Yesterday, I gave a preview of the Across the Years 48-Hour Run. In this post, I begin outlining my
race plan. My plan has several
parts. Some parts are exactly the same
as last year. Other parts reflect an attempt
to address problems.
Goals
The plan starts with having goals. Since you can run whatever distance you want
(within reason), it’s important to have a wide range of goals. Here are my goals for this year. Some of these are targets for my final result. Others are intermediate goals that I can look forward to reaching along the way. Since only completed laps count, I’m associating each goal with the number of laps I need to complete to reach it.
(within reason), it’s important to have a wide range of goals. Here are my goals for this year. Some of these are targets for my final result. Others are intermediate goals that I can look forward to reaching along the way. Since only completed laps count, I’m associating each goal with the number of laps I need to complete to reach it.
When I finish 96 laps, I’ll be past the 100 mile mark. If I stopped there, I’d be pretty
disappointed, but 100 miles is a lot better than 99. After 100 miles, if nothing else, I’ll know
I’ve earned another buckle like this one.
When I finish 119 laps, I’ll exceed my mileage PR of 124.81
miles. Nothing short of that will seem
like an accomplishment. Before this I
won’t need many intermediate goals. I’ll
still be in familiar territory, so I’ll execute the other parts of my plan.
Lap 124 will put me over 130 miles. At this point, every lap is a new PR, but
multiples of 10 miles will all be important intermediate milestones.
My 125th lap will also be a milestone. At this point I’ll have run the equivalent of
five marathons back-to-back. I’ve run
the equivalent of four back-to-back marathons on five separate occasions, but
I’ve never done five. Again, this isn’t
an end goal. It’s just something to look
forward to along the way. Having
intermediate goals – even seemingly trivial ones – can help me break the second
half of the race into manageable pieces.
After 129 laps, I will have exceeded 135 miles. That’s the distance of the Badwater race from
Death Valley to Mt. Whitney. That’s the
longest fixed-distance race that most people have heard of. It would be nice to be able to say I’ve run
that distance, even if it wasn’t through the heat of Death Valley.
Lap 134 will bring me to two notable milestones. I’ll reach 140 miles, but in the same lap,
I’ll also reach 140.6. That’s the
combined distance of the swimming, biking and running legs of an ironman
triathlon. If I get this far, I could
buy one of those 140.6 stickers and say, “I’ve run that far.”
When I finish 138 laps, I’ll have exceeded 144 miles. A casual walking pace is three mile per hour. If you walked continuously at that pace for
48 hours, you would walk 144 miles. It’s
only after this lap that I can feel good about my average pace over the entire
48 hours.
I need 143 laps to reach 150 miles. As round numbers go, this is a big one. By this point in the race, I’ll need to
celebrate milestones like this one.
My 148th lap brings me to another round number. I’ll reach 250K in this lap.
The next round number is 160 miles. I’ll reach that in my 153rd lap.
My ultimate goal is 200 miles, so a few of my intermediate
milestones are based on counting down the remaining miles to get to 200. Lap 157 takes me to 164, which is 36 miles to
go. If I can get there in 36 hours, I’ll
only need to average three miles per hour for the last 12 hours. That would be a big confidence boost. If I get there later, this milestone won’t
have as much significance.
I need 162 laps to reach 170 miles. If I’m not on pace to get to 200, round
numbers like this one will give me something else to shoot for.
When I finish 166 laps, I’ll have less than 26.2 miles to go
to reach 200. If 200 is still an
attainable goal, it’s possible that having “only a marathon” to go will make
the remaining mileage seem more manageable.
Of course, it also possible that anything beyond one lap will seem overwhelming
at this point.
The next big round number is 180 miles. I’ll need 172 laps to get there.
Short of 200 miles, the biggest round number is 300K. I’ll need 178 laps to reach this goal. While my most aggressive goal is 200 miles,
I’d be happy to say I ran 300K.
The last big round number before 200 is 190 miles. I’ll hit that on my 181st lap. After that, every lap will be equally
important as I start counting down the last 10 laps to get to 200 miles.
My ultimate goal, of course, is to reach 200 miles. That’ll take 191 laps. It’s an ambitious goal, and I’m not sure how
realistic it is. Everything has to go
right. Still, I have to go for it. If I get there, I’ll earn a buckle like this
one.
If I get to 200 miles with enough time to do more laps, I’ll
tack on whatever distance I can. Beyond
this point, each additional lap is icing on the cake. There aren’t any numbers that have special
significance – at least, none that are realistic.
I looked up the American record and World record for my age
group. They’re WAY beyond 200. To be eligible to set a record, you have to
notify the race officials before the race that you’re aiming for it. A record setting performance won’t be
recognized by USATF unless the race director can certify that you were never
paced during the race. In general,
runners are allowed to be accompanied by friends on some of their laps. It’s only an issue if you’re trying to set a
record. If the American record was 205,
210 or even 215, I might indicate I’m going for it. It’s about 233. That’s not realistic.
If I get to 200 miles, or if I’m really close, I may be in
contention for first place. Last year,
the winner ran 201.562 miles, and there was only one other runner who ran at
least 200. If I reach 200, I won’t have
much company. Even if I don’t, I can
think about my overall place. Last year,
despite stopping with only 121.777
miles, I still finished in the top 10 men.
Pacing
Pacing is important.
