Michael: One and Done?

Alarms all around
Yet nothing is alarming
Enough to wake me.

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Yesterday I ran my first 100k and perhaps my last.

Not that it was a miserable experience, in fact I enjoyed it more than I did last month’s 50 miler. It’s just that I had planned on going back to shorter events because I feel it fits better with the training I do and enjoy, promotes all that is essential for good health, and for variety’s sake.

But I did learn a lot from yesterdays outing that I would definitely apply if I ever go long again.

One is what a difference an experienced crew member makes. Jim, a friend from work, really was on top of things; from saving me steps by checking me in and out during my 8 laps of the race, to taking care of all my needs, and most importantly by having such a positive spirit. It made me want to keep going just not to let his and my wife’s sacrifices go to waste.

The little technical niggles that are now causing me grief, like changing my shoes on the last lap when it wasn’t necessary, I can live with. After all, it was part of the plan and changing at the 50k mark worked well, so I won’t fault myself for that, but I wouldn’t do it again.

Mentally, I had a lapse during lap 6, but recovered to have a good lap 7, but it took me way too long to dig out of my final lap 8 hole. So I figure I’m getting tougher and better at the mental game of ultras but still have some work to do.

Given my training and performance, I also believe that there’s just way too much emphasis placed on long runs and back to back long training days than is necessary to succeed in ultras. Predominantly, I still feel the benefits of that type of training involves building confidence in your hydration/nutrition plans and once those are comfortable, those super long runs and grind it out weekends just unnecessarily beat you up.

My third place finish and decent time has me convinced that older athletes can remain competitive in ultras given so much of racing at longer distances is a head game, but just because of that it doesn’t mean I’m going to calendar any of those types of events in the near future. Now it’s time to mix it up and work on the mechanics of running by getting back into some shorter races that can be done between breakfast and lunch and not from before sunrise to sunset.