So, I signed up for an Ultramarathon: Preparation. Part III

My overall running strategy is simple: I want to be doing this when I’m 70! With that in mind, slow and steady have been key principles leading into this upcoming ultra. As we have mentioned before, the “16-hour lock in” is essentially a race with yourself, to see how many miles you can run in 16 hours. This training time I have focused on a few things differently than in my previous two road marathons.

A few basic principles whose importance cannot be underestimated: sleep, hydration, nutrition, and heart rate. Maximizing all of these has helped me feel better than ever. Poor sleep can wreck life, not just running, so I make solid nights sleep top priority. Hydration has meant carrying a full and obnoxiously oversized water bottle with me all the time. Nutrition has meant less refined carbohydrates and more food my grandmother would recognize. Heart rate training has meant going slower. It is far more efficient to run at lower heart rate for longer distances like the ones we aim to do with this ultra. With this shift, soreness has improved, injuries have been avoided, stamina has been gained, and distances have practically doubled. The human body is capable of adapting to extraordinary stresses, both good and bad. Learning how to harness that potential in these very small, deliberate ways, is amazing. It reminds me that we are all capable of much more than we think.