Runnin Long

Hey there,

Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile. There's less to talk about now that I'm down to a single sport. I run.... that's pretty much. Somthing new though is that I'm possibly doing a Ultra marathon. I was talking with Mark Nalphin a while ago, I think I asked about possibly doing a 50k this fall. I knew he'd be interested since I know he's done the frozen ass 50 and has talked about doing the Canadian Death race next year. Well he immediately suggested doing a 50 miler!!! At first I was like nooooooooo way that's too far!! But I thought about it, checked out the course and time. It all is actually good timing, plus it's a bit of a bigger challenge than JUST a 50k, hee hee. I've never been satisfied with big challenges, almost more interested in the Mammoth goals. When I first signed up for my first marathon I had just completed a 4.5 mile run as part of a marathon relay. I think I completed a few smaller races, a 5k, maybe a 10k, but I didn't do a half marathon till I'd completed several full marathons.

So anyways the course looks pretty flat, it's mostly a long a country gravel road. I know 50 miles is a long way to build up to in a relatively short time period. So I'm gonna give it a shot as long as my body stays healthy. I've done 14,20, and 24 miles as my long runs so far. For me to have a good shot of running the whole way(yes my tentative goal is to run all of it, other than filling up bottles) I think I'll need to build up to 35 miles in training. Yikes even that scares the crap out of me!! The 24 miles last weekend was breaking new ground for me already as I'd never gone that far in training. I used to do 22-23 miles as my longest long runs while training for the marathon. This is part of the reason I don't even know if Ultras is my thing, this is a real experiment. "An experiment of ONE" - John Collins. I've never run further than 26.2 miles so how would I know?

The ultra is a unique challenge. The biggest challenge I have is that I don't yet have the patience. You totally have to find another gear. But unlike any other foot race the gear that you need is a slow slow gear. Not even so much for a 50k, or even a 50 mile, but DEFINATELY for a 100 mile run. Gotta keep the effort level even through out. It's really hard because the effort is so low that your mind starts to wonder, I get bored easy. Even the hills, where normally I'd try to power up keeping the pace nearly level. Not so with Ultras, I'll slow down, shorten the stride, the goal in my mind at least is to save what ever energy I have what ever way I can. So that means slowing down to a crawl while running up hills. Keeping awayyyyyy from any increases of efforts. The longer I can keep running the better.

Another thing that kinda worries me. Most Ultra runners, at least the beginner types walk at some point in the long ones. Especially since most of the Ultra courses are brutal. I'm only trying to run this one since it's a very flat course on gravel road. Most ultras even a 50k, I think I'd walk up the very steep hills just to avoid any kind of extra fatigue. K, getting back to the concern. I tend to run till I drop. I can hold a pretty good pace till I need to stop and walk, and then it's such a slow walk it's like I'm not moving at all. So I'm a bit afraid that if I do end up having to walk at all that the pace will slow to almost a stop.

Oh well I have a ways to go and I don't even know if I'm gonna do the race. I promised myself I would pull the plug the moment I feel any kind of injury. I have lots of time for ultras or any other challenges no need to rush it. Part of me is relieved though, it feels sooooo good to have another big goal on the horizon. I think I'm addicted to feeling overwhelmed?!?!? Maybe that's why I prefer going long vs going fast. I'd prefer to enter a event not knowing for sure if I can complete it. Sure I tried for a few years for time goals in the marathon and IM, but those finishes still are never guarrenteed. No matter how fast you are, I think everyone has multiple times during the race where they don't even know if they can finish. So that's I think what makes me tick.