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GOING THE DISTANCE WITH THE ULTRA MARATHON MAN
Jan 27, 2010
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Dean Karnazes Shares Some of the Secrets That Have Helped Make Him the World's Ultimate Extreme Endurance Athlete
Dean Karnazes has built his legend by doing the seemingly impossible. Sometimes that means running 350-mile races, or running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Other times, it means thinking up new challenges that no one else would think up in a thousand years.
Next year, Dean will be embarking on a journey unlike anything he's ever done before: He will attempt to run a marathon in every country in the world (all 200+ of them) including Afghanistan and North Korea.
North Korea! Dean's dealt with sub-zero weather, sweltering heat, and numerous snakes and bears on the trail, but never a locked-down, repressive Communist regime. The US government can't even get CIA agents in there, but Dean's going.
And you know what? We're not betting against him. Not with his track record. And you can bet if he does get there, he'll kick some Communist butt, too.
We joined Dean recently at the Rock n' Roll Marathon Expo as he was preparing to lead a group of elite runners on an ULTRA - 50K. The large crowd in attendance to hear Dean speak was a clear indication that when Dean talks, people listen. However, the thing that really struck us about Dean is that he never sits still, or even sits for that matter.
He's always moving and on the go. After giving his speech, answering fans' questions and signing autographs for over an hour, Dean was gracious enough to speak with us, while also walking briskly around the perimeter of the Expo Center. It was a good workout just keeping up with him.
Of the many things we spoke about, Dean shared with us his enthusiasm for the new
Raptor extreme endurance bars
, along with giving us a heads-up on his biggest and most challenging endeavor yet.
Before we get started, readers who might not be familiar with Dean's amazing story should know that he might just be the fittest man on the planet. In addition to the feats cited above, he's won the world's toughest footrace, the Badwater Ultramarathon 135-mile race across Death Valley in 120-degree temperatures. He holds eleven Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run silver buckles for sub 24-hour finishes. He once set up a treadmill in Times Square and ran the equivalent of five marathons. In 24 hours. In 2006, after completing 49 marathons, in 49 US states, in 49 consecutive days, he finished the 50th, the NYC Marathon, right at the three-hour mark, alongside none other than fellow endurance athlete Lance Armstrong. Astoundingly, when he's not training or racing, he also has time to be a best-selling author and to maintain a busy promotional schedule that would exhaust anyone else in and of itself.
As part of that promotional schedule, Dean has recently become the national spokesperson for
Supreme Protein's new
Raptor bar. And if Dean's enthusiasm and early reviews of the product are an accurate indicator of what to expect, the Raptor bars will take the energy bar category by storm!
EXTREME RUNNING
PS: Tell us a little bit about your story as it relates to long distance running. What led you to achieve some of these mind-boggling feats of endurance?
Dean: I first started long distance running when I was in kindergarten. My mom was having some problems picking me up after school, and I just told her not to bother, and that I'd run home. I just love running and did this throughout the primary grades. I later ran cross-country as a freshman in high school but then quit and didn't run much again until I was 30. By that time I was working as a successful executive in the corporate world, and I wasn't happy, I wanted something more, something challenging. On the evening of my 30th birthday I was just doing what you do on your 30th, drink and hang with friends. As I walked out of the bar at about midnight, I said to myself, you know what, I used to love to run and I don't like where my life is right now. I'm going back to running, and I'm going to start by running thirty miles tonight on my 30th birthday. That was the beginning of the journey for me.
PS:
What drives you to do what you do?
Dean: It's really a curiosity to see how far the human body can go, and to really test and expand the human limits of endurance. To be able to do something that I once thought was entirely impossible for any human being to do, is an unbelievable experience. It's just a way to express myself by doing my utmost best. And of course I also do it for the free food at the race aid stations! (Laughs)
PS:
You've accomplished some absolutely amazing things as an endurance athlete. Which past achievement was the most difficult to complete?
