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| Kyle on Skorarunning.com |
Kyle Kranz is a kindred spirit. He lost a bunch of weight and is now a distance runner, I lost weight and became a distance runner. He eats a plant-based diet, and I eat a plant-based diet. He is a natural running advocate, and I am as well. He is a fan of Skora Running, and they are one of my favorite up-and-coming minimalist shoe companies. He is an ultramarathoner with a hundred-miler in the bag, and I'm an ultramarathon finisher as well, though it was only a 50k for me and the 100 miler is still to come.
Kyle is a great guy and someone I made a connection with online through our mutual dealings with Skora. The more I clicked on his blog, the more I realized that Kyle may not WIN his next ultramarathon, but his is a story that should be told, and his example is one that should be followed. I asked him to be my interview subject for my first-ever "Above Average Athletes" interview, where I hope to do a recurring series of Q and A sessions with inspiring runners like Kyle, and folks from all walks of life and across all the family - cancer - ultramarathon - minimalist running topic areas that we cover here at Average Guy Hits the Road. You can catch Kyle on his own blog "Running on the White Line." Click "read more" to get to his fantastic interview below.
Kyle Kranz: I know exactly when I became the athlete I am today.
During winter break of my freshmen year at college I stopped lifting weights
and stopped eating meat. By this point I was down about 60 pounds from my high
point in college, but I had not yet made that transition to an endurance
athlete. My knees were starting to hurt from performing squats and I decided it
was time to stop. I spent the entire winter doing spin classes and sitting on
stationary bikes before I even purchased a road bike!
Average Guy: Like me, you are also eating a plant-based diet. Can you
describe any challenges or advantages you perceive unique to your experience?
Kyle Kranz: My diet is primarily raw vegan for the first meal or two
of the day. Dinner will generally be something cooked, such as rice and
veggies, soup, Mexican, etc. I find that eating raw vegan in the early part of
the days leaves me feeling light and clean, along with there not being any
dishes to wash!
My main challenge has nothing to do with what I eat, but
how much I eat at each sitting. From my history with food, a decade later I
still have issues with eating until I am completely stuffed. Literally, to the
point that I will occasionally burp a little bit and feel a very small amount
of food come up, or I am just about in pain from the amount of food in my
stomach. This last year I have been working very hard at eating until I am
satisfied, not full. That has been the best advice I have ever received about
over eating, and since that has been my issue keeping that in mind has
helped immensely. I still run into over eating issues once in a while
while at social gatherings, but it is coming together.
Average Guy: What convinced you to commit to a plant-based diet?
Kyle Kranz: Originally it was ethics based, as I believe that is the
best reason for avoidance of animal products. This is due to there being such a
huge amount of conflicting information about which diet is better for people,
and some people not doing well on this or that diet. In my opinion, choosing to
not contribute to the mass captivity, horrible treatment, and mass slaughter is
always going to be the ethical decision.
However, the more I read and research now, the more I am
becoming increasingly convinced that a plant based diet is the ideal human
diet. Most diets are going to be an improvement compared to the Standard
American Diet (SAD), however if you want to take the "this is the diet we
are meant to eat" stance, plant based even trumps the paleo diet. Paleo
quotes a period of 10,000 to 2.5 million years, however if you look at the
diets of higher primates, it spans a history of 65 million years.
Average Guy: How and why did you convert to barefoot/minimalist/natural
running?
Kyle Kranz: I originally bought them as simply a strength training
tool even before Born to Run came out, and never really thought about doing
real run training in them until after I read the book. I really did not use
them very often and they just collected dust in the closet. However a few years
ago right before my first marathon I developed plantar fasciitis and took most
of the summer off from running. I did just about everything I could find but
nothing seemed to solve the problem. At the end of the summer after months of
no running I still had PF pain but started slowly again in Vibrams. I noticed
the pain would literally go away within a mile into any run. I then went
minimalist with my day to day shoes as well, and the pain I experienced from
simply standing at work went away quickly.
