ULTRA HUMAN
A marathon? Child's play. Running
100 miles, cycling for 1,000 miles? Now we're talking.
Rocky
Mountain News (CO) - Tuesday, October 7,
2008
Author:
Lisa Marshall, Special
to the Rocky
Remember when a marathon was considered the
runner's ultimate test? A century ride the loftiest of
cycling feats?
For an increasing number of athletes, those days are gone, with 26.2-mile runs
and 100-mile bike races passed over in favor of longer distances and 24-hour
races that make mere mortals shudder.
"Pretty much anyone can train and do a marathon these days, but tell
someone you've run 100 miles and they're like, 'Wow.' A 100 is way out
there," said Tia Bodington, editor of UltraRunning Magazine.
In 2007, according to UltraRunning, 14,241 people completed
an "ultramarathon" (any distance longer
than 26.2 miles). At least 354 were hosted in North America, reflecting steady
growth in a once-obscure sport that was still in its infancy when Colorado's
legendary Leadville Trail 100 run was born 25 years ago.
Events range from 50- or 100-mile runs to multiday races that span more than
1,000 miles, many hosted in inhospitable locations, including Death Valley,
home to the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon
in July. Other ultras try not only a runner's body, but also their sanity,
challenging them to circle a track as many times as possible for 24 hours.
Meanwhile, participation in the brutal 3,000-mile cycling Race Across America
is up 250 percent in the last decade; 12- and 24-hour cycling events (including
the 12 Hours of Snowmass, which Lance Armstrong competed in last month) are
proliferating. Membership in the UltraMarathon
Cycling Association grew from 679 in 1997 to 1,650 in 2007.
"We've raised our families, we've made our marks in our careers and now we
are looking for the next challenge," said UMCA Director John Hughes,
noting that many ultra-distance cyclists are baby boomers.
How do they do it? Here's a look:
Anita Fromm 37, from Frisco/Albuquerque
* Record-setter: Death-Valley Double Crossing (135 miles across Death Valley on
foot, up 14,497-foot Mount Whitney and back, totaling 292 miles)
* Runs: 80 to 120 miles a week
* Sleeps: 8 hours a night; occasional naps during a race.
* Eats: 1,200 to 3,000 calories a day while training. Mostly
organic. No red meat. No alcohol. Coconut oil for
immunity. During a race: potato chips and dip, cold leftover pizza,
Little Debbie snack cakes and caffeine pills. "I realize I'll probably
never get a health food company to sponsor me."
* Advice on hitting the wall: "Races are like life. There are tedious
places and wonderful places. When you hit the rough spots, the trick is to just
keep going because you know that it will get better."
Forty hours after starting the Badwater Ultramarathon across
Death Valley, Anita Fromm approached the cheers at the finish line just
as the sky was growing black with clouds. But for her, it was not a time for
celebration and relief.
She had yet to climb 11 miles and 6,135 feet to the summit of Mount Whitney
(the highest point in the Continental United States) and then turn around and
run 146 miles back to where she started, at the lowest point in the Western
hemisphere.
"I could hear the thunder and thought, 'I have done all this training and
spent all this money, and now I am going to fail,'" recalls Fromm , who coaches marathoners when she's not racing.
Instead of failing, she took a four-hour rest and carried on, crushing the
17-year-old women's record for the so-called "Death Valley Double
Crossing" after a punishing 129-hour, 44-minute run through everything
from soaking rain to 130-degree temperatures with a 30-mph headwind.
"I have never felt the heat and ferocity of the elements like I did that 292 miles. It literally felt like my skin was being
singed."
Such epic challenges have become a way of life for Fromm since running her first marathon in 1992. She's
since run 20 100-milers, 40 50-milers, and more than three dozen marathons,
finding relief for an eating disorder that plagued her since youth.
"With any addiction, you are never completely better, but I have been able
to heal my life as much as I am able to with my running. It helps me manage
it," she says.
"Ultrarunning is a way of life for me," she
says, noting that she has a flexible job, a supportive husband and no children.
"I live very economically so I can do these things."
Her next major goal: On Aug. 22, 2009, she intends to set out to run across the
country, hoofing it 3,200 miles in less than 64 days.
"People sometimes are like: 'There has got to be more to your life than
running,' but I am very at peace with what I do. Every footstep is a
blessing."
Jamie
Donaldson, 34, of Littleton
*Winner: 2008 Badwater Ultramarathon,
women's division
*Runs: 150 to 200 miles a week
*Sleeps: Six hours a night during training; little during a race
*Eats: "Tons of carbs," wheat grass powder
in water (for immune boosting), chia seeds (for
energy and recovery), Perpetuem (a powdered drink to
prevent muscle fatigue during a race).
