Dave Krupski | Remember, You Paid To Be in This Race...

When noted poet laureate Carrie Underwood recently crooned about "something in the water," I'm not sure if she was talking about religion, self-discovery, or something else entirely.  Personally, I like to think she is referring to the insane performances some female ultrarunners out here have been throwing down in ultramarathons, particularly at 24-hour events.  In the past month alone, four East Coast-based women have run over 140 miles in 24-hour events, all but assuring that they will be the top-4 (out of 6) on the U.S.A. 24-hour team that is competing in Turin, Italy this coming April.  

So suck it, all you West Coasters, with your fancy "mountains" and "trails" and "altitude."  I know you like to think of Florida as the place where people go to retire and die, where we don't know how to count ballots, and where juries are retarded.  No one can drive, it's always disgustingly-hot, and our largest population center masquerades as a city but is actually a third-world country (Miami).

("Look, there it is.  Okay, this must be a legit ultrarunning article now.")

Seriously, though, those four ladies stand an excellent chance of sweeping the podium at the World Championships next month.  So let's learn a little about each one, in reverse order of their qualifying positions (And I know what you're thinking.  Really, though, it's true:  ultrarunning actually does occur east of Colorado).  

Aly will qualify for the team in the 4th position after running 140.88 miles at a race in South Florida in mid-November.   (Note:  the qualifying window for the US team has not yet closed, but with no major races between now and when the team is announced in a few weeks, it is an extremely safe bet that these four women who ran over 140 miles will be on  the team).  And even though Aly accrued the least amount of miles of the "140-plus" club, she is likely the favorite to take the gold medal in Italy.  

A 32-year-old marine biology Ph.D., Aly has entered six races of 100 miles or longer.  She won them all.   (Don't believe me?  Fine.  Click here.)  

Aly -- a two-time champion of the Keys 100 and this year's Badwater 135 champion -- specializes in long, hot road races.  At this year's Keys 100  (in a race where top 24-hr qualifier Katy Nagy and second-position qualifier Traci Falbo also ran), Aly demolished the field (and her own previous course record) with an unbelievable 14:42.  That ranks as the third-fastest 100 ever on American soil.  Only the immortal Ann Trason and Pam Smith (on a track) have run faster.

How do I properly articulate just how fast Aly is at ultras?  I suppose I have to turn to the most-recognized language in the world.  No, not English.  No, not Chinese.  That's right . . . the language of Starbucks.

Let's talk to my good friend and coaching partner, Michele Graglia, an Italian living in LA (and a world-class runner in his own right); he has some insight on the subject.  (See, West Coasters . . . I acknowledge YOU guys exist . . . :)  At any rate, we all know that "Venti" in Starbucks language means "large."  But to welcome Aly to Italy in a few months, Michele (pronounced Mee Kay Lah)  -- who is politically-connected in Italy -- has started a movement so that "Venti," in Italian, will now officially mean "Really F*@#ing Fast."

As an aside, Michele is a former international model who decided to trade in catwalks for trails.  And just so no one accuses me of being gender-biased when it comes to eye-candy, here's Michele in his former life:

("Prepare ship for Light Speed."  "No, no.  Light Speed is much too slow.  We're going to have to jump straight to . . . Venti Speed.")

So how is Aly so fast and so dominant in her races?  I'm no rocket surgeon, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact that she runs more miles per week than literally any other human being on the planet.  And while I may dabble in hyperbole every once in a while (pretty much once per paragraph), I am being completely serious here:  the woman averages over 200 miles per week in training, and has for years.  Pro marathoners run about 120-140 a week.  All you West Coast peeps are too busy chasing Anton Krupicka up and down mountains to log 200 miles a week.  So of the 6 billion people on Earth, I think she may be #1 as far as weekly mileage.  Well, except for Kim Jong-un.  Obviously.  

Aly's national team qualifying time of 140.88 miles -- at the Icarus Ultrafest 24-hr race in Ft. Lauderdale --places her in the fourth position.  But she's already beaten the two women occupying spots #1 and 2 this year, and she ran her 141 miles on a humid, sunny, and unseasonably-warm day in South Florida).  So don't be surprised if Ms. Really F*@#ing Fast is your World Champion come April.  If anyone beats her, it will probably be one of these next three ladies…

Of the four "140-plus" women on the 24-hour team heading off to Italy, Maggie -- a Pennsylvania-based ultrarunner -- is the only one I don't know personally.  So I did the only thing any respected journalist would do . . . I stalked her on Ultrasignup (here is her page), as well as on Facebook.  

