Ultra Marathon Champion takes on Minimalist Running
Whether you follow ultra marathon running or not, Hal Koerner qualifies as a stud athlete. As a retail store owner and two time defending Western States 100 champion, Hal knows running. In a recent interview from competitor.com, Hal talks about the upcoming Western States 100 World Championship. With the race on Saturday June 26th, Hals calm thoughtful answers are impressive. What really impressed us at Runnatural are his responses to the minimalist movement. After watching him compete last year at the Wasatch 100 event in road racing flats I’ve followed his impressive running career even closer. He stumbled upon minimalist running 5-6 years ago and the results speak for themselves. We will be following closely this Saturday to see if Hal can regain his crown at the 100 mile world championships.
Below are his thoughts on minimalist running and his full interview can be found here.
What’s your take on minimalism now that it’s back in style?
Coming from someone who has a running store and looks at product, I think it’s pretty awesome that the industry can continue to innovate and go after something like that and push the envelope and question how is the best way to run and what are the best shoes to do that. Unfortunately, it’s just put out there in photos and small articles. For the most part, when people come in to see me, it’s like a cure-all — like the latest new blue gel cream — something you all of a sudden put on and feel better. And it’s not that. When I first started running, I wore really heavy trail shoes with shanks and plates for protection. Even when I ran in Colorado, that type of shoe was pretty good. But I also rolled my ankle a lot, so even for me in the last five-to-six years I’ve transferred to a minimalist shoe. I wear a racing flat for Western States. For me, that gets me lower to the ground and I don’t roll my ankle that much. And I’ve actually felt that I’ve started to incorporate a better stride. I feel like I’ve utilized better muscle groups. I feel stronger. My calves feel stronger. I feel like maybe I’m working my glutes a little bit more. So for me, getting into a minimalist shoe and almost going the lazy way and having the shoe do the work for me is kind of like by-proxy, because I really wore it to be close to the ground so that I wouldn’t roll my ankle and not have that high platform. It turned out to do a lot of great things for me. But you have to be careful. I’ve seen a lot of people get stress fractures and then people run in minimalist shoes and ramp up too quick and then you go back to square one with injuries that you originally started with. So there is a big push going on with minimalism. The shoe companies are marketing it. I think it’s a useful tool to help people be a little more successful in what they do, but they need to do it right.
What about the concept of minimalism in other areas? Like, for example, running with little water in training so that you can toughen the body to make due with less. What’s your take on minimalism when it comes to fluids and fueling?
I think there’s some validity in that. By all accounts, all we are doing is trying to harden the body. That is really what you are trying to do with running is getting it ready for the tests you are going to put it through. But there’s a fine line, where you also have to try and recover during your training runs. So it’s better to have fluids in you. It’s better to have carbohydrates in you. You are always preparing for the next day — to have the fuel so that you can go out and train hard again. Sometimes I feel that if you go too minimalist, you can get to that zone of depletion where, for the next few days, you just aren’t having a good run. For me, I have to replenish at some time. Whether it be on the run or afterwards, I really don’t see a difference. The other thing is that I train so that I’m ready. It’s hard. If you are just going to take in 20 ounces of water or more of water an hour in a race like Western States, where once you get into those canyons, it’s 90 to 100 degrees and you haven’t done that and then all of a sudden you are just dropping fluids, it’s not going sit with your stomach. Your stomach has got to be ready for that, the same way you wouldn’t just eat a hamburger at mile 80 either, unless you trained for it. For me, I know it’s unavoidable for some races; sure you could get by with virtually no water and push yourself to the end. And also, I like the idea of being a little freer when I run. That’s the beauty of running: just walking out the door from my store and getting on the trails without anything but a pair of shoes and shorts. But at the same time, you have to be prepared. For me, I don’t bring the kitchen sink, but at the same time, I’m always carrying GU and fluid and water for that reason specifically. I can’t do it otherwise. I feel I’m too big and fat and old. I weigh around 163 pounds right now. I like to be strong. I mean I head to the gym to lift weights. I do that to keep my arms strong to carry the fluid bottle, and for posture’s sake, too. I want to feel strong, where I can go down the hills and power through to the other side. There’re also some reserves. When you’re barreling though that many calories an hour and trying to make that long run, I just want to stay strong all around.
