Most definitely. I love a few of them, as they feel directly related to what my approach has been since I got into this a bit five years ago.BassNBrew said:
Consider the Stress of Everyday Life and Don't Overdo It seem directly related IMO, and even tie a bit into Be Realistic About Your Goals and Expectations and Don't Take it Too Seriously. These four things have in essence formed the core of my approach. I recognize that I'm a bit of an oddity in terms of likely being on the very low end of training mileage for running ultras, but it's been an approach that's been manageable for me from the perspective of needing to balance running with all other life obligations. It's not easy to run 70-100 miles per week and balance that with full time employment, raising children, staying in touch with friends, and being a good spouse. So I don't, and in peak training I'm still likely only in the 35-40 mile per week range with a focus on the weekend long run(s). Could I find/make the time to run more? I think so and hope to do so some day, but at this point in my life running more miles would likely be at the expense of sleep or one of the above things that I deem more important for myself and my family. And because of that, I know I'm not going to be hitting the podium and setting course records. (Nor will I ever be, no matter how much I train.
) And that's ok with me, because that's not what I'm in this for. So I believe I'm mostly realistic in my goals and objectives and definitely don't take it too seriously, as I still don't consider myself a "runner." Be Progressive just makes too much sense. Jumping from 5-10K's to 100 milers too quickly seems like a surefire way to put undue stress on your body. I went from a spring 50K to a fall 50 miler, to a year off from ultras, to a spring 50 miler to a fall 100 mile. So my 50K to 100 mile progression was over 2.5 years.
As much as you are able, Prepare for the Technicality of the Course is no doubt excellent advice. If you're able to train on the specific terrain (per the author, "soft, grassy, hard, or rocky"), then that will definitely aid you in getting dialed in for a race and better understanding what challenges that terrain may present physically, with gear, etc. But I'd argue that training for the specificity of the course (flat, ascending, descending, hot, cold, at elevation, etc) is more important than what the terrain is. If you're running a race with lots of vertical, then train as much vertical as you can. If it's a hot course, try to heat train. And I believe Duck has gone into some of the benefits of periodization, where you progress to the last phase where your training more mimics the race event.
Finally, working on physical, mental, and technical preparation to Train Each Element seems common sense. Obviously the better prepared you are from a physical standpoint, the more you envision and prepare for how the race may play out and what challenges may fall throughout, and the better prepared you are for the technical/specificity of the course, the better your chances to succeed at that race are.
So, I'm curious...did you hit that point during your race this weekend of "no effing way I'm signing up for another one of these" and if so, have you already figured out what 100 you're signing up for next?
Whatever it may be, looking forward to it!
