My training toward a sub-24-hour 100-mile race is progressing well. After my 12-hour race at the Red Barn Challenge, I decided to add another race to my 2023 calendar. I signed up for the JFK 50-Mile on November 18th. It’s the nation’s oldest ultramarathon. The official JFK50mile.org site describes the race as:
The JFK 50 Mile was first held in the spring of 1963. It was one of numerous such 50-mile events held around the country as part of President John F. Kennedy’s push to bring the country back to physical fitness.
When Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963, most of these events were never held again. The one here in Washington County, MD changed its name from the JFK 50 Mile Challenge to the JFK 50 Mile Memorial in 1964. The JFK 50 Mile in Washington County, MD is the only original JFK 50 Mile Challenge event to be held every year.
I did this race in 2020 during the covid era, when most races were canceled. I finished it but struggled over the last 20 miles because of IT band pain. “Struggled” meant I was no longer able to run and had to walk, beating the cut-off time to be an official finisher by under 15 minutes.
I’ve prepared much better this year and hope to improve my time significantly. I have done two other 50-mile efforts since 2020 and both were much faster than my first JFK finish. The race will be a good test of my current training status and will inform the work necessary between now and my March 1st 100-mile race.
That’s a long intro to my October status update. This marks my first full month of working with a coach. So far I’m loving the process and results!
Stats
40 hours of running
251 miles
22 runs
3 weight training sessions
One of those runs was the 12-hour Red Barn Challenge, which was just under 55 miles.
Having a coach-created, well-structured training plan has been game-changing for me. I don’t spend ANY time creating or updating my plan – time saved for running. I am accountable to someone else – having to tell the coach how things are going and knowing he is looking over my training log, compared to what was scheduled is motivation.
I’m feeling terrific about my progress. My long runs are still challenging but I can still work around the house/yard afterward. My back-to-back long runs (generally on Saturday and Sunday) are also getting easier. The benefit of being fat-adapted and utilizing carbohydrates strategically, as opposed to relying on them as a sole fuel source, clearly reduces the amount of stress my body endures which reduces my need to recover before training hard again.
Stay tuned for my JFK race report in a few weeks.