Health & Swellness

Tag: ultra

Fitness Swellness: GVRAT Back Across Tennessee race recap

108 days into the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, I made it BACK ACROSS TENNESSEE!

That’s a total distance of 2,043.36 kilometres. If you recall, at the beginning of May I wasn’t sure how difficult it’d be to complete the Race Across Tennessee (RAT) distance in the four months for the race, so to have completed double the distance with just under two weeks to spare, I’m shocked, and proud.

It’s 107 days if you’re looking at “chip time” as I only registered for the race on May 2nd, but the race goes by gun time. This race most definitely tapped into my competitiveness. Once I finished RAT, I knew I could complete 1,000 miles. Especially since for the BAT race, I was including walking miles.

I completed 1,000 miles in 91 days, ahead of the “end of July” goal I’d set for myself. And on August 5th, I thought “It’d be a nice even date to complete the BAT distance by August 15th.” For no other reason than it being the halfway mark of August. Out came my calculator and it called for doing just over 30 kilometres a day for 10 days straight. And even I knew that was unrealistic; my schedule is a lot busier now and I was struggling on the days I managed to log 21k. It included often sacrificing sleep to get at least 6k done in the early morning, and then walking at least 3k late at night (sometimes as late as 1 a.m.).

But I’d become a bit nervous about those late night walks and runs. I realized I was going through some dark and pretty deserted areas, which wasn’t the safest idea, then to add to it, there have been a slew of harassment incidents in the area so as I closed in on the last 200 or so kilometres of the race, I didn’t think it was wise to do the late walks and so I lost some precious time chipping away at the distance.

I realized on Friday, August 14th, that I had that day and the entire weekend I could devote to logging distance for BAT. And with 120 kilometres left, if I did 40k each day, I’d be done by Sunday, August 16th (just one day more than the goal I’d chosen as an ideal end date). So, I went for it. I already knew I had to run 21.1k on the weekend for the Lululemon Virtual SeaWheeze Half Marathon, so it meant “only” walking another 21k that same day as well, so that covered off one day. For my final 35k on Sunday, I took a very long (and rather boring) 12k walk across the city with my dog, visited the beach, stopped for pizza and then made the 12k walk back across the city and finished off the BAT race with a 3k run at night.

I walked much more of the BAT than I expected to. I think the RAT’s very intense 1,021.68k, for which I decided to only count running miles, was really hard on my body. My pace is terrible and I now even walk slowly, just out of pure exhaustion.

My BAT by the numbers

766.86 walking
267.3 running
zero 0 days (meaning I logged distance every single day)
a negative split of 10 days (I completed RAT in 59 days and BAT in 49 days)

Billie Jean and her GVRAT and BAT journey?

She completed 76 percent (or 1,554k) of the 2,043.36 RAT + BAT with me:

1,071.3k running
483.32 walking

And I’d have registered her as a dog completing the race but I knew the city’s heat and humidity would make it dangerous for her to complete every run with me, so I didn’t commit to making it race official for her, but to me she completed the race and I’m so proud of her.

And in the final standings, when I checked on Monday to confirm I’d officially completed the BAT, I finished 276th out of 11,063 women in this global virtual race, and in 622nd place (out of 19,612 participants).

So many firsts for me with this race, including my very first buckle! Now just need a belt to sport this huge, gaudy piece of bling on, haha!

This race has helped so many of us around the world cope in this crazy time. It became a huge thing to fixate on, distracting me from the stresses of living through quarantine, which would’ve otherwise swallowed me whole. And the Facebook group for the GVRAT was a joy to be a part of (other than people asking every single day what the actual distance of the race is… people, get your act together, it’s clearly stated in the race FAQ). From the gorgeous photos from around the world, to so many shots of snakes (I’m so glad that’s not something I encounter on my runs!), along with Lazarus Lake’s often hilarious posts, plus all of the personal stories; there have been pregnancy announcements, breakups, deaths, pets, so many injuries, and with it, just the whole gamut of human emotions; the camaraderie that developed as we all pushed through living under lockdown and making it through this continuing pandemic–I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed being part of a Facebook group more. We are all in this together: the pandemic, this crazy race, interpreting “Laz miles”, all of it.

Thank you to Lazarus Lake and the entire GVRAT team for putting up with so many of the same questions and continually working on improving the virtual race experience for all of us and creating this crazy race that none of us will ever forget.

Fitness Swellness: Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee race recap

AND DONE!

