My journey from ‘someone who runs’ to ‘ultra-runner’.
Where to start? I suppose the best place to start is looking at the reason ‘Why?’.
Why do I want to do this? Why do I want this to be part of my journey? I mean, it doesn’t have to be, I’m choosing to do this, no one is forcing me to do it. The thought of it terrifies me, the pain and suffering involved in training for, and participating in, such an event fills me with fear and doubt, so why have I put myself forward for this?
I would not class myself as a ‘runner’, I think of myself as someone who runs (sometimes). To me, a ‘runner’ is someone who runs consistently, over a long period of time (years, or decades), I tend to go running sporadically. In the past, I have tried to be consistent with my running, but it usually only lasts a few months then something happens (insert one of any number of excuses) and I end up having a long layoff. This has been true of exercising in general, I would work really hard for a while, make some progress, then let it all slip away when I ceased training. My periods of inactivity were usually accompanied by eating and drinking all the things I would stay away from when I was training so it ended up being a double whammy of unhealthiness.
I have spent a fair bit of time learning about health and fitness, I studied Sports Therapy at College, then Sport and Exercise Science at Uni, I have Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer qualifications, but all this knowledge and experience doesn’t make you a fit, healthy individual, you actually have to apply what you’ve learnt to your daily life to become fit and healthy, and that’s the hard part.
Recently, I have been focusing on behaviour change and I have been working (albeit rather slowly) towards creating a life with healthy choices at its core. I am not trying to be a high-level athlete; I am just trying to build a foundation of healthy habits that will allow me to enjoy life with my family and friends as I get older.
I suppose I have been working on this for a long time, experimenting with lots of ‘healthy’ choices and lots of ‘not so healthy’ choices through various stages of my life. I am on the wrong side of my forties now and my body’s resilience to unhealthy choices is not as it was when I was younger so I cannot treat it in the same way without it having a noticeably negative impact. My hope is that having this challenge will encourage me to be consistent with my training, nutrition, and other lifestyle choices.
Over the years, I have come to the conclusion there are a few fundamentals of fitness that I need to work on consistently, or at least be mindful of, if I want to be the healthier older version of me that I have pictured in my mind. One of these fundamentals is moving, challenging myself is another. Knowing that I need to ‘move’ and ‘challenge myself’ I thought I would attempt something that would definitely do both.
The Challenge
I’m not sure it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done but I have gone and put my name down for the Loch Ness 360 Ultra Marathon. This 80-mile ultra-marathon around the iconic Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland has my stomach turning in knots every time I think about it, especially as it has to be completed in less than 24 hours. I’ve never done an ultra before, this will be my first. An ultra is considered any run over the 26.2-mile marathon distance, but it is widely accepted that ultras are normally 30 miles and over, with the some of the most popular races being 50km, 50 miles, 100km, and 100 miles. The Loch Ness 360 Challenge is 80 miles (129km) so it’s a fairly hefty distance to make my first ultra-marathon, but I am giving myself roughly one year to prepare for it so it should be doable (he says trying to convince himself).
From what I have read, preparing yourself mentally is as important as preparing yourself physically so I’m going to try and keep that in mind while designing my training programme. I am not planning on following a typical ultra-marathon training schedule (not yet anyway, that will come later) but I am aiming to create a consistent healthy lifestyle that will slowly help to build me up to the point where I can take on this 80 mile challenge.
I have only run 20 miles or more nine times in my life, four of these were marathons (26.2 miles), two were completing The Great Wilderness Challenge (25 miles), and three were training runs of 20 miles. You can view my race log here, and read about my first marathon experience here.
Over the coming year, I plan to share the highs and lows of tackling this sort of challenge, and any lessons I learn from it. I am going to record my training, recovery, and nutrition through articles and updates and post them here. I am going to explore training methods, techniques, and strategies to improve mental and physical fitness.
Fundraising
I am dedicating this challenge to Befrienders Highland, a small charity that makes a big difference in the battle against loneliness and isolation within the Highlands. I have been a volunteer befriender for the charity for nearly five years now and in October 2019 I became a full-time member of their staff when I joined their team of befriending coordinators. Since working there, I have really seen the impact that isolation can have on our mental health and it has highlighted to me the importance of being connected. Having meaningful connections with trustworthy people can play a major role in mental health recovery and maintenance. Befrienders Highland works hard to improve the lives of people who are lonely and isolated and have experience of mental ill health; memory difficulties or dementia or are carers . We work with adults, aged 18 and over, across the whole Highland Region of Scotland and offer supported befriending services using the Recovery approach: “Refocus”.
To find out more visit www.befriendershighland.org.uk
Download our Mental Health information leaflet
Download our Memory and Carer Services information leaflet
I have put my fundraising target as £800 (£10 for every mile).
If you can help by donating anything at all to the target it would be very much appreciated, you will be helping to improve the lives of lonely and isolated people within the Highlands who are struggling with their mental health. The money raised will go towards training new volunteers, as well as, supporting the team of tremendous volunteers who currently deliver this invaluable befriending service. Please follow the link below for the fundraising page.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/macsweenfitness-myfirstultra
I would also ask you to share the fundraising page wherever you can, raising money is important but raising awareness of mental health issues and opening a dialogue about recovery is just as important.
If you feel like you would like to get involved with Befrienders Highland as a volunteer please follow the link https://www.befriendershighland.org.uk/volunteering
You could train as a volunteer befriender or take on an administration or fundraising role, help out with our social media, or be an ambassador raising awareness of mental health issues and helping to promote mental health recovery.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you can help out in any way, please do, you will make a difference.
Take care and best wishes to you all 🙂
