100 Mile Week
chadaroo22
Posts: 2 Member
FOREWORD
First, a foreword. If you are an ultra-marathon runner, you may find this article dull. If you are a runner who likes to do a few races each year, you may find that this article resonates with your own life. If you are a runner seeking inspiration to get out the door, I hope my words speak to you.
BACKGROUND
A couple years ago, while riding a bus to a marathon start line, I overheard two guys discussing their training regime. As their conversation proceeded, they discussed how many races they had completed, their favorite race, weight loss, weight gain, calorie in-take, and other things. You know, the usual conversation that people have on the way to the start line. One of the guys said that when he is doing 100 miles in a week, the pounds just fall off of him. In retrospect, these two guys were probably ultra-marathon runners. It is this conversation that inspired me to start thinking about how I could do 100 miles in a week, but let me tell you some back story before we get there.
It was 2002. I was doing pest control summer sales. This was the first time I learned the power of making and achieving goals. Jason, the owner of the company, was charismatic and made me a believer of the power of goals. He happened to be friends with Lance Armstrong, and had known Lance since high school. He related his experiences with young Lance Armstrong, and the effort Lance put into his high school sports. It was impressive. Jason made me a believer that I could become stronger in all facets of my life by making and achieving my goals. I remember him promising us that if we complete our goals we become stronger, but if we do not complete our goals we become weaker. As such, we should put in whatever time is required to complete our goals once we commit to them, even if it means we work 18 hours a day.
Fast forward to 2007. I was just out of college and had been at my first desk job for about 2 years. I never experienced the freshman 40, but I gained 50 pounds in those 2 years. I was overweight, and desperate to return to previous weight. I will forego describing the stupid things I tried, and skip right to running. This is the first time in my life I tried to run on a regular basis. I began running, but I lacked motivation to run consistently. Then I had the awful idea to set a goal to run a marathon. For those of you reading this who have made the same goal, you know the excitement of the goal, the challenges of training, and you also know that it was this goal that motivated me to run regularly. For the sake of my health (physically, emotionally, mentally) this was probably the best decision I have ever made.
In 2008, I completed my first marathon. Upon completion, I mean that very afternoon, I, like many of you, was not convinced that it was a good enough experience that I would ever run another one. Also, like many of you, I signed up for my second marathon about a week after completing my first marathon. While training for the second marathon I had my second awful idea. I decided to run every marathon in my state. No, not that same year, but take however much time it took to do so. This has proven to be a challenging goal as new marathon’s pop-up every year. It was in pursuit of this goal that I overheard the conversation about completing a 100-mile week.
Now we come to the heart of the matter. May 4, 2018. May the 4th be with you. I was sitting on the couch after dinner having a drink or two or four, and talking with my wife while we watched Star Wars. I was contemplating the following day’s 18-mile training run that I had planned, and I mentioned to her the 100-mile week goal. It was under this semi-inebriated condition that I had my third awful idea. I set the goal to do 100-miles in one week. Walking, running, crawling, whatever it took. My wife, in her ever supportive manner, made a goal to complete a 50-mile week. Interestingly enough, as the conversation ensued, one of the determining factors for committing to our goal was, “No matter what we do with our week, at the end we will be a week older, so why not?” In retrospect, I am certain that the drinks I consumed earlier in the evening were now in full effect. We determined how many miles per day we each needed to do. I had to do one 16-mile day, and six 14-mile days. My wife had to do one 8-mile day, and six 7-mile days. For those of you that are step counters, this is like 30,000 steps a day and 15,000 steps a day, respectively.
I must take a personal moment, and express my everlasting love for a woman that cares so deeply for me that she would make this gesture. I love my wife for countless reasons, but one of them is because she is excited for things that I am excited about. She is a true friend. My best friend.
One last thing before we get to the details. Since overhearing the conversation regarding doing 100 miles in a week, I have thought about committing to and completing this goal at least 3 other times. I have often thought, “I can do it”, but never did. I’m not sure what was different this time around, but this time, I just pulled the trigger and made the commitment.
