Note to Readers: This is not my original work, but a blog post or a tweet with just a link wouldn’t do it justice. So read on or even better click the link of the title below to take you to the original blog post of I Keep Running. The author is Scott McMurtrey, an ultra marathoner.
We will run tomorrow, too. And we will run the next day. This is who we are.
Running is not a hobby.
Running is not a phase we are going through. We will not get it out of our system.We will sign up for our second marathon the day after finishing our first marathon.
We will wake early every morning to feel the new sun on our legs. To feel fresh snow under our feet. To feel the wind against our backs. To hear birds and newspaper trucks and our favorite playlists. We will watch early-morning clouds move across mountains and we will taste salt on our lips.
We will run when we are at our smiling happiest. We will run when we are at our saddest sad. We will run when we are tired or sick or married or alone. We will run when we have kids and when loved ones pass away. We will run with souls full of heartache and compassion and trust and overflowing love.
We will run to share our love.
We will run to test our own limits, to prove to ourselves that we can do it.
We will run for our health. We will run if only to listen to our own hearts beating for miles. We will run to feel every muscle. We will run to sing as loud as we can in the middle of the woods.
We will run on dirt and sand and mud and concrete and asphalt and gravel and rock and grass and cinder and rubber.
We will run to see how far the trail will go. We will run to see what speeds the sidewalk can handle. We will run between buildings and canyons, and we will believe we are free.
We will run to feel the earth moving under our feet.
We will run to celebrate the life that is flowing through our bodies.
This past Saturday I met five other runners whom I had never met before to form team Six Degrees and run the 63+ mile Hendrick’s County Park-2-Park Relay in Indiana. All of us knew someone in common so the team name made sense. Sixteen teams of six runners as well as six ultra marathoners took off at various times Saturday morning to complete the course. For the relay teams the course was ~63+ miles and the ultra runners took on a 50+ mile course solo.
Team “Six Degrees” before the start of the relay race!
Our team consisted of Jen, Liz, Donnie, Jessica, John and me (Brian). I was designated “Runner 1” for the team and ran the furthest distance (only by a few tenths of miles though). We each took three legs of the course with me running legs one, seven and thirteen. I got lost for about 10-15 minutes on leg #2 due to a lack of signage coming out of a wooded area, but otherwise I had no trouble on my three legs of the journey. The final leg had me and another team’s runner racing to the transition area at a dead sprint with both teams cheering us on til the next runner on our teams took off. It was a great way to end my part of the relay!
The weather while sunny and clear was also very hot! The first few legs were relatively cool, but as soon as the sun was above the tree tops the heat climbed quickly and reached the daily high of 90 degrees. The sun beat on us all day, but we found a little comfort in the AC of our support vehicle (Thanks Donnie!). Overall, it was a great day even with the extreme heat. If I don’t do the relay again next year then I may do the ultra as my second 50-mile race. For now though I’m back to focusing on training for my first 50-miler!
Ok actually it was a doe, a deer, a female deer…you know the rest…and there were four of them. The herd of deer was just one of the sights I came across while on my 13+ miler two Saturday’s ago. The weather was perfect and I was out the door before 8am to enjoy a nearly two and a half hour run with much of it being on trails in Eagle Creek State Park. At Eagle Creek you have the choice to run out in the woods or on the paved roads that go through the park. I opted primarily for the trails and loved it. I initially took the long way to get to the park circling the Colts Football Complex. There are soccer fields behind the main complex and running around those made for a great warm up. After I exited the trails I ran up 56th street for some time and then turned around to come back home circling the sports complex again for good measure. All in all I did over 5.5 miles outside the state park so having run around 7 miles on trails is a great accomplishment. Trails are a tad more surprising and a better workout than flat pavement!
Overall a great week of running. Now that we’ve moved I am right next door to the state park and can’t wait for things to quiet down so I can head out the door on Saturday mornings to head down the street for a run instead of hopping in my car.
When I first looked at the training plan for the ultra marathon I’m going to run in November I knew it was different compared to training for a 5K, half or full marathon. Some would surmise that the plan would be exactly like a marathon training program only the long runs would be longer.
The two biggest differences in this training program are the lack of speed work and the focus on specificity in trail running. While the book does say you can put in interval training or other types of speed work it also says don’t worry if you don’t or would rather not. Total volume of miles is the key along with “time on feet”. I like the specificity training. I’ve done some trail running the last couple weeks and have not only enjoyed the scenery, but also have loved the softness of the ground compared to running on pavement or concrete.
Day 1
Seeing how this program is a little different it is only fitting that my first workout for the ultra training program was a weights workout at noon on Monday. I hit full body alternating between upper and lower and taking it easy on the legs since I have three runs on consecutive days and two days with double runs.
