Summertime Sadness - 14 weeks until the hundo
I shouldn’t have planned to run a 100 miles in September because I’m now realizing that running is seriously interfering with my summer vibes. I knew that committing to a goal this large was going to definitely eat into a lot of my time, but now that it’s happening, I’m being a bit grumpy about it. Succeeding in any goal will take sacrifice. I knew and understood that this would happen but I originally thought the sacrifice would be more physical… sore body, knee pain, general pushing the limits, being consistently sweaty and hungry, that kind of thing. Instead, it appears that the sacrifice that I personally feel the most is time commitment.
According to my Strava, over the past month I have ran just under 29 hours total. If you break that down, it’s just under an hour a day on average. This is a curious way to look at this chunk of time. I’m consistently devoting an hour every day to running. Yikes. This of course does not include drive time or the extra showers I persistently end up taking.
I guess what I’m getting at is I’ve been really struggling to plan and cram in my runs during the week while balancing work and fun. I was talking to a friend who has attempted a 100 a few years ago and she said something like, “you can’t have it all. Either training, work, or friends and family, are going to suffer at some point.” I tried to argue that I was instead sacrificing sleep so that I could keep the other three from being harmed and she countered that it would affect my training. Shoot. She’s right.
I have always struggled to wake up early. It’s a huge reason why I purposely chose to work the evening shift at work. I have been trying to challenge myself to wake up way earlier than normal to get my running in and I have been somewhat successful. It definitely makes me feel accomplished and more productive through the rest of the day so I understand why there are so many people who go to the gym or do early morning jogs. But when I oversleep, I end up missing the entire training day and it sends me into a bit of a spiral.
I also am personally realizing that this time commitment is affecting what little free time I have with my wife. And this might be the biggest downside to this endeavor. She is fully on board with my goal and is so proud of what I’m doing but I know it’s tough when I’m out running in the woods for half the day instead of us enjoying the Asheville summertime together.
I realize this post has turned into a bit of a bummer. I still am very much committed to accomplishing my goal but I am just doing some reflecting on how much time it is taking. Perhaps I’m preemptively trying to warn my future self to remember this moment when I get crazy and try to sign up for another 100. I’m in awe of others who have more time sucking jobs, or kids, or other obligations, and are still able to train for a race of this magnitude. Maybe I just need to suck it up a little and quit my bitchin’!
I’m currently on week 15 out of my 28 week plan, just passed the halfway mark! I’ve been pretty close to hitting most of my weekly callouts and I have enjoyed some great new trail views. The summer heat is definitely kicking in down here so I’ve had to adjust and increase my water and food consumption during my long runs. But luckily, besides a little bit of a nagging pain on the inside of my right knee, I’ve been pretty healthy and feeling relatively strong during my training.
I also have continued to utilize meal prepping to ensure I’m eating the right things during the week. And I’ve upped my snacking to multiple times a day to help supplement the nutrition. I’ve gotten really into carrots and hummus, mangos and greek yogurt, and smoothies.
The next race is my 50 miler and it isn’t until mid August. I’ve got some fun things planned with friends and family during July so the goal over the next two months is really trying to be thoughtful with my training scheduling to try to balance everything. Oh, and to drink a shit load of water.
View from the Point Lookout Trail in Black Mountain, NC