Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek, Steve Friedman Page B
Authors: Scott Jurek, Steve Friedman
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and since then it’s run the last weekend in June.
The course begins in Squaw Valley, and the first thing any racer does is climb to 8,750-foot Emigrant Pass, an ascent of 2,550 feet in 4½ miles. She will spend the rest of the 100 miles climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970. Racers follow trails once used by the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe, who scraped their living from the harsh land by scavenging nuts, berries, insects, and lizards, digging for tubers, trapping small game like rabbits and squirrels, and very rarely killing a pronghorn antelope. The Native Americans left, victims of smallpox, bullets, and other byproducts of a young nation’s Manifest Destiny. Next came the settlers and the gold miners. Not far from the course was Donner Pass, named for the unfortunate group of settlers who had also followed their dreams west, failed to finish their course, and in the winter of 1846–47 suffered fates much worse and more memorable than not getting a buckle.
The moon had set. A pale, watery gray sky promised a pale, watery winter day. I crunched on past more stands of birch and empty, barren fields. My feet sank. I pulled them out. I pumped my arms, sank again, and pulled them out again. Timeless silence, except for the crunching of my feet, the heavy, rhythmic breathing of the forest’s only moving creature—me. I would run an hour and 15 minutes this morning—10 miles at a 7:30 pace. I would run another 10 miles the next morning, and the next. Weekends, I would run 25-mile-long runs.
A few people who knew about my training and also knew what I was eating told me I was crazy. My dad—who had ballooned to over 280 pounds—suggested that if I was going to run long distances, I needed steak, and when I replied that his health might improve if he ate more vegetables, he told me to wait until I was forty and to see how I felt and looked. My grandpa Ed—my mom’s dad—told me no one could survive on “fruits and nuts” and that, furthermore, I would need new knees by the time I was forty.
But I felt better than I had ever felt before. I had always had pretty good endurance, but now the soreness I had always experienced after long runs was gone. The resting times I had always needed between hard workouts were shorter than ever. I felt lighter. I felt stronger. I felt faster. And I felt as young as ever.
When I returned to my doorway, the pale gray dawn had turned paler, but the sun seemed a vague memory, not even a promise. Wet little clouds of exhaust coughed from the cars of early shift workers. I would go in, stretch, shower, and change. Then I would start my day.
THE CORE
Your legs propel you, but it’s your back and abdominal muscles that enable a lot of the power. For the back, do pulldowns and rows at a gym, with your shoulder blades pinched together. If you practice yoga, concentrate on backbend moves like the locust, the bridge, and the boat.
For the abs, work exercises into your routine that involve keeping your pelvis still while moving your legs. Planks are some of the simpler and most effective of these exercises. For the front plank, lie flat on a mat, face down, then raise your hips and pelvis, keeping your forearms and toes on the floor with your body straight from head to toe. The side plank is the same, except the points of contact between the body and floor are the side of one forearm and the side of the same foot. These starter exercises can be made more challenging with arm and leg movements or by adding a stability ball or disc. Any yoga position will be of tremendous value to the runner if you make sure to focus on and engage your core. Any Pilates routine—which by its nature emphasizes engaging the core—will make you a stronger and more efficient runner.
8-Grain Strawberry Pancakes
I first cooked these pancakes after a 20-mile run in a northern Minnesota winter, and the experience taught me two things: first, that I could create a creamy, sweet texture
The course begins in Squaw Valley, and the first thing any racer does is climb to 8,750-foot Emigrant Pass, an ascent of 2,550 feet in 4½ miles. She will spend the rest of the 100 miles climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970. Racers follow trails once used by the Paiute, Shoshone, and Washoe, who scraped their living from the harsh land by scavenging nuts, berries, insects, and lizards, digging for tubers, trapping small game like rabbits and squirrels, and very rarely killing a pronghorn antelope. The Native Americans left, victims of smallpox, bullets, and other byproducts of a young nation’s Manifest Destiny. Next came the settlers and the gold miners. Not far from the course was Donner Pass, named for the unfortunate group of settlers who had also followed their dreams west, failed to finish their course, and in the winter of 1846–47 suffered fates much worse and more memorable than not getting a buckle.
The moon had set. A pale, watery gray sky promised a pale, watery winter day. I crunched on past more stands of birch and empty, barren fields. My feet sank. I pulled them out. I pumped my arms, sank again, and pulled them out again. Timeless silence, except for the crunching of my feet, the heavy, rhythmic breathing of the forest’s only moving creature—me. I would run an hour and 15 minutes this morning—10 miles at a 7:30 pace. I would run another 10 miles the next morning, and the next. Weekends, I would run 25-mile-long runs.
A few people who knew about my training and also knew what I was eating told me I was crazy. My dad—who had ballooned to over 280 pounds—suggested that if I was going to run long distances, I needed steak, and when I replied that his health might improve if he ate more vegetables, he told me to wait until I was forty and to see how I felt and looked. My grandpa Ed—my mom’s dad—told me no one could survive on “fruits and nuts” and that, furthermore, I would need new knees by the time I was forty.
But I felt better than I had ever felt before. I had always had pretty good endurance, but now the soreness I had always experienced after long runs was gone. The resting times I had always needed between hard workouts were shorter than ever. I felt lighter. I felt stronger. I felt faster. And I felt as young as ever.
When I returned to my doorway, the pale gray dawn had turned paler, but the sun seemed a vague memory, not even a promise. Wet little clouds of exhaust coughed from the cars of early shift workers. I would go in, stretch, shower, and change. Then I would start my day.
THE CORE
Your legs propel you, but it’s your back and abdominal muscles that enable a lot of the power. For the back, do pulldowns and rows at a gym, with your shoulder blades pinched together. If you practice yoga, concentrate on backbend moves like the locust, the bridge, and the boat.
For the abs, work exercises into your routine that involve keeping your pelvis still while moving your legs. Planks are some of the simpler and most effective of these exercises. For the front plank, lie flat on a mat, face down, then raise your hips and pelvis, keeping your forearms and toes on the floor with your body straight from head to toe. The side plank is the same, except the points of contact between the body and floor are the side of one forearm and the side of the same foot. These starter exercises can be made more challenging with arm and leg movements or by adding a stability ball or disc. Any yoga position will be of tremendous value to the runner if you make sure to focus on and engage your core. Any Pilates routine—which by its nature emphasizes engaging the core—will make you a stronger and more efficient runner.
8-Grain Strawberry Pancakes
I first cooked these pancakes after a 20-mile run in a northern Minnesota winter, and the experience taught me two things: first, that I could create a creamy, sweet texture
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