I Ran 120 Miles Last Week — The Hardest Part Wasn’t the Running

Last week, I ran the most miles I’ve ever run — 120. It is part of the journey of being a 2:34 marathoner training for the Olympic Trials in 2032. I was having a slower work period as a lawyer, so I could devote more time to training. I average 100 miles a week, but I do it more methodically and smarter than before.

Instead of running 100 miles every week, I run 85 miles, then 100, then 105, then 110, or some kind of staircase ascension. That plan was deterred a bit by a weak second week where I had a lot going on and only ran 91 miles, and so I did what I tell many runners not to do: I compensated and ran 120 miles.

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Screenshot from the author

I wanted to see if I could run 120 miles first, because it would have sounded crazy to me even a year ago. I have run 110 miles a few times before; it was tiring and time-consuming, but I had no issues.

To get to 120 miles, I added an extra run and a few miles to other runs. I ran twice a day five times in the week, and I had a hard workout and a hard long run sprinkled somewhere in between.

It required a lot of time management, fueling, nutrition, and discipline, as it usually does, and I was slightly more tired than I normally was, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. I know it is weeks like that which will take me one step closer to qualifying for the Olympic Trials in 2032 and running a 2:16 marathon.

Instead of the process of running 100+ miles, I wanted to talk about a much less sexy aspect of running so much — the logistics.

I learned that at this point of embracing high mileage, the running is the easy part; the hidden logistics are the difficult ones.

Laundry

I’m sure a lot of us have gym shirts we can cycle in and out for exercise, but running shorts are very expensive. Thus, I probably cycle 10 to 12 pairs of shorts, and I try not to go through the trouble of buying more. Running shorts are unique in having built-in splits for stride length and built-in liners to prevent chafing (although I often get frustrated at the lack of pockets).

To be fair, a runner does not need running shorts. I also use half-tights and basketball shorts, and sometimes get made fun of for running in them. This has always been historically enough — I could do laundry once every week and a half or so if I needed to cycle through them frequently, which wasn’t too bad.

With running over 100 miles many weeks, however, I have to do laundry once a week, if not more frequently. It’s hard to do laundry this often with a busy schedule — it racks up the bill on detergent, and I try not to think about the utility bill either.

It’s summer, and I live in a humid region of the country, so the clothes get very sweaty and can smell after my summer runs, which makes the constant laundry more important, but it is more high maintenance.

Weather

Running 120 miles in the winter versus 120 miles in the summer are two completely different things. One-hundred twenty miles in the winter is easier because I don’t have to deal with heat and humidity, and I don’t have to worry as much about hydration. I once ran 41 miles in the winter without drinking water once — not recommended, but I could get away with it since it was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Last week, I ran in conditions of wildfire smoke and intense humidity; our region of the United States had wildfire smoke come in from Canada. I largely avoided the smoke, but I ran early one day when the smoke was present and could feel it getting worse over the course of the run. This relegated me to two consecutive days of running on the treadmill.

However, the humidity was the true killer. There were days when it was so humid I had to take breaks every four or five miles into the run. As much as I tried to beat the heat and get out the door early, sometimes the whole day was humid.

I did one run when it was 100 degrees, and there was an extreme heat warning — it actually was not that bad because the weather was dry overall, and I took the precautions of hydrating and cutting the run short. Running in the summer takes constant calibration of expectations and adjustment, and this was even more important as the cumulative stressors of the weather accumulated.

Hunger

Running as much as I was, I was losing quite a few calories and had to plan meals around eating twice a day. I am known for eating quite a lot and often get my money’s worth at all-you-can-eat outings and buffets, so this is usually not something I struggle with.

I often get comments from people who are surprised that I’m skinny when I eat so much — although I weigh more than people think since my calves and quads have built a fair bit of muscle from running.

However, when I am burning more than 1,000 calories a day every day and around 3,000 on days I do my long runs, I need more calories to compensate for the amount I’m losing. I weighed myself a month ago, a month and a half into my 100 miles per week journey — it was slight, but I had lost two pounds since the last time I weighed myself.

Screenshot from the author on Strava

My weight has been more or less the same for several years, but that was a sign that my caloric intake was not enough for how much I was running. It was not for lack of trying — I eat when hungry and often target menu items with more, not fewer, calories while eating out. I don’t track calories, and because of running and likely my youth (29 years old), I eat whatever I want when I feel like it.

However, that meant I had to be a bit more intentional about snacking and eating breakfast. Since then, I have adjusted, but 120 miles instead of 100 miles meant I had to think about eating more than I was.

Fatigue

It is no surprise that I’m tired after running 120 miles a week. Even on a down week of 85 miles, I often need more sleep than most people. I have a very busy schedule, but I usually cannot get away with averaging seven hours of sleep per day.

Besides the time, running that much takes a massive toll on energy for the rest of the week. It takes sleep, but it also takes a commensurate amount of nutrition. I had to plan double run days around less intense periods of work for that reason as well. The double runs usually got easier if I could sleep in between my first and second runs.

Again, this is not always possible, but I had to catch up on sleep over the weekend since it was harder to get the amount of sleep I wanted during the week.

Shoes

The general rule is to switch out shoes every 300 to 500 miles. Consistently running around 100 miles a week means I’m technically supposed to change shoes almost every month. However, I don’t do that. I don’t have a particularly good reason — running shoes are just way too expensive, and it would not be the economically most feasible choice.

New running shoes five or six years ago went for around $100. Now, I look online and see new shoes go for around $150, so I do what I can to save money — I will look for deals or go on eBay to find older, barely used versions of the shoes I want, but this is yet another high cost of running that I have to pay to chase an Olympic Trials qualifier.

But I still cycle through shoes a lot faster than most people, even if I stretch some to 700 miles or more. I need to switch my training shoes at least once every two and a half months at the latest.

I had a lot of fun running 120 miles a week. It was a feat I didn’t know if I would hit, but it broke down a mental wall. I also worried I would increase my risk of injury, which I probably did, but it was fine as long as I slowed down on my runs and took stretching seriously.

But it was also a challenge that I could not replicate in a significantly busier week. The running was hard at times, but I got through it. The harder part was the upkeep that wasn’t related to running, which could be expensive, time-consuming, and significantly more boring.

These parts of long-distance running are an analogy for how to improve in running itself. It’s boring, not sexy, and tedious. That’s how a lot of the journey is. Many people look at workouts and long runs as the key to fast improvement.

But even for elite marathoners, the fundamentals of consistent mileage and upkeep are as, if not more, important. I can imagine this is only amplified for triathletes. It’s the boring, behind-the-scenes work that moves the needle.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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