SS 155 – Ultra Runs With Rick Alexander

Today, Grant and Heavey are joined by Rick Alexander, a Special Operations combat medic, the host of LionHeart Radio podcast and author of the book, Burn Your Couch, as they discuss what it’s like to run ultramarathons and what it takes to do them. Ultramarathons are painful, so why do people do them in the first place? Also, Rick dishes out some great nuggets of wisdom related to happiness and checking items off your bucket list.

 

[01:12] What a Special Operations Combat Medic Do?

 

As a combat medic, Rick handles cases relating to trauma. He went through an eight-month medic course specifically for special operations. Once completed, graduates basically practice like a doctor. He mentions there are no real rules in the military as far as scope of practice. He also recalls being trusted by people with the blade.

 

Rick is personally on special operations where he went through Naval Special Warfare Combat and Craft Crewmen. Navy SEAL and SWCC are the two brands of Navy Special Forces. The combat medic training school he went to was only offered for special operations.

 

[02:40] The More Neurotic You Are, the Longer You Live

 

As always, Grant mentions another new article. The article talks about the big 5 traits in personality research – Openness, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Extroversion. One of those five helps you live longer. Heavey and Rick made their best guesses. Based upon their answers, Grant suspects they’re going to die younger than him.

 

Can you guess?

 

Alright, Grant reveals that according to studies, neuroticism is the one trait that makes you live longer.

 

You’ve probably heard Heavey regularly talk about the five pillars of health. Finding ways to reduce stress is paramount whether it’s meditation or sex. However, looking at the big five in the personality study, it turns out that neuroticism correlates to longest life.

 

[05:19] Study Specifics and Findings

 

The study was done in the UK and on over half a million of people between the ages of 37-73.

 

People were not eating healthy. In fact, they were more likely to smoke and drink alcohol and less likely to exercise. Grant suggests adding this to Heavey’s pillars of health – going to the doctor.

 

They think that neurotic people are so anal about their schedule and checkups that if something doesn’t feel right, they would go and get it checked out. Looking at this long term study, these are the people who would address problems sooner and not let things slide. In the long run, this affected their health more than any other personality aspect.

 

[07:00] Not a Neurotic? Not a Problem

 

While Heavey thinks this is funny logic, Grant thinks that people going to WebMD and freak out are more likely to consult a doctor to double-check.

 

These type of studies on personalities drives Grant nuts. He believes it’s something you can do regardless of your personality type, which is – be proactive. Follow your annual physical exams. Get your teeth cleaned. If you have a problem, go to the doctor.

 

[08:25] Running 200 Miles Straight Is What’s Neurotic!

 

Grant could never understand how someone runs 200 miles straight on purpose.

 

Rick actually has done such a race and when he finished, he couldn’t walk for two or three days. He had to crawl around from the counter to the couch to eat and do anything. He said to himself he would never want to run again.

 

Rick would compare the experience with going to Disney World. When you’re there, the whole day sucks and it’s not a fun time, but all your remember is all the roller coasters and all the cool things you did that day. Therefore, you would always want to go back to relive and enjoy those memories.

 

[09:48] What Makes Rick Want to Do It Again

 

What makes Rick want to run again is the community, which is huge. He loves the community, especially because everybody out there is suffering for a common purpose and they’re going through the same struggle. Strong bonds are built with like-minded people. You see it in the military. You see it in crossfit gyms.

 

Rick found himself bonding with the most interesting people which he never thought he would have bonded with. He ended up running 80 miles in the race with a 55-year-old lady and a 57-year-old man – a retired oil executive and a charity worker.

 

[11:23] The Rise of These Interesting Events as Part of Evolution

 

Rick points out that every entrepreneur knows that the way you create a market is by solving a need. People have solved so many needs now that as consumers, getting what you want or need is easy. You can order food on mobile and food will be delivered to you. Crossfit is a four-billion dollar economy that came out of nowhere. Everybody in their own way has looked for their own unique flavor.

 

[12:16] What Ultramarathons Are Like

 

This whole notion with ultra marathons is that it’s made up of events longer than the 26 miles of a regular marathon. There are standard lengths of these races, 205 miles being the longest one Heavey has heard of.

 

Rick says the races range from 50k up to 100 miles as being typical. One event that has gotten big as of late and is put on by the same girl that put on the 200 that he did is the Moab 240 that is a 238-mile race. The girl that won did it in 58 hours, while it took Rich 80 hours to run the 205 miles.

 

[13:11] Running the Risk of No Sleep Plus Pulmonary Edema

 

Out of all those hours, you only spend about an hour and fifteen minutes sleeping. Seriously though, Rick recalls that from mile 70-90, it climbed up to 9600 feet. He lives in Virginia Beach, and so he can’t train in an altitude. He ended up with high altitude pulmonary edema. Essentially, his lungs filled up with fluid. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t go more than ten feet without doubling over. His pace slowed down drastically. He couldn’t sleep because every time he laid down he felt like he was drowning. In fact, four people got pulled from the race due to that edema.

