joelrunyon

Hey Robby,

I think it has a lot to do with not being inspired. Inspiration isn't anything, but there's something to be said about having a bigger vision that the every day work is building towards. If your entire existence is built around grinding it out and doing regular, normal stuff, then I think it's natural to get bored, tired or give up when it's hard.

I think finding a bigger reason why those regular things are important is the first step.

It was a 10k loop that we ran 10 times (100k total).

I think it was the last ultra in Antarctica actually as the race is being closed down after this year (there were only 9 of us and the race organizer running).

My setup was pretty basic - base layer, mid layer and wind layer up top and no mid layer down low. The hardest part is actually staying cool enough as if you start to sweat too much - THAT's when you run into problems. They say if you're out in Antarctica "if you sweat, you die", because the wind gets so cold when it hits the sweat.

As for total temperatures, Finland was actually colder, but the wind in Antarctica was a difference-maker.

I think my best lap mile was like 9ish? There's 62 of them, so the hardest part (especially at first) is making sure you don't go out too hard and crash at the end.

When I first started running, I was literally running 1 mile at a time.

I never liked running and never had run more than a 5k before I started triathlons.

I did mostly baby steps. One race here, one race there. Build on each fitness level and listen to my body. It takes time, but the key is to START.

If you can do a marathon, you can do a 50k.

Sign up for your normal marathon, do your normal training. Don't try to KILL your marathon time though. Then, two weeks later, go do a 50k.

The fitness level is the same - you just need to change your mentality.

After 50k though, you'll see if you have a taste for ultras. If you do, then the longer distance training is a bit more complicated (but completely doable if you're already running marathons)

Doing so many of them back-to-back.

After the Finland race, I thought I broke my foot. After spending all day in the hospital, the nice Finnish nurse heard what I did, shook her head and said "you work it too hard."