2010-- Fresh out of college with unlimited possibilities in front of me. The "Freshman 15" hung around for most of my college days, fueled by pizza, beer and as much food as I could fit on my plate in the cafeteria. Running 100 miles or just running in general was the last thing on my mind.
My early days of reshaping my body and my life were not easy. Whenever I had a tough workout or I just didn't feel like working out I would just remind myself my future self would thank me, and looking back, I can definitely attest my future self thanks me more than I could have imagined.
The opportunities, people and adventures I have experienced through running have been more than I could have ever imagined. For me, it's not all about the miles or distance, it's about the journey.
My early days of reshaping my body and my life were not easy. Whenever I had a tough workout or I just didn't feel like working out I would just remind myself my future self would thank me, and looking back, I can definitely attest my future self thanks me more than I could have imagined.
The opportunities, people and adventures I have experienced through running have been more than I could have ever imagined. For me, it's not all about the miles or distance, it's about the journey.
The hard work is over, for now. As I sit here reminiscing about the past couple years from when I started my first P90X workout to see if I could dedicate myself to 90 days of working out on my own time to finishing my first duathlon, 5k, half marathon, marathon, extremely long fun runs, helping other runners reach their own goals, and a few 50 milers; my next challenge, only a few days away, is something I have secretly striven to do for years.
From the moment I finished my first 50 miler about a year ago, I have wanted to run 100 miles. The stepping stones to get to where I am today have not always been easy or exactly how I have planned, but with a little hard work, dedication and most importantly consistency, I finally feel as ready as I can be.
My weekly training regimen from early November of last year until now look a little like this:
Monday- Morning yoga | Meditation | 4 mile round trip walk to work and home | Hour strength and core workout at night
Tuesday- Morning yoga or workout | Meditation | Light run about 5 miles | 4 mile round trip walk to work and home
Wednesday- Morning yoga or strength workout | Meditation | 4 mile round trip walk to work and home | 5-10 mile night run followed by an hour strength and core workout if not done in the morning
Thursday- Morning yoga | Meditation | 4 mile round trip walk to work and home
Friday- Morning yoga or strength and core workout | Meditation | 4 mile round trip walk to work and home | Long run 13 miles
Saturday- Long run 20+ miles | Afternoon/ night yoga
Sunday- 10 mile run | Epson salt bath at night
Consistently, for a majority of the winter weeks, I would run a total of about 60 miles with a few in the mid 70's. After a few weeks off from my previous running season I slowly built up my mileage, which took about a month before I felt conditioned enough to keep up the miles.
A key component to my success over the winter was not getting stressed if I missed a workout or run. I have always felt it is best not to stress out about the little things when life happens because I know it will work out in the end.
Key components to my success and staying injury free are as follows:
Yoga and especially meditation are not common practices for everyone. I have found these may have been more important in my overall training than the miles accumulated throughout the weeks. I believe doing yoga consistently has helped keep me feeling fresh day after day, especially after back to back to back long runs over the weekends.
Meditation is still a new practice to me, but I still strive to do it everyday for at least 10 minutes if I can. After the first week or so I did notice a change in my mindfulness while I was running and a little more in tune with how my body was feeling during runs. I felt I slept better and could relax a little easier at night and busy tasks at work seemed to be a lot less stressful, as I was more focused and relaxed when handling situations.
Now, I know these practices are not for everyone, but I am a strong believer in both. If you are new or unsure if these are right for you, I would suggest incorporating a little of each into your day, even if it's just for 5 or 10 minutes to see how it goes.
For meditation I use an app on my phone called Headspace. The app can be downloaded for free on your phone and you get 10 free guided mediations that are about 10 minutes each. The full package can be purchased for extra by either paying month to month or yearly-- https://www.headspace.com.
Strength Training
Strength training has been part of my training from the very beginning. I started out unsure as to how to stay motivated from just going to the gym with my own routines, which got old fast every time I attempted it.
Not a lot of ultra runners incorporate a lot of weight training into their training regime, which is understandable with the soreness and fatigue that comes with long 4 plus hour runs. I found mixing in even two days throughout the week helped keep everything in check. Plus, if I had an off day or a long stretch of consecutive days running I would throw in a weight routine instead.
