When Cliff first asked me if I wanted to do an ultra-marathon in December, I didn’t think twice (ok, well maybe not quite). That’s typically the way I am when an exciting challenge is put forth in front of me: agree first… then think about it later.
North Face Endurance Challenge
This was 6 months ago and then suddenly a few weeks ago, I realized that I’ve got to start training! This is not something that I can fake my way through! I gotta get ready for the North Face Endurance Challenge Championships, in San Fransisco on Dec 5th.
I found a training plan from Runner’s World magazine that is geared toward people with full-time jobs, which means, the bulk of the running is on the weekends. I liked that aspect, plus it means I can do workouts with the UNB Cross Country team during the week. I also want to race a lot of cross-country races, on Saturdays, which also works in well with this plan.
I also liked that there is not simply one “long run” each week, but two. The main idea in training for an ultra is simply getting used to being on your feet and moving for a long time. So, my Saturdays and Sundays from now until the end of November are going to be filled with lots of running, walking, shuffling, stumbling, and crawling… then doing it again the next day 
The first two weeks were not too bad. The only thing that was any different than my normal training was the back-to-back long runs. Luckily, they start off relatively easy with just a 90-minute and 3-hour on each weekend. But that quickly gets jacked up to 2 and 3.5 hours this weekend…I’ll continue to check-in as the miles roll along.
Chris
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