Editors note* This recap is long, but entertaining and well worth the read.
Background: Michael Withrow and Alex Campbell are two Nof1 Athletes from Hilton Head. They decided to run the Bronze Dragonfly 24 Hour Ultra with the goal of completing 100 miles in 24 hours. The race took place on a 1.4 loop around Lake Mayer in Savannah, GA on April 29th. The following is Alex’s recap.
Training
Training for an ultra is boring. That’s a feature, not a bug. Sure, you need back to back long runs on weekends, 100 mile weeks and runs in the dark but the most important thing? Put yourself in situations where you don’t want to run, and then go out and run. The more time you spend running when you hate running, the better prepared you’ll be.
At the beginning of a training cycle, Tony highlights the workout that is what I call the “apex of the cycle”. It is the final training session or workout before your taper that essentially tells you whether you’re ready or not. Everything else in the plan builds to this. For this ultra prep, Tony laid out a diabolical weekend of 5 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours starting at 4p on Friday, and this would take place on the back end of two 100 mile weeks. (Note: this is a twist on David Goggins’ 4x4x48 challenge. Tony added an extra mile because he’s a lunatic. I’ll refer to it as the modified Goggins Challenge from here on out.) If we could get through this, we’d be ready for 100 in 24.
I was coming off a marathon in December, with some nagging Achilles tendinitis. This forced me to take a light January, with the plan to ramp things back up in February. This was an expedited block, but I had built a solid base in the Fall that gave me confidence in the plan.
Starting with ~50 mile weeks, we’d slowly add mileage onto our weekend runs (peaking around 30 miles) until we were comfortably hitting 70-80 mile weeks. By mid March, we’d hit back to back 100 mile weeks with Saturday/Sunday marathons on the first weekend and the modified Goggins challenge on the second weekend. Simple right?
Given the heavy volume on the weekends, our weekday runs were typically 6-10 miles of low intensity.
After a de-load week in early March, we were staring down the 100-100 weeks. These weeks also had comparatively light weekdays with heavier volume on the weekends. The detailed breakdown of these weeks has been provided below.
At 4p on Friday, Michael, Tony and I starting the modified Goggins challenge. The challenge was anything but easy, the first 3 runs were hot and humid, the next 9 were cold and rainy. In between each run, we battled Tony’s snoring, and inconsistent sleep. By the end of the weekend, we had successfully gotten to a point where we hated running. I guess we were ready?
Moving into the taper, I was encouraged by how the legs were responding. No real aches or pains revealed themselves as my body seemed to respond to the added recovery. In the 3 weeks before the race, we hit 70 miles, 45 miles and then 15 miles. I was able to turn my focus onto preparing for 24 hours of unknown. I spent the better part of a week loading up on medical supplies, groceries, snacks etc. By the time April 28th came around, I think I was the most organized I’d ever been in my life.
Race Day
Finally here it was. Race day, April 29th. The start was set for 7:30a, but due to some technical issues, the official start was delayed until 7:50a. My singular focus for the first chunk of the race was nutrition. Consuming adequate calories, and staying hydrated was the key to maintaining fitness through the entire event. In my mind, there was no such thing as consuming too much food and water early. Every loop, I made sure to get water and at least some fruit, with more solid food being consumed every 2-3 loops. The plan seemed to be working as I felt strong.
Once noon rolled around, the sun was high and humidity had built significantly. I ran outside the path along the treeline to stay in the shade, adding distance but avoiding the intense heat. I knew these little advantages would pay dividends. Still, around 30 miles in, the heat was beginning to wear me down. This is where Tony forced me to put a hat on. “Squinting in the sun makes your brain think you are more tired that you are.” Now I don’t know if there is science behind that, but I am now a firm believer. I felt an increase in energy almost immediately and was able to cruise for most of the afternoon. Due to a recommendation from another runner and in a rare moment of being able to put my ego aside, I added in short intervals of walking to use different muscles and maintain energy.
Around the 11 hour mark, dark clouds converged and whispers of severe weather began spreading. The skies opened up and a steady rain began to fall. And then an air horn… a lightning delay. I got back to our tent to ride out the delay, and was faced with the brutal reality that the difference between a good day and a bad day sits on a razor’s edge in ultra running. My training partner, Michael’s stomach had not been cooperating with him early on, and he was unable to hold down adequate nutrition. His corpse was heaped onto a lawn chair with his girlfriend, Bailey feeding him mashed potatoes. The man that had done more volume, and had more experience than me was going through the darkest of times. It was a brutal reminder that you can do everything right, and race day might still not be your day.
