Rhinebeck’s Sheryl Wheeler makes quiet gains as ultra-distance trail runner – Poughkeepsie Journal

Scientists say the key to being a better runner may have to do with your gut, not your legs. Buzz60

CONNECTCOMMENTEMAILMORE

The Dutchess County area has been home to some of the greatest women’s runners in the region and even the nation, most notably national masters racing champion Marisa Strange of Pleasant Valley.

Sheryl Wheeler of Rhinebeck has quietly forged a niche as one of the finest ultra-distance trail runners in the region and the nation. She’s not as well-known because, well, most of her pursuits are off-road and literally off the beaten path. Like many adventure runners, she chases relatively obscure milestones known as “fastest known times” — or FKTs — on trails and challenges that simply defy conventional racing.

Truly, everything the 56-year-old Wheeler does in running defies conventional thinking in running. She jokes that her training schedule is “non-existent … what I mean is, I don’t have any particular plan.”

In an email interview for this column, questions about her race results were pockmarked with “I think” and “maybe” and lots and lots of question marks regarding her finish time. That’s because, for Wheeler, the joy is in the adventure. The results are secondary. Anyone who has met or run with Wheeler knows this free and easy spirit is infectious; she’s about the most friendly face you’ll find in our sport.

She started running 20 years ago this summer, doing the Kingston Cross-Country Series. “Even as a kid,’’ the Kingston native said, “I always liked to move around. Biking, swimming, running, climbing trees, etc. Running just seemed the easiest to do without high costs and equipment.”

She estimates she’s done more than 50 trail or road ultra marathons, and an additional 15 trail/road marathons. At a 24-hour road race in New Jersey, she completed 115 miles, an elite-level total. She has won the Massanutten Mountain Trails (MMT) 100-mile race in Fort Valley, Virginia, in a little less than 25 hours.

And she has won the incredibly arduous Manitou’s Revenge 54-mile race in a little less than 14 hours. How difficult is Manitou’s Revenge? Part of it traverses the 18.6-mile Escarpment Trail in the Catskills — a race she has won five times and that is considered among the most difficult trail races in the United States.

Wheeler found the Escarpment portion of Mantou’s Revenge was actually the easiest! At this year’s Manitou’s Revenge, which was held in June, she placed fourth in the women’s field.

“I felt really good the whole race,’’ she said. “You don’t get that very often. So rather than being second or third and feeling bad for some race, I’ll take fourth and feeling good. It’s my kind of race: mountainous and rocky.’’

Wheeler has had some great highlights in the woods. She said her most memorable was the MMT victory several years ago, where she came from behind and passed several top women after the 70-mile mark and stayed ahead for the victory.

More recently, in April she won an event called the Palmer Lake 24-hour Death Race, which is at 7,200 feet above sea level. Her total of 100.8 miles is the second longest distance in race history.

Although her race history is filled with top-finishing successes, Wheeler is more comfortable talking about her daily adventures. For instance, earlier this month she was on the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, where she decided to try to summit several mountains in the same day.

Here’s how she described her day: “After I ran/hiked in about, say, 5-6 miles (no Strava/GPS), I went up a yellow trail that you wouldn’t have known was a trail except for the markers (the small pines were so grown in). After going maybe 2 miles, I did see a wrecked airplane on the left, so I bushwacked up to the top of Marshall (approximately 4,600-feet elevation). I came back down to the trail and looked for some kind of similar way to get up the southside of Iroquois (approximately 5,100 feet elevation), but didn’t find anything, so I literally pulled myself up that side; that took about 2.5 hours, and then said hi to all the people on the top that came from the main trail the opposite way. Then I continued my hiking, but I had to peak Algonquin (5,300-feet elevation) two times because there was no trail to get back from where I came from. It took me about 10 hours, so I figure that was my long run for the day.’’

When discussing her training, she does admit to doing high mileage runs on the roads and trails. But Wheeler also counts daily activities such as spending the day picking berries as part of “training” — if she is outside moving for 14 or more hours, she views that as excellent preparation for her ultra-adventures. “But,’’ she added, “I don’t have any training schedule, per se.’’

She said she is motivated by having enthusiastic training friends like Jenny Carpenter and Jamie Reichler, and admits that she is “kind of a lazy runner,’’ an absurd statement for someone who regularly wins 100-mile races.

With regard to the FKTs, her most notable is the Northville-Lake Placid (Adirondack) Trail. She has the FKT for both versions of it — the “speed” trail is 122 miles and the whole trail is 133 miles. Her other two FKTs are back-to-back Escarpment (out and back continuously) and Mount Morrison in Colorado, which she says is similar to the Escarpment.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Wheeler. In 2004, she was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy, an illness that damaged her heart muscle. She’s had several bouts with Lyme disease. And she had surgery for a fractured ankle, an injury she incurred while walking to the starting line of the MMT 100-miler two years ago.

Wheeler advises anyone who wants to follow her path to run slowly — very slowly.

“So slow,’’ she said, “you’re secretly a little disgusted with yourself for going so slow. I’ve told people this in races, but it works good for training, too; imagine that you have a somewhat slower friend that you always have to kind of wait for. Now go their pace consistently, and you’ll probably be doing the slower pace you should be doing.’’

It seems counterintuitive, but Wheeler believes that such a conservative strategy has enabled her to outlast her competition. She said her future goals are to continue running and hiking, acknowledging the she will slow down with age.

“Now,’’ she said, “I try to look at and break age-group categories, or be the first 50-plus in a race. It doesn’t always happen, but I still try.’’

Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club member Pete Colaizzo, the track coach at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, writes on running every week in Players. He can be reached at runhed246@hotmail.com. For more club information, go to www.mhrrc.org

CONNECTCOMMENTEMAILMORE