MOVE: August 8, 2014

Can Ordinary People Really Do Extraordinary Things?  We say YES.

Spoiler Summary: Ever wonder what your limits are? Ever wonder what the result would be if you ever really tried to find out?  Us too.....so we asked Nick Pfaff, who just finished his first 100 mile ultramarathon, to answer one simple question.....   

Q: What were you thinking?

When I’ve told people over the last few years that I planned to run a 100 mile race, they responded with questions that became almost predictable:

First (clarification) - “Wait...did you say one hundred miles?  As in One-Zero-Zero...I don’t even like to drive that far”

Second (confusion) - “Why?”

Third through Fifth (concern) - “How do you train for that? Do you eat?  Do you sleep?”

Only now, with last weekend's race behind me and happily wearing the title of "100 mile finisher" do I feel fully qualified to confidently answer. Not-so-coincidentally, the answer to these questions, which really boil down to "how do you ENDURE?", is the same human element formula we talk about all the time: ENDURE = MOVE + FUEL + RECOVER, but here's how it shook out for me:

Answers 1 and 2 - YES, I did say 100 miles, and I do realize it sounds crazy to most people; honestly this is one reason why I did it.  The first time I’d heard of humans willingly participating in 100 mile races I too was someone who believed it was crazy and likely impossible for average people like me to complete.  This was the type of stuff that only happened in the movies, like when Forest Gump ran across the country, “stupid is as stupid does” I suppose.  However, since everyday I try to convince people that they can do the impossible, such as eating healthy while working overtime hours, exercising despite a busy family life, or getting more sleep even though there’s an endless list of other things that HAVE to get done, it was a great way to show that such things are hard no doubt, but possible. If you really want to do them you can, just like running 100 miles continuously - not easy, but possible - and that’s what I hoped to convey.

Answer 3 - How do I train? - In all fairness, my training has taken roughly 4 years, and it’s one of the things I am most proud of.  When I got it in my head to run 100 miles, I put together a 4 year plan that included training for and completing a series of longer and longer races each year.  I was able to train for and complete 4 marathons, a 50k, 3 fifty-milers, a 100k, and a 100 miler despite getting married, becoming a partner in a company, buying a new house, moving, having my first child, and helping to raise my (now) 11 month old daughter.  It was a lot, it wasn’t always easy, it took a lot of compromise and communication with my spouse, family, friends, and colleagues (what we refer to as CONNECT), but in the most simple terms, it was with a plan that I stuck to.

Physically, training isn’t all that much more than training for a marathon.  There really is no way to physically train your body to go 100 miles without your body breaking down, so  you train your body to a certain point and then train your mind to not give up.  The most intense my training ever got was completing long runs (15 to 30 miles) on back to back days (Sat/Sun) in addition to scheduled long races in the middle of training.  For me it was about consistency, I ran 4 days per week nearly every week, for close to 4 years.

Answer 4 - Do I Eat? - Yes, running 100 miles is less about your muscles being strong enough to go that far and mostly about fueling your muscles to keep going....that long.  Leading up to the race I decided to make a switch to Vegan eating giving up all meat, eggs, fish, and dairy because there is some strong research that shows better recovery and lower inflammatory effect from a plant-based diet.  I found it amazing how my body responded, giving me what felt like endless endurance.  I’d go for a 30 mile training run in the morning and still have the energy to come home, play with my daughter, go for a walk with my wife, and complete the yard work.  Once again, it wasn’t easy, especially during graduation parties and other gatherings, but it was doable.....and I learned that chips and guacamole can be a vegan’s best friend.

In regards to race-fuel, there are aid stations set up every 4 to 7 miles with plenty of food and fluids.  As long as I could get the right balance of calories, water, and electrolytes everything would be steady.

Answer 5 - Do I sleep? - During the race...No...which goes against everything I believe in, but since just as in life, sometimes we are presented with situations that require tapping into our reserves a little bit, my plan was to build my reserves to make sure I was prepared. For about a week before the race I slept as much as I could - banking around 8 to 9 hours a night in prep for my 28 hour adventure as lack of rest can leave a racer very vulnerable, a lesson I almost learned the hard way.

The Friday leading up to race-day I made a pot of coffee which requires 3 scoops for 1 full pot - unfortunately, I went with my home-formula and used 10 scoops and spent the day a nauseous, anxious mess....and the night wide awake as I lay in bed lamenting a mistake that was “surely to cost me that race.”

With 3 hours of sleep, I was up, ready for the race, and on my way to the starting line to make the 5 AM gun time.  However, when prepared, the body is not a weak machine and aside from a couple moments in the middle of the night where I found my eyes shutting while I was running/walking, the fatigue didn’t hit me until after the finish.

In the end, I had 3 goals for the race:

1. Survive - if situations arose that were life threatening, I’d have to stop
2. Finish - get to the finish line in under the 30 hour cutoff time - crawling if necessary
3. Run Fast - finish the race in one day’s time - less than 24 hours

Although I failed to achieve my last goal, I did complete the 100 mile course (turned out closer to 105 miles - a dirty trick I thought) in just under 28 hours.  It was the hardest single event I’d ever completed in my life - mentally more than physically.

However challenges have a funny way of making you appreciate the world around you - I got to see a sunrise, a sunset, and then another sunrise all in one race....and with any luck my story can show people that not everything that seems impossible actually is.

Have a great weekend,

Nick Pfaff