The Endless Mile: The Planning

The Endless Mile – October 18, 2019

The start/finish line arch was light up for the campers the night before.

Located just south of Birmingham, AL

https://www.southeasterntrailruns.com/endless-mile.html

Race Options –
6 Hour, 12 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour solo races
24 and 48 hour relay races

Before the Big Day(s):

About 6 months before, my two running friends were tossing around the idea of doing a 24 hour race in Alabama.  I already have run a race in AL so I wasn’t very interested.  When you are trying to do a marathon (or longer) in every state, it’s hard to justify to do repeat states.  My friends signed up for the 12 hour to complete a 50k and spoke about The Endless Mile while we traveled to other races.  Somehow I found out that they offered a 48 hour.  I don’t know if my friends were thinking about a 100 miler for the 48 hours in the next few years for themselves, or if they were trying to appeal to my sense to crazy. Regardless, I was willing to do AL again to try my hand at a 48 hours race. 

Everything in this post is about my pre-planning for the event.  My next blog will be what actually happened (when the plan sometimes goes to shit) on Day One and Day Two of the race.

Research and Math

One part of my calculations.

The first thing I did was attempt to find blogs from other runners for 48 hours. I found two. And both were from fast guys.  While reading those two points of view, I did my own math and figured out about 2/3 of the miles would be in the first 24 hours and the last 1/3 would be in the second half of the race.  Being a numbers person, I started an excel spreadsheet (I do this for all my ultras!) to see what kind of mileage range I thought I could do.  With out boring you to death on how I worked everything out, I figured I would make a goal to be between 125-140 miles.  The breakdown would be 84-94 miles the first day and 41-46 miles the second.  Honestly, to make the math easier in my head, I did 80/40 even though that wouldn’t get me my minimum range.

Nutrition

Nutrition is an “easy” one, eat frequently, eat before you are hungry, and keep eating. Easier said than done (The Essex 1963).   I don’t think I have ever heard a runner say at an ultra that she ate too much.  Nope, never!  If I ever have a problem during an ultra, it’s because I didn’t eat enough or didn’t eat soon enough and normally a combination of both.  As I thought of ideas, I would write them down in my excel sheet (you know, with my calculations I was doing above).  

I need foods that are easy to eat that I can swallow without chewing.  I rely mostly on aid station food, but I wanted to have my own back up in case I was having a hard time chewing.  This sounds crazy if you have never done an ultra, but after awhile, you don’t want to chew anything.  Even foods that you think would be easy to eat, like PB&J or grilled cheese, I can’t eat without washing down with water.  Think of wallpaper paste in your mouth.  When this happens, then I start drinking too much water, and other issues come up, yadda, yadda, yadda.  (side note ended!)

So back to choosing easy foods.  A few of the items on my list were instant oatmeal (on the runny side), instant mac & cheese, pudding, Jell-O, instant mashed potatoes, and my all time favorite, RAMEN!  Ramen is my go-to ALL the time during races.  I could care less if it is 100F outside, I still want ramen.   “All noodles, no broth”  That’s my order!   Just like “Coke, with ice, and bubbly,” even when it is 45F (or colder). 

Campfire apples that Lori made.  Soft and easy to slurp down!
It's a granny smith apple, caramel, peanut butter,and cinnamon.

Training

In 2019, before The Endless Mile, I had already run 6 marathons and 4 ultras (three 100’s and one 12-hour) and few races scheduled after it as well.  With these events, I wasn’t starting from scratch on my training.  I had followed my normal 26 week 100 miler training plan to get me to Hallucination 100 in early September.  

5 weeks to Endless Mile: Resting from Hallucination. I did walk but just normal errand type things, no Garmin.  Plus, motion is lotion.  NEVER just sit after an event.

4 weeks to Endless Mile: 20 miles for the week.

3 weeks to Endless Mile: 30 miles for the week.

2 weeks to Endless Mile: 45 miles for the week. This included a marathon in WV (another new state!) on crushed limestone.  I made sure to run a nice consistent marathon and enjoy myself. I ended up running it with approximately 45 second negative split.  That is a good thing, I did not over exert myself in the beginning nor at the end.

1 week to Endless Mile: Taper Week; 16 miles for the week

The Endless Mile Week: My taper with only a few 3-5 mile walks. I didn't use my Garmin!

Had I not just come off a 100 mile race, I would have used my normal 100 mile training plan with the end date being The Endless Mile. 