 

[14:02] The Reason Rick Did This Marathon

 

Considering he hates running marathons because he doesn’t think they’re easy, he feels it’s short enough to suck really bad. He started out in Strongman which he did for two years before transitioning to Crossfit for a couple of years. He entertained the notion that he was going into the Crossfit games. He worked hard for a year doing that, but started to get burnt out and was now looking for something else. So he found this 100-miler that came up on his Facebook page. He signed up for it and thought he could run it without training.

 

Back in the day, he had read and was inspired by the Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes. He always had it in the back of his mind and it was on his bucket list.

 

[15:45] Dealing with Pain & Enjoying It?

 

Running into the marathon, Rick realized that when you deal with pain for a certain amount of time and you continue to put it off, it will eventually go away. This tears at your exterior. The person that you are is a little bit more rough on the other side of that pain. He enjoyed being that person.

 

For Rick, around mile 25 to 30, is when the first wave of pain started. Then during mile 40, it will go away for short bouts. That’s when you get into the really good stuff, he says. If anything, it allowed him to be more empathetic.

 

He did experience some hallucinations though when he got to the 200-miler. Iit was crazy!

 

[18:00] The 100-Miler Experience for a Crossfitter

 

Rick was very honest to say he didn’t train at all, which is totally not advised. Rick found that you can get through a 50-miler without training. Most athletic people that do Crossfit probably have enough aerobic base built up and enough athletic conditioning that they can suffer their way through it. However, Rick admits it’s a lot of suffering to go through.

 

Now, Heavey remembers Brian MacKenzie, the guy that runs Crossfit endurance, saying you could run some large ultramarathons by just doing Crossfit and then burned out when he was doing those. Rick says Outside Magazine followed Brian. He only did Crossfit Endurance, which isn’t that much running and relatively low for an ultramarathoner. But he ran in 27 hours which is a good time.

 

Anyway, Rick describes his experience doing it as pretty awful. He wasn’t set up for it and didn’t have the right gear. He basically didn’t know what to do. It was through the trails in Santa Barbara with a 40-feet elevation gain. He ended up getting pulled at mile 70 since he didn’t make the time cutoff. Even back in mile 63, he knew he wasn’t going to make it.

 

Right after he finished, he was shivering for about an hour and a half. His hypothalamus was so screwed up trying to regulate his body temp. He also spent another two or three days in bed as he couldn’t walk much.

 

Obviously, not having finished the race pushed him to go further. He signed up for the 200 a week after that. Lesson learned. He started putting in the work and just fell in love with the sport after that.

 

[21:15] Rick’s Training Regimen to Prep for the 200

 

He admits having a problem with discipline so he used the races as part of his training runs. If he has to run 70 miles that week, he’s use 100k as his training run. He uses a lot of races because it forces him to log the kind of mileage he needs. He lifts a lot too. He considers himself fat for an ultramarathon runner. He is 205 pounds right now which is still pretty big for a distance runner. He was 240 pounds when he ran that first 100. He lifts about three days a week and he thinks this is what carried him through. Rick explains that once you get to a certain point in these long races, it really turns into strength endurance more than just endurance because of the climbs.

 

[22:32] What You Get from Ultramarathons and Doing the Barkley

 

Just like any adventure ride, Rich says it’s just the desire to know what’s on the other side. He finds it hard to describe why people do what they do though.

 

Heavey describes how this a total game-changer from “normal” running. Rick adds that a lot more people are capable of what than they think. Out of 200 people who sign up for the 200-miler race, about 116 finished. Heavey recommends watching this Netflix documentary on The Barkley Marathons, where only around ten people finished the ultramarathon in the 25 years that it’s been going. Anyway, in the 200-miler, there was 80,000 feet of elevation gain and Barkley is even way more. That being said, Rick says you’ve got to be fast to make it through Barkley (and he’s not even considering it.)

 

Heavey has noticed though that a lot of people are attempting the Barkley these days. It could be due to the popularity of trail running like biking was in the 90’s. But in general, he thinks the trend of people willing to suffer is going up. People are just looking for more meaning in their day-to-day.

 

[26:40] How to Get Started with Ultramarathons

 

For starters, Rick recommends doing a 50-miler. If you have that basic level of doing Crossfit, for instance, like doing Crossfit five days a week, go down to three days a week and then run on those other two days. On the weekends, stack your longer runs.

 

The other thing about ultramarathon running is that it’s more about time on your feet and moving forward than it is anything else. On the weekends, Rick suggests doing 10 to 15 miles in the morning. Go through your day and then do another 10-15 miles at night even if you have to hike that second section, it will set you up for success.

