Frequently Asked Questions

From time to time I get a fair number of repeat questions in the Comments sections of my blog posts.  So, as one such commenter suggested a while back, I thought it would make some sense to answer a lot of these questions, once and for all, all in one public place (and then link it in the side bar), so that hopefully people see the link, read the page and then don't need to either sift back through countless comment sections or post another comment of inquiry.  Part of the utility/beauty of a blog is its interactive format, but it is my hope that this particular page will save all of us a little time in the future.

What kind/model of shoes do you wear?
I wear New Balance shoes.  As of February 2013, my main shoe is the MT110. Light, low-to-the-ground, and with exceptional precision on technical terrain, I love that shoe.  In the winter I wear the MT110W, which is the 110 with an integrated zip-up gaiter.  These are great for many of the high-mountain missions I do in the winter where open mesh would mean frozen toes.  However, I am nearly always trying out some early-version prototype of various models of NB shoes (usually of either the 100-series or the Minimus-series), so these see some fairly heavy rotation as well.

Do you ever wear socks while running?
For much of my running career it was pretty rare if the weather was warm. I pretty much always wear socks in winter. However, in 2012 I started doing a lot of my running off-trail on steep, scrambly terrain.  This meant that I was getting a lot more gravel, dirt, scree, and loose forest debris coming into my shoes so I began wearing over-the-ankle socks quite a bit so that when this stuff does come into my shoes it doesn't affect my comfort. Probably my favorite sock is the Swiftwick Pursuit 4 which is a Merino Wool compression sock that is 4" high.  I love wool, the compression means it never falls down (something I always hated about socks), and the height is great for scree or snow.

How many miles of barefoot do you run per week?
It varies depending on the season (more in summer, less in winter), but I usually get 15-20mpw as true barefoot, which serves mainly for me to work on my form and keep my feet and lower legs strong.  All of this is done as barefoot laps around a flat, half-mile grass loop here in Boulder tacked on to the end of a longer run.

What is your typical diet/how do you eat enough to run that much?
I don't have one.  I consciously try to eat a lot of fresh, local fruits and vegetables, often purchased from the local farmer's market (April-November), but I definitely tend to eat a whole lot of straight-up carbs/sugar in the forms of pasta, breads, muffins, scones, cookies, Nutella on tortillas, chai, etc.  I probably eat too much sugar.  I don't eat any fast food, except for Illegal Pete's (local Chipotle-style burritos) here in Boulder, if that qualifies.

In terms of eating enough to handle the mileage, I don't have a secret diet, however, I think I probably do have a fairly unique (i.e. slow) metabolism, because I don't feel like I eat a ridiculous amount.  Or, maybe the quantity I eat is all I've ever known and it actually is a ridiculous amount.  Or, maybe other people just eat too much relative to the amount of activity they have in their lives thereby making my diet not feel so out of place.  I don't know.

Sweet carbs: a monster pan of pumpkin walnut chocolate chip muffins I baked.

Do you do any strength work?
Not really.  In high school I used to lift weights a lot.  I could bench press my body weight (150 lbs) twelve times.  In college I used to climb a lot and in addition to all the time on the rock I would regularly do pull-ups to assist in my efforts on the crag.  Now, however, any strength work is limited to a nominal, <5min core routine (total of ~150 reps of various crunches, some planks, etc.) that I'll do maybe 5x a week and some very specific hip/adductor/abductor strengthening exercises that I'll do to help prevent my form from breaking down as much late in a long race and causing my left knee to hurt.

Do you do any stretching?
Basically none, but I've recently realized the importance of maintaining some elasticity in my lower legs (achilles, soleus, calves, etc.), so I have begun paying a little closer attention to that, but no real formal routine of any type.

Do you get any massage, acupuncture, etc.?
I get frequent acupuncture work done courtesy of Allison Suddard at Peak Performance Acupuncture.  Despite being a pretty big skeptic, I began this type of treatment in early 2010 as a reference from Dr. Jeremy Rodgers at Colorado Sports Chiropractic (my preferred sportsmed doc) in order to improve the vascularity in my right patellar tendon (generally speaking) and have since found the Trigger Point Therapy to be very useful in preventing the usual little aches, pains and niggles that accompany hard training from turning into full-blown injuries.  This past year (2010) has been, by far, my most injury-free and consistent year of running of my entire career so far (only 16 days total off from running, with 12 being injury-related and almost all because of my strained calf this past month), and while I also like to credit this to accreted wisdom and a sense of relative moderation on my part, I know that regular acupuncture (probably an average of almost weekly sessions over the course of the year) has been a key factor in achieving that consistency in my running.