What I learned is that up until her breakthrough 24-hour performance at a race in New Jersey a month ago, Maggie was a solid ultrarunner but had not yet exhibited world-class potential.  (Her previous high for a 24-hr race was 110 miles, and her 100-mile PR was her 18:34 performance at the Viaduct Trail 100 (another New Jersey race).  Those are solid performances, but not exactly indicative of someone who has the potential to run 142 miles in 24 hours.  So being the intrepid investigator that I am, I asked her, "Yo, what's up with that?  How did you make 'the leap'"??

Maggie -- who is called "Maggietron" by her friends (which is fricking awesome nickname, by the way) -- attributes her breakthrough race to two factors:  (1) hiring a coach (Michele Yates), and (2) running consistent high mileage.   With that increased training base came increased confidence, and with all the hard work she put in before her 24-hour race, it led to her experiencing a "calmness [during the race] that remained the whole time."

While few know too much about Maggie yet on a national/international level, one thing is for certain:  the sky is the limit for this wild-card runner who is just starting to hit her stride...

("Dave, tell me now, tell me now, tell me now about Traci; now I know…")

If the International Olympic Committee approves "Putting Your Head On A Bat And Twirling Around It Like A Five-Year-Old And Then Trying To Run" as an official sport for Brazil 2016, Traci Falbo is the undisputed gold-medal front-runner.  This woman is the queen of running around in circles.  In June, this Indianan (that looks weird but Google tells me it's correct) traveled all the way to Anchorage, Alaska to run for 48 hours straight . . . in a dome.  That's right, she traveled almost 4,000 miles to experience all the beauty and majesty of Alaska's Great Indoors.  

Here's a typical picture that someone visiting Alaska in June might snap off:

Aaaannnd . . . here's what Traci's view was for 48 hours in Anchorage:

In all seriousness, the Alaska Dome is one of the only full-sized (quarter-mile) indoor tracks in the country, and the controlled environment/temperature makes it ideal for world and national record attempts for timed events like 24 and 48 hour races.  (And the marquee event going on during Traci's run was actually a six-day nonstop race; the official race name was "Six Days In The Dome.")    

Traci took full advantage of those perfect running conditions and set an American -- and World Indoor -- 48-hour record by amassing 242.35 miles total.  That's 969 -- Niiiiiine Hundred and Sixty Nine -- laps around that track.  

("Nine [hundred and sixty nine] times??  I don't remember Traci running around the track that many times.")

After presumably taking the following few months off due to dizziness, all Traci did in November as an encore was set the U.S. 100-mile trail record when she ran a 14:45 at the Tunnel Hill 100 in Indiana, which relegated famed ultrarunner Jenn "La Brujita" Shelton to the number two all-time slot for U.S. trail 100s.

And less than a month after that performance -- apparently because she can't get enough of running around in circles -- Traci was back at it for the 24-hour Desert Solstice Invitational at Central HS in Phoenix, which just finished this past weekend.  Her total:  147.64 miles, which would qualify her for the men's 24-hr team, and was less than 5 miles shy of the U.S. 24-hr record (152.03 miles).  

On any other day, Traci's effort would have been the news of the day.  But there was another East Coast woman at Desert Solstice as well…

(Katy on her way to a second-place finish at the world's premier 100+ mile road ultramarathon:  the 153-mile Spartathlon in Greece).

To say Katy Nagy enjoyed an epic 2104 would be an "epic" understatement.  In addition to a 15:53 Keys 100, Katy -- a native Hungarian who is now an American citizen living in Sarasota, Florida -- decided to test her mettle against the very best long-distance road runners in the world at this year's Spartathlon, a 153-mile race in Greece that retraces the footsteps of legendary messenger Pheidippides from Athens to Sparta.  As usual, Katy passed with flying colors.

I was actually in the race with Katy, and, as usual, she passed me right at about the 50k mark.  And she kept going.  And going.  And going, until she crossed the finish line at the statute of Gerard Butler (er, King Leonidas) in under 29 hours, a truly-remarkable feat.  

(For my account of the 2014 Spartathlon, click here).

For her second act, Katy -- who does not like the spotlight at all -- toed the line at Desert Solstice this weekend, and threw down the gauntlet.  151.37 miles.  9:32 per mile average . . . for twenty-four freaking hours.  Less than a mile under the U.S. record.  Yeah, good luck staying away from the limelight now, Katy… :)

With the talent we are sending to Italy this year, the U.S. women are probably going to be the heavy favorites to win the team gold, and it's possible -- given the right conditions -- that all four women break the current U.S. record of 152.03 miles.   So good luck and kick ass!

