Running Ultras, From One of the Best
Last night I drove up to The Running Center in Carlsbad to hear my friend Akos Konya relate his strategies for running – and winning – ultramarathons. This humble Hungarian packed ‘em in for his first public speaking event. Sitting there, I couldn’t help but think back to when we met at a book signing for Dean Karnazes a few years ago. No one, including Dean K., had any idea he was so talented. And now here he was being introduced as a “celebrity.” He again finished second this year at the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley in 23:47, then a month later broke the course record to win the Lead Horse 100-miler in South Dakota. Up next is a 72-miler in Tahoe.I thought I’d pass on some of the tips and comments from that evening to digest or dismiss as you wish.
On Motivation
A lot of people asked what keeps him going when it gets really tough on the course. Akos emphasized throughout the talk that ultrarunners focus only on finishing more than speeding through a course. He’ll tell himself: “Nobody cares about your position; nobody cares about your time. Just finish.”
It’s a bad sign, he warned, if he starts asking people how far he has to go.
He also mentioned that a major difference in training is that marathoners do speedwork, while most ultrarunners focus almost exclusively on just running longer and longer to build endurance. This makes the mental preparation different as well.
On Stretching
His No. 1 concern in training is, of course, being injured. Everyone eventually gets injured, he said. “If someone says they never hurt, they’re lying.” He related some of his own war stories and admitted he isn’t big into stretching.
He’ll stretch to prevent injury, but will stop if he becomes injured. He says he never understood why people stretch a stressed tendon, making it worse.
On Training
Akos doesn’t have a coach. He mainly reads up on running and talks to other ultrarunners to design his own training, which is dependent on his schedule at a Ruby’s Diner, where he’s on his feet all day or night. To train for Badwater, he drove two hours to the desert once a week and ran up to 42 miles to get used to the heat.
A friend once advised: practice your weak point. So, to prepare for really long races like Badwater (135 miles), he’ll run in the middle of the night to acclimate to the darkness and lack of sleep.
That said, sleep is a vital part of race development. Constantly cutting sleep short to make time to run can backfire since you’ll run tired and slow, eventually resenting it. He warned: “If you don’t sleep enough, you can get hurt. And then you can sleep all you want because you can’t run.”
He goes through a lot of ice, applying bags of it after a hard run to his knees, hip, and feet. He pops ibuprofen like M&Ms, he joked.
He also advised anyone with a serious injury to seek out healthcare practitioners who also run. "Regular doctors," he said, will always tell you to stop running. Someone who understands the runner will come up with alternatives until you're fully healed.
On Nutrition
He only weighs 130 pounds, which tells you all you need to know about what he eats (and doesn’t) during the week. During races, he grazes – takes just one or two bites of fruit or a bagel or pretzels or chips at a time. He’ll also take Gu, Thermalyte capsules and Gatorade. The Brazilian who beat him at Badwater this year apparently subsisted on Hershey’s chocolate syrup, soda and bananas.
Prior to a race, he does the traditional carbo loading. Monday-Wednesday, he’ll eat only protein – eggs, bacon, cheese, etc. – to deplete his body of carbs. Then, beginning late Wednesday into Thursday, he’ll switch and eat carbs only, which the body soaks up and stores. He also never runs the day before a race.
On Courses
He isn’t a fan of trail runs, unless the trail is flat and relatively obstruction-free. Though Badwater is considered one of the most grueling races in the world, Akos considered the HURT 100 in Hawaii to be worse because of the climbs, rocks and tree roots. He finished towards the end of the line on that one but has since finished strong in just about every ultra he's entered.
An interesting tidbit: Most runners have to change their shoes during Badwater, due to the hot surface eating through the rubber soles and/or feet swelling from the rigors of running so long. Akos ran in the same pair of Mizunos for the entire Badwater race.
[Photo courtesy of SignonSanDiego.com]
On Nutrition
He only weighs 130 pounds, which tells you all you need to know about what he eats (and doesn’t) during the week. During races, he grazes – takes just one or two bites of fruit or a bagel or pretzels or chips at a time. He’ll also take Gu, Thermalyte capsules and Gatorade. The Brazilian who beat him at Badwater this year apparently subsisted on Hershey’s chocolate syrup, soda and bananas.
Prior to a race, he does the traditional carbo loading. Monday-Wednesday, he’ll eat only protein – eggs, bacon, cheese, etc. – to deplete his body of carbs. Then, beginning late Wednesday into Thursday, he’ll switch and eat carbs only, which the body soaks up and stores. He also never runs the day before a race.
On Courses
He isn’t a fan of trail runs, unless the trail is flat and relatively obstruction-free. Though Badwater is considered one of the most grueling races in the world, Akos considered the HURT 100 in Hawaii to be worse because of the climbs, rocks and tree roots. He finished towards the end of the line on that one but has since finished strong in just about every ultra he's entered.
An interesting tidbit: Most runners have to change their shoes during Badwater, due to the hot surface eating through the rubber soles and/or feet swelling from the rigors of running so long. Akos ran in the same pair of Mizunos for the entire Badwater race.
[Photo courtesy of SignonSanDiego.com]
