Mind, Body, Passion: The Ultra Trifecta

Ultrarunners: We are a unique species.
Somewhere along the line during our conception, something epic happened. Maybe the stars were aligned just right when our parents were going at it or maybe a special type of vodka played a role in the mix…regardless we emerged from this unity star-charged with determination and drunk on masochism. It’s a beautiful thing.

There is a percentage of the society that embraces and sustains a level of mediocrity, we are routinely criticized, questioned, and are recipients of the disapproving head shake followed by statements like: “I don’t even drive that far..” or “you’re nuts”. That’s fine, to teach their own. Ultra isn’t for everyone and that’s awesome. On occasion I will be motivated to preach the good news of the ultra lifestyle and promote the sense of pride and family that resonates with our ultra community. Most of the time this sermon falls on deaf ears as many can’t get past the mileage that equates to ridiculous efforts and inconceivable outcomes. Sure, we’re a little nuts at times. Some more than others. I’ll freely admit I have caught myself getting too caught up in the joy of my adventures. I recall a long run in ridiculous heat with sub-adequate water. A friend pulled up next to me on the gravel road where I was running and gave me some water. Without a word, I pounded it and then threw it up. I found it comical and made a joke and prepped to take off again. He looked at me and called me an idiot without saying a word. Valid point, my friend. Sometimes we just do things..and it's stupid. A wise man once said: “Valid criticism does you a favor.” -Carl Sagan

It is notable to point out that the extreme reactions we as ultra runners receive do have remnants of validity. I completely understand the initial reaction of confusion. Most non-ultratarians focus on the numbers. 50-miles, 100-miles, and so on. I get it. I was the same way when I dove headfirst into this amazing world of badassness. Actually, I know for a fact that I muttered: “I will never run a 100-miler, that’s just stupid.” A week later I signed up for my first 100-miler, 3 months later I won it and set the course record. “Stupid”-I was an idiot for thinking so shallowly. Nevertheless, shortly after tasting the dirt trails, sampling the delicious buffets of aid station food seasoned with the sweat of fellow racers, and feeling that last surge of adrenaline that swelled up from a place I didn’t know existed when seeing the finish line after 8, 12, or 20+ hours of running…my perspective changed. It has nothing to do with the mileage; it’s the journey that engages every atom of your existence into one single task. It’s ultra and I love it.

I’m by no means even remotely master of my passion, but I am masterfully passionate about it. I will always be a rookie of the sport and I am encouraged by this. There is so much to research, so many hypotheses to test, and more advice than any one runner can absorb. In comparison, it’s like debating  Creation and Big Bang—thought provoking, enjoyable, and fulfilling discussions over a cold, craft beer. Bazinga. Your mind can literally ache by trying to entertain every bit of intel in capturing the prime ultra success recipe. The ingredient list is massive and variables are extensive…Nutrition, gear, training miles, vert miles, recovery miles, sleep, heart rate monitoring, zero drop vs 4 mm, IPA vs APA, solo-training, group training, cross training, speed training, time management, compression, etc. However, with a few races and a few buckles under/on your belt, the ultragods bless us with a little experience knowledge that feeds our curiosity and charges our inquisition to continue our journey deeper into the world of ultra. My opinions and statements on this and any other word vomit that I spew into my blog are always dusted with a disclaimer that substantiates that I have no expertise on the matter, other than my experiences, successes, and embraced failures. That being said, I am comfortable preaching the epiphany of surviving and thriving in ultra running..and maybe in life. My advice isn’t technical, medical, and nutritionally-focused (although I highly consider inquiries in all these subjects). I feel that success (don’t confuse “success” with winning races) is about regulation. Simply put in one statement: Ultra is about learning to abide by the laws of balance intellectually, physically, and passionately.

Let’s break it down. Spinderella cut it up one time..