PS:  Speaking of those conditions, ladies, if I can give you one piece of advice, it's to make sure you bring face masks with you if there are going to be a lot of Italians standing around on the course:

The news that “smoking is bad for you” apparently has not yet reached Italy.  Everyone, and I mean everyone smokes out there.  It’s unreal.  It’s like stepping back into the 80’s (which you would also say to yourself if you turned on an Italian radio station; when I was in Italy this past March for the incredible 175-mile UltraMilano-Sanremo, I heard more old-school Madonna, Whitney Houston, etc. than I have in a long time).  Back in 2007, I ran the NYC Marathon, and -- I swear I am not making this up -- at about Mile 12, I ran past two Italians — running in the race — who were smoking.  And we were running at a 3:00 marathon pace.  Unfortunately, the only person who can vouch for this story is the guy who was running with me at the time, Lance Armstrong.  We ran together for about 5 miles, and he and I shared a smile when we saw the Italian smokers.  (He would later go on to drop me and beat me by about 15 minutes (he finished in 2:46 that year)).  So there you go.  Italians smoke during marathons; just ask Lance Armstrong.

Dave Krupski is a writer, lawyer, runner, and coach (though not necessarily in that order).  He is the founder of the Zwitty Ultra Endurance Coaching Program, where he partners with Michele Graglia to help ultrarunners in any way they can.  Dave has run some of the world's iconic ultras, including Spartathlon, Badwater 135, Ultra-Milano Sanremo 175, and the Keys 100.  And "Zwitty" is just a mashup of Dave and his wife Alex's two kids' names:  Zoey and Witt (kind of like "Kimye," but hopefully in a much better way) :)

1.  Introduction.


As the holiday season is upon us, and the year draws to a close (ever more-rapidly, it always seems), we in the ultra community tend to look back at the year and celebrate our own accomplishments, and those of our peers.  And there will certainly be time for that…

This week’s article, however, is about and for runners at the other end of the spectrum:  people just starting out in the sport.  Judging simply from the number of reported ultra ‘finishes” in 2013 in Florida, I know that the vast majority of Florida ultrarunners have never run a race beyond a 50k.  So how do you make the jump from a marathon/50k to a longer ultra, such as a 50-miler, a 100-miler, or (gasp) even longer?

Note:  Yes, I am aware that anything longer than 26.2 miles is technically an “ultramarathon.”  I have nothing against 50ks.  From a training perspective, however, they are the same as marathons.  If you finish a marathon, you are in good enough shape to finish a 50k.  And those who win competitive 50ks are ALWAYS marathon runners who extend themselves a few extra miles, versus 100-mile specialists who “drop down.”

2.  It’s All About That Bas(e), ‘Bout That Bas(e), No Treble.

Okay, so you’ve decided you want to run a 50- or 100-miler in 2015, even though the longest official race you’ve ever run is a half-marathon.  First, congrats on your audacious goal; it takes some real guts to put yourself out there like that to all your friends, family, and colleagues.  Most will probably call you crazy.  (And perhaps you are a bit . . . it does take a certain amount of irreverence to even attempt such a feat :)

But now that you have your goal, how do you reach it?  The answer — especially those who are new to consistent, daily running — is exceedingly simple:  just start running . . . a LOT.  While many ultrarunners made the jump to ultras after years of racing shorter distances (usually marathons) — I for one ran about 30 marathons before my first ultra — today, we are seeing a lot more runners forgo the marathon to jump straight into ultras.  To a certain extent, I get that:  the culture surrounding marathons is vastly different than ultras, and — in many ways — the “ultra” community is much more inviting and less elitist than the marathon community.  Plus, there is definitely something to be said about not having to look at your watch every 20 seconds during a race to make sure you are on pace.  So okay.

But to successfully finish that first ultra — and by “successfully,” I mean finish without having to basically crawl to the finish line — you are going to need to train . . . hard.  In other articles, I discuss the need for varied training for ultras (such as tempo runs, long runs, etc.), but for the ultra newbie, the first order of business really needs to be building up your fitness to the point you can comfortably run about 6 miles every day, with one run of 10-20 miles on the weekend.  At this point, you need not worry about your speed.  Just get your body comfortable with (a) running daily, and (b) that long(er) weekend run.

Once you can comfortably do that, and average 40-50 miles/week for a few months, you’re ready to start really training for your first ultra.

3.  Quality Consistent Training.

Training for an ultra is not that much different than training for a marathon.  I’ve written a lot about the elements that go into a successful ultra training program, so I’m not going to spend time on it here.  Anyway, here is one such article on that subject:  https://davekrupski.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/coachs-corner-the-secret-of-ultrarunning-the-role-of-rational-confidence/

4.  Enjoy the Process and Utilize Shorter Races.

I completely understand why some people have no interest in racing marathons and would rather just move up to ultras.  A number of my runners are signed up for their first 100-miler and have never even run a marathon.  I assure you, though, they will have run a marathon (and likely a 50-mile race as well) before toeing the line at the 100.

