What I Learned Running Ultra Marathons
Some of the lessons surprised me.
About five years ago, I dove into the ultra running world. For about five years before that, I got the idea that I wanted to run an ultra marathon after reading Dean Karnazes book Ultramarathon Man. I’m not sure why ultra running appealed to me. I think it was the test of endurance and fortitude of the mind. Running an ultra marathon certainly takes an extraordinary amount of willpower. No sane person would run for 50 kilometers or more if they didn’t get anything out of it.
The other day, I was in my run club and we had a newcomer in the club. We started chatting. Even though I hate talking while I run, I wanted to be nice and welcome him to the group. He asked me some questions about my running history and I told him that I’ve run a few ultra marathons. As we got deeper into conversation, I realized how much strategy is involved in running an ultra marathon. I never thought twice about my strategies until I talked it over with someone. Then it prompted me to think about some other things I’ve learned running ultra marathons.
Know The Race You Are Running
In life, we have times where we need to sprint and other time were we need to pace ourselves so we don’t burn out. This is the same in running. The pace you’ll run a 5K will be vastly different than what you run a 50K in.
Small goals should be a sprint. Knock them out as soon as possible and with tenacity. Big goals, need to be cared for and assured that you don’t work through them too fast. When you work too fast through a big goal, you’ll increase the likelihood of missing crucial steps.
This is akin to forgetting to eat during a race, drink enough water, running too fast or properly caring for yourself at the aid stations. All of these can derail your ultimate goal.
Learn From Failure
When I failed to run a 100 mile ultra marathon, I learned a lot. If I had a do over, I would have started the race wearing less gear and spread my gear throughout my drop bags. I also would not have spent as much time at the aid stations as I lost an hour over the course of 10 aid stations.
These were all good lessons to learn. It’ll make sure that I don’t make the same mistake next time. These are also lessons that I could not have learned unless I did the race. There’s only so much you can learn by reading articles online but the lessons you learn in real life stick with you. This was a prompt to me to make sure that I keep trying and learn from all my failures.
Think About How Your Actions Impact Others
When I was running my 100 mile ultra, I didn’t think enough about putting myself into the shoes of my fiancé. I never planned for her to drive around at night in a place that was poorly lit. She did it for me but I never want to put her through something like that again.
When you have other people involved with your goals, think about the worst case scenarios of what they might have to go through. Ask yourself if they’re up for the challenge and also let them know what those challenges may be. It’s not fair to them if they are unaware of the potential risks they are putting themselves through.
A Bad Strategy Is Better Than None
I had a bad strategy for my race but it was better than having no strategy. Similar to getting words on a page and working with them versus having no words on the page, having a bad strategy gives you something to work off of. You can always adjust and change things.
It’s better than starting a new strategy from scratch.
Never Give Up
Even though I ended up quitting in my race, I didn’t quit wanting to do another race. Sometimes it’s not your day and you’ll get back out there and try again. I’m happy to announce that I am going to do another 100 mile ultra in April of 2025.
Just because you failed, doesn’t make you a failure. The only failure is when you stop trying. I know that if I gave up on trying to run a 100 mile ultra, I would ultimately regret it for the rest of my life.
What goals do you have that you might regret not chasing? What are you waiting for?