January 2nd will mark my 10 year anniversary of my first
ultra: the Tsali Frosty Foot Fest 50k. I’ve run a few miles and
races since then (not much compared to some), but I do feel I have
learned some lessons during that time, many of which would have
surprised me back in 2010. Of course this is only based on my
individual experience, but I hope it is helpful to newcomers and
resonates with veterans of the sport!
10. Mornings are
where it’s at.
For
those of us with a job and a family (most of us), the early mornings
are the most protected time for getting runs in. Sometimes this means
runs have to happen at 4 AM. But aside from when I’m on call, I’ve
never had anything external to myself keep me from running in the wee
hours. Later in the day, work inevitably goes longer than expected
and any time spent running is time away from family. Night time runs
either don’t happen or lead to trouble falling asleep when I try to
go to bed soon afterwards. To ensure the run happens, it’s best to
get up and go.
9. When in
doubt, go uphill.
I’ve
had a vast variety of
running injuries during the
past 10 years. A common, but not universal, theme is that pain
improves or resolves when I am running uphill. Many a run has been
salvaged by turning to the treadmill and bumping
up the incline (slowing down the pace to keep the effort level
consistent) until the pain goes away. Similarly, injuries tend to
crop up when I am trying to do lots of fast running on flat or even
downhill surfaces. Keeping the higher intensity mostly on an uphill
lets me get the training stress without setting off injuries.
8. Scenery and
aid station fare are totally legit criteria to base race selection
on.
I
have definitely selected races in the past based on photos of
mountains and/or lists of tasty food available. A
course designed to highlight natural beauty and aid stations that are
going above and beyond are signs that the race organization is taking
extra effort to take care of its runners. I
have “forever’ memories of flowing singletrack trails with 360
degree mountain
views at IMTUF and warm lemon risotto pancakes in the snow at sunrise
at Blood Rock. Food and views can carry you through when other things
aren’t going well.
7. 10 minute
miles are not slow.
Though
I should know better, it
still makes me cringe a little bit to admit that my true easy pace on
hilly roads is in the 10:30 min/mile range. High school cross country
training runs were never truly easy and when I was marathon training,
I used the “Run less, Run
faster,” plan which had ALL of your running at a faster pace.
Running slower than a 10 minute mile was a sign that something was
wrong, like I had just given blood or was ill. Early
in my ultrarunning days, my
running friends were often faster than me and I worked hard to keep
up with them, then tried to
keep my pace similar to what they run on other days as well. Now, I
often settle in to a pace above the dreaded double digit mark any
time I am running easy, which is most of the time. I may be a little
slower than in the past, but I think more than that, I’m smarter.
Easy miles are easier to maintain and build on without injury.
There’s nothing magical
about the 10 min/mile pace separating “runners” from “joggers,”
and you can be a very serious runner while running very slowly.
6. Having a
crew/pacers is more about creating memories than finishing the race.
Going
in to my first 100 mile race, I wrote 2 typed single spaced pages of
instructions and tips to my crew. I
thought they were invaluable to my success. In reality, they were
quite helpful, but they were only necessary because I had made up my
mind that they were. Since then, I have done races up to 100 miles
uncrewed which have been no more difficult to complete than that
first very well supported attempt. Other races have allowed Nathan to
join me at the halfway point to run the second half with me. He
provides encouragement and makes
aid stations more efficient, but really the point is for us to share
the experience together, a rare period of hours together without
interruption.
5. Infertility,
pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding are big deals.
Every
year or two, a story comes out about a woman breastfeeding at aid
stations on her way to a spectacular performance at an ultra. This
led me to believe that this was a requirement to being a “badass”
and that women who couldn’t do this simply weren’t as tough. But
there are so many factors that
need to be “going well” other
than raw toughness for this
to work. Motherhood has
influenced my running more than anything else over the past 10 years:
-
Infertility led to psychological distress about the entirely
unscientific possibility that skipping a run could increase changes
of getting pregnant. It also prevented any long-term running related
planning.
-
Aside from pregnancy making
running physically more challenging, there are similar psychological
fears about hurting your baby while running, which were reinforced
when I spent the night in a hospital after a hard fall during a trail
run at 31 weeks.
-Most
women have stories of some sort of complication with delivery. My OB
didn’t clear me to run until 8 weeks after delivery and I didn’t
feel physically ready any sooner than this.
-Before
6 months age, breastfed babies get all of their calories from their
mother. So if you are running and breastfeeding, the number of
calories you need to take in is even more than regular running AND
you have to time arrival at aid stations with when your baby is
hungry. Miscalculating this led me to DNF a 27K I was trying to
breastfeed through when Fuller was 4 months old. The “WOW”
stories of breastfeeding ultrarunners mostly involve older infants,
and I don’t think it is a coincidence that these infants are less
strictly dependent on their mothers AND their mothers have had more
time to recover from delivery. All of these periods of young
motherhood have very direct impacts on running and none of that makes
mother runners any less tough.
4. Training
matters…
There
have been a few races (generally before all of the events in the
point above) that I have been well prepared for headed in to them,
and it has paid of. At the end of 2010, I ran the North Face 50 Mile
in Atlanta, Georgia and was able to work up the pack to ultimately
share a podium with Nikki Kimball while she was still in her prime.
Okay, she was over 2.5 hours ahead of me, but this was still an
incredible achievement for me that wouldn’t have been possible if I
had not been physically prepared. In contrast, I tried to run the
Iron Mountain 50 this past summer after minimal running for 3-4
months leading up to it because of injury, and while my early DNF was
multifactorial, lack of fitness was probably the biggest reason I
dropped.
3. ...but
training only influences enjoyment so much.
In
spite of the experiences above, the finish I take the most pride in
to date is my finish at IMTUF. I was coming in to the race on a
laughable 25-30 miles per
week average for the last
few months, mostly organized in an ill-advised alternating 10 miles
per week with 40 miles per week fashion. I wasn’t sure if I could
finish, and reaching the finish with 16 minutes to spare before the
final cut-off took a new
level of grit. I doubt
better fitness would have made the mountains any more spectacular
than they already were. Training is rarely perfect, and even if goals
need to be adjusted, going ahead with races with different
expectations is almost always worth it.
2. Undertraining
is not a character flaw.
Do
you ever feel guilty for not meeting your training goals? This is a
universal experience of being a serious runner, right? But there are
usually good reasons for failing to fulfill your plans: work demands,
family obligations, illness, injury. All of these SHOULD
take priority over running and that’s okay! Even
if the reason for missing runs isn’t so clearly justifiable, that’s
still okay, because…
1. I do this for
myself.
I
hear some ultrarunners claiming that their motivation for running is
selfless, for example to inspire their children. They also speak of
providing crew the “privilege” of helping them in their races. I
don’t doubt they genuinely believe this, but I can’t find
ultrarunning to be anything other than a selfish pursuit. I take time
from my family to run for my own mental and physical well-being.
Especially as a woman, there is some societal pressure that all your
actions should be devoted to others’ welfare. But
there is nothing inherently “bad” about doing something for
yourself, even if it is something that takes a tremendous amount of
commitment. We run because we love running, not because we love
others. It’s okay to do
both!
Do
you agree? What are the major lessons you have learned from
ultrarunning?
-Jordan