100-MILE WEEK
Saturday May 5, 2018. Cinco de Mayo. As is typically the case, the beginning is the easy. This was the easiest day of the week. I woke up and ran 20-miles. The run itself was not easy, but I was still in the honeymoon phase, and excited to run the miles. For the sake of consistency, as mentioned above, I had planned to do 18-miles, but I altered my route on the front end to get in 2 extra miles. I owe a shout-out to the anonymous cycling group. I started my run at 6 a.m., and I saw the same group through the morning. They were on the same path as me, but passed me several times due to their speed. They just happened to pass me as I finished my run at 9 a.m., and I heard them talking about me as they passed. When one of the guys found out that I had just put in a ton of miles, he yelled out, “Great job dude! You killed it!” My first lesson of the week was, “a little praise from a stranger has a powerful positive effect”. I plan to pay that forward. Through the rest of the day, I was able to walk another 4 miles that day just running errands with my family. I was confident about completing my goal as I started my 100-mile week with 23.5 of 100 miles complete.
Sunday May 6, 2018. My family and I spent the day at the beach. After a nice brunch at a restaurant near the ocean, we spent 5 or 6 hours playing in the surf, walking the beach, and otherwise enjoying ourselves. At the end of the day I had 13.1 miles. Who would have thought it would be so fun to put miles in? I missed my daily goal, but I was ok with it because the previous day was a big day. 36.6 of 100 miles complete.
Monday May 7, 2018. I was reeling from the long miles of the weekend, and decided not to wake up early and go for a run. I spent the rest of the day trying to walk whenever I could. I walked to talk with co-workers on matters when a phone call would suffice. I ate my lunch while walking around the parking lot. I walked after work from about the time I pulled into the garage until 9 p.m. This was a mentally tough day. This is where I found my second lesson, “Stay positive”. I told myself, “You have a whole week to do it. The days you feel good, put in a little more effort. The days you feel beat up, use your will-power to get close so you don’t fall behind.” To be honest, I was really worried about my goal at this point. I didn’t know if I could do 4 more days like this one. All I could think about all day was, “go walk, I’ve got to get my steps in”. I was able to do 13.5 miles without running a single step. 50.1 of 100 miles complete.
Tuesday May 8, 2018. I woke up early before work and put in 4 miles. The previous day of “rest” paid off. I felt great on my run. I spent the day walking as often as I could. I found it much easier to put the miles in this day having started the day with 4 miles under my belt. I did my last walk at 9 o’clock that night to ensure I was keeping pace. This is the day I started thinking about the end of my goal. I am a “saver”. I would much prefer having things in the bank for a rainy day. I subscribe to the philosophy of “first work, then play”. So when I completed 15.5 miles, I started thinking that it would be really nice to have a chill 7th day of this hell week. Coincidentally, day 7 happened to be a Friday. Who doesn’t love a chill Friday? I also learned my third lesson, “Drink plenty of water, and keep an eye on nutrition”. I was using the MyFitnessPal app to track my nutrition and water, and the app reminded me at the end of the day that I could do long term damage if I wasn’t eating and drinking enough. 65.6 of 100 miles complete.
Wednesday May 9, 2018. I put my life philosophy to the test. I put in 5 miles before work. I walked as often as I could during the day. I walked on the treadmill for an hour after work with my wife. I ran 4 more miles after dinner while my wife and kids swam at the community pool. I did a final walk after arriving home from the pool while my wife put the kids to bed. 22.1 miles may not sound like a lot to complete in any given day, but considering my week, I was quite proud of myself. It did take over 40,000 steps, but with 2 days left to complete my goal, I had just successfully set myself up to do 100 miles in 7 days. 87.7 of 100 miles complete.
