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N ow that CrossFit has been around several years, appar-ently several of us have been looking for ways to use this fitness to further enrich our lives. Now that we can open a jar of pickles, several of us are expanding into the relatively “simple” world of endurance and distance

running. With this talent, we can now not only run the local 5k, but perhaps discover landscapes and trails that are quite literally off the beaten path, and with proper injury-free training, go beyond that to run up, down, and around mountains or other such proclivities requiring strength and endurance (and a good measure of adventurous spirit).

CrossFit has helped me become a better endurance athlete, and therefore better able to participate in interesting and epic events that I wouldn’t have been able to do previously.

As an example, I recently completed a week of running in the jungles of Costa Rica with four fellow CrossFit friends: Gemma, Hailey, Sandra, and Lilly. This epic event was called The Coastal Challenge (www.the-coastalchallenge.com), and it is an event even your soul will remember. Imagine living in the jungle for a week, running or hiking all day long, propelling yourself over 150 miles of swamp, beach, mountains, and riv-ers, seeing people, plants, flora and fauna that the standard tourist will never see at their all-inclusive resort. You just don’t get that experience from exercising on a floor with four walls and a ceiling.

Who’s ready to go beyond the daily WOD?

I’ve run various distances, from 10ks to marathons, since I was about 14 (more than 30 years ago). I always considered myself a runner, and so I felt it mandatory to log the endless miles on road, trail, and track, always think-ing more is better. This was the mantra of most of the coaches I had, most of the magazines and books that I read, and most of my running friends.

When I was in college (I ran cross country for Ohio State), I wanted to run longer distances but always got some sort of injury — shin splints, hip pointers, a torn ligament here, tendon there — when I tried to push the big miles, such as 100-plus mile weeks and 50km races. I thought injuries came with the territory.

To make a long story short, I got into triathlons in a big way after col-lege. Through triathlons, I could work out all day and rarely get injured. Wisdom dictated this was because I wasn’t doing the same repetitive motion. A 100-mile ride followed by a 10-mile run wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was more than seven hours of training. I knew if I tried to just run seven hours, not only would I get injured, but I’d probably lose so much strength that I couldn’t open a large door. That wasn’t for me.

I continued running, riding, swimming, and lifting in my quest for triathlon fun and fame. Triathlon was a great divergence from just run-ning, plus in 1987, it was basically a new sport. If you could swim without drowning, you could win a race back then, so I had some thoroughly enjoyable summers.

Fast-forward 20 years and I burned out on triathlons (I participated in more than 150 marathons and maybe 200 triathlons). I was looking for something new but was tired of the pool, the road bike, and the road. I still enjoyed running, however, and I’ve always loved the gym. I also found that the long hours spent in the pool and on the bike and road gave me a great endurance base for whatever sport I chose next.

CrossFit Ultraby mark matyazic

Photos courtesy of The Coastal Challenge

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EnduranceImagine living in the jungle for a week, running or hiking all day long, propelling yourself over 150 miles of swamp, beach, mountains, and rivers, seeing people, plants, flora and fauna that the standard tourist will never see at their all-inclusive resort. You just don’t get that experience from exercising on a floor with four walls and a ceiling.

Mark Matyazic at the Coastal Challenge

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I learned a lot during those two decades: What the body needs to perform, what it doesn’t need, types of workouts to do for specific races, foods to eat for a specific type of event, who to listen to, who to ignore, etc.

At this same time, I found CrossFit. What a great divergence this was from several hours a week at the local gym goofing around with free weights, waiting for someone to finish reading their book on the tread-mill, and dealing with the narcissism inherent in the landscape. CrossFit offered the intensity I was accustomed to with swim drills or bike intervals but with a fun component of variety. This is what I missed about triathlons.

Most ultra-endurance athletes are not typically strong, and some are quite frail and risk injury daily, especially with the big miles they do. And nearly all the CrossFit athletes I have met couldn’t run more than 30 minutes, and even if they did it was pathetically slow. Neither the ultra runner nor the CrossFitter met my own personal definition of fitness.

I figured if I punctuated my newfound love of trail running with the intense workouts offered by CrossFit, I might have an edge in races and achieve a higher level of fitness in general. CrossFit could help prevent injury and imbalance, and running could give me the engine to get through any WOD without faltering toward the end, which I noticed was happening with most athletes, especially in the longer MetCon programs.

Through a year of trial and error, I found a good blend that works for me and many people I coach. In our coaching programs, even athletes with similar goals may need mildly different paths to get there. For example, if an athlete is inclined to gain weight easily, then a lot of time spent finding a 1 RM may hinder running due to the resulting weight gain and physique changes. If a runner lacks strength, then maybe more time with heavy weights is necessary until a good balance is achieved.

Ditto with the CrossFitter. I’ve met a lot of CrossFit athletes who want to do something bigger than the standard daily WOD. They want to use their new-found but somewhat limited fitness to do bigger things, such as finishing a 50k, a 50-mile, or even a 100-mile race, or perhaps

something their soul will remember like the 140-mile race I did with my fellow CrossFit friends.

To do this, they have to cast away the modern CrossFit mantra that all you need is one short, intense workout a day, along with some corre-sponding fad diets. Ultra runners like myself who do CrossFit have also found they need to discard some of the old-school running gospel such as “more is better.” For the CrossFitter to exit the gym and allow those

WODs to open new doors of personal and physical exploration, they simply need to undergo a paradigm shift. This may include cutting the number of WODs per week in half, or even down to one a week while a running base is es-tablished. It may also include modifying a WOD to be more specific or tailored to an upcoming event, whether a hilly 50k trail race or a flat, fast 100-miler.

After starting CrossFit, I can run a lot longer, even multiple days, and faster. I have also found that CrossFit, when man-aged correctly, makes the latter stages of these races a lot more tolerable and I have a stronger, sturdier body, as will you.

Train incorrectly and you'll simply find yourself plagued by injury month after month as your body tries to burn the candle at both ends. You can’t be a deer and a bull at the same time, but you can be a hybrid, accentuat-ing the prime benefits of both, or even picking and choosing the attributes you want, knowing you may have to sacrifice other components.

You won’t be a jack-of-all-trades, but you won’t completely master one discipline or the other either. You’ll be more like a chameleon of fitness, having strength, endurance and speed.

You can then choose how you want to use your new level of fitness.

article > CrossFit for Ultra Endurance

Mark Matyazic has competed in various strength and endurance sports since the age of 8, including swimming, track, cross country, Olympic lifting, and wrestling. He ran cross country for Ohio State University. In addition to more than 150 marathons and 100 triathlons, he has completed 10 ultra marathons. Mark trains at Athlete Cell.

I figured if I punctuated my newfound love of trail running

with the intense workouts offered by CrossFit, I might have an edge in races and achieve a higher level of

fitness in general.

Mark Matyazic and Hailey Van dyk at the Coastal Challenge

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