Ultramarathoner Answers Questions From Twitter

One time, I hallucinated there was a miner '49er

sitting across the road from me.

He had a big gray beard and overalls on,

and I noticed he's got a gold pan.

And he holds out the gold pan to me,

and he says, Water, water, I need water.

Hi, it's Dean Karnazes, author and ultramarathoner,

and this is Ultramarathon Support.

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From Flemencokat.

How on earth do you eat and run without upchucking?

Or do you walk and eat?

You do both.

You run and eat and walk and eat.

I eat a lot of food while I'm running,

and a lot of ultramarathoners do

because you don't want to slow down.

It's always about relentless forward progress.

I'll be honest.

Sometimes, you know, you do upchuck.

It's not normal,

and you try not to upchuck

because upchucking can create electrolyte imbalances.

Most of the time the food stays down just fine,

but depending on the temperature and the duration, you know,

upchucking can be a problem.

So, the next question is from Zizzo Group.

Do ultramarathon runners pee their pants during a run?

Not if you're good at it.

I don't get any on my shoes.

Yes, I pee while I run, but not in my pants.

That begs the question, how do you do it?

You literally just kind of turn sideways

and you waddle like a penguin,

and I'm expert at it.

I don't even get a drop on my shoes.

How do renders deal with nipple chafing?

And that's a really good question.

There is a product called Nipplease, believe it or not.

It's like a little round Band-Aid.

There's nothing actually touching your nipple,

but there's like a barrier in front of it.

Next question is from LE Black Sheep.

Why, why, why is it such a pain

to get breathing technique right when running?

That's another good question.

I've been experimenting with nose breathing

at a shorter distance,

like a 10K only breathing through my nose,

and what I found is it really sucks,

but it gets you into very good shape.

My friend, Bart Yasso,

who's a guy who I greatly admire, you know,

Bart says, I breathe through my nose.

I breathe through my mouth.

I breath through any way I can get air in my lungs.

So, I think it's very much a personal choice,

how you breathe,

whether you breathe through your mouth or through your nose,

but I would encourage you to try nose breathing.

See if that works for you,

if not, breathe through your mouth as well.

So, this next question is from Fionn.

How in the world did Dean Karnazes run for 24 hours?

Well, it gets better than that.

I ran for 24 hours on a treadmill on a two-story platform,

hoisted above Times Square

with all the jumbotrons filming me

as I did this 24-hour run,

and as you can imagine,

it was quite dizzying,

not only being on a treadmill for 24 hours,

but being up in the air,

trying to complete this ultramarathon.

And it was all for a very good cause.

It was a fundraiser for prostate cancer,

so it felt worthwhile.

And I think in the end, I covered about 148 miles,

but I didn't move a single step forward.

It's crazy.

It's ludicrous to be saying this,

but I've actually run for 48 hours on a treadmill as well,

but that's not the longest I've ever run.

I've run for 81 hours,

and that was over the course of 350 miles.

You know, I think it was the last step I actually had

in 350 miles about killed me.

So, next up is Cayla with a C at awkwordy.

I have a serious question.

How do runners control their BMs

for hours on end of running?

We carry toilet paper. [laughs]

That's the simple answer.

And we look for a strategic bush to hide behind

and typically dig a little hole.

You do your thing.

And sometimes I even carry a little bag

and kind of pick it up like a dog poop.

Amber asks,

Why do they give out belt buckles at ultramarathons?

Just curious.

The legend is that the hundred-mile trail race

began as a horse race,

and one year, a gentleman was training

to do this a hundred-mile horse race,

and his horse came up lame three days before the start,

but he still wanted to do the race,

and he announced, I'm just going to run it.

And they thought he was crazy,

but they let him do the horse race on foot,

and he somehow finished the race.

And when he got to the finish line,

they didn't have typical race medals

because this is a horse race,

but they did have rodeo-style belt buckles,

so they said, let's just give them one of those.

So, here is a very celebrated Western States

100-mile endurance run silver buckle.

When you finish the race 10 times and under 24 hours each,

you get one of these special buckles.

Mike asks,

It's very easy to get discouraged

after taking a long break from running.

How do you get motivated to get after it?

That's a really good question,

and I empathize with you because it is very difficult

to get motivated to restart.

I always suggest investing in a good pair of shoes.

Footwear technology has advanced so much

in the past three or four years,

so part of what's going to motivate you

is that if those shoes sit idle in your closet,

you're going to feel so guilty you didn't put them to use.

And then I would say five to six months down the road,

sign up for a race.

I would say, a half marathon or a marathon.

Tell your friends about it.

You know, send out an email blast saying,

hey, I'm going to do this half marathon

and I'm going to do it for charity,

so, will you support me?

