The subtle grin I’d been wearing for the past three miles was melting away. A sickening, yet familiar, burning sensation began radiating through my right knee. I winced at every right footfall landed on this muddy, rock-strewn, southeastern Kentucky trail.
‘Only 30 more miles to go.’
Even my thinking voice had been infiltrated with a sadistic optimism. Nowhere near the initial aid station on my first attempt at achieving ultra runner status, I was beginning to wonder if I’d finish the race, let alone meet the 11-hour cutoff.
Every Journey Starts With a Stupid Idea
Yamacraw is a 33.1 mile (50K), point-to-point ultra marathon held annually in late May near the coal mining community of Stearns, Kentucky. From old coal cart trails to rickety miner housing, the vestiges of those boom days remain, albeit obscured by time and kudzu vines. It was in these deep, shadowy hollers that seams of coal were chipped out and carted away to heat homes, stoke trains, and in general, fuel a growing United States economy at the start of the 1900s.
As natural resources were extracted from below ground, topside, throughout the rugged hills, logging began in the vast stands of virgin timber, specifically for energy-dense American chestnut trees. Today, though entrenched in rural poverty, the area abounds in natural beauty.
I had run marathons and other, shorter distance races in the past, and generally kept a 30-mile weekly cadence. Another marathon didn’t interest me, but the Yamacraw Ultra was on my friend Melissa’s bucket list. When she told me about it in October of 2021, the sheer scale of the race, combined with the off-road course struck a chord with me. This wasn’t just another running event; it was an endurance adventure that would force me to find a new level of performance, and if successful, I’d earn the coveted title of ultra runner. It also seemed a little stupid.
Me Lobe Yoy Long Tim
Like other major endurance events, the hardest part is arriving on race day trained up and uninjured. If you get those two things right, your body and training typically take care of the rest. I began ultra training in the cold, snow, and ice of a St. Louis January, with the occasional 60-degree slush-run day thrown in. I’d log three, eight-mile days during the week, interspersed with strength training, then hit my long runs on Sunday afternoons after church.
Those long runs started out at 13 miles and increased as the weeks went on. Sometimes I’d throw on my plate carrier (20 pound weighted vest) to build leg strength and stamina. Knowing the elevation profile of Yamacraw included 4,300 feet of climbing, the long runs needed to mirror that. Flat, smooth trails just wouldn’t cut it.
Early on, my big distance days were on the Al Foster Trail and the Chubb Trail. Then, as my long runs approached and peaked at marathon distance, I opted for the extremely rocky and never-flat Greenrock Trail.
Fueling to Go the Distance
These longer efforts would burn around 3,000 calories and since they were unsupported, required I heft all the food, water, and electrolytes needed on my person in an endurance vest. Selecting the right one took some time, but I landed on the Salomon ADV Skin.
My typical nutrition loadout consisted of:
- One bottle of Endura-Formance (grape)
- One bottle of Intra-Formance (lemon-lime)
- 2 liter reservoir of water
- 1 Level-1 bar
- 1 packet of Hydration Stick (strawberry, duh)
- 2 flasks of Hammer Gel (hazelnut)
- 3 salt packets
- 1 banana
- 1 PB&J sandwich (that would turn into a wad before I ate it)
- An assortment of random candy my kids cached in the house
- 2 scoops of Phormula-1 rapid assimilation protein with 1 scoop of Ignition for the post-run recovery. I’d freeze this drink and it’d be melted but still cold once I got back to the truck.
Talk about putting on some extra weight! I estimate my pack weighed in around 10 pounds at the start of my run. The silver lining is that it would just get lighter as I went. As a runner, it helps to be an optimist.
Podcasts, music, and texts from friends and family were my company on these long, stark, and solitary epics in the barren woods. As the distances grew, so did the time commitment. It wasn’t uncommon for me to be on the trail for upwards of six hours at a time.
Early on, I was logging my long runs on Sundays after church, but when these adventures waned into the chilly twilight of early spring, I decided to reschedule them to Saturdays when I could get an earlier start and not have to worry about packing a headlamp.
Training By the Numbers
You may find the training stats fascinating, or death. I’ll quickly segment them for you like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book.
Here’s what my five months of training amounted to:
- 600+ running miles
- 43,600 feet climbed
- 77,167 calories burned
- 102 hours, 19 minutes spent running
We now return to your regularly scheduled narrative.
Lifting to Go the Distance
Running wasn’t the only aspect of training for Yamacraw, however. Strength and flexibility are crucial to a runner, especially when the course is off-road and involves covering rugged terrain. The goal is to be durable.
For me, that meant five or so lifting sessions per week at the gym, augmented with alternate days of lifting at home. Mixed into that matrix were stretching and sessions of foam rolling. Again, strong AND flexible. One without the other would leave me too prone to injury or ill-prepared, facing a dreaded Did-Not-Finish (DNF) on race day.
Making Macros Count
With the increased mileage and weight-training schedules, my daily nutrition needed an intervention to fuel my body appropriately. Normally, my daily macro-nutrient (proteins/carbs/fats) profile is as follows.
During training, I increased all of my macros. It may not seem like that big of a jump, but I wasn’t logging nutrition during my run. That was usually a net zero equation. I actually gained about five pounds during this time. Due to careful attention to protein, most of that added weight was muscle, and mostly in my lower half.
I tracked all of my nutrition and workouts in the 1st Phorm app. Even when I’m not in training mode, it’s the basis for my general nutrition and fitness regimen.
There were many days I didn’t want to step out into the cold to train. Days I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of the gym. Nights I would have rather gone to sleep than go downstairs and workout. But my desire to become an ultra runner was stronger than my temporary displeasure for training. I wanted to show up on race day well-prepared for the test.
Ready for more? Catch Part II of this epic journey to ultra runner status titled, You’ll Blow Your Knees Out! Something really bad happened!
You must log in to post a comment.