Finished the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee and became a RAT (as everyone in this race has affectionately been calling ourselves based on the race acronym) on Sunday afternoon, June 28th! 59 days (gun time) but 58 days since I registered on May 2nd! My journey? And how did I finish in less than half the time I expected to use to complete running 1,021.68 kilometres? (ICYMI, this is where I stood after the month of May running this race). Here is my obsessive runner mind works:

WEEK 1: Registered and decide to only run—because I’m a glutton for punishment? Perhaps. But also because I think I approached it as I would running a marathon. And I never plan to walk for a marathon… Purposeful, active walking (that is, you can’t just take the distance from your FitBit for your daily steps) and hiking is permitted and encouraged for this race, in fact, but I’m stubborn and I decided I’m only counting running.

As I kick off the race, I’m nervous about running 8.5k daily so that I can finish August 31st (and scared I might really regret joining this race), but figure I’ll run longer some days so I can have some days of rest.

WEEK 2: I’ve been run streaking since April 19th (before the race started), so might as well keep this run streak going. No days off. I can’t bear having a 0 in the GVRAT daily miles!

WEEK 3: Oh. I’m pretty low in the standings. I better up my distance, so I start running 15k on some days. Rest days? What’s a rest day? NO REST DAYS.

It was around week 3 that I read Laz’s FB post that the top 3,000 finishers win something special (not sure what it is…probably a pin?), so I become obsessed with moving up into the top 3,000 finishers (I think I’m around 12,000th spot at this point).

WEEK 4: “If I up the days I run 15k to 16k, then the miles in the daily miles column will be double digits…” (15k is 9 miles, whereas 16k is 10 miles) so I up it to 16k at a minimum. And whaddyaknw, holy moly, I’ve run 450 kilometres in May!

WEEK 5: My friend and fellow GVRATer Aylin asks me if I’m finishing in June. No, I tell her, I’m finishing around July 4th…but I immediately take out a calculator and start figuring out if June is feasible. With 18k daily, and a few 22k run days, I can finish by June 30. What’s 18k when I’m already doing 16k at a minimum, after all? It’s just another 2k, what’s another 2k daily? ALSO, NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO UPSET THAT JUNE ONLY HAS 30 DAYS.

WEEK 6: Remind me why I decided not to include all of the walking and hiking I do? At this point I’m running 2-3 times a day and am pretty scared of getting a stress fracture from overuse. I’ve dialed back my pace a lot and I halfheartedly do some stretches at this point. How have I been run streaking from since mid-April when I have always said I’m not designed for run streaking?!?! Why can’t we have a group rest day like a few people posted about in the FB group?!? The handful of days I fell asleep before adding my daily mileage I’ve fallen about 100 spots in the standings so I can see what logging a 0 with a rest day will do to my current position in the race. And this is all knowing that this being a virtual race and self reporting, we are all racing with different circumstances—some are running phenomenal mountains with dramatic changes in terrain and we are all dealing with different weather conditions, some are walking all of the race, and yet I’m still obsessed with finishing this race as high in the standings as I can.

WEEK 7: I’ve been in the top 3,000 for a few weeks now, and keep moving up the standings, so I’m happy, but I figure a lot of people are aiming for June 30th…and decide I should aim for June 29th…so when I can, I add a bit of distance on top of what I have set out in my calendar…

WEEK 8: If I run more every day, and rejig what I have planned for the next few days, I can cut out yet another day and finish on June 28th… In anticipation of finishing this race, I finally get around to watching the documentary Barkley Marathons: The Race that Eats Its Young and am amazed with the runners who attempt this brutal race.

Sunday, June 28th: Even though it was beyond hot and humid, I ran 35.5k on Sunday (the most I’ve logged in one day for this race) and completed 1021.68k! Plus, I reached Volt Level on the NRC app (Volt Level is 15,000 km!) in the morning, so it was a super big day for running for me! (More on reaching Volt Level in a post soon to come!)

Aylin came out and did this little finish line for me and Billie Jean (in the video clip below). Billie Jean ran 850 kilometres of the race with me (due to the heat, I left her at home for some runs), and with that I CAN’T BELIEVE IT BUT AM DONE! I forget when I broke into the top 3,000, but I finished 1,229th! And 524th female (btw, there are more women registered in this race than men, yasss!).

I was uncertain when I registered for the race if I’d come to really regret committing to such a long distance, but the GVRAT has truly been saving me during this pandemic. To have this running goal to fixate on and to occupy my time when I’d likely otherwise be at home getting more stressed and anxious about life and everything happening in the world, it’s really been the best thing to come out of living under lockdown.

