When Chicago’s Nikki Seger hits the finish line of a regular 26.2-mile marathon, she’s just getting started. In a typical year as an ultrarunner, a unique strain of athlete, she’ll run at least two 50-mile races, two 100-milers and perhaps tackle a 24-hour running event.
This week Seger plans to push her 43-year-old body even further: the equivalent of five marathons in a row. She is one of two gutsy people from Illinois entered in the notorious Badwater Ultramarathon, a rigorous 135-mile odyssey from California’s Death Valley, where the temperatures reach 130 degrees and the searing asphalt roads can melt running shoes, to Mt. Whitney.
Yet Seger’s physique, at 5 foot 6 inches and 142 pounds, is fairly ordinary. She uses what she calls “a minimalist training schedule.” And she works full time in retail and teaches fly-fishing on the side.
This is the little-known secret about ultrarunners: Although the distances sound insane, especially to non-runners, many of the participants are simply average but dedicated athletes looking for an alternative to the 26.2-mile marathon.
Ultrarunners are people who dream about running 50 miles when they turn 50 years old. They realize they can’t get any faster, so they try to go farther. They believe that if more than 30,000 people can finish the Chicago Marathon, it can’t really be that gratifying.
Or they enjoy the camaraderie that develops in a race when survival, not speed, is usually the primary goal.
“We’re quiet and unassuming,” said Seger, who became hooked in 1994 after trying the Ice Age Trail 50 Miler, which takes place inside Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest Southern Unit. She loved that she was able to run most of the race with a 70-year-old man and that the same man eventually beat her by an hour.
“We’re good at it, we enjoy it, and it fills a need inside us,” she said. “Some of us are pretty good, some are pretty ordinary.”
Technically, an “ultramarathon” is any non-stop event longer than 26.2 miles, which generally means 31 miles (50 kilometers) or more. The races often are on trails and inside state parks and national forests, in areas only hikers or helicopters can reach.
Baby ultras (50 kilometers) are done by everyday marathoners, and they take an average of six hours to finish. Runners who are in good enough shape to finish a 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) or half-marathon (13.1 miles) can survive a baby ultra, as long as they’re willing to walk, Seger said.
“I loved the feeling of the [50K] race,” said La Grange’s Lisa Menninger, 40, the first female finisher in last fall’s Chicago Lakefront 50K/50-miler, an ultra that gives runners the choice of a 50-kilometer run or a 50-mile run. It was the first ultra for Menninger, a singer, actress, mom, competitive runner and pro duathlete, and she’s excited to do more.
“It was small, folks were supportive to each other, and the feel was more relaxed than a regular marathon,” she said.
The 50-milers, which can take about 10 hours to finish, take a serious commitment and weed out those who may not be genetically or biomechanically blessed. A typical training weekend could include back-to-back 20-mile runs.
How’s your night vision?
And distances beyond 50 miles require more than physical gifts. A 100-mile competition could take 24 hours or more, which means learning to run through the night. These races also demand a specialized training schedule, proper nutrition, a willingness to drain blisters and keep going, and large blocks of time for long runs.
“You must have the ability to plan for 90 percent of the race and deal with the 10 percent that goes crazy,” said 52-year-old Kristine Hinrichs, race director for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, who has run more than 50 marathons and ultras since 1994. “You also need a sense that the course will always win–maybe you can come in second or third.”
Badwater, an invitational considered to be the Mt. Everest of ultrarunning, requires each runner to have a support crew that includes at least one four-wheeled motor vehicle and two crew members at all times.
Though Seger runs only 3 to 6 miles a day during the week, and doesn’t mind skipping days, she’ll put in five- to six-hour runs on weekends. In addition to sitting, walking and stepping in a sauna for an hour a day during the six weeks leading up to Badwater, she ran a 50-miler in March, a 50K in April and finished a 24-hour event in May. She cross-trained by swimming, biking and dancing.
Ultras tend to “attract people who have that adventurous spirit and who crave the idea of doing something neighbors and co-workers can’t do,” said Amby Burfoot, executive editor of Runner’s World magazine, who has completed the 54-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa, a race that draws 15,000 runners.
The races also are avenues for self-discovery. Athletes often say they feel most alive when they’re testing their limits. People “love the challenge and love to see what their bodies can do,” said elite ultrarunner Scott Jurek, of Seattle who recently won his seventh straight Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile trail competition. Jurek also is entered in Badwater.
“Eventually, when you’re 70 miles into a race, you start to explore that spiritual or psychological dimension of what keeps the body ticking and who you really are,” he said.
In all the races, the tortoise usually outshines the hare, and a certain amount of mental maturity is required. That’s partially why ultrarunners tend to be older than marathoners; the average age is 40, with runners starting to hit their stride around 35.
Although older, they don’t necessarily break down more because, oddly enough, ultrarunners say the longer races are easier on the body than a marathon. The pace is slower–walking is accepted and almost always done on hills–and the running surface is more forgiving.
Aches, pains, hallucinations
Most of the injuries are typical overuse problems such as strained hamstrings, torn Achilles tendons and plantar fasciitis, said Gene Hong, chief of the division of sports medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, who treats a number of ultrarunners. Though blood markers show some muscle damage in endurance athletes, studies haven’t found unusual damage to kidney and liver function, Hong said.
That’s not to say the races are without serious physical pain, vomiting and hallucinations. But as the old ultra saying goes: “Discomfort is inevitable, but suffering is optional.”
