{"id":230816,"date":"2025-05-08T13:38:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T13:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/adventure\/a-regular-persons-guide-to-surviving-an-ultramarathon-semi-rad-com\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T13:38:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T13:38:56","slug":"a-regular-persons-guide-to-surviving-an-ultramarathon-semi-rad-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=230816","title":{"rendered":"A Regular Person\u2019s Guide To Surviving An Ultramarathon \u2013 Semi-Rad.com"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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\"Death<\/p>\n

By the time I toed the starting line of my last trail race,<\/strong> I should have run about 500 miles over the course of the past 16 weeks\u2014if I were following one of several online training plans created by respected running coaches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I had run about 320 miles. At dinner the previous evening, my sister-in-law had asked if I felt \u201cready\u201d for the race, and I laughed, then sighed. I mean, kind of?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t really \u201ctoeing the starting line\u201d\u2014I had tried my best to position myself as close to the exact middle of the pack of runners anxiously waiting in the darkness to run through the starting arch, headlamps bobbing. A few seconds before, my friend Majell had said, \u201cLet\u2019s have a day, \u201c before he hustled to the front of the pack to start. That, to me, sounded like a reasonable goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Majell, who would place second in the race, was thinking about a much different type of day. My goals were simple: Don\u2019t DNF, and \u2026 actually, just the one goal, don\u2019t DNF. Maybe also don\u2019t get injured.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course we all want to do our best on the day of a race\u2014that\u2019s what we had in mind when we signed up, right? Ideal Me would have an Ideal Race, preferably with the Ideal Amount of Sleep the night before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds simple. But that would also entail an Ideal Training Period before the race, and I don\u2019t know if that ever happens for anyone, even professional athletes, and certainly not for me, a dad of a toddler who has brought at least 400 different viruses into our home during the 17 months he has attended day care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If ultramarathon runners exist on a sort of spectrum, with one side being \u201cWinning is everything\u201d on one side and \u201cJust happy to be out here\u201d on the other end, I\u2019m pretty near one end of it these days:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"spectrum<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a coach, or a doctor, or an athletic trainer, or even a fast runner. But I did survive <\/span>that last 50K trail race<\/a><\/strong>, and <\/span>a 50K trail race last September<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>another 50K trail race<\/a><\/strong> and <\/span>a 100K trail race<\/a><\/strong> in 2023, all since our little guy was born (and three of those since he started going to day care). I thought I might share a few things that have worked for me (and by \u201cworked,\u201d I mean that they got me across the finish line).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"disclaimer:<\/p>\n


A FEW CAVEATS:\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

None of these races was my first ultramarathon
<\/b>These past four races were my 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th ultramarathon races. I\u2019d run 4 50Ks, 3 50-mile races, 2 100K races, 3 100-mile races, as well as a bunch of self-supported ultra-length trail runs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I live near some very accessible steep terrain
<\/b>I don\u2019t have a mountain literally in my backyard, but two miles from my front door, I can chug up about 2,000 vertical feet on a trail, which is very helpful in training for steep ultramarathons<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t get injured very seriously very often
<\/b>Luck? Not running very fast? Excessive coffee consumption somehow helps? No idea<\/span><\/p>\n

So then:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SOME THINGS THAT HAVE WORKED FOR ME DURING TRAINING:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I focus on weekly mileage as opposed to a specific day-by-day program
<\/b>Again, I am not a coach or a professional, but I am BUSY (just like you). Things are never the same in my life week-to-week, and sticking to a specific running program equals more stress for me. So instead of looking at a schedule and figuring out when and where I\u2019m going to do the assigned\/recommended workouts, I have a weekly number in mind\u2014usually 30 miles per week, with (ideally) 5,000 feet of elevation gain. If the week kind of goes to hell, I can make up a little bit of it with longer runs on the weekend, or if I know it\u2019s going to be a tough week to schedule runs, I\u2019ll try to run Jay to day care with our Chariot\/jogging stroller a couple times (it\u2019s about 3 miles round-trip). Do I hit that 30-mile goal every week? I don\u2019t. I get close a lot, and I don\u2019t know if my body knows the difference between a 27.5-mile week and a 30-mile week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLoose change adds up\u201d
<\/b>This is one of my favorite adages from <\/span>my pal Jon Acuff\u2019s books<\/a><\/strong>, and it\u2019s very complementary to my emphasis on a weekly goal over a daily schedule. Got time for an extra half-mile today? Might as well\u2014it all goes in the bank of weekly mileage. This is also a justification for <\/span>my \u201cparking lot laps\u201d habit<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: If I\u2019m getting close to home or the trailhead and my watch says I\u2019m at 5.8 miles or 6.7 miles, I\u2019ll run a few more blocks and end on a nice round number like 6.0 miles or 7.0 miles, and \u201cbank\u201d that extra .2 or .3 miles. (I feel compelled to once again state that I am not a coach, and this practice is not informed by any scientific data or study\u2014it\u2019s just one weird person running.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Other exercise counts too
<\/b>Because the races I sign up for tend to be steep, with lots of climbing and descending, I know I\u2019ll be doing a chunk of walking during the race. So I try to make myself walk or bike whenever I can. I really don\u2019t enjoy parking cars, or driving cars, and we live pretty close to a really nice bike path that I can ride to get to a lot of places, including Jay\u2019s day care, so it\u2019s kind of an easy sell, even when the weather isn\u2019t that great. I am not Olympic medalist Nils van der Poel, who famously trained for speed skating by <\/span>doing non-speed skating training for all but the final three weeks before his competitions<\/a><\/strong>, but I think any kind of exercise\/ambulation is helpful, even if it\u2019s riding a 50-pound cargo bike with a 35-pound kid on the back on flat bike trails.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I prioritize my long runs
<\/b>If my week gets really crazy (or I get sick for a few days), I try to not sweat missing a few days of running. And I try to still at least do my \u201clong run\u201d that week\/weekend if I can, or at least go as long as reasonably possible. One coach I\u2019ve recently talked to says this is definitely not something you should do every week (I\u2019m paraphrasing), but it\u2019s OK every once in a while. My thinking is that if I have a 50 km race coming up in a few weeks, I want my body to know\/remember what it\u2019s like to be on a trail for ~20 miles, even if it\u2019s a slow slog and I hike a lot of it because I\u2019m recovering from a cold. Again, it\u2019s not science, but when the race gets hard\/long in the final miles, I like to think that I have a little bit of confidence I can finish because it\u2019s \u201conly a few miles more\u201d than that training run I did a few weeks ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Figure out digestion before the race (WELL before the race)
<\/b>This is perhaps better known as \u201cgut training,\u201d and the folks at <\/span>Precision Fuel & Hydration explain it way better than I could<\/a><\/strong>, but essentially I\u2019d say it\u2019s this: Figure out how to ingest the calories you\u2019ll need on your big (race) day, and make sure the foods\/drinks you use don\u2019t mess up your stomach so you can\u2019t finish the race. A 2014 study by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that when runners fail to finish ultramarathon races, 16.5 percent of the time it\u2019s because of digestive issues (tied for second place with \u201cinjury during the race\u201d\u2014the No. 1 reason was \u201cinability to make cutoff times).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Pie<\/p>\n