Here’s why:  In training for an ultra, you are certainly going to run the marathon distance (likely many times), so why not incorporate an actual marathon as part of your training?  Some of the benefits of signing up for a marathon include:

• You get to practice your “race-day” routine
• You have the energy of an actual race
• You practice dealing with all the pre-race jitters that go along with a marathon (and trust me, even when you’ve run races a LOT longer than marathons, those jitters are still there at the beginning of shorter ones)
• Running alone is great and all, but if you’re going to do a hard long run, it’s more fun doing it while being surrounded by others and spectators encouraging you the whole way
• You will learn a LOT of lessons about yourself, as well as get experience dealing with success, and, to some degree, perhaps failure as well (as in not meeting a specific time goal, etc…); all of these lessons can be applied to your true goal ultramarathon.

(Suffering through a very hot Twin Cities Marathon.  Little did I know then that my definition of “hot” for a race would change considerably in a few years…)

5.  No CrossFit . . . or Other “Fast-Twitch” Sports.

Okay, this one is going to hurt a bit for some people.  Look, I like CrossFit too; it’s fun, it’s competitive, and it’s also addictive seeing how much better you can get at the various lifts/challenges.

But while CrossFit has just recently exploded in popularity, any Division I college athlete from the last 20 years immediately recognizes what CrossFit really is:  a set of workouts/routines used by every major Div I program in the country to develop explosiveness and fast-twitch muscles for mainstream team-sport athletes(such as baseball, football, basketball, and hockey players).  Box jumps, Olympic lifts, kettleballs, etc. — often used in rapid succession — are the bread-and-butter tools of strength coaches in college athletic department gyms all across the country.  (I can’t begin to tell you how many 5am Olympic-lifting sessions I had to wake up for while playing baseball in college…) :)

Guess what college sports teams as a group never gets put through any of these types of exercises?  That’s right, cross-country teams.  As college strength coaches are well-aware, cross-country runners need to develop their slow-twitch muscle fibers.  Explosiveness and quick lateral movements are simply not a part of distance running.

(I’m pretty sure Bowerman never made Pre do any clean-and-jerks in the weight room…)

The converse is also true:  football and basketball players don’t go for 20-mile runs.  It would take away from all of the explosiveness/quickness they work so hard every day to develop and keep.

(Returning to Florida to sign up for the 2015 Keys 100???  Puh-robably not.)

Again, I have nothing against CrossFit (or basketball for that matter).  Both are great, and training for and participating in them gets and keeps you in awesome shape.  But they — along with any other “explosiveness/fast-twitch” sport — are simply not compatible with distance running, especially the amount of weekly running needed to be successful at ultras.  If you run that much, and at the same time also still do CrossFit, you are burning the candle at both ends and exponentially increasing your risk of injury.

6.  The Glass is Always Full:  Stay Positive.

Running an ultra is hard.  Training for an ultra is even harder.  It is not easy finding the motivation to win that battle with the alarm clock every single day and get out for a run before work.  Or to come home after a long day of work, have family obligations, and still find time to run.  This is a TOUGH sport.

But the great thing about running — at least for me — is that no matter what I am dealing with in my life, no matter how stressed-out I am, going for a run always makes things seem more manageable.  My problems don’t just go away, but they are always a little bit better and my perspective is always greatly improved after running.

That’s the transformative power of our sport.  We don’t often control what happens to us in life, but we certainly control our attitudes.  And ultras — specifically training for ultras — have taught me that an unflinchingly-positive attitude is the ideal one to strive for.  Staying positive in the face of what seems to be insurmountable odds is what this sport is all about, and indeed is one of the true keys to succeeding in the sport.  Things seem hopeless a LOT during an ultra.  It’s the training and staying positive that gets you through, and allows you to accomplish amazing things:

As my buddy Grant Maughan — who is currently sewing up a podium finish at a 150-mile race in Australia as I write this — says, “anything is possible in this sport with hard work and focus.”  Amen, brother.  If you work your ass off, and keep a positive focus, you’ll beat your Drago, cross the finish line, and maybe even get the Soviets to cheer for you as well :)

7.  Community.

The ultrarunning community is a GREAT group to be a part of; many of my best friends are people I met through running ultras.  And for you guys just starting, this is an incredibly friendly and inviting group; we just want to see you succeed and meet your goals, just as our mentors once did for us as well!

So welcome, and we’ll see you “out there” :)

www.zwittyultra.com