“Very few people really seek out suffering,” said Aurora ultrarunner Steve Richey. “When running hard in training or a race, I am far from comfortable, but I certainly feel very much alive–it’s a level of happiness that goes far beyond simple seeking of pleasure.”
Badwater, which gathers 80 of the world’s toughest runners, triathletes, adventure racers and mountaineers, starts at Badwater, Death Valley, 280 feet below sea level, the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere.
In addition to Seger, 34-year-old Rob Harsh of Plainfield, one of the top adventure racers in the country, will be representing Illinois. The two will be racing in temperatures up to 130 degrees and traversing three mountain ranges. The finish line is at the Mt. Whitney Portals in California, at 8,360 feet.
“I race in these events to continually renew my connection with the natural world and to discover the power within each of us as human beings,” Harsh wrote on his Badwater race application. “One must visit these extreme places in order to understand their power.”
Harsh, who hopes to finish the race in under 40 hours and then run an extra 12 miles to the summit of Mt. Whitney (14,400 feet), started an intense heat acclimatization program in June. It included using extra layers of clothing on his daily runs, driving in his car with the heat on full blast and soaking in a tub of hot water (near 120 degrees) for 30 minutes each night.
Suffer now, suffer later
“It is nearly unbearable, but they say you should suffer more in the heat during the few weeks before the race than you actually do during the event,” he said. “I’m now to the point now where I feel fairly chilled at 90 degrees, which is hopefully a good sign that I’ll be ready to handle the conditions in Death Valley, but I’m still pretty nervous.”
For Seger, who has crewed the race several years in a row, one of the biggest challenges will be looking 10 miles into the distance.
“The measure of progress is ahead of you all the time, and it’s utterly defeating,” she said. “You’re by yourself for a very, very long time.”
Her strategy is to run 25 minutes and walk for five, a 5-1 ratio that has worked for her in the past. “I can do that for 10 to 12 hours,” she said. “Then if I need to start walking more, I will.”
Seger’s first goal is simply to finish. As if that weren’t enough, she wants to finish in under 48 hours in order to receive the coveted prize: a belt buckle. Ideally, her time would be under 42 hours. “I won’t outspeed anyone,” Seger said. “But I will outlast them.”
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Ultras work as life lessons
Much like life, an ultramarathon, or a race 50 kilometers or longer, consists of highs, lows, triumphs and struggles. Many ultrarunners love that the events compress a wide range of emotions and experiences into a single race, a period anywhere between 4 and 48 hours.
Running ultras seems to be kind of what life is supposed to be about, says one ultrarunner. “It’s pushing limits and testing and learning and growing,” he said.
The experts tell us what it takes to get through a race. But you don’t have to be an ultrarunner to apply the principles. They’re also handy in everyday life.
Maturity. It’s “the ability to see beyond the discomfort of the moment and to focus on the next aid station. The ability to be conservative in the beginning–to know that you will usually have at least two chances to run every hill–so maybe take that second opportunity rather than the first.”
A sense of interdependency. “Everyone will be out there by themselves and take a fall, need an extra sip of water or a bit of sports gel. Help others because they will most certainly help you.”
–Kristine Hinrichs, 53, a self-described “slow ultramarathoner”
Take baby steps. “You need the ability to break up an overwhelming task into some pieces, to run from aid station to aid station. Challenge yourself, compete with yourself to make it to the next stop sign or the next tree.”
–Dean Karnazes, author of “Ultramarathon Man”
Find a good mentor. “Very few people are motivated to take up a new sport on [their] own. Once you do that, enter a race close to home so it’s meaningful and you have support. Relax. Remember you’ll be out there a long time.”
–Nikki Seger, 43, of Chicago
Pay attention to your body. “People who don’t get injured are generally smart trainers. [The keys are] balanced training, taking care of your body, nutrition and recovery.”
–Scott Jurek, 31, of Seattle, seven-time winner of the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run
Run your plan. Stay within your realm. Don’t feel bad if someone passes you. Don’t chortle with glee if you pass someone. Keep pressing on; maybe it is one of those good days when you pick it up and keep on picking it up.
Have faith in walking. Walk when you need to or when you want to, but walk with purpose. No trudging; no survival shuffle.
Don’t stop. Keep moving. Low points will come; continued movement will bring you back around.
Believe in yourself. Nothing else will get you to the finish line. Decide before you start what will stop you; if that doesn’t happen, continue.
–John Morelock, 63, of Coupeville, Washington
Upcoming ultras
– Aug. 13 Howl at the Moon Eight Hour, Danville, Ill.
The course is 95 percent trail and 5 percent asphalt. www.kennekuk.com.
– Aug. 28 Iowa 50 Km and Marathon Trail Runs, Fairfield, Iowa
A 4.5-mile loop through varied terrain. http://fairfieldstriders.org.
-Sept. 10 Lake City 50K, Warsaw, Ind. Course is partially paved. lakecitymarathon.com.
– Oct. 9 Glacial Trail 50K & 50 Mile, Greenbush, Wis. A run through Kettle Moraine State Forest Northern Unit. badgerlandstriders.org.
– Oct. 29 The Chicago Lakefront 50/50. Your choice: Either a 50-kilometer (eight-hour time limit) or 50-mile (11-hour time limit) run along the lakefront. chicagoultra.org.
For a full ultra calendar, go to www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/calendar/midw est.shtml
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jdeardorff@tribune.com
