Carolyn Smith article

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=542291&format=print

Nothing like a nice run around the clock

Ultramarathons right up Smith’s road

By DAN MANOYAN
dmanoyan@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Dec. 14, 2006

Carolyn Smith has logged thousands upon thousands of miles on her personal pedometer as an ultra-marathoner, but claims it has happened to her only once.

Smith was competing in the Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley and had been awake and running for 35 hours. Finally the lack of sleep, combined with temperatures around 120 degrees, got to her.

She started hallucinating.

“I thought there were giant animals on the side of the road,” said Smith, the team physician for Marquette University athletics. “Giant dragons, all kinds of animals in the middle of the desert. . . . It was pretty scary.”

Some would say an ultramarathon goes beyond Scaryland and crosses the border into Crazyville. But for Smith, a brisk 24-hour run is her idea of a good time.

“I do it because I really like to run,” said Smith, 41, a prominent member of the University of Wisconsin’s Big Ten women’s outdoor track championship teams in 1985 and 1986. “It may sound trite, but I just like the idea of self-propulsion.

“I was given tremendous gifts and I want to take advantage of my gifts.”

Unlike Forrest Gump, Smith didn’t just wake up one morning and start running, and running, and running some more. She ran the mile and 3,000 meters in college and the longer distance running came as a natural progression.

She got into marathon running and even finished in the top 75 in the 1988 Olympic trials. She was introduced to ultramarathoning by some friends who competed in the sport while she was working as their crew . . . an assistant who would help feed and hydrate the runners during their event.

“I was always intrigued by (ultramarathoning) and I got more involved when I would crew for friends,” Smith explained. “I just decided to take it to the next step.”

Smith jumped in with both feet, competing in the Ice Age Trail Run through the Kettle Moraine in 2001. She won the 50-mile race and was hooked.

“It was just a miserable day. . . . It started to rain in the 13th mile and rained the next 37 miles,” she said. “I loved it.

“I suppose it helped that I was successful my first time out. It was an instant success so things kind of took off from there.

“I’m a very competitive person, but I just really enjoyed the running. That’s why I do it.”

Smith’s goal in her initial outing was to finish among the top five female runners. When she won it, it was game on.

“I didn’t know how to train for an event like that, but luckily I had enough innate ability to get through it.”

The Ice Age Trail Run isn’t ultramarathoning by definition, but it incorporated some of the same principles that made it so appealing to Smith. The object of ultramarathons is to cover as many miles as possible in a given amount of time, usually 24 hours.

It was the next logical step for Smith.

“I liked the fact that the pace is slower. Instead of beating yourself up physically, it is more mental.”

During a 24-hour event, runners drink almost constantly and eat frequently to maintain their energy levels. Smith takes “dinner breaks” twice an hour, at which time she slows her pace to a brisk walk.

“It’s either a simple sugar like honey, or occasionally something more complex like mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese,” she said. “I keep walking while I’m eating because I’d cramp up otherwise.

“Mastering eating is an art form. I practice eating while I train. . . . The stomach rebels, gets queasy if you aren’t careful.”

Smith estimates that she burns close to 13,000 calories during an ultramarathon while taking in between 5,000 and 6,000 calories.

She prefers the training regimen for ultramarathons over marathons, primarily because there isn’t as much speed work involved.

“Training for an ultramarathon isn’t as intense as marathon training,” she said. “You still have to put in the distance and you need the self-discipline, but there is much less speed work.”

Smith’s normal training schedule consists of running five days a week. She averages about 60 miles per week, often running 13 miles one way from her home in Fox Point to her office on the Marquette campus.

When she is training for an event, she adds in a four- to six-hour run every week. And six weeks before an ultramarathon, she throws in an eight-hour run.

Smith has competed in five ultramarathons, achieving her greatest success in her most recent outing, the Ultra Centric 24-hour National Championship on Nov. 18 in Grapevine, Texas. Smith finished first among woman entrants, logging 139 miles in the 24 hours.

She bettered her previous best of 128 miles in 24 hours, which she achieved two years ago in Phoenix.

“That was my best effort yet,” she said. “It felt good.”

Smith has two goals she hopes to accomplish. She will be part of a six-woman team that will represent the United States in the World Championships of ultra marathoning in July 2007 in Quebec.

Nearly 40 countries will be represented and Smith would like to lead the U.S. to victory.

Her second goal is to beat the American record of 144 miles in an ultramarathon.

“I’m about five miles off the record now,” she said. “It’s an old record, maybe 20 years old, but I think I can do it.”