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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Ultramarathons For Lazy Runners: A Guide to Becoming a Back-of-the-Pack Ultrarunner

Prologue

I admit it.  I'm a lazy runner.  Some of my fellow runners are "type A" runners.  If they do not run X miles on any given day, they are crippled with shame, guilt, and anxiety.  I'm not like that.  I have the ability to talk myself out of any training run.  I have the ability to work hard some time, but not all the time.  I also love running ultramarathons.  The result- I am constantly experimenting to find the shortest, easiest route to the finish line.  This idea sprouted another- why not make a guide to share my accumulated lessons... a guide to help other lazy runners accomplish their goal of running crazy distances with minimal effort!  

Over the next few weeks or so, I will write about specific topics from training to hydration to post-race recovery and all the topics in between.  To be clear- I am not a good runner.  I am not fast.  I don't aspire to be the best.  I just like to challenge that little voice that resides in each of us.  My competition is my own being telling me that I cannot continue.  This journey won't make you a good runner.  It will however give you some great insight to dabbling in the world of ultramarathons.  If you aspire to escape the doldrums of the standard marathons but face challenges of limited time, resources, or motivation, this collection of blog posts will be perfect for you!

If any readers have specific ultra-related topics you'd like me to discuss, add it to the comments section. I'll add it to my list of "ultrarunning essentials".

5 comments:

  1. I've always been curious about how does one know if a pain is real = injury or is brain's trick to stop running. Ultramarathoners often write about pains that vanished after certain time.

    Then I wonder where do such people find motivation to keep on training. I mean training for a marathon is quite an undertaking. I can't even imagine how much more it takes to train for an ultra.

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  2. This is going to be great Jason! Just what I am looking for! I too am a lazy runner, well just lazy for the most part running or otherwise. I appreciate relaxation to a huge extent! I usually have to really talk myself into training. Once I am doing it I am good to go but the starting is so hard :)

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  3. I think after a many years of running you can tell the difference between injury and tiredness. Overall soreness when I'm running is okay, knee hurting on one side could be bad. But everyone has there own tolerences. I consider myself a lazy runner also but have done a few ultra's. But I'd rather not run long miles day after day. I guess it just comes down to setting a challenge or goal and working for it,, after the race then back to 6 mile long run :)

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  4. Nice! I think there's a lot of people who enjoy running and running races without the need to compete. That's what makes the sport so cool. You can take what you want from any event and leave the rest.

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