So now what?

Lazarus Lake commented on my FB post in the group (which is the closest I’ll ever come to being connected to the Barkley Marathons, hahahahaha!), asking if he was going to see my at the 1,000 mile mark or back at the start—you see, there’s the option to run Back Across Tennessee! So…I’ve registered to run BAT! I’m undecided if I’ll run entirely back across Tennessee or just aim for the 1,000 miler (which is “just” another 600 kilometres). I have two months to complete it, but I will definitely be including my active, purposeful walking and hiking into my distance and taking my time for the return as I’d like to have more time to enjoy the summer weather, cook more (it’s fallen by the wayside with all the running) and to give my body a break (I don’t think running 1,000+ kilometres in two months was very kind to my body).

Here we go back across Tennessee!

Fitness Swellness: Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee month 1 recap

Running 1,021.68 kilometres sounded like it’d take FOREVER. Now, four weeks into the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, these are some of the key things I’ve realized this month:

Breaking up my runs into several short runs is easier for my mental strength.

When I started this race, I was running once a day. In the latter half of May, I realized I could likely log more mileage and more easily wrap my head around tackling more mileage by doing a few runs a day. Although I’ve become used to running 15k straight, some days it’s just easier for me to tackle it in two runs. And on days I plan to run 21k, which is a distance I will typically dread having to complete, breaking it into two or even three runs simplifies it for me. There’s also the added bonus for being able to bring my dog Billie Jean when I break longer runs into shorter runs; with the heat wave we have already had, I’m reluctant to take her on any run that’s too long (even though she is happy to run for long distances, I worry about heat stroke and the hot pavement). Billie Jean, by the way, has run all except 46 kilometres of May’s 450k, she’s a great runner!

Podcasts are good to listen to if you’re just trying to rack up distance.

I’ve tried listening to podcasts while I run in the past, but I’ve never found them motivating enough for my workout. But now, since my only goal is logging distance and I’m running at whatever pace feels good, podcasts are proving to be a good listen. I’ve run most of this month without listening to anything (mostly because I’m having earphone issues–I think the jack on my phone is a bit broken, and my phone won’t connect to my bluetooth earbuds), but when I am able to get my earphones to work, I’ve listened to Fake Doctors Real Friends (a new podcast from Zach Braff and Donald Faison from the tv show Scrubs), Spilled Milk and Hottest Take.

Logging mileage is easier than running a marathon.

I of course knew this in theory, but I still entered this virtual race nervous about being able to complete the 1,021.68 kilometres, but it dawned on me early on in the race that I don’t have to concern myself about pace. So I run each run at a comfortable pace (which changes from day to day; if I take it very easy and run a shorter distance one day, I notice I can run a faster pace comfortably the next day) and although my legs do feel tired some days, and that I often feel like I’m always at about the 30k mark of a marathon (which is to say I’m starting to feel fatigued but I’m not quite yet cursing my chosen sport), it’s never close to feeling like how I do in the last few kilometres of a marathon. I’ve adapted to logging mileage and run streaking so well, in fact, that I changed my goal for this race and the month of May a few times.

Where do I stand one month into the race?

And how much easier is it? I’ve somehow managed to complete 450 kilometres in the month of May. That’s nearly double the most mileage I’ve ever run in a month. I ran week 1 moderately, but quickly became obsessive about the race, and all the days off I said I’d take? Well, I haven’t taken a day off yet. I used to say I would work in rest days…and then I see myself fall in the standings when I run only 10k, and I go right back to a minimum of 15 or 16k per day. It didn’t help matters that I believe Laz posted that the first 3,000 finishers get a special type of prize or recognition; I started gunning for top 3,000 and I’ve managed to work my way into the top 3,000 as of the past week.

What I am scared about…

I can’t deny that I am scared of getting injured just from sheer overuse. The repetitive action can’t be that great on my body and I’ve been researching stress fractures. I feel great so far, but I have deliberately pulled back my pace so that I’m always running at a long slow distance pace or a recovery pace. I’m paying close attention to how my body feels, and have even done a few stretches (halfheartedly, but any stretches at all is still significant, given my aversion to stretching!). I’m also trying to get more sleep by getting into bed right after my nighttime runs (which will always translate into me falling asleep several hours earlier than if I’d parked myself on the couch with some Netflix).

Month #2, let’s do this!

I’m 450 kilometres in, with 571,68k to go! This race may not take me all summer after all…What will I do the rest of the season now that it doesn’t seem like fall marathons will be held?!