Like eating our veggies, we all know that strength training is good for us, but making it a part of our training plan is tough. Maybe the biggest challenge is time or lack of motivation – or maybe we are just confused as...
Articles by Matt Laye
In this column over the last several issues I have written about specific studies that focus on dietary manipulations to improve performance. “Metabolic characteristics of keto-adapted ultra-endurance runners,” published...
The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that forces your body to become excellent at using fat for fuel. On the ketogenic diet, you have more ketones, which are derived from fats, in your blo...
I’ve been trying to stay out of it, but I think it’s time to address the idea of low-carb (LCD) and ketogenic diets. Over the last several years, LCD and ketogenic (keto) diets have been all the rage among many ultra ath...
One of the most frustrating challenges that can occur during an ultra is an upset stomach. A bad stomach can come on as a cramp, flatulence, an inability to eat, nausea, etc. These gastrointestinal (GI) issues are extrem...
Women and men take part in marathons in equal numbers, but women still make up a relatively low percentage (~33%) of participants in ultra races. A paper in the mid 1990s published in the prestigious journal Nature predi...
The first time I saw someone taking a pill on the trail I was confused. “What is that?” I asked. “Salt tablet,” they responded. “It prevents me from cramping and keeps sodium levels up.” Since then, I have heard runners...
This is the column that those of you who love your sleep have been waiting for. Recently, the importance of sleep has had a bit of renaissance. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington wrote a book called The Sleep...
We don’t do ultramarathons because they are easy. In fact, we often choose races because of specific physiological and psychological challenges: heat, terrain, nocturnal running and my own moth-to-flame nightmare: altitu...
Why does it hurt so much to go downhill? Normally when I think about the pain associated with trail racing, I think of the climbing: heart beating furiously, lungs cycling through labored inhalations and forced expiratio...
By understanding the physiology behind thermoregulation, we can be better prepared for our summer events. Here’s what you need to know about what causes body heat to increase, heat loss mechanisms, why athletes perform w...
When we think of ultrarunners, we think of people with iron wills and the ability to push themselves beyond their limits. They seem to override physical fatigue with mental toughness. Finding causes of fatigue has been a...
This is the first in a series of articles on what happens to your body during an ultra, focusing on the sparse but growing scientific literature that exists. However, physiology is extremely individual dependent, so plea...