If you don’t have a realistic pacing plan, you can run what feels like
an easy pace, and still blow up. Knowing
that my top end mileage goal is 200, I can work backwards from there. If I don’t have a plan for getting to 200, it
won’t happen.
To run 200 miles, I need to run an average pace of 14:24 per
mile. Of course, that’s just an
average. Over time, my legs will
gradually get sore and stiff. As this
happens, my stride will become less efficient.
I can’t realistically plan on running the same pace throughout the race,
because I would need to expend more and more energy to sustain the same
pace. Instead of running at a consistent
pace, I need to think in terms of maintaining a consistent effort. That means I need to start the race a little
bit faster.
I also need to account for “down time.” There are several types of down time. Stopping at the aid station to drink probably
only costs me 5-10 seconds. Stopping at
the aid station to get something to eat might take 30 seconds. A bathroom stop usually takes about a
minute. These types of stops will be
spread out evenly throughout the race.
Longer stops, like going to my tent to change clothes or shoes won’t
begin until the first evening. I expect
these stops to get longer and more frequent as the race progresses. This is another reason I should plan on
gradually slowing down. Finally, while
I’d like to get through the whole race without stopping to sleep, this might
not be possible. My plan has to account
for this possibility.
I’m breaking the race into four 12-hour blocks. I have different pacing goals for each one. I’ll use the same variable length walking breaks that have served me well in 24-hour
races.
I’d like to cover 60 miles in the first 12 hours. That’s an average pace of 12 minutes per
mile. I’m going to start the race with
target pace of 12 minutes per lap. Since
the laps are a bit longer than a mile, that works out to about 11:26 per
mile. Whenever I’ve done a 24-hour race,
I’ve started faster than this. If this
pace doesn’t feel easy, I’m in trouble. If
I do 12 minute laps for at least six hours, I can afford to cut back to 13
minute laps for the next six and still reach 60 miles in 12 hours. Last year, I cut back my target pace the
first time I made a trip to my tent to add an extra layer of clothing.
The next 12 hours include the first night. The temperature will drop, and I’ll probably
need additional stops to put on warmer layers.
I won’t need any time to sleep.
At this point in the race, I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I tried. I know that from past experience. To absorb the additional downtime, I’ll need
to adjust my pace. My goal is to cover
55 miles during this period. To do that,
I need to average 13:05 per mile. That’s
13:45 per lap. One way to do that would
be three additional hours at 13 minutes per lap and then nine hours at 14
minutes per lap. This all assumes that I
can still do arithmetic in my head. Conveniently, the time to switch would be
midnight. I’ll pay attention to where I
am at midnight, so I know how far I ran each day. I’m somewhat obsessive about recording my
daily mileage.
Between 24 and 36 hours, I’ll be fighting levels of physical
and mental fatigue I’ve never experienced.
By now, my legs will be stiff and sore, and I’ll probably have painful
blisters. My goal is to run 50 miles in
this 12-hour block. To do that, I need
to average 14:24 per mile. My target
time for each lap will be 15 minutes.
That’s assuming I still have the mental discipline to stick to a pacing
plan. That’s four laps per hour, so at
least the arithmetic is easy. There will
probably be a point in the race where I just keep moving at any pace I
can. I’m hoping to hold out as long as
possible before doing that. Once I lose
my discipline, I’ll never get it back. I
know that from experience too.
My pacing plan for the first 36 hours is fairly
aggressive. If I can stick to the plan,
I’ll have 165 miles after 36 hours, so I’ll only need 35 more miles in the last
12 hours. There are two reasons why I
want to put myself in this position.
First, if I reach a point where I only need to average three miles per
hour the rest of the way, it’ll be a huge psychological lift. Second, if I can continue to run faster than three
miles per hour, I may be able to buy time for a short nap. Getting to 200 miles would be more manageable
if I knew I could keep moving for the entire 48 hours. I don’t know if I can go that long without
sleep, so it would be nice if I could build time into my schedule for a brief
cat nap. Three miles per hour equates to
21 minutes per lap. From this point on,
every lap that’s faster than 21 minutes puts time into the bank for a nap.
Is this a reasonable pacing plan or am I trying to run too
fast for the first 36 hours? Ask me in
January.
Sleep is the big wildcard. If I can go all night without sleep, it greatly enhances my chances of getting to 200 miles. If I need to sleep, I'll have to get by with a short nap. If I'm off the course for too long, it won't help to be well-rested. I won't be able to make up the time. If I sleep, I need to do so without losing too much time.
Sleep
I don’t plan to sleep, but I need a plan in case I do
sleep. That may sound like a
contradiction, but it’s not. Basically,
I’m going to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. If I need to sleep, I want to be ready.
Staying awake the first night is easy. I won’t even think about it. During the second day, I’ll be tired, but I
probably won’t be sleepy as long as the sun is out. When the sun goes down, I expect it to get
much more difficult. I won’t sleep unless
I have to. I also won’t try to sleep
until I’m 100 percent sure I can fall asleep quickly. Instead of asking myself, “Can I fall
asleep?” I’ll ask myself, “Can I possibly stay awake for one more lap?”
As long as the answer is “Yes,” I’ll run one more lap. When the answer is “No,” when I can’t keep my
eyes open, when I’m in danger of falling asleep while running (this really
happens to people) … that’s when I’ll take a nap.
Note: Photo credit for the 200 mile buckle goes to
Karen Vollan, who earned this buckle last year in the 6-day race.
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