Yes.  Just yes.

Breaks/Napping

When running ultras, I can say that I take casual breaks.  I may take a longer break at an aid station to change clothes or get more food in the belly, maybe even have a beer.   Sometimes I just need a few minutes off my feet so I sit and put my feet up on another chair (or box, or whatever) to drain my feet.  For the 48 hours,  I wanted to take more consistent breaks to roll my legs before issues started to happen and to also drain my feet/legs.  I didn’t want to set a schedule for that until I was out there running.  I decided to take ten to fifteen minutes breaks at our campsite where I would use that time as well to charge my watch and eat. 

"To sleep or not sleep?", that is the question.  I have taken a nap at one or two of my 100’s before.  I have previously set my timer for 15 minutes (or asked the aid station volunteer to) and laid down (if they had cots) or slumped into a chair.  Once that alarm did go off, I would grab more food and leave.  

I knew this 48 hour thing was going to be different.  I love sleep.  On a normal day, I like to get 9-10 hours of sleep.  I can sleep anywhere, anytime.  It’s a long running joke in my house.  I knew I never should have told my husband I slept on plywood when I was 10 years old in India.  So how was I going to get through 48 hours without sleeping?  

I decided that I would need sleep, at some point.  Rather than scheduling sleep (i.e. 2 hour nap after mile 100, or one hour nap after 24 hours, etc) I knew that I was going to have to let my body tell me when I needed it.  I know that I can go for 100 miles without sleep, I’ve done it.  So I wasn’t expecting to sleep until after that point. I did know that I was going to plan on my naps being between 60-75 minutes.  I did not want to enter REM sleep which happens approximately 90 minutes after falling asleep since it is so much harder to get up and drag myself back onto the course if I was in the middle of REM.  Heck, on a normal day if I wake up during a dream, I feel the negative effect of that the entire day.  So I had a plan which means don’t plan times for sleep but when I did sleep, keep those naps short. 

Packing 

The packed van, return trip.  That is NOT a box of paper towels,
it is a fire pit.  

The packing list grew and grew and grew!  Actually more for my running mates than me.  I was busy the whole 48 hours of the event, but they were not going to be.  All of Friday was open for them plus Saturday evening (they were completing the 12 hour event).  They needed some luxuries, camping essentials, and comforts.  Our list consisted of two anti-gravity chairs, one or two regular camp chairs, a fire pit, other cooking items for the fire pit, two large sleeping tents, one pop up tent, two tables, 5 gallons of water, food galore, and then some.  Of course we each had our own sleeping bags, cots/mats, running clothes, regular clothes, etc.  If it sounds insane, it was! 

As for me, for my running portion included the foods I mentioned above and special tasty drinks such as sparkling yuzu coconut water, green tea lattes, and hard ciders; and lots and lots of clothing!

    

Most of my belongings are in the corner. 
So even though my list looks long,
it really wasn't that bad.
And three of those bags hold snacks. 
(Sounds like L, K, & I ... ha ha ha)

• 2 jackets, both waterproof
• 3 long sleeve shirts (2 regular tech and one thermal)
• 2 pairs of running pants (one pair of tights and one pair of pull over w/ ankle zippers)
• 4 running shorts/skirts
• 4 running shirts
• 6 sports bras
• 4 pairs of Injinji socks (I wear these socks almost exclusively even when I am not running)
• 4 buffs
• 1 pair of gloves
•  2 pairs of running shoes – one of my normal pairs and one pair a ½ size bigger (since my feet do get larger being on them so many hours and for so many miles)
•  Large foam roller
• Rolling stick ("The Stick" brand)
• Hard foam ball and a lacrosse ball for rolling
• 3 small portable chargers with all of the many cords
• Running belt for bib only (easier to take on and off for clothing changes)
• Anti-chafe roll (I use 2Toms) and powder
• Ultra first aid kit (My own personal concoction - I am a travelling Walgreens/CVS)
• Salt pills
• Running hat (one with a bill to help deflect rain from the face)
• Headlamp
• Sunglasses and sunscreen (were not going to be needed because of the weather, but I always bring them anyways)

And that was just for the running.  I don’t have any of the post race stuff listed such as Epsom salt lotion, compression boots, sandals, compression socks, etc!  My list kept changing as I adjusted for changes in expected weather conditions, so your list will be likely be different than mine. 

So you can see that I did a little bit of planning without over planning, but...

Expect the unexpected.

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