*Advice on pre-race jitters: "Believe in your training. Every time I step
in line for a 100-mile race, I am scared to death, but if you're prepared and
you know it, that helps."
To the average couch potato, Jamie Donaldson's typical day sounds a lot like a
day in Purgatory:
Rise at 4 a.m. for a series of punishing hill repeats by the light of the
neighborhood street lamps. Grab a shower and be at work by 6:30 a.m. to teach
sixth grade at Sheridan Middle School. Rush from the school to the track to
coach cross country until 4:30 p.m., then set out for
a 25-mile training run before coming home to squeeze in some time with the
hubby. If it's summer and Donaldson's training for the
sweltering Badwater Ultramarathon
across Death Valley, make that 25-mile run in the heat of the day, clad in
layers of black clothing and a winter hat and gloves. Then, top it off by
running in place inside a sauna.
"I don't want running to take over my life, but it has always been a huge
part of it," says Donaldson, a humble overachiever who has been setting
records since grade school. "It's a fine balance, and there is never
enough time."
Donaldson first got turned on to running growing up in Pennsylvania, where she
tagged along to races with her dad, Rex Rutkoski, now
60. She ran her first fun run at age 6 and ran track in high school and
college. It wasn't until she ran her first marathon with her dad in 2003 that
she felt the thrill of distance.
Since then, Donaldson has run countless 50-milers and 100-plus-milers,
including a heartbreaking Badwater in 2007. After
leading the pack for 122 miles, she noticed her body swelling from the heat.
"I was so swollen you couldn't see my knees or ankles. Even my neck and
fingers were bloated." The swelling led to chafing which prompted her to
change her gait and gave her shin splints. She finished nonetheless, having
walked 75 miles.
"It was a disaster," she says.
This year, not only did Donaldson get her "sweet redemption" at Badwater -- finishing in 26 hours and 51 minutes -- she
also qualified to represent the U.S. in Korea for the International Association
of Ultrarunners 24-hour World Championship this
month.
What does that entail? Try circumnavigating a flat, 1-mile concrete course
repeatedly for 24 hours.
"It's mind numbing," Donaldson concedes.
Almost makes Purgatory sound like fun.
Nat
Ross, 36, from Golden
*Record: More 24-hour bike-race finishes (38) than any cyclist in the world;
2007 Ultra-Endurance series champion
*Rides: Up to 45 hours a week
*Sleeps: 10 hours a night, plus naps.
*Eats: Seven meals a day and as many as 7,000 calories daily. Starts every day
with an Emergen-C and uses a Neti
pot for nasal cleansing and herbs for immunity.
*Advice on hitting the wall: "It's preventable. Once you feel it coming
on, start putting some sugar down." If you've hit it: Pull over and
regroup, put on a fresh pair of socks, change the playlist on your MP3 player.
After years of pulling in a living as a high school chemistry teacher and a
part-time bartender, Colorado native Nat Ross has reached a point many cyclists
only dream of: He gets paid to ride.
"I have one of the best jobs in the world," says Ross, an eight-year
professional rider (sponsored by Subaru-Gary Fisher) who grew up in Hot Sulfur
Springs.
Ross says his pedaling prowess has earned him enough to buy a house and live
comfortably. But his love for round-the-clock rides came long before the
paycheck.
Ross' first foray into the world of 24-hour races came in 1998, when he signed
up for the now-defunct Montezuma's Revenge, a ridiculously steep mountain bike
race near rugged Montezuma, Colo. Cyclists were required to cover as much
distance as possible in a 24-hour period via nine distinct laps, potentially
crossing the Continental Divide 10 times, summiting a fourteener
on two wheels and climbing 37,000 vertical feet under the full moon.
"You are at altitude, getting hypothermia, crossing creeks and streams on
your bike and Mother Nature is throwing everything she can at you. You go
through all sorts of highs and lows. You definitely get to know yourself,"
says Ross.
After a second-place finish that year, Ross knew he'd found his calling, and he
has since completed 37 more 24-hour-races, including a mud-choked British
Sleepless in the Saddle event raced in the rain as a live symphony played in
the background.
Ross also competed in the Race Across America two
years in a row, with his four-man team taking the title, and won the National
Ultra Endurance Series -- a series of eight 100-mile cross-country mountain
biking events in 2007.
Tired yet? Not quite, he says, although he does take a month off each year to
lie on the beach and forget about cycling.
"I'm at the point in my career where if I retire, I know I'll end up
coming back. I love this sport too much."