First and foremost: Balance. Remember the teeter-totter back in the day? Remember the a-hole friend that would get off unexpectedly and you’d almost crack your tailbone? Ok, that has nothing to do with my thoughts on balance but I just had a flashback. ((Squirrel)). Balance is imperative with ultra in every aspect, on and off the trail. It’s easy to be obsessive with this sport/lifestyle as it effects every aspect of your life from food to family, but remember your priorities and don’t neglect your responsibilities. In regards to training and racing, balance has to be a planning component. Too much or not enough of any focus will lead to ill results.

Intellectual balance: Picture this..(almost went into a Sophia “Golden Girls” story..if you don’t get it, you are dead to me) training your ass off because your love what do, but then falling on your face because you lacked planning. Not a fun experience. I’ve passed many a sculpted athlete delirious on the trail, muttering nonsense and cursing their perfectly trained body. Not a pretty picture. Understand your schedule allowance, your physical limitations, medical issues, etc. Research is your friend, but don’t overstay your welcome or you will stress yourself out. Everyone has an opinion on training plans and some contradict each other. Accept that, be smart about who you are and what you are training for, and make a plan. Being ignorant on the necessary predetermined steps to reach your goals and summit your expectations will result in disappointment and possibly injury. Invest time in using your brain, help squash the dumb jock reputation, and be comfortable with your plan.

Physical balance: This is easy to screw up. RUN YOUR RACE; not Tim Olson’s, not Anna Frost’s, not your local state rival. Run your race. Naturally this translates to training your training plan. If we all had the same genetic make-up complimented by the same stunning goods looks, this sport would be a whole new ball game. Luckily, the stars aligned to give some athletes incredible down-hill running skills, some ridiculous speed on the flats, and then those lucky bastards that seem to have the full package…plus a phenomenal beard. That small percentage is dominating the sport. Rock on, my friends. Be realistic on what type of runner you are is going to translate to stronger intellectual awareness which you can then acknowledge and incorporate into enhancing your training plan. That was a mouthful (that’s what she said..) but you get it. Self-awareness is key in physical balance. Once you’ve attained this, you won’t do stupid shit as often as well…I’ll check back in when I have this mastered.

Balancing passion: Passion will always trump physical and intellectual variables in ultra. That’s what passion is..this omnipotent, resounding pounding in your chest that drives your pre-sunrise runs and fuels mid-race thoughts like “Mile 80, only 20 easy miles to go..I got this”. Passion wipes the blood out of your eyes at mile 23 of a challenging 50 miler after smacking your head against a rock, cracking a couple ribs from crashing after on a trail. Passion is what encourages the tears to well up in your eyes after watching YouTube finish line videos of members of our ultra family limping, crawling, and tapping into that last ounce of heart to cross that line. Kleenex please. It is what fuels us and is the essence of this astounding sport. My experience is that as much as I use this as fuel, it can be detrimental. Passion will also cloud your judgement in circumstances that can literally be dangerous. Medically, there may be time we should tap out in a race or cut mileage in training. Guilty as charged. Passion may also supersede good decision-making in balancing our lives: training needs vs. family needs. If you are questioning which takes precedence, you may need to do some re-evaluation. Guilty again. Passion can be an addiction, a glorious disease that leads the hierarchy of commanding voices in your life. It can be the “Zeus”; the judge, jury, and executioner; the Sun of your universe. All I ask, my friends, is that you acknowledge and caution this beautiful, incredible thing that drives you and incorporate balance into containing it. Don’t suppress it; just moderate and mold it to control the trifecta of ultra success.

Once you are able to do this, you have clear results in all aspects of your ultra adventures..and possibly see that success leak over into other components of your life. Make your short existence on this planet balanced and fulfilling. Open the many corridors of resources that are in front of you and acknowledge and embrace them without malice or discrimination. Don’t hover too much in one aspect, even if it’s sexy as hell and feels amazing. Enter purposefully the areas that challenge you, piss you off, hurt you, and use your intellect to comprise them. Plan your success, balance each variable, and don’t be a dumbass.

And once you figure that out, tell me how the hell you did it.

Ultra on, my friends.

