One veteran Ironman triathlete's venture into the ultramarathon realm where there are seemingly no limits to human endurance. Any triathlete who is interested in doing an ultramarathon should check here for tips and advice. For workouts leading to a successful finish at the Vermont 100 Mile Ultramarathon, you can find daily workouts at http://joegoldschedule.blogspot.com

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Real Man Workouts for the Ultra Athlete: 15 x 2 Mile Intervals on the Track

I've done some interesting things in training in the past. Some of these challenges that I actually did are not for the faint of heart. But I always challenge myself in unusual ways. I always try to consider the unthinkable and try to do them.

What I'm going to do is to post some of the things I actually did 10-15 years ago, and things that I might try to do again next year. This will be an ongoing series, and this will be the first. Care to try your luck on this one?

ON THE TRACK: 15 x 2 Mile Intervals every 18 minutes. 30 miles total. This one took me less than 5 hours to pull off. Heck, it's only 120 laps on a 400 meter track, right?

WHAT DROVE ME TO DO THIS?: I was part of a running club that was practicing for a half-marathon. I was training for a 50 mile ultra and decided to show some people up. I am one arrogant SOB when it comes to distance, so I entertained this thought and brought it up to the runners a week before. One of them challenged me and bet me 3 beers that I couldn't do it. Weelllllll, when beer is brought into the equation, how can I resist!

I started with the group who were *only* doing mile intervals (what a bunch of wimps, right? ;-). They finished their "puny" workouts by the time I started my 4rd interval; most of them hung around and made an event of this as I finished interval after interval. At around the 10th interval, I was really feeling stiff, but the luring taste of beer was enough motivation to move on. I hit a major surge on the last 2 intervals and finished quite strong.

Let's just say the beer tasted very good!

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