The Wall Street Journal-20080124-What-s Your Workout-- Prepping for 50- and 100-Mile Races- Ultra-Runner Juggles Work at the IMF- Grad School and Ultra-Long Commute- Online edition
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What's Your Workout?: Prepping for 50- and 100-Mile Races; Ultra-Runner Juggles Work at the IMF, Grad School and Ultra-Long Commute; Online edition
The Executive
Brian McNeill, an information-technology manager at the International Monetary Fund, started attending graduate school two years ago. With classes and studying to do, he had to scale back his workout. To the average exerciser, though, Mr. McNeill's workout hardly looks pared down.
Since 1997, Mr. McNeill, 49 years old, has been running in ultra- marathons, races longer than a 26.2 mile marathon that are typically 50 or 100 miles or kilometers. To train for these grueling competitions, Mr. McNeill had been running 45 miles per week -- ramping up to 70-80 miles, in the three months leading up to a 100 mile event. "Many ultra-runners even consider that low mileage," he says.
These days Mr. McNeill runs "only" 40 miles per week (he also cross- trains at the gym). He has decided to postpone any 100-mile races until he finishes the Doctor of Management program at University of Maryland University College. "I'm only doing 50-milers right now," he says.
Mr. McNeill was not always a runner. In the late 1980s he lived on the road, working as a consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers' law firm services group. When he started the job, Mr. McNeil, who stands at 6'1", weighed about 205 pounds. After two-and-a-half years of eating three meals a day on the road and working 12-14 hour days, he weighed 238 pounds.
"I was so busy and so focused, I honestly just didn't notice it happening," he says. The epiphany came when he was buying pants and the tailor told him he was a size 40, not his normal size 38. "I swore that was the end," he says.
Tired of constant travel, Mr. McNeill took a job as an in-house IT manager for the U.S. federal courts in 1991. There he joined a group of five co-workers who ran a four-and-a-half mile loop to the Lincoln Memorial during lunch. It took Mr. McNeil six "tortuous" months before he was able to run the entire distance. "That was the most difficult thing I did in my running career," says Mr. McNeill. "Harder than any ultra I've ever done."
The lunchtime runs became a habit and Mr. McNeill started running even on days the group didn't. The daily running minus the 11:00 p.m. dinners of pizza and beer helped melt off the pounds.
His first long-distance race was the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., also Oprah Winfrey's first marathon. He passed her at mile 12 and finished in 4 hours, 13 minutes -- about 15 minutes before the talk-show host. Four years later he ran his first 50-miler. He has since run more than 30 marathons and more than 40 ultra- marathons. He has also suffered more injuries than this column has room to list.
Mr. McNeill lives with his wife (who doesn't run) in Frederick, Md. It takes him between 90 minutes and two hours to reach his office in Washington D.C. He weighs 182 pounds.
The Workout
During the work week, Mr. McNeill wakes at 4:20 a.m., and drives 15 miles to the local train station to catch a 5:10 train that connects to the D.C. Metro, which he rides for another 45 minutes.
Mr. McNeill arrives at the office around 6:30 a.m. to read email and review his schedule, and then walks two blocks to his gym Fitness First. On Mondays and Wednesdays he changes there and runs outdoors for 70 -- 90 minutes at a pace of nine-and-a-half minutes per mile for the shorter distances and 11 minutes per mile for longer, hillier runs. His knees have suffered from eight years of road races and he now tries to limit running on the road to one day a week. The other days he runs on trails.
Mr. McNeill says his body doesn't react well if he runs more than four days in a row so he spaces out his runs with cross-training, which he started doing to help strengthen his body and cut back on running's impact on his knees.
About four years ago, he hired a personal trainer, telling her that he wanted to focus on building muscle endurance rather than mass. She developed a routine involving lower weight loads and more repetitions. Now they meet at the gym two mornings a week for 45 minutes: Tuesdays for upper body and core strengthening and Fridays for lower body and core strengthening. Mr. McNeill spends 30 minutes on the stationary bike before working with his trainer. After his workout he returns to the office between 8:30 and 9.
On Saturdays, Mr. McNeill strength trains at the Fitness First location near his home, replicating some version of the upper body and core routine he does with his trainer. He also spends an hour walking on the treadmill at maximum incline at 4.3 miles per hour. "That gets and keeps my heart rate higher than running," he says.