 

Evolution

Evolution

Eaaaasy there, fired up anti-Christianity and pro-Christianity folk, this isn’t about what you think it is. “Stand down man, stand down!”. As tempted as I am to chime in on paleoanthropology, I’ll leave it alone. Evolution discussion triggers all kinds of rousing debates, many of which I notoriously welcome. Some exchanges encourage deeper thought which I embrace whole-heartedly; others just want to make me throw up in my mouth. This happened recently.

An acquaintance of mine was trying to convince me, citing science, that living creatures have the ability to morph into other species (specifics given, but not worth repeating). His argument was based purely on a skewed interpretation of science and fueled by ego and ignorance. Sorry friends, I was not convinced, and will not budge on this one. Science is a valuable asset to use in a debate, but it can shut down a hypothesis as easily as it can ignite one.

Looking back at the 10-15 minutes of rambling BS, I realized that there is a glimpse of insight smashed between Dr. Rick Potts citations and IPhone pics of the Smithsonian. I do believe in personal evolution- join the cool kids and open your mind.

Significant changes, via morphing or evolution, is much easier to comprehend when you experience it firsthand. The primal human life cycle depicts countless occurrences of evolution in the short time between birth and death in forms of physical, psychological, intellectual, emotional..you get it. Call it what you will, it happens.

I truly feel that each stage in our life, substantiated by junctures of notable variable, are opportunities for change that can drastically alter the course of our lives, our relationships, and our physical and emotional well-being. These circumstances seem to pop up, sometimes momentarily, and then disappear-sometimes forever. Our cognitive processing in the form of personal choice leads us to embrace or dismiss the opportunity, resulting in all types of reactive outcomes. Examples are all around us: Hitting the snooze button, our menu selection at lunch, initiating conversation with the hottie walking out of Starbucks, hurdling the boulder or running around it at mile 78 of 100…you get it. It’s simple: human choice can alter your day, alter your life, and even encourage evolution.
 

A recent business trip to Colorado was overflowing with circumstances that teased me by offering countless prospects for choice. As a passionate ultrarunner coming back slowly from a serious stress fracture, I knew the opportunities were going to be boundless and overwhelming. The several weeks prior to this trip were spent in preparation for this. My injury had been slow-healing and after months of PT, cross-training, the dreaded “resting it”, $1,700 in MRIs, and watching in absolute desire as my friends were tearing up the trails, I finally submitted to a more dedication form of “listening to my body”. I had no idea my body was so damn needy. If this was a relationship that I could bail on, I would have hit the bricks years ago.

 

Cutting myself off from running and cross training like a beast helped my focus and before long (albeit too long) I was feeling pretty good, ready to test out the gimp leg on Colorado dirt. My first morning I was wide awake by 4:00 a.m. and heading up to my first peak. Summiting by sunrise was the plan and I knocked that bad boy out like a champ. The experience was overwhelming. A little running, a lot of power hiking, random selfies, constant smiling, and a few tears of absolute joy filled my inaugural summit. Reaching the top took a couple hours. That’s right: two hours of shear excursion, two hours of putting my Altra Lone Peaks to the test, two hours of wondering what the growl was, and two hours of trail therapy. The result: I evolved. I morphed. I grew.

The stressful months leading up to that morning were immediately put into perspective the minute I looked across the indescribable view at the snow peaked mountains. I was so small, relatively insignificant..and I realized at that moment that the variables that were not contributing to my happiness in my life were as well. Sucking in that fresh Colorado air was like breathing in renewal and it felt amazing. Inspired by a running mentor, I sat at the peak, legs dangling over what would definitely be a certain death if I lost my balance, and I straight chilled. Call it meditation, call it whatever you want. I seized the opportunity to totally summit to that peak and it changed me. I’m not going to go into too much detail on what finally clicked that morning for me, what I let go, or what I shared with that little lizard next to me, but it was good shit.

Heading back down the mountain was ridiculously challenging but incredibly fulfilling. I slid down a few of the sections just far enough to encourage a spike in my heartrate and PG-13 vulgarity. It was awesome. Stupid to be doing solo, but awesome all the same.