Once the race resumed, I went through the 12 hour mark with ~64 miles. A good start, but there was too much unknown in the back half to celebrate. My first blip occurred at mile 72, when the steady rain and constant movement culminated with a blister on my right foot. I sat down to remove my socks and shoes, and let Bailey and Ron (absolute saints for dealing with my disgusting feet) cut open, clean and bandage the blister. After that short break, I took off again with new, dry socks and shoes.
I’m a big believer in positive body language. If you look tired, you’ll be tired. If you look strong and comfortable, you’ll be strong and comfortable. By mile 85, I had kept this demeanor and it was working. Then a dangerous thought ambushed me. I didn’t know it at the time but “I’m almost there” is a death sentence. By the back half of an ultra, 15 miles will take around 3 hours so no, you dumb ass, you’re not almost there. Lesson learned as those last 15 miles dragged on. That little bit of lost focus bothers me. It bothers me more than it probably should. I still have this thought that I played it too safe. That I could have pushed a little harder. These are the thoughts that keep you coming back.
I am damn proud to say that I was able to complete 102.4 miles in 20 hours and 17 minutes. This was enough to win the 2023 Bronze Dragonfly 24 Hour Ultra.
And that lifeless body at the halfway point? That motherfucker grinded out his 100 miles too, in one of the most bad ass, inspired efforts I’ve ever seen. Delirium, convulsions, nausea, cramping. With a flip of a coin, that could have been me. The vast majority of people would have quit and climbed into their warm, comfortable beds. I have no idea if I’d have been able to hold on, but Michael is one of the last true savages. That race wanted its pound of flesh, and Michael refused to break. “The cowards never started, the weak died along the way. That leaves us.”
Thankful
When NASA was staffing the Apollo missions, a key attribute they wanted outside of the requisite expertise was youth. They wanted young, brash aeronautical engineers that didn’t know that what they were attempting was impossible.
know that what they were attempting was impossible. I always loved this story. It is a reminder of the world in which we live. One that has a way of tamping down expectations. An endless parade of people willing to tell you that your goals are out of reach. We’re born dreamers, and then we slowly settle for mediocrity because we’re too X, Y and Z.
We obsess over what differentiates us, and conclude that these are constraints. But the same things that separate you from those that have succeeded also separate you from those that have failed.
2 years ago, I was stuck in a mindset that was clouded by constraints: I was too big and too inexperienced to accomplish much in the running world. I was comfortable with bite sized goals.
Then I ran into a group of guys that were pursuing what looked like mythical feats to me. 100 milers, sub 3 hour marathons in Chicago, 40 years between sub 3 hour marathons. That wasn’t what comfortable looked like. It was a mindset I was drawn to immediately, and I jumped in with them hoping that just a little bit of that would rub off on me.
It didn’t take long for my new friends to tell me that my comfortable bite-sized goals weren’t crazy enough. I had found a group where my biggest doubter was me. Friends like these are rare, and I don’t know what I did to deserve them.
Tony is a wealth of running knowledge. A master at making dynamic training plans that maximize your potential and get you ready for whatever crazy target you set.
Ron is guaranteed to shift your mindset in a single conversation. He absolutely loves the grind and work of a training cycle. When you’re hurting, Ron somehow makes you appreciate the moment.
Michael is a bad ass training partner. Early mornings, track workouts, long runs in the heat, it doesn’t matter. He shows up (albeit a little late) and somehow makes the whole thing enjoyable.
On paper, this group makes no sense. A 57 year old from Pittsburgh, a 46 year old from New Jersey, a 37 year old from Western PA and a 28 year old from Philly shouldn’t gel like this. But if you catch us on a run, you’d think we’ve known each other our entire lives. I love this group. They’ve pushed me to be better than I could have ever imagined. I’m eternally grateful.
Excited for what’s next!
Special thanks to John Tolerton for pulling me through the last few miles, Bailey for cheering every time through camp, Greg for bringing me Chick-fil-A, my parents for their endless support, Beckett for driving Mike and I home after the race, and the entire team at Bronze Dragonfly for an awesome event.
N of 1 Running 