And once people are supporting you, you know,

you're kind of on the hook,

and then ramp up your training slowly.

Realize that it's baby steps.

It's much easier to get out of shape

than it is to get back into shape.

II_savx.

How can I run faster?

And the answer is run faster. [laughs]

And what tends to happen is

when we go out for a run or a workout,

we push to our max.

You hit a plateau.

I recommend the hard-easy technique.

So, one day go really, really hard,

running as fast as you can.

The next day, slow down your pace,

go a little bit further but slower,

But you've got to run really fast beyond, you know,

your typical pace to be able to improve beyond the plateau.

Also, I would recommend quantifying your workouts.

You can see here, I have a smartwatch on,

I like to look at a lot of different data from my run,

just to see how the improvements are coming along

or not coming along,

and making adjustments based on that data.

Scott Johnson asks:

What's the best way to carb load

before an ultramarathon?

And my answer is don't. [laughs]

I do not carb load, and I do not recommend carb loading.

I used to carb load a lot,

and inevitably I show up the next morning

at the start of the race bloated

from carb loading the night before.

So, I recommend just having

a normal meal the night before a race.

I would also suggest avoiding a lot of dietary fiber,

for obvious reasons,

especially insoluble fiber before a race.

Insoluble fiber makes you regular,

but during a race, you don't want to be regular.

The idea behind carb loading

was to improve your muscle glycogen stores.

So, your muscles only store

a certain amount of carbohydrates.

It's called glycogen,

and the theory was if you ate more carbohydrates,

you'd store more glycogen.

But the problem is that's not always the case,

and the other problem is that

you store a lot of water when you carb load,

so you end up feeling bloated.

So, the next question comes from Lisa Bartelt.

How did you get started?

I assume no one becomes an ultramarathoner overnight.

Well, I'll tell you my backstory.

I walked out of a bar on my 30th birthday

and decided that night I was going to run 30 miles,

and my friends thought I was crazy.

They said, Let's have another round of tequila

to celebrate your 30th birthday.

And I said, No, I'm going to run 30 miles instead.

And at midnight, I left the bar, and I'll never forget,

I didn't own running gear,

but I had on these comfortable silk boxer shorts,

these silk underwear,

so I peeled off my pants and threw them down the alleyway.

I lived in San Francisco at the time,

and I knew there was a city called Half Moon Bay

that was 30 miles away,

and I thought, just run to Half Moon Bay,

and about 15 miles into it,

I sobered up and I thought, what am I doing?

This is crazy.

But it just felt right.

And the other thing is that, you know,

I was out in the middle of nowhere at this point,

so there's nowhere to go but forward.

Turning around would have been another 15 miles to get back.

So, that night I made it 30 miles.

It wasn't pretty.

There were some, you know, some blistering

and some chafing where the sun don't shine.

It forever changed the course of my life,

and after that, I became an ultramarathoner.

Hannah asks,

What do y'all think about during a run?

Mundane stuff or big ideas

or how much you just want to die?

I think you think of all of those things.

You know, when I'm running an ultramarathon

or a long distance,

I think of everything and nothing.

Many runners,

that's why we love what we do is

because your mind is free to wander.

You know, you're kind of a captive audience of one,

and sometimes I think about big issues.

Other times, I think about just taking my next step.

When things get really difficult,

I try to turn off the mind and not think at all,

and just put one foot in front of the other

to the best of my ability.

The other thing I do a lot of when I'm running is writing.

So, I've written five books

and I do a lot of writing on the run.

Gilly Gilly.

How do runners find their second wind

when I can't even find my first wind? [laughs]

Sometimes I have a hard time finding my first wind, as well,

but I would say push through it.

You know, perseverance.

A lot of it just comes down to grunt work.

Don't be afraid to walk.

If you have to walk, take a walk break, but keep going.

The important thing is that you keep pushing,

and it will get easier.

There's all kinds of theories

why energy, you know, comes in waves.

Something called the central governor theory,

which is your mind regulates it all.

There's theories where your body basically physiologically

tells your mind to slow down because, you know,

you're getting into the red zone.

But a lot of it, I think, is very subjective.

You know, during an ultramarathon,

you might go through a second, third,

fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,

and ninth, and 10th wind.

You're constantly kind of hitting the wall.

You're out of gas and you're out of breath,

and if you can push through it,

you have some renewed energy and can keep going.

You run when you can.

You walk if you have to.

You crawl if you must.

You just never give up.

So, the next question is from Ben Cheong,

the Fantasyflier.

How do you train for an ultramarathon

when the joints are saying no?

The hashtag is ageing.

Well, I feel you there, Ben.

I'm no a spring chicken myself.

But one thing I would recommend is cross-training.

To me, the big secret staying injury-free and pain-free

is cross-training.