Average Guy: You mention in your “about me” that your blog started
essentially to document your progress. How do you see your blog now?
What is its role in your fitness and running career?
Kyle Kranz: A blog is a fantastic tool for an athlete to look back at
his or her training and races to see what has worked and failed. I still go
back to race reports and posts to review what I have done in the past. However
now I have been working more so on writing better quality material on subjects
other runners may be interested in. Some examples of works in progress are
articles on The Central Governor Theory, Fasted Training, Swing Phase Muscles,
How to Pace a Race, as well as about 55 other drafts in my blogger! By working
on and writing these, I am learning so much and I can take what I learn and
pass it on to others.
Average Guy: How did you hook up with Skora?
Kyle Kranz: I actually emailed David from Skora in November of 2009
to tell him how excited I was to learn about what he was doing. We occasionally
emailed back and forth, and he kept my contact information and recommended I
participate in the wear testing program.
Average Guy: Are you running exclusively or almost exclusively in Skora
BASE and FORM these days? You seem to put on a lot of miles.
Kyle Kranz: The Skora shoes are my full time shoes, and I even wear
them around casually as well. I do also own a pair of Newtons but run very little
in them. If someone is new to minimalist/midfoot running, the Newtons would be
an excellent choice as they are slightly more conventional.
Average Guy: How long into your running career did you decide to run a
100 mile race?
Kyle Kranz: First I was a cyclist, then a triathlete, now I consider
myself a runner. I did my first 26.2 mile run (not during a race) in 2008 while
I was still a triathlete. I ran 11 miles to the start of a race in another town
and then ran the 15.2 mile point to point race, which happened to end very
close to my house! In December of that year was when I decided I wanted to do
an ultra marathon in 2009.
Average Guy: Describe your 100 miler training.
Kyle Kranz: I am not sure if I have found my ideal training yet. I
have followed the Maffetone Method of training for a few years now and love it,
however I am still working on finding a week/month/year running format that I
will sustain for a long time. I failed at my first 100 mile attempt in 2010
after having a great winter and summer of running. In 2011 after a very depressing
summer of running I decided only a few weeks before the same 100 mile race that
if I could do a 100 mile week and not suffer or slow during the week, I would
sign up for the ultra marathon. The week went well so I signed up and instantly
went into the taper for the race! Experience trumps training in my case
apparently.
Average Guy: Were you ever worried that 100 miles was too far in a shoe
as minimal as the Skora BASE?
Kyle Kranz: Shoes are a tool. If I were to do a race that was super
technical rocky trail, I would use shoes that would serve as the best tool for
that race. Luckily for me I am primarily a road runner so the Skoras worked
great for my ultras and my road running in 2011.
Average Guy: What is the coaching business like? Tell us about your
approach.
Kyle Kranz: I only very recently created the WhiteLineCoaching.com. I
figure that since coaching is something I would love to do in the future, I may
as well do a bit of it now. My approach to running is consistency,
recovery, and nutrition. Practice those well and you will run well. Coaches are
not meant to tell you every little detail about your training (unless you want
them to). They are a guide to walk you through the process, they can see little
things that you may miss. Such as when I was doing a ton of training on a short
indoor track. I did not think twice about it and believe I developed ITBS from
it, but a coach would have told me to get the heck off the track!
Average Guy: Do triathlons feature prominently in your future endurance
plans or are ultras more your speed these days?
Kyle Kranz: I would like to do an Ultraman or double Ironman within
the next five or seven years. If this happens I predict last place in the swim,
last place in the bike, and I would go for a great run.
Average Guy: Tell me about the “coins of the world” project. Sounds fun.
Kyle Kranz: This was just an idea I had one day. My goal is to
collect a coin from every sovereign nation in the world. I have
picked up a few from ebay for a couple bucks each, and some friends and family
have given me some as well.
Kyle Kranz
B.S. Nutrition
2 comments:
Thanks Zak!
Thank you, Kyle! Much appreciated!
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