Science Of Ultra

Ben Levine, MD is among the legends of exercise cardiology and altitude physiology in sport performance. It is an honor to have him join the Ultra Clan for this amazing interview, packed with heaps of evidence-based, applicable, relevant, and actionable knowledge.

Today, I shine the spotlight on Mathew Laye, PhD. He is a scientist, coach, and athlete. As winner of the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler, along with his scientific and coaching background, he brings a rare mix of all three areas of expertise in ultra marathon training and racing to the show.

A double episode. Interviews with cardiologists Larry Creswell M.D. and Aaron Baggish M.D. They are at the forefront of heart health in endurance athletes. Is ultra marathon running okay for your heart? Listen and learn.

My guest today has had a life of endurance, persistence, adventure and exploration that we can all learn from. My guest is Terri Schneider. She was a professional triathlete for nine years, has raced multi-day eco-adventures around the planet, and is an ultra marathon veteran. We explore her life of endurance pursuits through the lens of her recent book, Dirty Inspirations: Lessons from the trenches of extreme endurance sports.

This week, we explore the ins and outs of economical running. Learn what you can do to improve yours and to what extent it will make a difference in your performance.

My guest today is Michael Gervais, PhD. He has been described as an industry visionary. Dr. Gervais is a licensed psychologist who focuses most of his time on people at the "top of their game", including the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, NBA players, Olympians, military personnel and corporate leaders. While spending years in the trenches of high-stakes circumstances, he has developed clarity for the tools that allow people to pursue their potential.

My guest today is John VonHof. He literally wrote the book on foot care for the athlete, Fixing Your Feet. You can learn more from him on his website, http://www.fixingyourfeet.com Today we dig into all the essential components of good foot care, from shoe fitting to blister care. We wrap up by defining the essential features of a good minimalist foot care kit for your next run or adventure.

My guest this week is Max King. He won the 2011 World Mountain Running Championships and the 2014 IAU 100 km World Championship. He’s won numerous national titles at distances ranging from half marathons to ultra marathons and he was named U.S. national mountain runner of the year in 2011. He is a back-to-back winner of the Warrior Dash world championship, winning in 2014 and 2015. Also, in 2014 he tackled his first 100 mile race, the legendary and extremely competitive Western States 100 mile Endurance Run where he finished 4th.

An incredible episode on psychological fatigue. Is fatigue in ultra endurance performance mostly in your mind? What can you do to stay psychologically motivated to keep going? Listen and learn on today's episode with the pioneering experts on this topic.

My guest today is Daniel Lieberman, PhD Dr. Lieberman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, and the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard University. He was educated at Harvard and Cambridge. He studies how and why the human body is the way it is, and the relevance of human evolution to contemporary health. His major research foci include the evolution of long distance walking and running abilities as well as the effects of shoes on locomotor biomechanics and injury; he also studies the evolution of the highly unusual human head. His work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and many other groups and foundations. He has ongoing fieldwork projects in Kenya and Mexico. In addition to over 130 peer-reviewed research articles, he’s published several books including "The Evolution of the Human Head (Harvard University Press, 2011), and “The Story of the Human Body” (Pantheon, 2013). If you’ve read the book “Born to Run”, then you’re already familiar with his work because that title was actually the title of a cover in the journal Nature that featured his research well before the book of the same title; and my guest is a major figure in the book itself.   In this episode, we explore the evolution of running, the biomechanics of barefoot running, and what shoe cushioning is and does for (and to) us. We make the distinction among barefoot, minimalist, and cushioned shoes and learn about the interesting effect of barefoot running, and possibly minimalist shoe running, on normalizing foot arches.   As always, we wrap up with some actionable answers to fundamental questions in barefoot running when I ask Dr. Lieberman,   What are the most common misconceptions you see in the running community with respect to barefoot vs shod running? Based on all your research, are their compelling reasons to consider barefoot or minimalist running from an endurance performance standpoint? Is there any reason to think that someone running ultra marathons would perform better or be less injury prone by switching to barefoot or minimalist running if fully and properly adapted. Should runners pay attention to their foot strike or should they just let their bodies do what’s comfortable and allow natural biomechanical adjustments to develop without conscious input?