Endurance Podcast Ep. 6 - Ultrarunner and Doctor Tracy Beth Høeg

The PodiumRunner Endurance Podcast is hosted by Ian Sharman, a professional ultra runner and coach with over 200 marathons or ultra finishes and more than 50 wins (www.sharmanultra.com, twitter.com/sharmanian). We discuss training and racing topics with leading sports scientists and how to practically apply research findings for marathoners and ultra runners.

Episode 6: Dr Tracy Beth Høeg on hallucinations and much, much more.

Today we’re talking to Tracy Beth Høeg, MD, PhD who practices Sports, Spine and Regenerative Medicine at Northern California Orthopaedic Associates. She is an Associate Researcher at the University of California-Davis and a journalist, currently for Ultra Running Magazine. She’s also a Danish-American double citizen who has run in the Trail Ultra World Championships for Team USA and for Team Denmark in the  Long Distance Mountain Running World Championships. She’s currently based in Kings Beach, California.

Tracy’s tweets @ twitter.com/tracybethhoeg and her Facebook posts are an excellent way to understand scientific findings about COVID-19 as they come out.

This show delves into a really wide variety of topics because I wanted to pick Tracy’s brain is several key areas where she’s an expert. We talked about:
• How COVID 19 affects runners.
• Various studies she’s been part of at WS100 and their practical implications, especially related to runners and bone health plus metabolonics analysis (basically looking at the correlation between different small molecule metabolic products within the body for faster runners versus slower runners).
• Temporary vision loss through Corneal Edema in ultras, including how it happens and how to avoid it.
• Hallucinations in ultra running.
• The Menstrual Cycle and how this affects training and racing.
• Regenerative Medicine, especially Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate injections, Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) treatment and Prolotherapy. The discussion focused on what these are, when they get used and common myths and misconceptions.