Extreme Pursuits

James Beard Award–winning Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey runs around the floor of his Colorado restaurants greeting guests and pouring wine six nights a week. After putting in a 14-hour day, most people would want to put their feet up and relax. But for the last 20years, Bobby, age 50, uses any down time and his one day off to train for marathons.

The hospitality industry is its own type of endurance event. In the ‘90s, the extreme pressure led to a restaurant culture of extreme excess, says Bobby. “You had chefs who ran hard in the kitchen and then partied hard out of the kitchen,” he says. “For a long time, I was telling people this wasn’t sustainable. To have longevity in this industry, you need balance.”

The mental grit and stamina required in the restaurant business naturally translates to the sports world. So, it should be no surprise that some of the industry’s most successful restaurateurs, chefs and sommeliers are following Bobby’s example and pursuing extreme physical activities in their free time. Daniel Humm, the Michelin-decorated chef-owner of New York City’s Eleven Madison Park, runs ultramarathons and crushes long-distance cycling races. Boston chef-restaurateur Michael Serpa cycled 360 miles in 20 hours through all six states in New England last summer just for fun.

“It takes a certain personality to want to work long hours in the restaurant industry,” says Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy. “We are programmed to do grueling sports. I have had many days where I’ll do long training runs or super long bike rides and somehow try to run up and down the stairs to the wine cellar at work later.”

Andy Chabot, the senior vice president of food and beverage at Blackberry Farm and Blackberry Mountain, has run since he was a kid and fell into cycling later in life when he was dealing with a knee injury. Over the years, he has come to love longer distance running races and100-mile cycling rides. “There’s something great about endurance sports,” he says. “You push yourself and learn things about your limits – usually that you can go past your perceived limits!” He says those lessons translate to life. Andy juggles a lot. During the day, he meets with chefs, dining directors and the event management teams. In the evenings, he’s running food or helping guests pair wine. He also runs a farm with his wife. “I’ve found that you can get quite a bit done if you simply try,” he says. “I’m always surprised by what can be accomplished if you just get out there and do it.” But like a big ride or run, the first steps are always the hardest, he notes.

Anyone who has competed in an Ironman, run a marathon or even all-out sprinted the last 100 meters of a 5K knows the pain of pushing our bodies to the edge. So, what makes some people continue to pursue outrageous physical pursuits and push through the pain?

For former pro cyclist-turned wine importer Craig Lewis, it’s partly the endorphin high. “I can’t go without it for long periods,” he says. “My body craves it.” Craig now runs more than he bikes but says having a race on his calendar also adds structure to a schedule riddled with temptations, like gluttonous wine dinners. “We’re surrounded by great wine and food all the time,” he says. “Knowing I have to get out of bed the next day keeps me in check.”

Kate Ligler, a Boulder, Colorado-based strength coach and former pro cyclist, notes there are certainly extrinsic motivators to going hard, like winning a medal or getting an adrenaline rush. But she thinks when it comes to people who chase extreme pursuits, the motivations are often intrinsic. “The competition doesn’t necessarily end at the finish line for athletes who compete at a high or extreme level,” she says. “When you train as part of your lifestyle on a consistent basis, it’s an ongoing part of a person’s identity.”

Before he became one of the world’s top master marathon athletes, a category of runner age 40 or older, Ken Rideout struggled with an opioid addiction. “Pushing myself to the extreme changed my life,” he says. He admits he replaced one addiction with a new, albeit healthier, addiction. “Running gives me the same high I got from drugs,” he says. But running also gives him purpose, discipline and a sense of pride and accomplishment. Since he started running more than a decade ago, he has trained through every imaginable ache and injury. “I live my life sore,” says Ken. “Even when my legs are killing me, I go out for a run.”

The fleeting mental euphoria of pushing our physical limits may not justify the physical toll the strain takes on our bodies, says Andrew Jagim, director of sports-medicine research at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Kate recently crewed Dede Griesbauer, the 2022 Ultraman World Champion and course record holder, through a race roughly a double Ironman on the Big Island of Hawaii.

“There was no physical benefit to her body competing at those distances, as it was nearly 24 hours of battling to keep her physical body online and continuing to move forward after months upon months of heat training and race-specific preparation,” says Kate, who also serves as Dede’s coach. “But she completed that event and has unlocked another level emotionally and mentally in terms of focus and tolerance in extreme conditions.”

For the average person seeking health benefits from exercise, there’s no reason to push the extreme and hit your max heart rate every single workout, says Dr. Jagim. Lower intensity workouts also have plenty of benefits.

The American Heart Association recommends we get at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous aerobic activity, or a combination of both. Thomas Allison, Director of Sports Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York, says the average person could do up to five times the recommended amount with no risk. “If you get up to 10times, you’re doing 1,500 minutes of high-intensity exercise a week,” he says. “You may start to run into a problem with your knees and hips and maybe even your marriage or job.”

Dr. Allison notes long-term endurance athletes can have a slightly higher risk of having an irregular heartbeat. “The health risk of people doing extreme endurance events is a puddle compared to the lake of sedentary people dying from not moving,” he says. “Ultra-endurance sports may not be kind to your body,” says Carlton, “but I would rather die of pushing myself physically than stuffing my face with Taco Bell.”