Day 2
Tuesday morning I ran a 10K at the gym and I ran just under 4 miles at lunch. The 10K felt great and I kept the speed down to around a 10min/mile pace. I could definitely feel the walking lunges from Monday’s workout. On occasion I forget how much walking lunges help me run. If you are a runner and want to run faster or with better form then just add walking lunges to your workout once or twice a week. The 4 miler was an easy jaunt down the Monon Trail and back. On the way back I ran in the soft gravel on the side of the trail to mimic a trail as much as possible.
Day 3
Wednesday morning (today) I did an easy 4 miler at the gym with a little incline. The schedule called for 3 miles, but I wanted to make up a little mileage where ever I can since I’ll not be going long on Saturday morning as I normally would.
Friday is Fun Day
Even though it’s my first week of ultra training I am hitting the local festivities for Carb Day this coming Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which means I won’t feel like running 10+ miles on Saturday morning. This is also why I’m putting in a few extra miles on Tuesday and Thursday at lunch! I’ve said it countless times before. Plan those celebrations into your training so you don’t feel like your training is making you miss out on life.
Nutrition
I’m almost 100% on my training diet again making healthier choices and opting for smaller more frequent portions. I’ve been adamant about the whey protein post workout so far and I’ve upped my water intake considerably. I’ve also went to cutting out artificial sweetener in my morning coffee so I’m less apt to crave the sweeter foods. Every little “trick” helps. Things are paying off as I’m down to 176lbs. My goal is to weigh 160lbs by November as carrying an extra 16-20 pounds for 50 miles will make the task a bit more difficult. 🙂
Happy Belated Earth Day! Odd way to start a running blog post I know, but the Saturday of the Carmel Marathon was Earth Day after all. I realized this when I saw my finishers medal on Saturday, but I digress.
To say this was a standard marathon run would be far from reality. First, I decided to do this marathon at about 7:00pm the Thursday before the race. Second, not only was this race impromptu I hadn’t really been training for it. I had done several longer runs with a good friend of mine who had the sense to actually train for this 26.2 mile adventure, but otherwise I had been focused on trying for a PR on May 5th at the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. As fate would have it I tweaked my knee a couple weeks ago doing some core work which made speed a problem for me. It turned out to be more of a bother than a true injury.
…don’t worry, I had my knee checked by an NP and my chiropractor independently. Both came to the same conclusion independently that I had just tweaked it a little and that there was no ligament or meniscus damage. They both told me to take it easy for a week by cutting my mileage volume and to return to full activity as I saw fit. As I returned to full activity I realized that speed was an issue, but distance wasn’t so I decided “what the hey!” and registered for the marathon. I had done all the long runs with my friend so I felt the distance was in reach. One caveat is that my PR goal for the Mini Marathon is on hold for now.
So back to the marathon recap!
The Weather:
I ran the Carmel half marathon last year for the inaugural event when it was scheduled in June. That race was super hot and my performance suffered as I came in 20-30 minutes behind what I expected from my 02:05:00+ performance at the Indy Mini Marathon in May.
This year was chillier with temperatures in the low to mid 40s for most of the race and a 14mph wind that chilled you when running into it. The weather was predicted to break and get a little sunnier with temperatures in the low 50s. This never happened so the entire race was in the 40s and overcast.
I'm cold. Do I look cold? Because I am...
The Run:
I started out with my friend and quickly had to slow as my left shin was super tight. I told my friend to go it alone and I dropped back. Somewhere around mile 5 a lady approached and remarked that I was not Lou Mongello. Lou is the founder of the WDW Radio Running Team and the online podcast phenomena by the same name (sans running). I was wearing my WDW Radio Running Team shirt for the race. It’s pretty cool when someone so far from Disney recognizes the shirt and the efforts of the team toward the Dream Team Project and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
Eventually I saw and started running with the 5-hour pace group. The group was small and the pacer, Marie, was very talkative! She had 100s of stories it seemed and had herself run a couple hundred marathons. She didn’t count ultra marathons in that number though because she liked to know the straight count on those as well. She’s training to run the Comrades Ultra Marathon and Badwater. Besides being a marathon maniac, she was also a little insane…I liked her immediately! 🙂
A little over halfway to the finish!
I stayed with this group until mile 15, but then dropped back with another runner. We made a valiant effort to keep the 5-hour pacer in sight, but it wasn’t to be. Still, I knew there was a 5:30:00 pacer somewhere behind us so I didn’t worry. My new running partner and I took on a run/walk regimen for the remainder of the race and kept on motivating each other. Thanks Lisa!