On Sundays, he does a long run -- anything over 16 miles, he says.
Logging so many miles has taken its toll. Mr. McNeill has undergone physical therapy for severely sprained ankles (one sprain left him on crutches), and has had surgery twice on his right knee.
He recently got over two years of acute plantar fasciitis, a painful inflammatory condition most often caused by excessive wear to the plantar fascia (the connective tissue that supports the arch of the foot). During that period he reduced his running to 15 miles per week and started logging two-and-half to three hour sessions in the gym, including intense cardio (an hour on the bike, an hour rowing, as well as 25 minutes walking the treadmill at a maximum incline) that would simulate what he felt was the equivalent of a long distance run.
Mr. McNeill began running again in March 2007 and just two months later finished the Capon Valley 50K in West Virginia in 5 hours and 59 minutes -- a personal best for him on that course. This year he is focusing on his dissertation. "I just don't have time to train," he says. "I'll stick to 50Ks and maybe, maybe a few 50 milers." When he is finished with his dissertation in March 2009 he plans to start training for the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run in Silverton, Colo., considered one of the toughest races in North America since the course is above 10,000 feet elevation.
The Diet
"I always used the fact that I ran so much to justify eating anything I wanted," says Mr. McNeill. "But when I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis I realized this nutrition strategy wouldn't work." Within six months of curtailing his running he'd put on five pounds. He hired a nutritionist in February 2006 and she made him start a food diary, which revealed two problems: Ninety-five percent of his diet was comprised of carbohydrates and he was consuming more than 1,000 calories, mostly simple carbs, for breakfast. "She told me the opposite of what she tells most clients -- consume less calories at breakfast and eat more fat and protein." After 16 months, Mr. McNeill lost 26 pounds.
His normal breakfast had been a plain bagel with jam, three to four pieces of fruit and juice. Now he eats a bowl of unsweetened whole grain cereal with two-percent milk, half a bottle of juice and a whole-grain bagel with peanut butter or a slice of cheese. He used to eat a salad, vegetable soup, a pastry and juice for lunch but cut out the pastry and juice, and will sometimes have a meat-based soup or stew. For dinner he prepares simple dishes like grilled chicken or fish accompanied by a salad. When he snacks he reaches for a non-fat yogurt or muffin or sometimes a Snickers bar. Mr. Mc Neill says he cut a huge amount of calories from his diet when he stopped drinking alcohol ten years ago. He now sticks to water, diet soda and coffee (half regular, half decaf).
The Cost
Mr. McNeill pays $45 per 45-minute session with his trainer. His $38 a month membership at Fitness First gives him access to all of its locations. His shoe expenses rival that of a character out of Sex in the City. Each year he rotates through four general purpose running sneakers, at $90 per pair, as well as about three pairs of trail running sneakers, at $120. Sometimes one ultra-marathon is all it takes to destroy a pair of shoes. Mr. McNeill recalls lacing up a brand new pair of sneakers for a 100-mile race in 2004. "They were shredded and had to go in the trash by the end," he says. Fees for a 50 or 100-mile race can reach $100 per entry.
The Effort
Mr. McNeill does not watch TV and he only sleeps five to six hours per night. When he returns home from work, he cooks dinner and eats with his wife and spends 60-90 minutes studying before going to bed. Now that he is a doctoral candidate he reports to a committee of three professors who supervise his research. They usually meet face-to-face once every quarter in College Park, Md.
He says during an ultra-marathon his emotions are on a roller coaster. "The first 33 miles you're thinking, 'this is pretty cool.' Then that feeling wears off and you're thinking, 'I can't wait for this to be over.' Then the last mile or two you regain hope thinking you're almost there. Fifteen minutes after the race you're telling yourself you'll never do it again. But once you're off your feet, get food and shower you start to wonder what race is going on next weekend." Mr. McNeill says his wife compares ultra-marathoners to drug addicts. "We always say this is the absolute last time," he says.
The Benefit
"I work in one of the prettiest cities in the country and live ten miles from the Appalachian trail," says Mr. McNeill. "Why would I not revel in the outdoors?" Mr. McNeill says his long runs are a form of meditation that keep him balanced. As for the races, he says he is a middle-of-the-pack runner and he finds the social aspect to be the best part. "We tailgate afterward and people have coolers of beer, burgers, smoked turkey breast. Once you cross the finish line it's all about sharing food and fellowship."
