An Interview with Ultramarathoner Anton Krupicka

A great look into a the mind of a true hardcore untramarathoner. Learn a little about how much he runs, his take on running shoes and what he does to insure his success at these long distance races.

Competitor.com Correspondent: Alright we’re here this afternoon with Anton Krupicka USATF 50 mile trial champion and two time Leadville100 mile trail winner. How are you today Tony? Anton Krupicka: I’m great. Correspondent: Can you share a bit of the basics about your training for Ultra Marathon? Anton: Yeah sure this year I’ve trained a little different than in past 400 miler because I’m a bit of wary of getting injured so I have fairly significantly cut down the amount of miles I have been doing I have been more in the 160 mile per week range. Whereas in the past I would be doing like 200 plus in the 2 months you know 10 weeks previous 200 miler and I have been focusing more on just vertical gain really so just like running up the mountain everyday. And now obviously the long run is in the weekend but no speed work simply because I run more for fun for me to run mountains so that’s what I do. Correspondent: Do you do anything else to try to prevent injuries? Anton: I wouldn’t say so actually. In terms of like recovery or yeah now just listen to the body really closely and try not to get too obsessive and aim about taking a couple of miles shorter around here or there if you’re by the time you need it and get back at the right time. It’s really important to like listen closely to what your body is telling you and act accordingly as opposed just at least soldiering on. Correspondent: Have done anything else from your ultra running that might be applicable to just listen to your body might be applicable to people training for racing shorter distance? Anton: Yeah I think consistency is sort of a the one thing that applies across the running spectrum of race distances and that the more injure free you can remain the more consistent you can be in your training on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis your just going to build a lot more strength over time and we kind of just snowball in effect where the more you’re not injured the more you stay not injured and that like you are keeping it stronger you don’t have to take extended down time so just being consistent and turning to sub maximal level for extending periods of time to the maximal level for you know short periods of time and then getting hurt is obviously. Correspondent: What’s your take on running shoes is there a different? Anton: Sure yeah. I guess it seems lately it has become more of a pop culture thing actually running in amore minimalist type of shoe so basically I prefer shoes that are as basic as possible that is like not a whole lot of built up cushioning or support just a very simple upper and not a lot of overlays and the flattest shoe as possible meaning there’s not a big drop to be here in the forefoot and the reason he and I prefer that is because frankly the body involved to one without shoes on national services that we used is certainly are handmade services such as concrete and asphalt you need more protection but I think – performs best and most efficiently most effectively with the least hindrance from a shoe so if you can over a period of time work up to you know your feet are inherently week as a result of wearing shoes your entire life but if most people are anyways if you can have the patience to gradually work into wearing less of a shoe its going to be beneficial for your own good. Correspondent: Alright thank you very much Anton Krupicka thank you for talking to us today. Anton: Great thank you.