The Finish:
It wasn’t long and the miles ahead became less than the miles behind us. Soon after we were running through the Carmel Art & Design district headed for the finish line. On the final stretch I kicked it into gear for a sprint to the finish.
I'm the blue dot about in the center.
I finished up by doing a few high (or medium rather) fives as I went into the finisher’s chute. All my friends had waited for me to finish. Luckily I didn’t make them wait too long….well, except Dave. He finished in a little over 4 hours! He’s a machine!
A few low to medium fives as I run into the finisher's chute.
All in all it was a good day. I PR’d by 09:41, met a lot of cool people, and added another marathon to the list. There’s only one other marathon road race in the local Indy area that I haven’t run, the Indianapolis Marathon, but I’ll have to wait until next year to run that one as I already am running a trail marathon on that same day this year near West Lafayette, IN.
Over the last few weeks I have been reading the book, Relentless Forward Progress, which is a guide for running ultra marathons and includes several training plans for distances from 50K to 100 miles. I opted to use a 50-mile maximum week training plan for my first 50-mile ultra. Of course, as usual I have adapted the program to fit my own needs and to incorporate the various races I have scheduled over the course of the year leading up to my November 3rd ultra event. Similar to the Goofy Challenge Training Plan the training schedule for an ultra relies heavily on back-to-back runs on the weekends only more so than the Goofy as well as increased “time on feet” and volume of mileage.
I have one goal for this event…finish in the upright position.
So here it is! My ultra marathon training plan complete with two initial ramp-up weeks and one recovery week afterwards. The program starts Monday May 7, 2012.
So this is a VERY busy training/race schedule for me. I’m looking forward to lots of trail running in Eagle Creek State Park and even travelling down to Spencer, IN a couple times to see what the trails look like for the ultra.
No I’m not actually changing my twitter handle to add the word “ultra” and no this is not a post about Dean Karnazes’ book with a similar title…good book though! This is about my next adventure later this year. That’s right, I am registered for my first 50-mile ultra marathon! My ultra of choice is the OPSF 50/50 Ultra Marathon.
Wait…what’s an “Ultra-Marathon”?
Good Question! Let’s define an ultra marathon for you. An ultra marathon is any distance foot race/event that is longer than the traditional 26.2 miles of a standard marathon.
What about the Goofy Challenge? That was more than 26.2 miles!
So is the Goofy Challenge an Ultra? A purist would likely say “no” since the 39.3 miles of the Goofy is ran across 2 days with a big break in the middle where as an ultra marathon is a continuous event until the mileage is finished (assuming a course time limit). Having just completed a Goofy Challenge…plus an extra 5K for 42.4 miles in three days, Dopey I know…I can assure you that the experience will be helpful! The shortest ultra I know of is the 50-K which equates to 31.07 miles. I had the option to do this shorter distance instead of the 50-miler, but to be honest there is no doubt in my mind that I can finish a 50K especially after having completed 42.4 across three days. At the end of the Goofy Challenge I was more than prepared to go another 5-miles. The 50-miler is a much greater challenge for me. Also, having read up on the topic of ultra marathons I’ve learned that the people who run these events don’t consider it a “real ultra” until you hit the 50-mile mark. Anything less is considered a long marathon or “just a training run”. As they say, “When in Rome!”
Why in the name of all that’s holy…?!?!?
Why an ultra? Well, that’s a good question! An ultra marathon is like a mountain to some runners. You run it because it’s there. For others it’s just the challenge of the distance. It’s a little bit of both for me plus training for an ultra marathon is much different than training for even a regular 26.2 for both the program and the philosophy. Also, this is a trail run so the environment of the course is much different than a standard road race. So I have a 2-in-1 challenge ahead of me!
Preparation
To prepare for this event I am increasing my training mileage quite a bit. Right now my weekly mileage not including cross-training is close to ~25 miles per week. Once I start the ultra training I’ll boost that number to over 30 miles per week almost immediately…emphasis on “almost” and then increase it from there. It’s advised that you only increase total mileage by 10% from week to week so luckily I have a couple weeks to build up so there isn’t such a huge jump at the start of the program. Another nicety is that the weekly mileage increase primarily comes in the mid-week runs at the start along with the addition of a short Sunday run after a long Saturday run. The first 8-weeks has a small 5-miler on Sunday after the long run on Saturday. I was amazed at how closely the training plan resembles the Goofy Challenge Training just higher mileage.
Besides the races I mentioned in my last post I also added a couple 15K trail runs and a full marathon trail run so I can get more trail experience. As soon as I finish the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon on May 5th I will be all about the trail running for the remainder of the year. I’m looking forward to buying a headlamp! 🙂
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