Preparing for an Ultra

Before I begin, I'm participating in a relay race in September with a wonderful group of friends. We'll be running from Cincinnati to Columbus, and we're fundraising for the American Cancer Society. If you're able and willing, please consider donating by clicking here! Any little bit counts.

Hello friends,
I've got an ultra marathon coming up, and I've been a nervous nelly. But despite the nerves, I've been prepping.

   An ultramarathon is any event over a marathon (26.2 miles). The event I'm running is a trail 50k (31.1 miles), although the particular course is marked closer to 33 miles. The longest I've run previously is 30 miles, but that was on a flat course. For today's post, I'm sharing the recent changes I've added into my typical weeks of running to slowly garner confidence for this 50k.

Endurance & Heat Training

   50k is daunting. This particular event is said to have some rolling hills and some deep creek crossings (like, potentially waist-deep). When I was newer to running, I discovered a couple YouTube documentaries about ultra runners. These introduced me to figures like Sally McRae and Courtney Dauwalter, while also introducing me to major races like Western States and Cocodona 250. Once my eyes were opened to both the grit and the adventure of those events (they had some major river crossings and multiple types of terrain), I knew I wanted to try out an ultra some day. But where I'm at experience-wise so far isn't nearly prepared enough to enter into an all-day or multi-day event. My furthest distance thus far is that 30-mile distance I mentioned earlier, which was on a flat course. But that was a tough day for me.

   I completed the thirty miles in March, during an 8 hour event. Based on my winter marathon pace, I projected I'd be able to hit around 33-37 miles if I stayed consistent. But from the start of the 8hr race, I was anxious. Like, my nerves were making it difficult for me to get my breathing and heart rate feeling "normal". It was also the first warm day of the spring season, so things didn't feel as easy as my marathon back in December. With multiple factors hindering my performance (mostly mental), I knew I needed to take preparation for this upcoming 50k race even more seriously. I had a few hot months I'd be able to train in, and I had some goals: learn to keep running despite the discomfort of an anxiety flare-up, and prioritize heat training this year.

   In my previous two years of running, I tended to wake up early for summer runs to avoid the heat. But if I want to be my most confident and capable self on race day, I need to face the discomfort and acclimate to whatever temperatures that day could bring. To improve in the heat, I've made sure to obviously hydrate, even during shorter runs, because we've had some 90+ degree days. I've also been doing more late-morning, afternoon, and evening runs (in fact, the early morning runs have been a lot more sparse this season). I've made sure to be active in two run groups, one road group and one trail group, and I show up on even the hottest days, running at least four days a week. Because even if I'm intimidated by the heat, I've made sure to face it-head on.

   Besides heat training, I've had my fair share of struggles in a different area: soreness. There's a course I've run on a couple of times that has numerous rolling and steep hills. During a trail race on that same course in July, I found myself hiking the final four miles because my hips flexors and glutes were wildly sore, and this was a half marathon, not a ultra (but I think the reason I started feeling sore was because of the fact that I was hiking. I find that I oddly feel less sore when I keep running compared to the contrary, but with hills that steep, I also want to preserve energy by hiking). For this reason, I've made sure to up my mileage on trails as opposed to roads, to be intentional on every hill I climb on my typical route (even if I'm just hiking it), and to keep moving through the waves of feelings. Two of the most helpful practices I did were in late July and early August.

   The most impactful practice I had in July was an 11 mile hike with my buddy Cooper. We were on a notoriously hilly trail in the area, and time on feet plus hill work were the primary focuses. At mile 7, the hip flexor pain came into play. But like I said, I wanted to move through it. I'm not sure at what point my body felt relief, but by mile 11 I felt totally painless. The feet and legs felt fatigued, sure, but the hip pain was no longer affecting me. I learned to move through the motions until they potentially just dissipate naturally

   The most impactful practice I had this month was a long trail run. During this session, I ran a 4 mile loop a few times, plus a couple passes at at 2 mile loop, and stopped at 16 miles. My goal that day was to tackle 15 or more miles so I'd feel capable and confident in my event. I left the park for a bit, got some actual food, and returned to hike an additional 4 miles. This was crucial in helping me gauge how much energy I could still feel by mile 20, even if I have to pause or hike. No pains came from the hiking or the running, and I proved that I can make it through at least 2/3 of my race. So even if I have to crawl to the finish line, I can do this thing.