EDIT (6/23/2011): This spring I had my first sport massages from Jeff Staron at Boulder Sport and Injury, and while they were excrutiatingly painful, they seemed to be helpful in dealing with my posterior tibial tendonitis and I'd highly recommend him.

How (physically, financially, logistically, mentally) do you run so much?
Physically, it's something I've been doing for a long time (since 1995, first marathon in 1996 at age 12), so I have a relatively monstrous life-time base by this point (~57,000 miles at the end of 2010).  Also, I've had my fair share of injuries, but in general I think I'm blessed with fairly efficient, neutral biomechanics.

Financially, I've been quite frugal my entire life--some times radically so--and this has allowed me to get by with much less than what might be considered the norm.  With parents who were a high school teacher and a non-profit director/farmer, frugality has always basically been a necessity in my life and a habit I am thankful that my parents taught me.  I have spent several months at a time living voluntarily in my S-10 pick-up, The Roost.  I am fortunate to be supported by a research assistantship for my graduate studies and various sponsors, most significantly New Balance, in my running.  Combined with occasional free-lance writing/production of on-line content and running store/coffee shop gigs here and there, it has always been more than enough.

Logistically, it comes down to making running a no-brainer habit and nearly unassailable priority--oftentimes at the detriment of other things (not always good).  It comes down to basic discipline and living-out of a specific value-structure.

Mentally, ditto.

Frugal summer living in the Roost by the Dewey Bridge on the Colorado River near Moab, UT. Photo: Joe Grant.

Where/how do you carry your camera when you run?
When I carry a camera (a low-profile Sony Cybershot) running I keep it tucked in my waistband in an old soft eye-glasses case that has a clip on it.  I barely notice it most of the time.

What do you use to track time, distance, vertical gain, etc.?
My main piece of electronica is a Highgear Axio Max watch/altimeter.  It has a barometric altimeter (calculates altitude based on barometric pressure, not GPS), which I have found to be the most accurate type of tool for tracking vertical gain (of course, one must often calibrate the absolute elevation, but it does a pretty good job of catching the positive differentials).  As for mileage, I use a combination of MapMyRun and guesswork, usually.  I have a pretty good feel for what kind of pace I'm running/how fast I'm climbing and can usually come up with a pretty close estimate just based on running time.  However, some sections of trail (for example, Fern Canyon here in Boulder) can be deceiving and a friend's GPS often establishes a depressingly low value for those types of routes (the top of Bear Peak to the Mesa Trail via Fern Canyon is only about 1.5mi, but it drops ~2100' of elevation and typically takes me 16 or 17min...that's slower than 10min/mile pace going down).

How much do you eat/drink while running?
During training, on runs of 4 hours of more I generally eat one GU per hour after the first two hours.  I have found this to usually be enough but certainly not ideal in terms of energy needs.  In the summer I will carry a 20 oz. bottle on runs over 2 hours (and refill at streams when I feel the need).  In the winter, I generally need to be running 4 hours in order to bring a bottle along.  This kind of fueling allows me to keep running but I certainly finish my runs depleted and dehydrated for the most part.  I just replenish this after the run.

During races, depending on the weather and distances between water sources I will carry either one or two 20 oz. bottles.  I also drastically increase my sugar intake, eating a GU every 20-25min.  The plan is to never deprive myself of calories, and hopefully the restricted use in training has increased my body's ability to metabolize fat and hold onto water and salt.

How do you carry what you eat/drink while running?
I have a pair of home-modified running shorts that I can carry up to 10 gels in, which is usually more than enough for my longest training runs.  When I ran around Pikes Peak (68 miles/10hrs without resupply) in November 2010 I simply duct-taped together five more GUs and tucked them into my waistband, so that I was carrying 15 gels from the start.  Water is carried in a 20oz bottle usually with a home-made bike-tube handstrap.  I don't like the way that most waist-packs or backpacks ride while running, so I try to keep things simple and stripped to the essentials.

How do you eat/drink so little while running?
1) Practice 2) I think I have a slower metabolism than most.

Ever have any wildlife encounters?
Of course, but never anything too serious.  I've happened upon bears (a couple dozen over my ten years of running mountains, but no grizzlies), moose (probably the most tense encounters I've had), elk, and innumerable other more minor critters (deer, turkey, coyotes, marmots, etc).  My usual tactic is to be respectful and while I've, unfortunately, never seen a mountain lion it would be a privilege to do so one day.