I want to expand on the last piece I wrote on courage and goals, and talk about some of the traps that endurance racing can set for athletes looking to push their limits. That piece makes the case that aggressive goals are important because they force your ego to adapt, and that maintaining a flexible identity requires you to get good at setting goals. Goal-setting is hard, and an endurance race’s finish line is as good a goal as any to start with. ...
This post is about courage and failure, and how to think about success or failure when the objective is difficult. Aaron Steele’s 2014 Leadville 100 race report is one of the more honest and inspiring race reports I’ve read. Leadville is a brutal, high altitude 100 mile running race in Colorado. The race was Aaron’s first ultra-marathon DNF, or "Did Not Finish", out of dozens of ultras. You can tell from the post that the experience scared him: ...
Last weekend, I raced the Leadville Trail 100 for the second time. Last year’s race was physically brutal; I sat curled up at the 50 mile point, 11 pounds light and unable to keep down fluids, for almost two hours before rallying and banging out a strong second half for a finish of 26:15 (strava report). That race earned me the silver belt buckle awarded to all finishers under 30 hours: ...
This past weekend I ticked off one of my athletic life goals; the Leadville Trail 100, a brutal 100 mile running race in Colorado. I signed up for Leadville this May after a team injury forced our boat out of the 2013 Texas Water Safari, a 262 mile canoe race down in Texas that is my usual ultra-length torture for the year. Less than three months is less training than recommended for a hundred miler, but what the hell. Rational thinking never led anyone to a successful hundred mile finish. ...