Ultra Interval Challenge 2015

Ultra Interval Challenge 2015

The Challenge:

Run a 10K every 3 hours for 24 hours. 8 total 10K's and 49.6 miles
Everyone started at the same moment so here in Central Time my start time was 5:00 on Friday.

Triple digit temps kept me inside on the treadmill for the first interval. Grand Island games were going on this same weekend and I had a 3 on 3 basketball game at 6:30 at the YMCA. I headed over to the Y at 4:30 and got changed and on a treadmill. This first interval felt great, legs were fresh and mind was excited to get it started.

Interval 1 Fri 5PM:
6.2 miles
48:02
7:46/mile



After completing Interval 1 I had about 30 minutes to change and dry off. I always sweat like crazy on Treadmill's. I'm not sure why. We had our 3 on 3 game at about 7:00 and then I quickly took off and headed home so I could do my 6.2 miles outside. I still hadn't had dinner and forgot that I probably needed some calories. This 6.2 miles was down outside as the sun set near Doniphan. I had Scratch labs in my Orange Mud handheld bottle for this run. Legs felt normal but I tried to be smart and take it slower to help me not burn up later in this challenge. I got back home around 9:00 from this one.

Interval 2 Fri 8PM
6.2 miles
51:40
8:17 mile




Suzi called me as she was on her way home and was going to go thru McDonalds and asked if I wanted her to bring me anything. Normally I try to eat healthy and stay away from much junk food but I was starved at this point. I promptly ordered a Big Mac, Fries, 2 Yogurt Parfaits and a Large PowerAde. Ate all that and watched a TV show waiting for 11:00 to get here to tear up Interval 3

Just a couple minutes before 11:00 I was all laced up ready to go outside and this loud thunder shook our house. I quickly grabbed my phone and looked at radar. It was a pretty strong thunderstorm over our entire area. Bummed to be on the treadmill again but grateful that I had one and was able to stay dry. Thru my headphones in and turned on Californiacation (my go to treadmill run show). The first mile of this run was the 1st time I started to feel sore in my legs. It took them about a mile to loosen up to normalcy. After that mile I tried to keep the pace at an easy effort.

Interval 3 Fri 11PM
6.2 miles
52:43
8:24/mile



I finished up interval 3 at right around midnight. I was again hungry and thirsty for something more than water. I had been drinking bottles of water pretty good during and after each run but wanted some PowerAde. I drove the 5 miles up to the 24hour interstate truck stop and bought 2 Starbucks iced coffee's. 2 PowerAde drinks a snickers a long john and some popcorn chicken. The long john & 1 PowerAde were gone before I got home. I put the 2 Starbucks in the fridge and ate the popcorn chicken and half the snickers as I waited for 2 am to get here. I kept checking the weather and it became clear that the 2Am run was going to have to be treadmill as well. I dozed off at about 1:00 and had a hard time waking up when my alarm went off at 2. one of the only things that helped me get up was thinking that if I postponed it I would not have any time between this run and the 5 am run to recoup. This run started out super tight in my thigh muscles. I almost at a fast walk for the first .5 miles. Once I got loosened up thought I put on some Netflix and was able to just sort of zone out and run.

Interval 4 Sat 2AM
6.2 miles
50:18
8:07/mile


Shortly after the 2Am run I laid down. This was really the only sleep I got the entire challenge. I slept from 3AM until 4:30. I kept waking up towards the in scared that I'd miss the 5am wake up. I was up and out the door by 5, happy to be outside. I ran the roads north of town with a headlamp. I finished this run back in town as the sun was just rising up over the corn fields. Legs never loosened up on this one, I started to worry about how the last 4 runs were going to go.

Interval 5 Sat 5AM
6.2 miles
54:32
8:46/mile


I got back from this interval at around 6AM and quickly drank 2 waters. I drank the other Starbucks iced coffee and ate a banana. I did not want to go back to sleep anymore at this point. Sleeping meant I would not get to enjoy the downtime between running and it'd feel like it was instantly time to run again. I was hungry but not ready to eat a lot of food yet. I read a little bit and rested waiting for the 8AM run to get here. I started the 8AM run a bit early and was pumped to have perfect weather and the sun back up. I ran this one on legs that felt fresh, almost as fresh as my first run. I had a beet elite drink about 30 minutes before running and a VEGA SPORT pre-workout energizer just before heading out.

Interval 6 Sat 8AM
6.2 miles
49:28
7:57/mile


After this interval I was ready to eat, I went down to the Café in town. Sat as far away from other people as possible and ordered 2 eggs, hash browns, toast and bacon. My stomach welcomed all of it except he bacon, I finished up eating and headed back to Grand Island because I had a free throw contest as a part of the Grand Island games at 12:30. Plan was to park at Stolley park and do my 11:00 run then cool down before the contest. I ran from Stolley park to a lake that has a 1 mile single track trail around it. I did that trail twice and then back to the park for interval #7. The soft trail felt so nice on my legs. I had a Skratch labs drink mix with me in my Orange Mud handheld. The sun was starting to get warm by now so hydration was getting important again. When I got back to the car I was pretty drenched in sweat. I drank a 16oz bottle of water and also had a Generation U CAN recovery protein mix & a cliff bar. I sat in the garden area of the park for about 30 minutes just relaxing. At this point, only 1 more 10K remained and I was feeling good about it.

Interval 7 Sat 11AM
6.2 miles
51:31
8:17/mile


I did the free throw contest and then headed to Jimmy Johns for a sandwich some chips and some liquid calories. I was feeling pretty good at this point. The free throw contest didn’t start till late so by the time I finished eating it was quickly time to run again. 1 thing I hate is running on a full stomach but it was the final one and I didn’t have much choice, just go out there, no waiting around. I headed out from my house on the last one feeling sluggish but legs were ok. I used the handheld water bottle again as it was sunny and warm. I did an extra .4 miles so that I could complete the challenge at 50.0 miles. I took the pace easy on this one and just tried to recap and gain whatever knowledge I could from the last 24 hours.

Interval 8 Sat 2PM
6.6 miles
56:55
8:34/mile




Total distance 50 Miles
Total Run Time 6:59:54
Average Pace 8:24/mi

Because of the "shorter" distance of each interval I was able to eat most my food during the recovery period and not while on the road. I believe this helped with digestion. I tried to always eat shortly after my run and then have the next hour to digest and get ready to run again. I didn't eat anything on the actual runs themselves, I did have some liquid calories in Skratch Labs http://www.skratchlabs.com/

Also a big thanks to Orange mud http://www.orangemud.com for keeping me hydrated during all 50 of these miles with handheld & hydration packs. Also the transition towel was a life saver changing between running and other activities so many times in the course of 24 hours.
http://www.orangemud.com/products/thewrap?variant=267603348

Rip van waffles were consumed a few times throughout the day as well. Seems like no matter what my stomach says these things always sound good. http://www.ripvanwafels.com/

For shoes I alternated between Nike Revolution & Nike Zoom Structure shoes. 50 miles and not 1 blister or hot spot. No foot problems at all, big relief there.

Big thanks to @paceonearth for organizing and developing such a neat program that I feel I will continue to use in my training as an ultra-runner. I am thinking of trying a 10K every 2 hours for 12 hours with walking in between each one next. I have come up with many different variations of this that I feel would help me gain strength in certain areas of the entire ultra-running skill set.

I spent most of Sunday morning at the lake hiking & running with Dexter. I felt bad he wasn't able to run with me during the challenge at all because of the heat and he can't go 6 miles anymore. the couple miles we did at the lake Sunday morning were perfect for him.