Thursday May 10, 2018. I did say that I would rather work hard at the beginning of a task, and then take it easy towards the end, right? I woke up early again, and put in 4 miles before work. I can honestly say that this was the toughest 4 miles I’ve ever done. I wish I could tell you I was running with a spring in my step, but I took several walking breaks in 4 miles. Not my finest run, but I did it. I should state that by this time in the week, my body was sore everywhere. Just walking reminded me of this. This is when I found my fourth lesson, “It’s going to hurt”. I was fortunate to have ramped up my activity well enough to not have any serious injury. The serious injury kind of hurt would have caused me to reassess my goal. Sore muscles, though, are to be expected. Utilizing every break I had throughout the day, using my lunch, and walking after work, I put the miles in. 12.7 miles. 100.4 of 100 miles complete.
Friday May 11, 2018. Do you ever feel that your goals take the shape of a competitor? Either I beat my goal, or my goal beats me. At this point in the week, I had already beaten my goal, and I wanted to show my goal that it didn’t take everything from me. I was much stronger than my goal. I wasn’t completely exhausted from the competition. No! I still had more that I could give, and as a matter of fact, I wanted to show my goal that it wasn’t so big and scary. I woke up and ran 3 miles before work. I used what I learned over the past 6 days, and remained active. I walked when a phone call would have sufficed. I spent part of my lunch break walking. I spent time walking after work because I came to truly love being active. It had become therapeutic. Most importantly, I spent the evening with my much deprived wife and kids. My wife and I both celebrated the completion of our goals. I am very proud of the effort she put in to complete her goal. Though I make and keep goals for myself, there are many things like this goal that I could not do without my family’s support. I am most grateful for my loving wife and my great kids. I am grateful for the years of support they have given to allow me to pursue my personal ambition like this 100-mile week goal. 6.0 miles. 106.4 of 100 miles complete.
First, a foreword. If you are an ultra-marathon runner, you may find this article dull. If you are a runner who likes to do a few races each year, you may find that this article resonates with your own life. If you are a runner seeking inspiration to get out the door, I hope my words speak to you.
BACKGROUND
A couple years ago, while riding a bus to a marathon start line, I overheard two guys discussing their training regime. As their conversation proceeded, they discussed how many races they had completed, their favorite race, weight loss, weight gain, calorie in-take, and other things. You know, the usual conversation that people have on the way to the start line. One of the guys said that when he is doing 100 miles in a week, the pounds just fall off of him. In retrospect, these two guys were probably ultra-marathon runners. It is this conversation that inspired me to start thinking about how I could do 100 miles in a week, but let me tell you some back story before we get there.
It was 2002. I was doing pest control summer sales. This was the first time I learned the power of making and achieving goals. Jason, the owner of the company, was charismatic and made me a believer of the power of goals. He happened to be friends with Lance Armstrong, and had known Lance since high school. He related his experiences with young Lance Armstrong, and the effort Lance put into his high school sports. It was impressive. Jason made me a believer that I could become stronger in all facets of my life by making and achieving my goals. I remember him promising us that if we complete our goals we become stronger, but if we do not complete our goals we become weaker. As such, we should put in whatever time is required to complete our goals once we commit to them, even if it means we work 18 hours a day.
Fast forward to 2007. I was just out of college and had been at my first desk job for about 2 years. I never experienced the freshman 40, but I gained 50 pounds in those 2 years. I was overweight, and desperate to return to previous weight. I will forego describing the stupid things I tried, and skip right to running. This is the first time in my life I tried to run on a regular basis. I began running, but I lacked motivation to run consistently. Then I had the awful idea to set a goal to run a marathon. For those of you reading this who have made the same goal, you know the excitement of the goal, the challenges of training, and you also know that it was this goal that motivated me to run regularly. For the sake of my health (physically, emotionally, mentally) this was probably the best decision I have ever made.
In 2008, I completed my first marathon. Upon completion, I mean that very afternoon, I, like many of you, was not convinced that it was a good enough experience that I would ever run another one. Also, like many of you, I signed up for my second marathon about a week after completing my first marathon. While training for the second marathon I had my second awful idea. I decided to run every marathon in my state. No, not that same year, but take however much time it took to do so. This has proven to be a challenging goal as new marathon’s pop-up every year. It was in pursuit of this goal that I overheard the conversation about completing a 100-mile week.
