Monday Shakeout: Going long

Managing adversity and miles on tired legs

One of the main differences between ultra training and traditional marathon prep is stacking long runs with short recovery windows. For example, last week I did two 20-milers with one day of rest in between outings. That kind of workload would have seemed insane back in my road running days, but there’s a difference between methodically hammering out mile after mile on roads and covering long distances in the woods. 

Everything changes on dirt – from pacing to caloric needs to time on feet. The biggest challenge? Staying in a proper head space to manage the occasional big problems that come with running big miles. As I recently rediscovered, experiencing adversity is all part of the training package.