What to Know About Cortisol and Exercise ultramarathons (that’s anything longer than 26.2 miles) since 2006. To date, she has completed 65 ultramarathons and 50 marathons—and she ran 40 of those 26.2-mile races in under three hours. Most recently, Yanko scored a second-place women’s finish at the Napa Valley Marathon earlier this month with a time of 2:44:45.
In addition to the sheer volume of races she’s run, Yanko also holds several national championship titles and 100-mile first-place finishes. The thing is, that’s not even the most impressive part of her story. Yanko also takes on a challenge that isn’t visible to the eyes.
Last fall, while running the Hennepin Hundred, a 100-mile race in Sterling, Illinois, Yanko felt excruciating pain Health and Wellness breathing very difficult. The runner knew from experience it wasn’t something benign, like a cramp; Keys to Sticking With Hard Runs.
By mile 50, the pain was so severe that Yanko was forced to drop out of the race. Back home in Colorado the next day, the 40-year-old was diagnosed with pleurisy, a condition in which the tissues that line the lungs become inflamed and can make breathing very painful.
The Hennepin Hundred in October of 2022 wasn’t the first time Yanko had put a pause on running on account of feeling terrible. In the summer of 2022, Yanko developed severe exhaustion, joint pain, headaches, in her lungs, making flu or COVID, but tested negative for both. While she could still run during that time, she could no longer train at the level she wanted, so she had to forgo three ultramarathons she had lined up in celebration of her 40th birthday on June 23.
Two years prior to that, in the winter 2020, Yanko wound up in the emergency room with severe stomach pain. After several tests, doctors told her she had some of the markers of lupus, but not quite enough to reach a lupus diagnosis. That changed when Yanko saw her rheumatologist shortly after the 100-mile race in Illinois. Her doctor confirmed her symptoms had progressed and diagnosed her with lupus.
How Yanko Manages Her Lupus Symptoms
Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disorder, in which the immune system attacks the body’s tissues and organs. While there is no cure for the condition, there are medications that can help tame symptoms. Yanko started taking these meds, known as hydroxychloroquine (an anti-malarial drug) and methotrexate (a chemotherapy drug), a few months ago to control her lupus symptoms.
While Yanko went off hydroxychloroquine shortly after starting it because it gave her such severe dizziness (she couldn’t even stand up), she continues with the chemotherapy medication once a week, at home on Saturday nights. The once-a-week dosage comes at a cost, though, as it causes severe fatigue and sometimes depressive symptoms.
“It’s still kind of hard to be thrust into that position on a weekly basis,” says the Gnarly-sponsored athlete. While the side effects aren’t always consistent, the severity is real, she adds. And while taking the medication is not fun, Yanko understands it’s a matter of life and death. She has been told by her doctors that patients who do not treat lupus symptoms can have a high mortality rate. So, she keeps that perspective in mind—although the medication’s side effects might not be desirable, it’s her best option for the future.
What Running With Lupus Looks Like for Yanko
Yanko’s doctor had warned her that she may never feel reliably good again, as lupus flares can pop up at any time, not to mention the side effects of the medications she takes. “I almost never feel 100 percent and definitely have not felt 100 percent with treatment, especially since many medications made me feel worse,” she says.
However, since being diagnosed, Yanko has been learning how to adjust her schedule in a way that works for her and says she’s tuning into her body more to give it what it needs. That means she might take naps and go easy when she feels she needs to do. “If I have to say no to things, I do. I’m learning when to push through and when to rest; it’s a practice and can be difficult to get right,” Yanko says.
“race long distances enough, as there may never be a medication that works to make me feel as good [as I use to] again. It is going to be a long process to figure out what makes me feel my best—not just with medication but diet, lifestyle, and more,” she adds.
One of the first questions Yanko asked her doctor post-diagnosis was whether she could still run with lupus. Her doctor encouraged her to keep clocking miles, as running at a high volume is known to suppress the immune system, which is the goal of the medications, too. “So in a lot of ways running is really good for me. It’s just that when I’m having symptoms I have to back off,” she says.
Yanko’s training plan is evolving as she learns more about what to expect with lupus. “I give myself more space to change the plan,” she says. For example, instead of pushing through runs that feel really tough or instead of dragging on through the miles on low-energy days, she’ll switch her hard workout or longer run to a different day that week.
While working out the kinks of when to train and when to back off, Yanko decided to race again three weeks after her official lupus diagnosis, which she received in October 2022. This time she tackled the Javelina Jundred, a 100-miler in Fountain Hills, Arizona on October 29th. For this race, she went in with an understanding that she may or may not have a lupus flare up. The possibility of complications were real, but so was her desire to Heres How Stress Affects Your Running Performance. Two years prior to that, in the winter 2020, Yanko wound up in the emergency room with severe.
