Well I am going to begin this blog by saying that ultrarunning is my passion. I wake up in the morning wanting to run for hours everyday. I look at websites & webpages of other ultrarunners reading their stories of the races they did. What do I love about it? It is being outdoors hiking/running along a trail (with my training partner Mr. IPOD) with not a care in the world. This last weekend I didn't finish the Moab 100 but I did get to run with lots of great people who share my passion. The time after any 100 miler is strange, I am very sore having to take hot baths & vitamin I (ibuprofen) just to walk right but looking at the Run100's website trying to find another race to make my body feel like this again. Well being this was my 5th 100 mile start I know the routine & a nice run/limp today (1-2 miles) on sore legs will help speed up the recovery process. The family & I are going to the mountains on friday to snowboard for 3 days & after that I should be able to start training again. Training for what you say? I have planned to run a 36 hour birthday run (yes I am 36 this year), & yes i'll run/hike for 36 hours (of course taking breaks along the way) to see how far I can go. Since my last two 100 mile starts have stopped around the dreaded 70 mile mark, I hopefully can go at least 100 miles during this adventure. 100 miles in 36 hours thats ONLY 21:60 miles for 100 straight. I have been looking at the Colorado Trail to do my b-day run. It is a great trail with everything to run from mountain, meadow, & rock trails. Plus along the way I can leave the trail at road crossings & head into town for some food so I don't have to carry it all. I am planning on starting at Waterton Canyon & hiking out 50 miles then backtracking. I will take on this adventure during the 1st week in May. My b-day is May 30 but May is such a busy time for me that is when I can fit it in. The adventure will also let me know how fast I can recover from a long run like the 70 miles I did at Moab. With a little over 5 weeks to my next 100 mile FUN run. Every time I do a long run/hike I learn something new about my body. The body is a wonderful piece of machinery which can adapt to anything we want it to. Sometimes I think back 5 years ago to when I weighed 265+ lbs, could I ever imagine what I could transform my body into at that time, when running a 5k was painful? Now I am thinking about only doing 12 hour or 62 mile runs. It just goes to show everyone that what ultrarunners do isn't amazing or an incredible feat it is just what some people think of as living & testing ones body to the fullest. I heard a quote one time that I try to live my life by- "That that doesn't not kill you, makes you stronger"! I do have regrets of not finishing the Moab 100 but it is just a training tool for the next adventure that I take on. My beliefs are just go do it, if it is a 5k a marathon or a walk around the neighborhood. Testing your body to the fullest is what my life is about & taking the good with the bad. Well enough blabbing from me I am going to go hobble around my neighborhood. Live on my friends,
Peace Stephen!
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Stephen,
ReplyDeleteMy crew heard you puking and I've been treated to several stories! When you are at a point like that, it's really tough to slog through. Not keeping anything down and pushing on means that you will start to compromise your main organ functions with dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance, and the last thing you want is to end up not finishing AND in the Moab urgent care, eh? You made a wise call.
Now, diagnosis. Why? What's going on with your fueling. I don't think your 100 days are over, I think that doing some 100K's and working your nutrition angle until you have perfection is what's next for you. It's a bump in the road, that's all.
Become a sponge for endurance nutrition advise, work at it as hard as you work your training, test it like you test your shoes, and soon enough you will be deciding what events you want to enter, instead of them deciding you.
You are strong.
Hey, I work with Georgia at Anderson.. I was working with her the night you were running your 100miles.. She kept updating me to how far you had made it and you weren't finished when I clocked out so the other evening when I saw her I asked what your time was and she told me you didn't finish.. In my opinion, anything over a full marathon is unbelievable.. I am running my 2nd half marathon next sunday and am working on training for my first full marathon which I will run in October.. from there I am going to begin gradually increasing my distance because being able to say you are an ultramarathon runner is just remarkable. Good luck with your 36 hour run on your birthday!
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