Ultra Run Commute – Things I learned running 40 miles in one day to get to work.

After each race I write down what went right, wrong, and what I could have done differently.  I’ve been doing a 20-24 mile run to work for several years now.  Mileage will vary depending on the different paths I take.  For about 8 years I’ve thought to myself, would it be possible to run both directions, both to and home from work?  The shortest distance I could make the route was 20 miles, so it would be around 40 miles round trip.  That would be about 6-7 hours of running, broken up over 2 parts of the day.  The terrain is mostly flat, and somewhat downhill heading toward the city.  Well, I pulled it off…  Here was some of the things I learned doing my ultra run commute.

What went right

• FOOD
  • I had stomach issues my last 50K race.  Some of that I attributed to excessive sugar intake during the race.  I went this time with granola bars, cashews, 1 GU, and Vitargo as my drink.  Adding some REAL food vs using energy gels seemed to agree more with my stomach.
• Heart Rate
  • Using an alarm when your heart rate is too high was critical.  I’ved turned on the HR alarm in the past, but I knew if I wanted to make it home alive, and in a reasonable time, I had to be conservative.  I stayed at my Maffetone heart rate for both directions of the run, for the most part, with only allow +10 beats over my number (145 for me, I allowed a max of 155 since I treated it like a race).  I never felt fatigued or felt like I was running past my abilities.
• Constant status checking
  • I’ve learned that you need to run YOUR RACE for the long events.  The last event I did I got swept up trying to run somebody else’s race.  I wasn’t taking an inventory of my own situation.  Every few minutes you need to run through a checklist: “Am I going to fast?”, “Am I eating enough”. “Am I taking these hills too hard”.  If you don’t pay attention you could end up where you’ve depleted your body and run past your abilities.  I kept taking a mental inventory because I knew if I didn’t I would pay for it on the way home.

What went wrong

• Carry the essentials
  • I carried way too much equipment/food on my way to work.  If I had to do something like this again I would have brought everything to work the day before that I needed for the return trip.   I made sure I only had essentials for heading home.  Maybe it was the idea of not having to carry so much stuff, but I felt so much faster/lighter that it made the run back seem easier.
• You get by with a little help from… complete strangers.
  • I was half way home when this guy runs by me and  says, “Good job man, keep it up”.  It was enough for me to strike up a conversation with him and ask if it was OK to run with him.  I know this is really a positive, but I don’t understand why I need others to help me run faster.  I am glad he came along because without him I NEVER would have run a negative split heading home.  I’m just wondering what do I need to unlock the ability myself, not relying on someone else.  I can’t always have a pacer at the right time and need that strength to come from within.

What I would do differently

• Carry music for the last 10% of the race.  I gave up music years ago, but I do think it has a place for the end of a race.  When the pain is starting to set in and you need a distraction.  It also would have been something to look forward to if I had said, “At mile X I get to listen to music.”  As long as this doesn’t interfere with doing your inventory of your body to make sure everything is still OK.
• I wouldn’t change a whole lot with this day.  I was happy with the time, I was happy with my pace.  I think I really got lucky running into that guy who ran with me for several miles.  I still can’t believe I ran a faster time heading home…  This is something I could see myself doing once a year, as long as I’m still working at the same place in the city.

Run 1 – 2:59:24(watch rebooted and I lost some data)

Run 2 – 2:58:58

Patrick Durante

Patrick is an ultrarunner and coach from Philadelphia who loves documenting his running career. His mission is to provide useful tips and tricks to assist others along their ultra journey.  You can find his coaching services at https://ultraruncoach.com.