I’ve been an off and on again runner since high school. I ran the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in 2003. I last ran a half marathon in 2009 in St. Catharines, Ontario. That was followed by a handful of 5k runs before pretty much hanging up the running shoes completely.
About a year ago, I was still under the impression that I would never again run long distance. I was about to turn 52 and I was relatively fit but every attempt at running seemed to bring some sort of injury.
But then, October came and I embarked on my lifestyle shift that would see me lose nearly 60 lbs in a matter of months. I started running in January. With the help of the weight loss, Wim Hof Method style breathwork and fasting, I was able to accelerate my mileage gain and was soon running more than I really had ever before.
Kids Back To School
I feel I’m now on a journey toward ultrarunning type distances. I run injury free and, I would even say pain free. With the kids finally back to school this week after being home since March due to COVID-19 school shutdowns, I was able to get out and put in a worry free run for as long as I wanted.
But, where to go? I have a running pack but I don’t really like wearing it. I run 12-15km somewhat often without water or food. But, going beyond? I need at least water.
Fortunately, there’s a park about ten minutes from my house called Upper Credit Conservation Area. The trails are short – a full loop is about 3.5k. However, down the road a short distance is another set of trails in the town of Alton.
What I did was park at Upper Credit (or as my family calls it, Dog Shit Park). Their parking lot is right on the highway which gave me an aid station (my car) conveniently located between the two sets of trails.
I looped Upper Credit to start then headed up a gravel road to enter the Alton trails from the far south end. After running north through those trails, I headed back for an ‘extended’ loop through Upper Credit – basically doing a figure eight to up the distance. At this point, 20k was definitely in reach so I hit the road and did an out and back to the actual town of Alton.
How Did I Feel?
I felt amazing. Simple as that. I could have gone longer and definitely thought about it. The varying terrain from single track trail to gravel road to paved highway shoulder and sidewalks seemed to keep my legs and mind fresh. There is a stretch at Upper Credit that, I believe, follows an old rail bed. It is still quite uneven and bumpy where rail ties used to be. That section was the only section that was a little hard to keep a steady rhythm.
I should mention that this run was done on an empty stomach. In fact, I hadn’t eaten since 3pm the day before and had a full strength training workout at night. I started running just after 9am. I did stop for water at each pass of my vehicle but did not break the fast until 2pm, nearly 24 hours after last eating.
I do also need to mention that I did not get in a full breathwork session before the run. However, the first thing I did upon returning home was do 5 rounds of the Wim Hof Method. I can’t emphasize how much this does for my recovery.
Oh, one more thing, I did the whole run doing nasal breathing on the inhale and exhaling mostly through my mouth.
Where Do I Go From Here?
For a while, I had faith in going beyond 10km training runs but didn’t feel it happening physically. Then, as the summer went by, I started stretching to 11, 12 and even further than 14k with relative ease.
Doing 20 seemed to open up a new realm of possibilities for me. Recently, I’ve watched a lot on ultrarunning. At the start, it was nothing more than a fantasy to think that I could put in 100km or more. Now, I believe that those distances are within my reach. In fact, I believe there’s nothing that is beyond my reach.
I will simply continue to go further. Interestingly, my goal all along was to go further but not necessarily faster. The side effect of going further is an increase in speed without a noticeable increase in effort.
I believe that continuing to practice the pillars of my lifestyle shift, this body (and mind) can pretty much do anything…
Find Me On Twitter
I’ve repurposed one of my Twitter accounts to share my running accomplishments at. You can connect with me here: Tom Samworth on Twitter .
Optimum Health. Optimum Travel. 