The rest of the week’s agenda in Colorado Springs consisted of morning peak summits, work, and evening adventures. I did some touristy stuff, no regrets..but my preference and motivation to return was supported by discovering forgotten, desolate single track trails around Pike’s Peak, hidden from view and traffic. Solo trail runs were the most memorable, however I was blessed to run and mtb with some bad ass animals who helped me regulate my occasional ego and embrace humility. Incredible lessons- and I’m a better ultrarunner, triathlete, and human because of it.
Bow to the mountain and you will not have any room to bow to yourself. Let that marinate for a minute.
 

By the end of the week, my daily summit goal morphed to a daily experience goal. Reaching the top isn’t nearly as rewarding if you don’t truly open yourself up to experience the journey. As the week’s miles increased, my tired body was actually feeling less pain. The tightness and sore muscles that I have battle for months melted away instead of increased. I soon realized that the more mountain I had, the more peace I had. This translated to a physical and emotional release, a sort of natural anti-anxiety med. I had several epiphanies. I laughed to myself when I thought of the thousands of dollars that I blew on doctor’s visits, MRIs, x-rays, and pointless follow up visits. Not one of those professionals suggested a prescription of Pike’s Peak. Shame on them.
 

I thought about the resources that I experienced and will continue to embrace. As always, I didn’t give my massage therapist, Laura Kuesel, enough credit. She tapped into this concept months ago and offered myokinesthetic therapy. My experience was ground-breaking and truly helped me open my mind to healing as a whole and not limiting myself to generic medical practice and advisement. Myo uses a scientific approach to rebalance the nervous system, reset the body, and relieve pain. It’s crazy deep. Laura’s skill, insight, and legitimate dedication to my well-being is priceless. She taught me to be open-minded and planted seeds of addressing other aspects of my life to heal my presenting injury. This concept seems pretty applicable to setbacks outside of running.
 

One resounding factor in any positive progression is the significance of choice and action. True evolution in terms of self-awareness and personal growth only transpires with a firm decision to apply yourself, produce substantial efforts, and commit to your goals. I can’t tell you how many times someone has suggestion that ultra isn’t healthy or I should shift my focus to another sport. “100 miles? I don’t even drive that far!” …this has been proclaimed to me, and most ultrafreaks, more times than we can count. If ultrarunning was simply a sport to me and if my goals merely sport-related, walking away after injury doesn’t seem so unreasonable. Clearly this not a sport to me. Ultra is a lifestyle and now runs deep in my blood.

Coming back from months of recovery is not necessarily fun and more challenging than the last marathon of a 100-miler. I’m not a patient person and knowing where my fitness was and assessing where it is now is a tad overwhelming. I’m eyeing a couple races and the excitement is motivating as well as encouraging the bubble-guts and frequent bathroom runs. Premature? Probably. Typical for me? Absolutely. “My pain is self-chosen..” -Great words from a legit human. That being said, I do respect my needy body more than I used to and totally acknowledge that as I move up in age brackets, I need to re-evaluate my training recovery. Damn it.
 

However, it’s a choice..my choice and I am committed to it. Remaining goal-focused and truly at peace with my abilities will naturally help me weed out the unnecessary, pain-ensuing distractions. This epiphany launched my evolution. It’s redirected my perspective, enlightened my problem-solving, and morphed me into a visionary that has opened my eyes to the power of choice and sea of rewards. It feels good to be back at the helm. I am finding myself eagerly seeking out opportunities to take on new challenges and test my dedication and perseverance and sincerely encourage my friends to do the same. We are all victims of our own excuses and they eventually define us. Opportunities to fall back on excuse are timeless and omnipotent. We are not. Think about it..When faced with opportunity in the form of choice we are either too young, too old, too tired, too busy, too ego-centric. Between too young and too old is right now. Break that down into years if you need to. Spoiler alert: it’s not many. A few excuses more and it’s too late and we are buried six feet under with a tombstone engraving that could read “I should have..”
 

Maximize your opportunities but embracing the power of choice. Carpe diem. (I probably spelled that wrong..) Sounds cliché, but holy hell it’s legit. Taking action will put you in control of your own evolution.

Trail on, my friends.