Ever looked at the running log of one of the elite full time runners and marvel at them running >120mi/wk or >20000ft of vertical gain? Maybe you’ve thought, ‘that’s impossible for me to do’ or ‘I can’t even fathom running that much’. Sure they are gifted athletes and very strong, but in the words of Ken Chlouber, “You are tougher than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can.” I think the biggest deterrent to many of us putting in 100mile+ weeks or massive amounts of vertical gain is one very simple factor….time.
This past week I set out to put in my biggest training week of the year, 90miles/30000ft. I’ve cracked the 100mile mark in a week a few times in the past, but I’d never broken 30000ft in a week outside of when I completed Nolans 14. Ok, so some of the elite guys throw this down on a weekly basis, unfortunately I’m not a ‘full time’ runner, and a large proportion of my life is dedicated to a non-running activity, biological research, then somewhere in amongst working and training there is doing the daily tasks of life and trying to sleep (6-7h/night). Here’s a one week breakdown of what its like for the working class to put in big ultra training weeks.
Afternoon training run among the wildflowers on Bear Peak. Not a bad place for some afternoon miles.
I’m usually up at 5:15am, on the bus at 6am and at work by 6:50am, I’m cursed with a long commute. Work all day in the lab, catch the bus home at 3:50pm, home around 4:50pm, on the trail by 5:15pm. Run for 2-3hours, 8-14miles and 2500-4000ft of vertical gain. Get home, stretch out, hit the foam roller for a bit, eat dinner, shower, check a few emails and off to bed around 10pm only to wake up the next morning and do it all over again. Then add on a long run on Saturday and run up Pikes Peak to 14000ft on Sunday and voile you’ve got 91miles and 30000ft of gain in a week.
High above the clouds and trees on Pikes Peak, capping off the week with a trip to 140000ft.
Sounds simple right? Except for the fact that this schedule leaves no ‘down time’, no time to clean or take care of life’s little happenings, no time to cross train, no time with the kitty and definitely no social time. I tend to overextend myself all too often, so add in a non-restful rest-day that consisted of a 15 hour photo shoot (sprints and weights for the shoot) and 6hours of hauling dirt and building trails Saturday morning and you can understand why most of us working class folk don’t put in big weeks like this often.
Doing some running with my Hind teammates at a photo shoot on 6/5.
On the converse, imagine what it would be like if you had an additional 5-7hours each day free to run, stretch, recover, relax. All of a sudden 100mile weeks and big vertical gain don’t sound so bad, time is truly the biggest luxury of the full time runner. So rather than be in awe of the single, childless, full time runner without a 9-5 day job, be amazed by the person putting in hard workouts who works 8hours+ a day, has kids and a family, but still manages to squeeze in the miles/time whether it be at 5am or 8:30pm, or both. For the immediate future this is my life, but there is always part of me that wonders what I’d be capable of IF I committed to running and mountains full time . With one more big week of training slated for this week (June 9th-15th) I am very much looking forward to tapering and finally toeing the line at the 2014 Hardrock 100. Special thanks to Vfuel endurance for fueling me through a bonk free big training week where my legs felt solid and Hind performance for outfitting me for all my adventures. Run fast, run healthy, but mostly run happy.
What I felt like doing at the end of the week, curling up in the sun with the kitty.
Bro! I feel your pain. Luckily I am 5 min from work. I get up (or try to) at 4am. Get an AM, Lunch, and PM workout. It does leave no time whatsoever for simple stuff like laundry or dishes or yard mowing. I’ll see you at Hardrock bro and best of luck.
All of this, times 50.
Running takes a ton of time, especially if you’re not run elite speeds and are climbing mountains! And quite honestly, that downtime is needed for things like laundry and grocery shopping — two very important things in a runner’s life.
On the plus side, group runs and running with friends can seriously help mix a little socializing with training. Now we just need to figure out how to kill our hour long commutes [I go from Denver to FoCo every day]…
Good man — it’s great to see some of the really great performances out there, and good for them, the world needs some inspiration. But “just that” isn’t scalable, we also need good scientists, mothers, fathers, etc. It’s not like you’re not compromising anything in search of a big paycheck or otherwise decadent lifestyle, and still volunteering when you can, while also running very well in some pretty awesome places. That balance and network of society and social good is what we need most of — my opinion.
“Mor fuds and mor scratching plez” — cats’ opinion.
Mike, I do agree, and feel that finding a balance is always key whether its work vs play, running vs other activities, or giving back to the community by volunteering. For better or worse my busy life style prevents me from over training, because I don’t have enough hours to run that much. I think it would benefit some of these elites to moderate themselves by picking up some non-running hobbies, Mr Clark does a good job of this.