My long runs approximate the same ratio of elevation gain to mileage the race will have
<\/b>This is also unsupported by any research, but if I\u2019m running a 50K\/31-mile race that has 10,000 feet of elevation gain (like <\/span>The Rut<\/a><\/strong>), when I do a long run of 15ish miles, I\u2019ll plan it so it has roughly 5,000 feet of elevation gain. And when I plan my 20-mile long run, I\u2019ll try to make it so I cover 6,500ish feet of climbing. And so on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I use trekking poles
<\/b>Personal preference, but I\u2019ll take all the help I can get, especially on steep climbs (and occasionally on steep descents). I\u2019ve been using the same Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z poles since 2017 (<\/span>an earlier version of these<\/a><\/strong>), and I think they have a few thousand miles on them by now. I don\u2019t use them every time I run steep trails, but I definitely use them for my long runs leading up to races, and during races (if memory serves, these have survived three 100-mile races, two Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim runs, four 50K races, and one 100K race, as well as a bunch of big days in the mountains from 2017 until now). I have still not fallen in love with any sort of device to carry my poles when I\u2019m not using them, so I mostly just use them or carry them in my hands, uncollapsed, but occasionally I\u2019ll put them in my vest or in the back of an Ultimate Direction Utility Belt, which works OK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Chart:<\/p>\n

I try to prioritize gratitude
<\/b>This is not really a training technique, but I think it\u2019s easy for runners to turn racing and training into something that feels like work, or a job, or at least something we put pressure on ourselves to do well. Which, I don\u2019t know about you, but that\u2019s not fun. I take photos during races, and during my training runs. I invite friends on my training runs and don\u2019t worry about how fast we\u2019re going, and I don\u2019t refer to my runs as \u201cworkouts\u201d (even though sometimes I try pretty hard while I\u2019m running). Every time I make it to the forest on top of Mt. Sentinel, I try to remember that I\u2019m just happy to be able to get up there and smell the ponderosa pines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

THINGS THAT HAVE WORKED FOR ME ON RACE DAY:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/p>\n


I prioritize survival
<\/b>Sure, I\u2019d like to go as fast as I can, and I try hard when I\u2019m in a race, but I\u2019m not a professional athlete\u2014I don\u2019t get paid a bonus if I finish in a podium spot, or in the top 10. My metric is getting to the finish line, especially if I\u2019ve had to travel to get to a race, because if I DNF that race I traveled across the country or around the world to run, I will definitely feel like I have to come back and finish it someday. (This is maybe something I should talk to a therapist about?) I think about the advice I got from Vivian, a veteran ultrarunner, before my first 100-mile race, which I paraphrase as \u201cIf you feel bad, eat something. If you feel good, slow down.\u201d I think ultramarathons are as much about self-care as they are about running (if not more), and if you can take care of yourself out there (and you\u2019ve trained enough), there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll finish the race. I\u2019m not out there like \u201cDeath Before DNF,\u201d but maybe \u201cSome Fairly Intense Physical Discomfort And\/Or Psychological Adversity Before DNF.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Death<\/p>\n

I wake up plenty early on race day
<\/b>Sure, sleep is important, but you know what\u2019s more important? Having the time to go No. 2 before the race. I give myself plenty of time to drink a liter of water, eat breakfast, and drink a big cup of coffee, which is everything I can do to (hopefully) ensure that I won\u2019t be waiting in line outside a port-a-potty five minutes before the race starts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I always eat the same breakfast
<\/b>If I\u2019m traveling for a race, I pack the same overnight oats ingredients in a little plastic container, and add 1 cup of soy milk to it the night before:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n