Now we come to the heart of the matter. May 4, 2018. May the 4th be with you. I was sitting on the couch after dinner having a drink or two or four, and talking with my wife while we watched Star Wars. I was contemplating the following day’s 18-mile training run that I had planned, and I mentioned to her the 100-mile week goal. It was under this semi-inebriated condition that I had my third awful idea. I set the goal to do 100-miles in one week. Walking, running, crawling, whatever it took. My wife, in her ever supportive manner, made a goal to complete a 50-mile week. Interestingly enough, as the conversation ensued, one of the determining factors for committing to our goal was, “No matter what we do with our week, at the end we will be a week older, so why not?” In retrospect, I am certain that the drinks I consumed earlier in the evening were now in full effect. We determined how many miles per day we each needed to do. I had to do one 16-mile day, and six 14-mile days. My wife had to do one 8-mile day, and six 7-mile days. For those of you that are step counters, this is like 30,000 steps a day and 15,000 steps a day, respectively.
I must take a personal moment, and express my everlasting love for a woman that cares so deeply for me that she would make this gesture. I love my wife for countless reasons, but one of them is because she is excited for things that I am excited about. She is a true friend. My best friend.
One last thing before we get to the details. Since overhearing the conversation regarding doing 100 miles in a week, I have thought about committing to and completing this goal at least 3 other times. I have often thought, “I can do it”, but never did. I’m not sure what was different this time around, but this time, I just pulled the trigger and made the commitment.
100-MILE WEEK
Saturday May 5, 2018. Cinco de Mayo. As is typically the case, the beginning is the easy. This was the easiest day of the week. I woke up and ran 20-miles. The run itself was not easy, but I was still in the honeymoon phase, and excited to run the miles. For the sake of consistency, as mentioned above, I had planned to do 18-miles, but I altered my route on the front end to get in 2 extra miles. I owe a shout-out to the anonymous cycling group. I started my run at 6 a.m., and I saw the same group through the morning. They were on the same path as me, but passed me several times due to their speed. They just happened to pass me as I finished my run at 9 a.m., and I heard them talking about me as they passed. When one of the guys found out that I had just put in a ton of miles, he yelled out, “Great job dude! You killed it!” My first lesson of the week was, “a little praise from a stranger has a powerful positive effect”. I plan to pay that forward. Through the rest of the day, I was able to walk another 4 miles that day just running errands with my family. I was confident about completing my goal as I started my 100-mile week with 23.5 of 100 miles complete.
Sunday May 6, 2018. My family and I spent the day at the beach. After a nice brunch at a restaurant near the ocean, we spent 5 or 6 hours playing in the surf, walking the beach, and otherwise enjoying ourselves. At the end of the day I had 13.1 miles. Who would have thought it would be so fun to put miles in? I missed my daily goal, but I was ok with it because the previous day was a big day. 36.6 of 100 miles complete.
Monday May 7, 2018. I was reeling from the long miles of the weekend, and decided not to wake up early and go for a run. I spent the rest of the day trying to walk whenever I could. I walked to talk with co-workers on matters when a phone call would suffice. I ate my lunch while walking around the parking lot. I walked after work from about the time I pulled into the garage until 9 p.m. This was a mentally tough day. This is where I found my second lesson, “Stay positive”. I told myself, “You have a whole week to do it. The days you feel good, put in a little more effort. The days you feel beat up, use your will-power to get close so you don’t fall behind.” To be honest, I was really worried about my goal at this point. I didn’t know if I could do 4 more days like this one. All I could think about all day was, “go walk, I’ve got to get my steps in”. I was able to do 13.5 miles without running a single step. 50.1 of 100 miles complete.