So, I do a lot of training with my leg strength

and also my upper body strength.

Gonna also say, you know,

your diet is very important.

So, boosting the omega-3 fatty acids from fatty seafoods

is one way to, you know, keep your joints lubricated.

So, one tool you might want to incorporate for your recovery

is something called a percussion gun.

It hammers your muscle.

A lot of runners and ultramarathoners use these

not only in between races for recovery,

but actually on the course.

They might come into an aid station

and have their crew member there.

Just take it usually to their quadriceps or to their calves.

I'm in my fifties now.

I still run ultramarathons,

and 100-mile or further ultramarathons,

and I'm not the only one.

There were other people in their fifties, sixties,

even seventies that are running ultramarathons.

So, I don't think we have a limited

number of foot-strikes in our life.

I think it just comes down to the individual and training,

but I really believe that anyone can run an ultramarathon,

and they can keep running ultramarathons, even as they age.

@GoRunWithMe.

I love that handle.

How do you fuel up during an ultramarathon?

Looking at nutrition options for big races.

I would say, listen to everyone, follow no one, Jessica.

You have to find what works best for you,

so experiment during your training run.

You know, for me,

I use a product called HEED by Hammer Nutrition,

which is a scientifically engineered energy drink.

I also use, you know, gels, energy bars.

I also personally like nut butters.

So, nut butters are a very concentrated

source of calories.

One element of ultramarathoning,

especially during hot ultramarathons, is hydration.

So, staying well-hydrated

and maintaining your electrolyte balance is very important.

Not only do we drink a lot of water,

but we also drink electrolyte replenishment beverages

that also have a source of carbohydrates,

of complex carbohydrates, not simple sugars.

Product I use to stay hydrated as well

is called Endurolytes.

It's like a solid capsule,

but it has magnesium, potassium, chloride,

and Endurolytes also have ginger powder,

which helps settle your stomach.

So, experiment with using either S!Caps or Endurolytes

to see how they help you maintain your electrolyte balance.

Yeah, so, during a typical ultramarathon,

we wear what are called hydration packs.

They have pouches and packs

where you can store these things during your run.

They also have some pockets in the front,

and that's how you can grab these things on the run.

The first time I tried to run the Badwater Ultramarathon,

which is a 135-mile race across Death Valley

in the middle of summer,

I became extremely dehydrated

and I threw my electrolytes out of balance.

And at about Mile 75 at 2:00 a.m.,

I passed out on the side of the road,

and my crew was driving

all around the desert looking for me,

and they saw two shoes sticking out of a bush,

and they literally picked me up,

and they carried me to the car,

and they drove me three hours to the nearest hotel.

And I fell asleep for eight hours. [laughs]

And that's how my first ultramarathon ended.

And, you know, I've had some really vivid hallucinations.

I've hallucinated there were dinosaurs off in the distance.

And one time, I hallucinated there was a miner '49er

sitting across the road from me.

He had a big gray beard and, you know, overalls on,

and I noticed he's got a gold pan.

And he holds out the gold pan to me,

and he says, Water, water, I need water.

And I was carrying a handheld water bottle.

So, I aspirated it in his gold pan,

and I heard the water sizzling on the pavement.

And I reached out to touch him,

and my hand went right through him,

and I thought, he's not real.

That was a hallucination

So, the next question is from John Mulkeen.

Question for runners:

what's the etiquette when you're out running

and you're approaching another person in front?

You trip them.

[laughs]

No, I'm just kidding, John.

Do what feels natural to you.

Some runners prefer just to keep their head down

and run past another runner.

Others like to wave,

or at least acknowledge the other runner.

Some like to give high fives.

So, do whatever feels right for you,

and you really can't do anything wrong

giving another runner some love.

So, the next question is from Julie grows.

Why does the same distance and time

feel so different on different days?

And how do you deal with those runs

when you just feel terrible?

And that's a really good question.

It might have to do with your state of recovery

or even your sleep.

Sometimes, if you get a bad night's sleep,

the next day running

can not feel as good as the previous day.

Might also be your psychological state.

You know, if you're on a downer, if you will,

sometimes your body just responds accordingly.

Just the opposite is true.

Sometimes, when you're just in an upbeat mood,

you have some of the best runs ever.

It's just little subtle things

that can play a big role in how you feel during a run.

So, the next question is from Misha Gurevich.

How do ultramarathon runners not get bored?

Do they listen to podcasts?

I listen to audiobooks, actually.

I've got over 500 audiobooks on my playlist.

So, I listen to a lot of audiobooks.

Sometimes, I just tune out and listen

to the beating of my heart.

Those are all the questions for today.

You really asked some quirky and some interesting questions,

so I learned a lot and I hope you did as well.

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