The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [163]
Dean Karnazes didn’t know how long he’d been running. In fact, he wasn’t sure where he was. The tequila was wearing off and he came to three realizations all at once:
1. He had just turned 30, which explained the tequila the night before. Normal.
2. He was not wearing pants and was running in his underwear. Not normal.
3. He felt more alive than he had in 15 years, when he last ran in high school.
So he kept going.
He later called his wife from a 7-Eleven parking lot in Santa Cruz, 30 miles south of where he’d started: on his porch in San Francisco, grabbing old sneakers he’d used for mowing the lawn. She was a bit confused, especially by the underwear part. Dean, on the other hand, had achieved ultimate lucidity. The corporate life, even with the new Lexus and the perks of indoor servitude, was not for him. Things needed to change.
Change they did.
From cubicle dweller, he transformed into a mainstream demigod in the world of ultramarathoning. If running 135 miles nonstop in the 120-degree heat of Death Valley28 weren’t enough, he also decided running 26.2 miles at −40° around the South Pole would be a challenge. (It was, especially in tennis shoes; he was the only one to spurn snowshoes.) To bring national media attention to childhood obesity and exercise, he then ran 50 marathons in 50 consecutive days in all 50 states.
In other words, Dean sees more marathons in a year than most will see in a lifetime. He competes almost every weekend.
Here are Dean’s top-5 lists of must-run and must-experience marathons for newbies and pros alike.
In his words:
New York City (www.ingnycmarathon.org): The most culturally and ethnically diverse marathon in the world.
Portland (www.portlandmarathon.org): The lore of Oregon running pervades this marathon.
Marine Corps Marathon (www.marinemarathon.com): Running through the nation’s capital will give you the chills.
Rock ’n’ Roll San Diego (www.rnrmarathon.com): Who needs an iPod when there’s a live band every mile?
Boston (www.bostonmarathon.org): Hey, it’s Boston. ’Nough said.
Napa Valley (www.napavalleymarathon.org): Flat course, cool temperatures, wine waiting at the finish!
Hartford (www.hartfordmarathon.com): Perfect big-city marathon for first-timers.
Fargo (www.fargomarathon.com): Great aid-stations along the course and terrific crowd support.
Dallas White Rock (www.runtherock.com): The Texan hospitality doesn’t get much better.
Disney (http://bit.ly/3chiv): No denying it, the Disney people do a great job in creating a wonderful marathon experience.
Big Sur (www.bsim.org): Unparalleled coastal scenery.
Boulder Backroads (www.bouldermarathon.com): If you’re lucky, there’ll already be snow covering the nearby mountain peaks.
Myrtle Beach (www.mbmarathon.com): The course runs along the beach almost the entire way. Surf’s up!
St. George (www.stgeorgemarathon.com): The bonfires at the start are unforgettable.
Kauai (www.thekauaimarathon.com): The Aloha Spirit shines through all the way.
www.fourhourbody.com/marathon
www.fourhourbody.com/race-finder
http://www.trifind.com
On June 6, 2005, Martin Gibala of McMaster University appeared on CNN with news that seemed too good to be true:
“Six minutes of pure, hard exercise three times a week could be just as effective as an hour of daily moderate activity.”
Changes that were thought to require hours per week were achieved with just four to seven 30-second bursts of all-out (250% VO2 Max) stationary biking, with four minutes of recovery time between bursts. These bursts were performed 3x a week for just two weeks. Total on-bike time for the two weeks was a mere 15 minutes. Endurance capacity for this “sprint” group almost doubled, from 26 to 51 minutes, and their leg muscles showed a significant 38% increase of our friend citrate synthase (CS), one of the desirable endurance enzymes. The control group, which was active (jogging, cycling, or aerobics) showed no changes.
It seemed like a fluke.
It had to be repeated, and it was. This time with an even higher bar for evaluation: an 18.6-mile