Targeting Nutrition: Eating Balanced Meals

   Warning: I will be discussing my personal experience with nutrition and with weight. If this is a sensitive topic for you, feel free to skip this section!

   I've been reading a lot this year. The book I just finished a couple weeks back was a book called Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald, and it was super insightful. I'm currently enrolled in a couple courses with NASM, one of which will be nutrition (once I wrap up the wellness course), but my previous understanding of nutrition has been fuzzy. The past couple months, I've felt more comfortable with it. I don't overcomplicate it, rather, I aim to eat mostly whole foods and mostly unprocessed foods, with a target of eating balanced each meal. But why am I pointing at nutrition for helping me prep? Because I've been locked in lately, and it's a game-changer.

   Nutrition not only helps play a day to day role in how I feel energy-wise, but weight is a whole separate beast when it comes to running. The beautiful thing about running as a sport is that people at any size can try it! But the complicated factor I've found is that, when I've personally gained back weight, I could physically feel it playing a tough role during my runs. Last fall, I started taking a new anti-depressant, and I also happened to be neglecting to prioritize my eating. I was coming down from a couple tough months of anxiety and just wanted to feel like a human. But both that specific medication plus my eating habits at that time caused me to gain about 15 pounds pretty quickly. I procrastinated to look at the scale, because I could just see the change when I looked in the mirror, plus how I felt in my clothes. During my runs, not only was my energy lacking, but I also felt like I was being weighed down. Like my legs were concrete. Eventually, I mustered up the courage to weigh myself and I jotted it down, accepting the current situation. I needed to make a change. Come spring, I swapped medications and I started cooking more, even if it was the same couple of meals on rotation. I wanted to consume things I actually enjoyed that were nourishing my body. When I started eating better, I started performing better. In these past couple of months, when I started losing that weight bit by bit, I stopped noticing that drag feeling. I'm still not currently at the weight I was at before, but the progress itself has restored my self efficacy and has helped me show up with more energy on my runs.

   Life is easier and more enjoyable, aiming for a balanced and sustainable diet mindset over any fad diets or destructive jargon.

Working on Mental Toughness​

   My shortfall in previous races has been mostly mental. So when I say I'm striving for mental toughness, that means reflecting on where my sore spots were in previous events and trying to tackle them. For me, preparation tends to help me feel confident. It's like when I was preparing for my first marathon and wanted to reach at least 20 miles before attempting it, because you can learn a lot from 20 miles. Like when your calves might start to cramp, and what nutrition cooperates well in your body. So come marathon time, you know sort of what to expect. Obviously not everything is in your control, but when you see a a weak spot, like how easily my anxious body broke me down in that 30 mile race (it unfortunately was at about mile 4), you can make a note on how to improve next time. It's a major reason I love this sport, the personal goal-setting that can grow beyond speed or distance.

   These are the times where I drop the ego and I pinpoint where something goes wrong in previous events, then correcting it as best as I can. Like working through moving despite feeling anxious about my tough 8hr event, and aiming to conquer the heat (and testing out cooling products to ease my body and mind through the hotter days). Another huge lesson was realizing that pains come in waves, like I showed myself during that long hike with Cooper. Moving through the discomfort, because it could just be temporary. Fighting through the mental barriers and realizing that some of the physical challenges might not be as big as they seem.

   A couple months ago I saw an influential quote in in Scott Jurek's book Eat & Run about the beauty of ultra marathons providing an opportunity for multiple winds:
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"That's one of the many great pleasures of an ultra-marathon. You can hurt more than you ever thought possible, then continue until you discover that hurting isn't that big a deal. Forget a second wind. In an ultra you can get a third, a fourth, a fifth even...You can trail, and despair, and screw up, and despair more, and there's almost always another chance. Salvation is always within reach."

   My goal is to enjoy the challenge, appreciate the adventure, and prove to myself that I can endure. Cheers to my upcoming ultra.