Yanko knew she had it in her to win the race, considering she had been logging long miles over the summer, but she also knew she might have to walk for 30 hours if her lupus symptoms showed up that day.
“It’s been a change in mentality to enjoy the good days when I have them and remember that my experience is very unique to myself,” Yanko says. “I have to block myself off from comparing what normal, healthy people are doing and just stay in my own lane and focus on that experience.”
Yanko ended up having a good day, winning the Javelina Jundred for the second time and setting a new master’s women’s course record (she broke the previous course record she set in 2015 of 14:52:06), with a finish time of 14:36:10.
“I just feel like I have a few more obstacles to work around and a few more puzzle pieces to adjust for [than before my diagnosis]. But I’m still trying to win races and qualify for the Olympic trials,” she says.
How Yanko Gets Through Hard Runs
“A hard run compared to the disease itself is not hard,” Yanko says. In fact, her mantra at Javelina Jundred: “Lupus is hard. This is not hard.” She admits it sounds funny to say running 100 miles is not hard, but adds, “comparatively, running is this fun, beautiful, simple act that we get to do.”
The toughest day for Yanko to run is Sunday, as it’s the day after taking her chemo medication and her fatigue is at its highest levels. But she’s been working hard at being able to differentiate among feelings of a very difficult. The runner knew from experience it wasnt something benign, like a, general tiredness, or if something’s off physically due to the lupus. “I hope I just look back at this time and say that I was able to manage my disease well and compete in a way I wanted when I could,” Yanko says.
On those Sundays, when Yanko doesn’t usually feel like running, she reminds herself of the benefits of a run. “It’s probably going to be the only good part of my day, so I still do it. And I’m always happy I did and it’s usually just my brain trying to get in the way,” she says.
One thing that’s worked well for Yanko, post-diagnosis, is letting the motivation follow the action. She acknowledges that it’s not always easy getting out the door, but even when she’s lacking the drive to start moving, she’s always happy to have put the work in. Plus, Yanko isn’t one to shy away from hard things. “I still feel like my best runs are ahead of me,” she says.
Yanko’s Tips for Other Runners Dealing With Chronic Disease
1. Feel all your feelings
Running Ultramarathons Helps Him Process Trauma goals, but neglected the new feelings that came with her diagnosis, like grief, despair, anger, frustration, loss, disappointment, and confusion. But, when Yanko leaned into those feelings, she was able to accept her life would be different and move forward.
2. Check in with your doctor
It’s important to find out if running will help your condition. In many cases, maintaining fitness is beneficial for those dealing with health challenges. In Yanko’s situation, her doctors encouraged her to keep running when she feels well enough. She’s now learning to work around the illness and capitalize on the good days. It’s also important to keep your doctor informed if your symptoms are worsening, and to keep communicating about how any new medications make you feel.
3. Find a support network
“Confronting a new challenge can be daunting and demoralizing, but you have to resist the urge to give up the fight,” Yanko says. That’s why finding a support network is so crucial. Yanko advises seeking out people who have confronted similar challenges and are farther along in their journey with that challenge. “It will give you a lot of hope to see how much progress you can make if you keep relentless forward progress,” Yanko says.
Yanko takes comfort in connecting with other lupus patients online, which she found through Reddit. Finding a community of those dealing with similar symptoms reminds her she isn’t alone in this fight, and that she can be a positive influence on the lupus community by showing others what’s possible.
4. Make a plan and keep a record
“The first thing I did when diagnosed with lupus was write myself a management plan, which included all of the areas I would need to focus on in order to make healthy progress. This included nutrition, lifestyle, stress, medication,” Yanko says. Then, she experimented and documented what worked for her and what changed. “There is no one-size-fits-all plan for confronting challenges, but you can work the problem from different angles,” Yanko adds.
5. Remember to be kind to yourself
Yanko learned early on in her diagnosis that it’s important to not compare yourself to others, and to also listen to your body. Yanko subscribes to the plan that you should rest when you need rest, and allow yourself the space to be flexible with your fitness plans. Being kind to yourself is also about making smart decisions and not trying to overdo it. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and I have to give myself grace and make smart decisions for the long term,” she says.
Jennifer Acker joined the editorial staff of Runner's World and Bicycling in January 2022. A former freelancer writer and NCAA runner, she started running as a kid and basically never stopped. She also loves outdoor adventures, like hiking, skiing, and mountain biking.