Dean: I would say the Atacama Desert crossing. Here's the setting: The days were blazing hot in the Atacama Desert, and the nights were bitter cold. The ground was horribly rocky and uneven to sleep on. We had been racing hard for 4 straight days, battling against each other and against some of the most challenging terrain on earth. It was Stage 5 of the Atacama Crossing, the notorious "long stage" (a 50-mile slugfest that finished in a large gorge in South America called Moon Valley). After four days of racing, I was in second place. I knew that if I wanted to win it I would need to push relentlessly during the long stage, so I went out really fast. Too fast. By the halfway point, I was already dehydrated and fatigued. My body was urging me to slow down, but my mind was driving me onward. I'd been running the entire day by myself and hadn't seen another runner, or even another person, for hours. Could I keep this pace up, I wondered? When nightfall arrived, my legs began cramping intensely. Still, I kept going, resisting the urge to stop and rest. The finish had to be near, I kept telling myself, yet nothing appeared in the distance, just miles of empty desert. My mind started screaming, "STOP! STOP! STOP!" But I wouldn't stop. Now I was on the edge of passing out, seeing stars and hallucinating. In the shadows of darkness, I kicked a hidden rock and fell to the ground with a loud thud. I lay there in the dirt, not sure if I had injured myself. I stayed on the ground for what seemed an eternity. Finally, I summoned the courage to crawl to my feet and just start walking. I was sure others would now pass me, because I could only walk. Demoralized, I rounded the first corner and there before me was the finish line! I started sprinting at full speed, laughing and crying at the same time as I crossed the tape in first place. They say it's always darkest before the light, and I couldn't agree more.
PS:
Do you have any particular type of coping mechanism for handling pain?
Dean: Pain? There's no pain involved in endurance running! (laughs) It's funny, my next door neighbor asked me one morning after a long run, "How do you do it, isn't running so painful?" My response was, "It is if you're doing it right!" Pain is inevitable with running, how you deal with it is up to you. My philosophy on the matter is, pain is a challenge to overcome just like any other challenge in running or in life. My biggest piece of advice is to stay in the moment, stay present. Don't get ahead of yourself, don't look at the mile markers during a marathon, just take one step at a time.
PS:
It's been said that competing in long endurance events (50 plus miles) takes just as much mental strength as it does physical strength. Is there any truth to that statement?
Dean: There is a race called the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run-essentially a hundred miles of wilderness trail running through the Sierra Nevada Mountains-where it's said that you run the first 50 miles with your legs, and the next 50 miles with your mind. That pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.
FITNESS - TRAINING
PS:
Describe your training philosophy as it relates to recovery and running on back-to-back days.
Dean: I prescribe to what I like to call the 'hard / easy principle', which essentially means, follow a hard training day with an easy training day. This is hard for a lot of runners because the tendency for most is to really push themselves during every run or training session. Typically I run 5 to 6 days a week and I usually do two runs a day (back to back runs - AM / PM) sticking with the hard / easy principle.
PS: You obviously have a lot more muscle mass than the average endurance athlete. Do you do a lot of weight training and or cross-train with other sports, exercises, etc.?
Dean: I spend a lot of time cross-training with mountain-biking, windsurfing, climbing, and snowboarding during the winter. Having good all-around strength has helped me avoid injuries and getting hurt. I always encourage other runners to cross-train with various outdoor activities. It helps prevent burnout and makes you a better all-around athlete.
PS: Do you feel that having more muscle mass gives you any advantages in running or endurance over the typical slim long distance runner?
Dean: Too many runners only run; hence their overall muscular development isn't very good. I carry a little more bulk than your typical runner, which may slow me down a bit, but ultimately helps with injury prevention and being able to go those super-long distances.
PS: When you're at home, what does your performance / training schedule consist of?
Dean: I train at every opportunity I get. It's a lifestyle thing. Fitness and physical activity have to be a critical component of your life. Let's face it, if you don't have your health it's hard to enjoy much of anything else. It's important to find an activity that you truly enjoy and are passionate about. Otherwise, you won't keep it up. Training is something I look forward to, so knocking off a quick ten-miler or banging out a set of push-ups/pull-ups/sit-ups/dips comes easy. These are things I do every day (two or three times on a good day!).
PS: Do you focus on any specific muscle group when training for a long distance event?
Dean:
My standard "go to" is the following: 30 quarter leg-ups, followed by a 15 second break (lactic acid flush), followed immediately by 25 quarter leg-ups, followed immediately by 25 crunches, followed immediately by 20 raised-leg quarter sit-ups.
This essentially recruits most of the muscle sets of the abdomen and lower back, starting with the lower abdominal region and working up.
PS: How vital is cross-training to your workout routine?
Dean:
It's critical. I dedicate a lot of time to cross-training for a reason. Having good all-around strength has helped me avoid injuries and getting hurt. Without overall balanced strength, I think I would be injured much more often.
