Must-Read: Tips from Ultramarathoners

Ultramarathoner

Some people think that football or hockey players are the craziest sports players around. Others think that it’s those crazy adrenaline junkies that inhabit the world of X-Games style sports. Still others wouldn’t be caught in the same three-block radius of an MMA fighter for fear of them going rabid and taking out everyone in their general vicinity with their bare hands. But, for my money, I think the most insane sports people around are ultramarathoners.

These are people that run, for fun and very little monetary incentive, marathons that last for a hundred or more miles. The craziest one is the 135-mile run over at Death Valley, where the scorching sun beats down on them the entire time. The runners actually have to order and eat pizzas while they’re running in order to get the necessary calories for their body to continue. Like I said. They are insane.

Men’s Health sees their insanity as an opportunity by asking these ultramarathon runners some tips for just us regular (see: people who think an actual 26-mile marathon would be rough) runners to use. Here’s one guy talking about technique and how best to position your body while running:

Instead, imagine you’re pedaling a unicycle: Keep your shoulders plumb-lined over your hips and kick back with your feet instead of reaching out. To speed up, lean forward from the ankles instead of bending forward from the waist; you’ll create a light, controlled fall instead of a muscle-intensive series of pushoffs.

“You should use this anytime, in any activity,” Zahab says: hiking, biking, sprinting down the basketball court. Besides going faster with less effort, you’ll preserve your legs by stacking your weight over your strong, protectively arched midfeet, instead of crashing down on the sensitive nerves in your heels or the fragile tendons in your toes.

So, yeah. Pretty interesting read. Check it out!