 

Again, it’s not about doing things at speed necessarily but more about time on your feet. Although there are time cutoffs, it all comes down to your ability to just continue to move forward. Looking at his time, Rick moved at 3 miles an hour.

 

[27:55] Fueling Strategies

 

Rick explains that prior to the race, you have to be smart enough to be able to limit your exposure to things so that your body will use it more efficiently. Two weeks before the race, he cut down on his caffeine and carb intake. Sometimes he’d go straight keto prior to the race. You’re going to want to take Advil too once your legs start hurting so stop taking it if you normally do. So when you’re in the race, your body will process those things more efficiently.

 

While running, he consumes just about everything – gummy bears, M&M’s, and his favorite, powdered donuts.

 

Rick carries his running harness. He has his water and electrolytes upfront. Salt tabs are really good. They’re high in magnesium so if you start cramping, you can eat a bunch of them. By the end of the long race, you’ll be sick of eating them. You don’t want to go heavy on the salts otherwise you’ll start running on some serious GI issues. So keeps everything upfront with him then his powdered donuts and emergency Mountain Dew in the back.

 

[29:35] Are There Physical Benefits?

 

Rick’s dad is 55 years old with a lot of health problems from living a sedentary life. Overall, Rick explains they’re just picking their pain. He went snowboarding this year and when at the bar, the bartender was in pain for standing long hours working a double shift. That said, we’re picking our pain to a certain degree and this is the one he chose. Crossfit is the same way.

 

True enough, Heavey adds Crossfit is an ultra event in its own way. Rick thinks Crossfit is much more of an endurance event than people give it credit for.

 

[32:15] LionHeart Radio and LuaVive

 

The LionHeart Radio podcast is all about active lifestyle and people doing cool things in the world. Rick also owns a supplement company called LuaVive. Based in San Diego, California, they have two products including creatine coffee. Funny thing, for a long time, it’s been believed that you can’t mix creatine and coffee but there’s no evidence to support this conclusion.

 

Rick says that at the end of the day, supplements are going to be a marginal increase to a really good movement practice. Of course, add in some good sleep and whole real food, too.

 

The supplement business was actually started by Rick when he was training for Crossfit. He was part of their selection phase so he would run and swim with the students and train them everyday. He then began testing recovery supplements. He soon found he was getting gut bloating due to the fillers in them. Next, he combined different products and drank coffee. He began researching what went well together and through enough trial and error research, he started formulating the products.

 

[35:18] Rick Has a Book About Making Decisions Based on Happiness

 

Rick is the author of the book, Burn Your Couch: A Manifesto for the Average Averse, a collective of all the things he has done, including starting his company. He believes success leaves clues. If you take a step back and you look at the macro view of all these different activities, Rick thinks there’s a lot of commonalities that can be found in people that are successful. His goal was to provide this framework to what he has seen works and he hopes people are able to apply this to their lives.

 

The manifesto part is that by and large, Western culture mistakes being comfortable for being happy. We make many of our decisions based on what normal should look like. Forty years down the road, they undergo mid-life crisis because they’ve made all these decision based on comfort, not happiness.

 

[36:50] The Concept of Delayed Gratification and The Marshmallow Study

 

Rick believes happiness comes from delaying gratification. You need to look whether you’re in line with what you want long term. The problem is we pick quick happiness. Instead, figure out what you want and make decisions in line with that even if they’re uncomfortable at that time.

 

Rick shares the Marshmallow Study where some adults took a group of children and then gave them all a marshmallow. They were told they can eat the marshmallow if they want but if they wait, they will come back with two more marshmallows. What the kids didn’t understand is the adults were never coming back. They tracked these ids over the long term and found that the kids waited the longest to eat the second marshmallow were happier in all ways we define success.

 

[39:30] The Bucket List Blueprint

 

There’s a chapter in Rick’s book called the Bucket List Blueprint. He’s a huge proponent of people just figuring things out and he thinks the bucket list is a good place to start. Typically, we reserve the bucket list for the things we think are awesome to do but deep down we’re never going to do.

 

He recommends to start dusting the bucket list off and start going after these things. You will find out that some of these things you don’t even like and you just like the idea of it. Eventually, you’re also going to find the things you enjoy and then you continue to walk in that direction and find more things that are aligned with what you really want and closer to a life you want.

 

Know more about Rick by checking out these links:

LionHeart Radio Podcast

LuaVive

Instagram @LuaVive and @run.lift.evolve

Check out his book on www.BurnYourCouch.com

 

Links:

LionHeart Radio Podcast

LuaVive

Instagram @LuaVive and @run.lift.evolve

Check out his book on www.BurnYourCouch.com

Moab 240

Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes

Netflix documentary on The Barkley Marathons