Preventing Injury
Once I started getting into 75 mile weeks I would start to feel little pains here and there that would sometimes last a few weeks. Yoga, mixed with strength training and listening to how my body felt from week to week, I feel, has helped me stay relatively injury free.
Strength training has been part of my training from the very beginning. I started out unsure as to how to stay motivated from just going to the gym with my own routines, which got old fast every time I attempted it.
Not a lot of ultra runners incorporate a lot of weight training into their training regime, which is understandable with the soreness and fatigue that comes with long 4 plus hour runs. I found mixing in even two days throughout the week helped keep everything in check. Plus, if I had an off day or a long stretch of consecutive days running I would throw in a weight routine instead.
Preventing Injury
Once I started getting into 75 mile weeks I would start to feel little pains here and there that would sometimes last a few weeks. Yoga, mixed with strength training and listening to how my body felt from week to week, I feel, has helped me stay relatively injury free.
Weekly Miles
I'm not a huge mileage freak, but I do try to get the most out of every run or workout I do. I do not have a set schedule of miles from week to week. This has helped me approach my training and running in a more relaxed style.
Not having a set schedule has helped me adapt to life when it happens and not fret about missing a run or workout. Yoga and meditation has helped me relax mind mind when the anxiety of missing a workout creeps up and adapt in a more positive way.
On top of my weekly mileage I have also incorporated some lifestyle training which includes activities such as walking to work, standing at work or doing pull-ups every time I pass the door with my pull-up bar on it.
Nutrition
I'm not going to get into specifics on the benefits of all the different fueling and nutrition strategies people follow these days, but I will touch no what has worked for me.
For all of my long runs and 50-mile races I have found Tailwind is the best fit for me. I have only had one incident were I got sick from it, but I think it was caused by drinking too much on a full, watery stomach.
Recently I have found out during cooler temps I need less water and about 1 S-Cap every hour or so. I've incorporated using S-Caps (also known as salt tablets or caps) recently into my long runs and have had no issues which cramping thus far, which has been somewhat of an issue for me in the past.
Main Focus For My First 100-Miler
1) Have fun
2) Enjoy the journey
3) Adapt to whatever the situation is
4) If you fail, fail fearlessly. Learn from it, fix it and move on
5) Finish
My plan is similar to my first 50-mile run last year, finish. No matter what happens throughout the 100, 80, 60 or however many miles I run, the experience will be something I will never forget. The people I meet, the miles we share and the journey we are on may all be different, but for one moment we will all have one thing in common; our fearlessness to toe the starting line.
I'm not a huge mileage freak, but I do try to get the most out of every run or workout I do. I do not have a set schedule of miles from week to week. This has helped me approach my training and running in a more relaxed style.
Not having a set schedule has helped me adapt to life when it happens and not fret about missing a run or workout. Yoga and meditation has helped me relax mind mind when the anxiety of missing a workout creeps up and adapt in a more positive way.
On top of my weekly mileage I have also incorporated some lifestyle training which includes activities such as walking to work, standing at work or doing pull-ups every time I pass the door with my pull-up bar on it.
Nutrition
I'm not going to get into specifics on the benefits of all the different fueling and nutrition strategies people follow these days, but I will touch no what has worked for me.
For all of my long runs and 50-mile races I have found Tailwind is the best fit for me. I have only had one incident were I got sick from it, but I think it was caused by drinking too much on a full, watery stomach.
Recently I have found out during cooler temps I need less water and about 1 S-Cap every hour or so. I've incorporated using S-Caps (also known as salt tablets or caps) recently into my long runs and have had no issues which cramping thus far, which has been somewhat of an issue for me in the past.
Main Focus For My First 100-Miler
1) Have fun
2) Enjoy the journey
3) Adapt to whatever the situation is
4) If you fail, fail fearlessly. Learn from it, fix it and move on
5) Finish
My plan is similar to my first 50-mile run last year, finish. No matter what happens throughout the 100, 80, 60 or however many miles I run, the experience will be something I will never forget. The people I meet, the miles we share and the journey we are on may all be different, but for one moment we will all have one thing in common; our fearlessness to toe the starting line.
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