“If you’re not going to write 2,000 words a day, might as well run your brains out.” Said someone who is definitely not me.
I signed up for a 100-mile ultramarathon and a 66k (42 miles) race. This can’t be a bad idea, right? Not any worse than any of my other ideas.
The funny thing is…I don’t actually like running. It’s boring. I don’t float like a bee, I stomp along like a manatee who grew legs to enact revenge on boats. But I know I can put in the time. As long as I work equally as hard to stay healthy, i.e foam rolling, stretching, I’ll be fine.
Despite my proclivity to stomping like I’m a peasant at a winery, I’m excited about the challenge. Earlier this year I biked 1,000 miles in one month. This is a lot like that, but instead, I’ll just run my brains out. Maybe by the end of it, I’ll actually like running.
How did my first week go?
Super well. I’m on a 20-week training plan and the first week was pretty easy. In a later blog post, I’ll go into the main differences between ultra marathon training and Ironman training. But for now, know that ultramarathon training simply revolves around one super long run.
This first week started out with a simple 2.5-hour run which came out to be 16 miles. The weather was cool and I felt good. Nutritionally I could have done better. Because of the cool weather I decided to forgoe water for the first six miles which could have been disastrous. I ate a nature valley granola bar for breakfast, let it sit for a few minutes and then hit the road. After 6 miles I had another half of a granola bar and some cliff block chews with some Gatorade. If I was to run any longer I think I would have suffered greatly from my lack of properly taking on nutrition duringthe early part of the run, but for 16 miles I did scooted by.
What to improve on my next long run.
1. Bring water for those early miles
2. Have a snack at mile 3 while I still feel fresh to keep my body topped up. In a longer race I’ll need the nutrition.
3. Different shoes. Those hurt the top of my feet (They were old and needed to be retired.)
Tune in next week for another exciting installment. Just a hint: It’s going to revolve around running. I’m a runner now.
William B. Nix 