Tuesday May 8, 2018. I woke up early before work and put in 4 miles. The previous day of “rest” paid off. I felt great on my run. I spent the day walking as often as I could. I found it much easier to put the miles in this day having started the day with 4 miles under my belt. I did my last walk at 9 o’clock that night to ensure I was keeping pace. This is the day I started thinking about the end of my goal. I am a “saver”. I would much prefer having things in the bank for a rainy day. I subscribe to the philosophy of “first work, then play”. So when I completed 15.5 miles, I started thinking that it would be really nice to have a chill 7th day of this hell week. Coincidentally, day 7 happened to be a Friday. Who doesn’t love a chill Friday? I also learned my third lesson, “Drink plenty of water, and keep an eye on nutrition”. I was using the MyFitnessPal app to track my nutrition and water, and the app reminded me at the end of the day that I could do long term damage if I wasn’t eating and drinking enough. 65.6 of 100 miles complete.
Wednesday May 9, 2018. I put my life philosophy to the test. I put in 5 miles before work. I walked as often as I could during the day. I walked on the treadmill for an hour after work with my wife. I ran 4 more miles after dinner while my wife and kids swam at the community pool. I did a final walk after arriving home from the pool while my wife put the kids to bed. 22.1 miles may not sound like a lot to complete in any given day, but considering my week, I was quite proud of myself. It did take over 40,000 steps, but with 2 days left to complete my goal, I had just successfully set myself up to do 100 miles in 7 days. 87.7 of 100 miles complete.
Thursday May 10, 2018. I did say that I would rather work hard at the beginning of a task, and then take it easy towards the end, right? I woke up early again, and put in 4 miles before work. I can honestly say that this was the toughest 4 miles I’ve ever done. I wish I could tell you I was running with a spring in my step, but I took several walking breaks in 4 miles. Not my finest run, but I did it. I should state that by this time in the week, my body was sore everywhere. Just walking reminded me of this. This is when I found my fourth lesson, “It’s going to hurt”. I was fortunate to have ramped up my activity well enough to not have any serious injury. The serious injury kind of hurt would have caused me to reassess my goal. Sore muscles, though, are to be expected. Utilizing every break I had throughout the day, using my lunch, and walking after work, I put the miles in. 12.7 miles. 100.4 of 100 miles complete.
Friday May 11, 2018. Do you ever feel that your goals take the shape of a competitor? Either I beat my goal, or my goal beats me. At this point in the week, I had already beaten my goal, and I wanted to show my goal that it didn’t take everything from me. I was much stronger than my goal. I wasn’t completely exhausted from the competition. No! I still had more that I could give, and as a matter of fact, I wanted to show my goal that it wasn’t so big and scary. I woke up and ran 3 miles before work. I used what I learned over the past 6 days, and remained active. I walked when a phone call would have sufficed. I spent part of my lunch break walking. I spent time walking after work because I came to truly love being active. It had become therapeutic. Most importantly, I spent the evening with my much deprived wife and kids. My wife and I both celebrated the completion of our goals. I am very proud of the effort she put in to complete her goal. Though I make and keep goals for myself, there are many things like this goal that I could not do without my family’s support. I am most grateful for my loving wife and my great kids. I am grateful for the years of support they have given to allow me to pursue my personal ambition like this 100-mile week goal. 6.0 miles. 106.4 of 100 miles complete.
8
Replies
-
great story impressive result congratulations
0 -
Bravo!!! Great write-up of a brilliant achievement. Love how you and your wife are such a great team.
You have just made me want to do this. I ran 38 km yesterday, so that's a good start if I want to do it this week. 0 -
Wow! 38 km is a great start. You got it if you want it.
0 -
chadaroo22 wrote: »Wow! 38 km is a great start. You got it if you want it.
I wanted it, but then wisdom got the better of me. A 100 mile week wasn't a good plan for my first week of taper.
However, this is definitely something I want to do in my next training phase.
I'm very impressed by your accomplishment.0 -
I managed 138 km. Better luck next time!
Have you made a new goal?0
This discussion has been closed.
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