PS: You ran the Badwater Ultramarathon which is a 135-mile race across Death Valley in 120-degree temperatures. How do you train for something like that?
Dean: You get creative. In prepping for desert races, I'll do sets of push-ups and sit-ups in the sauna at the gym and run around town in my skiwear in the middle of summer. Sure, you get a lot of strange looks, but it beats showing up to some of these events unprepared. Still, I don't think it's as weird as Sylvester Stallone working-out in a meat locker like in Rocky. Now that's extreme!
NUTRITION -
RAPTOR EXTREME ENDURANCE BARS:
PS:
With regard to nutrition, are there any particular products that you rely on when running in an endurance event?
Dean: As I said before, I'm very particular about what I eat, especially in the crucial period just before and during an endurance event. When you're one hundred and seventy miles into a two-hundred-mile non-stop road race, you have very little margin for error with regard to nutrition. You need every nutritional edge possible. After extensively researching the major endurance bars and gels, it was
Supreme Protein's new
Raptor extreme endurance bars that impressed me the most. I recommend
Raptor bars with the highest level of enthusiasm because I can tell you first hand of their superior performance-enhancing power. They're truly that good!
PS:
What makes
Raptor Bars
superior to other energy bars and supplements you've tried in the past? What makes them so effective?
Dean: Well number one they work, which as an endurance athlete, that's critical. Two, they taste great, and three, they're wonderful for recovery. In endurance sports and training, you're always looking to attain a very high level of sustained energy without peaks and crashes, and that's where Raptor really excels above the rest. Where other bars are just glorified high-glycemic carbs, Raptor's gel center provides a complex matrix of quick-acting super-energizing carbohydrates, while the outer layer provides high-grade whey protein and critical branched-chain amino acids.
PS:
What are your thoughts on protein intake as it relates to performance and recovery?
Dean: I'm a big believer in not only getting adequate amounts of protein but also high quality protein as well. In addition to the
Raptor bars, I also eat
Supreme Protein bars, which contain a premium protein blend with significant whey isolate content. Across the board, they've got a top-notch nutritional profile.
PS: What about carbohydrate intake? Is it vital to your performance in a long endurance event?
Dean: Absolutely! With carbs it's really all about getting the right balance between medium, complex, and simple sugars, so that you get through the "wall" with a more sustained release of energy over time instead of the usual "energy high" and subsequent crash. I think the Raptor bars are a good example of a formula with the perfect balance of carbohydrates.
PS: Do you consider the
Raptor bars to be one of your main nutrient 'extra' factors?
Dean: They're definitely a contributing factor and I felt the affects the first time I tried one. Again, it seems that their complex matrix of quick-acting and extended-interval carbohydrates provides a lift without energy drop-off. I get a sustained energy boost that lasts, and they taste great, which is a huge factor for me. I like the wild berry gel center and the chewy coating. When you're trying to eat and assimilate a lot of calories, every bite must have 100% function and purpose.
PS: How do the Raptor bars taste compared to other bars?
Dean: As all endurance athletes know, most energy bars and even protein bars are usually chalky and dry in texture. However, the Raptor bars are completely different than any bars I've tried before. They taste phenomenal! Raptor has the right combination of pro-endurance factors and flavor. The innovators at
Supreme Protein Inc. absolutely nailed it with this product!
PS: When you run beyond 100 miles, how many calories are you burning per hour?
Dean: I'm burning roughly 500-700 calories an hour during those extremely long races. That's why it's vital for me to keep replenishing myself with nutrient-dense foods and supplements.
PS: Your overall diet is glycemically mixed with an emphasis on quality carbs. Along with Raptor bars, what are some other supplements you take?
Dean: With my energy requirements, I have to supplement intelligently. Along with Raptor, I take a high-performance daily multivitamin/mineral formula, an Omega-3 formula, whey protein isolate, and
Supreme Protein bars.
WHAT'S NEXT
PS: You've accomplished some remarkable feats as it relates to long distance running. What's the next big challenge you have for yourself?
Dean: In the fall of 2011, I'm going to try to run a marathon in every country in the world in a one year period. The United Nations recognizes over 200 nations in the world and I plan on running in them all in a one year time period. This includes Afghanistan, North Korea, and places that aren't easy to get into, but I'm looking forward to the challenge and I think the world could use something like this.
Thanks
Dean!
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