On Sunday I sat down and wrote a long, thoughtful article about a recent fitness decision I have made. WordPress promptly crashed and lost everything I wrote. With frustration still simmering in my heart I will make this a short post about a long run. Basically, I have decided to start training for an ultramarathon.
For those who don’t know, an ultramarathon is any race longer than the standard 26.2 mile (42 km) marathon distance. Ultras come in all shapes and sizes from the slightly extended marathon that is a 50K to the nearly unfathomable 136 mile (217 km) Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley at the height of summer. The purpose of this new personal quest is to challenge what I think of as my personal limits. I want to push myself beyond the brink to find out what I can do when I break down the barriers that exist only in my mind.
The race I have my eye on is the Whistler 50, a 50 mile (80 km) run through the trails around Whistler Village here in BC. The route is appealing in that it is mercifully flat and made up of 4 laps of the 20K loop around the small mountain town. I really don’t know how I will fair, but that is what makes me want to try it. If you’re not pushing yourself, you’re not getting better.
I have found a training plan that will get me running 5 days per week with back to back long runs on the weekend. The program assumes that the person doing it has already run a marathon or two (I haven’t) and is able to run 15 miles (24K) as their long run on any given week. To make sure I was up to that level I went out on Saturday morning and knocked out 25K on trails at a lake near my house. It went well. Surprisingly well. I actually took 24 minutes off the time it took me to run a half marathon distance last time I tried. Since then I have been feeling good and obsessively reading up on ultramarathon running and watching videos from the best in the business.
In my first post, I promised this blog would cover my outside-the-box fitness obsessions. I believe this qualifies. And with that, join me as I embark on a quest that will undoubtedly result in intense physical pain and severe mental anguish. To keep me motivated I am calling it Project Superman.
Saturday run:
Raining and 12 degrees C at 6 am. Perfect conditions for a self-evaluation run.
25K later. Hungry and soaked, but feeling good.
Check out the stats from my big run here.
Cheers,
Steve
Yelling at the Moon 