fat. Endurance training is known to suppress leptin, especially in women.

The rise in ghrelin and drop in leptin becomes pronounced when athletes don’t take in enough food to support their exercise. Sometimes, they’re consciously restricting calories, as was the case with Scott. At one point, she drank only protein shakes because she wanted to be sure she wasn’t consuming any extra calories.

In other situations, exercising without proper fuel is less intentional. Many busy athletes fit in their workouts in the early mornings, and don’t take the extra time to eat a meal beforehand and immediately after. According to Cooper, even if someone takes in sufficient calories throughout the day, they’ll still face hormonal problems if they fail to eat before and after training.

To avoid falling into this imbalance, Cooper suggests making meals around workouts a priority, and not an option. Since exercise endorphins suppress appetite in some people, anyone training for endurance events can’t rely on hunger alone.

“Athletes need to eat mechanically and not by appetite,” Cooper said.

Kattouf also recommends that his clients adjust their lifestyle to compensate for endurance training. He makes sure they aren’t over-training, balances distance workouts with strength sessions, and advises increases in food and sleep.

Some athletes can alter their nutrition and training plans and see immediate results, while others may need longer to recover. For Scott, the metabolic stress of severely under-fueling and overtraining for so long has forced her to back off all endurance exercise. By resting and eating more, she’s finally begun to lose weight, and her metabolic hormones are beginning to rebound to healthy levels. In the last several months, she’s lost 20 pounds.

Scott isn’t sure if her body will ever let her compete in Ironman distance events again, but for now, she’s happy to feel healthy.

“With or without the weight loss, my energy is amazing and I’m not exhausted,” Scott said. “That is priceless.”

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