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Run an Ultramarathon

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29 pointsedw51927 comments

I did 36-miler as I recall four times, found it to be essentially an extended marathon. I did a 50-miler once and did not feel the urge to go back for more--just too long. I did meet a friend in the last hundred or so yards, a woman for whom I later served as handler at the Old Dominion 100; however, she was an unusual type, one who came into her own out past about 40 miles.

I will say that one would be reckless to do a road race out beyond 40 miles with a support crew of at least one person to bring dry clothing & fluids, perhaps snacks. At the Old Dominion 100, the runner could have a companion starting at mile 75 one year and 66 another--people were crossing Massanutten Mountain in the dark and exhausted, and the organizers were aware of the hazards that presented.

So for those who haven't seen it - have a look at Cliff Young: http://www.my-inspirational-quotes.com/inspirational-stories...

At age 61 he showed up at the start of an ultramarathon (from Sydney to Melbourne - 544 miles/875km) in overalls and gumboots. He then goes on and smashes the old record and wins. His secret - everyone else stopped and had naps - he just kept on going and going.

Ultras rock. There is no better experience than running as the sun goes down knowing you've been running since it came up. And all your friends have awakened, watched reruns, eaten pizza, and gone back to sleep while you've been running ;)

That and they give out awesome t-shirts :D

But, aside from the "masochistic" part of it, the community is unbelievable and the atmosphere at races is what got me into them to begin with. It's like one big family in a way. One big family that gathers at the most beautiful places in the country before sunrise so the

Man, I'm addicted to the buckles!! All those "short" races have puny medals!! 100's have belt buckles, some times the size of dinner plates!!!

If you're interested in such ultra-endurance events, but you aren't sure if your body can handle such pounding, try out randonneuring--essentially, ultra-long distance (200+km) cycling. You can achieve the same sorts of mental and physical suffering without jarring your joints so much.

Or another alternative is multi-sport, you can get a good mixture of activities so you can spread out the physical punishment.

A good example: http://www.coasttocoast.co.nz

3km beach run, 55km cycle, 33km run over a mountain pass, 15km cycle, 67km kayak, 70km cycle

Wow leave it to a post about ultas to pull me outta my lurking shell. :)

I love running ultras, IMHO it is the single most self inspiring act you can do without having to spend a thousands of dollars(like say climbing Everest).

My goal is to complete the "Grand Slam" which is 4 100's in 4 months. I'm aiming for next year, pending I get in to western states again next year.

"Most importantly: Drink continuously."

This seems like bad advice. Many of the recent deaths in marathons have been due to water intoxication rather than dehydration.

run an ultramarathon? maybe don't: http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2010/3/21/still-not-born-...

This isn't the first time these fringe ideas from paleonu made it to HN. As Lena pointed out this is a blog post on an article about a study that the paleonu author hasn't even read the abstract for. Meanwhile, there's a mountain of evidence supporting endurance training:

According to one 32,000 person study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1999), "fit persons with any combination of smoking, elevated blood pressure, or elevated cholesterol level had lower adjusted death rates than low-fit persons with none of these characteristics". The same study found that aerobic fitness had a far more important impact on longevity than obesity did. This was cited in Fantastic Voyage, Kurzweil and Grossman, Chapter 22.

Another 100,000+ person study found that men who ran two or more marathons per year were 41 percent less likely to suffer from high blood pressure, 32 percent less likely to have high cholesterol, and 87 percent less likely to be diabetic than non-marathoners. Those who ran only one marathon every two to five years also had significantly lower risk for these conditions than non-marathoners. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140104.php

Here's a different piece on how regular hour-long runs stimulate neurogenesis and memory improvements in middle aged humans: http://www.dana.org/news/brainwork/detail.aspx?id=7374

Distance running is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself. Racing marathons is also fine, with sufficient training.

But then, don't do strength training either: http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/110/18/2858

This is some really interesting stuff. I've been experimenting around a baseline paleo diet(which has been pretty amazing), and I started doing short 15-30min morning runs as a way to induce a mild "wake up" stress, but I might switch over to doing some body-weight resistance(push-ups, situps, squats) instead.

The article is about a small group of elite long distance runners. I don't think you can draw any meaningful conclusions about your short morning runs here.

And it is worth noting that this is a blog post about an article about a study. The author of the blog post has not even read the abstract of the study, let alone the study itself. The article on which the blog post is based says Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

My good friend's dad did one of these when we was in his fifties.

You are typically allowed to have people pace you (run along with you), so my friend ran with his dad from the 60 mile point to the 80 mile point. I remember my friend making a comment that sounded to me as the most ludicrous thing ever. His dad was really struggling around the 75 mile mark. His comment was this:

"Dad, I know this is tough, but there is really only 5 more miles of hard terrain. After that its just 20 easy miles."

"It's all downhill from here!" is a very common encouragement called out by spectators at road races. I've heard it said by persons who could have looked back and seen that they were at the foot of a long uphill grade.

Most ultrarunners who can do 2-3 100-milers in a year are considered superheroes. Until now. Monica Scholz, an ultrarunner from Canada is attempting to run 30x100 milers in 2010. She's already a few races in: http://www.monumentaleffort.com/monica’s-3000-mile-odyssey

And then you have the Marathon Monks:

http://www.howtobefit.com/tendai-marathon-monks.htm

Wow. Thanks for the link, I may have to read the book mentioned in that article.

Hmm... hadn't ever thought about runners needing to pee. How do they go about dealing with this during extended marathons?

Ironman triathletes train themselves to pee during the race. For instance, part of their training is to pee while cycling at 20mph+ in aero position.

So if I'm ever in an ironman race, I shouldn't follow another cyclist too closely...

There are always a few funny clips during long stages of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia, etc... where they show riders going to the back of the group to have a whiz. In some races, they all agree to stop and line up along the side of the road.

Well my strategy has always to just pull over to the side of the trail or pull the bottom of my shorts to the side and make squiggly lines in the dirt.

I'm neither a doctor nor an athlete, but these things cannot be good for your body.

I wouldn't worry about it -- the human body is made for long distance running. As long as you keep your limits in mind I'm sure it's fine. That said, I've never really tried running more than 10 miles.

They are perfectly fine. Sure the body takes a pounding, but it also recovers. The most importantthing to remember is that you have to keep your body chemistry as "normal" as possible. Ie, eat foods, drink water, replace electrolytes. All that will help maintain body mass and will keep you from getting pulled.

Or maybe don't: http://arthurdevany.com/articles/20091028

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