Chapters

• 00:03 - Introduction to My Ultra Marathon Journey
• 00:37 - The Challenges of Recovery Runs
• 01:58 - Preparing for the Race: Embracing the Journey
• 02:57 - The Ethics of Recovery in Running
• 04:28 - Preparing for the Big Race
• 04:54 - Starting a Journey: Embracing the Ultramarathon Experience

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Well, hey y'.

All.

Welcome to Mama Runs and Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s, training for my very first ultra marathon.

And this podcast is me saying all the quiet parts out loud of what the hell am I thinking?

So I did survive my new biggest one day mileage as well as my new biggest back to back long runs.

Yay me.

And they both went surprisingly well.

So feeling really, really good about that.

The unexpected part this past week.

Well, a couple things, I guess, but the main one was felt good on that second long run.

Felt good the day after the run.

Really really struggled on my recovery run a couple of days later, like super easy effort.

And I was like, I think I'm going to die.

And I walked most of it and that was humbling.

And then I think I had a couple of days off.

I don't really remember.

There might have been another run and then a couple days off.

I don't know.

At any rate, those two days off, I honestly could barely lift my head up off the sofa.

Thank goodness.

I work from home and most of the time I really can like lay down and get most of my work done.

Oh my goodness.

I was worn out.

I mean, just absolutely exhausted.

So it did not hit for a few days and I'm kind of like, what could I have done to have made this better?

And I don't know.

I've been lamenting a little bit about how our weather has been really unusual so far this year.

And my run this morning was really probably the first like, humid, humid run that we have had this entire season.

And I'd really like to have a few of those before the race rolls around because the likelihood of my race being really hot and humid is quite high, especially as the day rolls on.

But ye 96% humidity, my shoes were squishing with sweat.

It's gross.

It's gross, y'.

All.

It's just gross.

That's all there is to it.

But I'm just a few weeks out now from my actual race and so I've hit that like, I guess you would call this week like a down week.

It's not technically taper yet because that's, that's just around the bend.

But it's enough of like a cutback that I'm starting to obsess about everything.

So I just decided I was just going to embrace it and I'm going ahead and we have to take everything with us to this race.

It's in the middle of nowhere, so I'm like packing everything and laying it by our front door.

And so we're going to walk by this for weeks, I guess, until we actually need any of it because, you know, control the controllables.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

Me and Des Linden right there.

So sort of a running loose association here.

But if y' all follow just the greater sport of running and some of the issues that have been going on in the world of ultra with masters runners and by master's runners, it's not just people over the age of 40, but people in their 50s, like me and older, who are doing the better living through chemistry thing a little too much and they're proud of it.

So apparently many elite athletes don't really have a problem with the fact that recreat recreational runners use substances to help them recover better.

And I am on the other end of that opinion.

So I am a recreational runner.

I'm sometimes an age group winner depending on where I travel to go to a race.

But I'm absolutely not sub elite, nowhere even close to that level of success.

And I think you should not be taking experimental meds for recovery or even known banned substances.

I don't care if you're 58, get out there and suffer like the rest of us and recover like the rest of us.

Don't be ordering stuff off the Internet or at your local wellness spa and then bragging that you think you did something special.

I'm sorry, I have very strong opinions about that and I am very surprised how many people are totally okay with this.

So whatever.

Can you tell them Gen X?

The whatever.

I mean, really, truly.

Like when I hear of these folks, you know, 50s and older who are using these substances to improve their recovery so that they can have supposedly better athletic performances, all I can think about is the Bruce Springsteen song Glory Days and people who just never got over the fact that the highlight of their life was back in high school.

And even then I used to laugh and I would be like, yeah, if high school are the greatest days of your lives, you've led a really, really dull life.

So, oh boy, I'm winning friends and influencing people left and right right now.

Hello.

Who else had to take Dale Carnegie classes growing up?

Yes, actually, I guess that was like post grad school.

Nonetheless.

So we have a few friends and family coming to celebrate the weekend with us for my big race and got a couple family birthdays and all that sort of stuff.

So I was like, I'm just going to bring cake.

And then I was like, I wonder what I should do with that cake?

Should we have it beforehand?

Should we have it afterwards?

Should it be where we're staying?

Should I take it and so everybody who's in the race can come celebrate with it?

I haven't yet because personally I love cake, but I don't know how cake sounds after running right now.

It doesn't sound delicious, but I don't know, after 50k I might be like, heck yeah, give me that cake.

Oh man.

All in all, I'm like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the event and I'm really, really proud of myself for doing this training.

It's been really enjoyable, surprising, proud of myself, all that kind of stuff.

And I think it's kind of cool to bite off things you're not sure you can actually shoe at this age and go for it.

Because as I always joke, like if it's a rough day, what's going to happen?

Like going to pull my contract?

I don't think so.

At least I don't have to worry about pregnancy clauses these days.

Hey man, if you know, you know.

Oh man.

Anyway, got some very doable runs this week and kind of getting that excited nervous stage cuz it's about to be real real.

You know.

As always, I appreciate those five star ratings and kind reviews and excellent comments in your favorite podcast app.

Makes a big difference for someone else who decides to try to train for their very first ultramarathon as well.

Because nobody really talks about all of these newbie newbie thoughts and experiences.

I don't really have a filter.

So I've been telling y'.

All.

Thanks for hanging with me on Mama Runs an Ultra.