Anybody ever done a 24 Hour Race?

Good luck.

Start slow, a lot slower than you think is slow. The main thing in a 24 hour race is that you keep moving all the time. Running or walking it doesn't matter too much but it matters that you don't waste time on aid stations and breaks. 10 minutes for potty breaks and another 10 for clothes changes. That's it. everything else is a waste of time.

It will be a lot hard than you can imagine right now but with the right mindset you can do it. Although I would recommend that you do 50k and 50 miles races first.

Is there any point to these things other than being insanely unhealthy? I could imagine entering, competing and never feeling the same. Maybe akin to a boxer getting punched one too many times during a bout.

ohia wrote:

Is there any point to these things other than being insanely unhealthy? I could imagine entering, competing and never feeling the same. Maybe akin to a boxer getting punched one too many times during a bout.

I know many people who have done these and within a week they're all recovered and good to go. Look at Courtney Dauwalter or Goggins. Courtney won a 100 mile race and finished it running 6:30 miles.

Is there any point to these things....? really? You can't think of any other reason, like pushing yourself beyond your limits and seeing how many miles you can cover in a day? Testing your mental fortitude? Learning more about yourself?

The only reason you think people do these is to be unhealthy? That's a pretty small minded thing to say

24 hour expert wrote:

Good luck.

Start slow, a lot slower than you think is slow. The main thing in a 24 hour race is that you keep moving all the time. Running or walking it doesn't matter too much but it matters that you don't waste time on aid stations and breaks. 10 minutes for potty breaks and another 10 for clothes changes. That's it. everything else is a waste of time.

It will be a lot hard than you can imagine right now but with the right mindset you can do it. Although I would recommend that you do 50k and 50 miles races first.

Thanks for the tips! Definitely want to do a 50 miler, either in training or before the 24 hr event if I can find one!

how did you handle food intake?

You can read this recent article about Bob Hearn, who has the 50-54 age group records for 24 hours on road (152miles) and track (154 miles). Then go read some of his blog articles about runs he's done:

https://www.irunfar.com/2020/02/age-old-runners-bob-hearn.html

.

Other than that a google search is a good place to start:

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+run+a+24+hour+race

I've done 50k's and a few 50 milers. I do have some interest in doing those long loop runs, but I would want to start out with a 12 hour race rather than a 24 hour one.

Also, you should be concerned about training. Running a long race like this inevitably involves a lot of problem solving. You're unlikely to be able to do that unless you've been through a lot of these problem solving situations in your training. One of the main problems to solve is hydration and nutrition. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. What worked for you last time might not work next time. Thus, the saying many ultrarunners have of "You are an experiment of one."

https://ultrarunning.com/featured/experiment-of-one-training-for-a-24-hour-part-1/

Rhodium Nights wrote:

24 hour expert wrote:

Good luck.

Start slow, a lot slower than you think is slow. The main thing in a 24 hour race is that you keep moving all the time. Running or walking it doesn't matter too much but it matters that you don't waste time on aid stations and breaks. 10 minutes for potty breaks and another 10 for clothes changes. That's it. everything else is a waste of time.

It will be a lot hard than you can imagine right now but with the right mindset you can do it. Although I would recommend that you do 50k and 50 miles races first.

Thanks for the tips! Definitely want to do a 50 miler, either in training or before the 24 hr event if I can find one!

how did you handle food intake?

I’m not an expert but I’ve got a 100 and 2 12 hours under my belt. Nutrition is the real challenge in these races. You can train and race eating real food or your favorite gel but there’s just no way to know what your body is going to do at 60+ miles. A few thoughts: if you feel sick, throw up and keep moving. It will pass and get better. Your brain will tell you to stop eating, or to skip a gel. Make an eating schedule for yourself and stick to it no matter what your brain says. Give tailwind a shot. If you get to a point where you can’t take in food at least you can get the liquid calories. It’s all about the calories.

I swear, my last race, 15 hours in, overnight in the woods, and my brain is saying “you don’t need to eat that gel. It’ll be our little secret.” Don’t listen!

If the race is to be on the track, definitely get some *substantial* training runs on a track. Eight lefthand turns/mile really starts to add up.

Different things work for different people, but I think a lot of people in these super-long races are best served by mixing, right from the start, running (easy running, but running and not shuffling) with occasional walking breaks of a minute or two. Take a walking break before you "have" to, rather than getting to the can't-run-another-step point.

I've been told that protein is important in these very long endurance tests. This confirms one runner's account of his 24, wherein he said that chicken broth was delicious but a banana was "repugnant."

As far as training is concerned, for my ultras I always felt that I got better conditioning from going out at a decent pace for an hour or somewhat less--but typically two or three times a day--rather than slogging through individual long efforts. I found that the long training sessions tended to take a lot out of me and had a hangover effect on the next day or two, whereas I was able to recover overnight from the two- or three-a-day shorter sessions. But my longest races were only in the six-hour range--perhaps my attitude would be different with training for a 24.

Anyway, good luck. It should be one of the most memorable events of your life.

That is some really great advice and I will definitely keep in mind to keep taking in the calories!! So you eat a lot of gels, what do you go for in terms of solid foods? Granola bars? Bread? Waffles? Peanut Butter?

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

The race is a on a 1 mile dirt track, so should be nice on the joints! I love doing doubles for my training but I would love to throw in some triples to up the mileage!! What kind of mileage per week did you do to get ready for these ultras?

hes wrote:

Also, you should be concerned about training. Running a long race like this inevitably involves a lot of problem solving. You're unlikely to be able to do that unless you've been through a lot of these problem solving situations in your training.

You're absolutely right! I think I did a poor job of phrasing that sentence, what I really meant was that I am not going to obsess too much over the specifics of training for this event, like one has to do in order to run a fast marathon.

Rather I am going to just focus on volume and increasing my LR every week to get in some of that problem solving that you alluded to.

Rhodium Nights wrote:

What kind of mileage per week did you do to get ready for these ultras?

I topped out at about 100 or maybe a little bit more, but 70-90 was more typical during the bulk of training (and I've raced fairly well off averaging no more than 100km/wk).

I've known people who could do something close to double that, but I'm not sure they raced any better for it. I think they just felt very anxious if they weren't running most of the day.

My best training situation was one when I was supervising a kids' summer program in various city parks. I just did all my commuting on foot--loved feeling like every trip had some real-life purpose.

I've done a couple 12 hour runs.

For solid food you should be able fo eat something you like. I ate canned mac and cheese, rice with honey, and little debbie snacks. Others eat frosting, mashed potato burritos, pizza, or anything you can think of.

Set up a chair or table where you can keep your food and set a schedule so you can eat pretty consistently. I was running a 5k loop so I drank every lap and ate every two laps. I got lucky and didn't have any stomach issues the first year and had a good race. The next year was warmer and my stomach went around 6 hours so I hiked most of the last 6 hours.

lease wrote:

Rhodium Nights wrote:

What kind of mileage per week did you do to get ready for these ultras?

I topped out at about 100 or maybe a little bit more, but 70-90 was more typical during the bulk of training (and I've raced fairly well off averaging no more than 100km/wk).

I've known people who could do something close to double that, but I'm not sure they raced any better for it. I think they just felt very anxious if they weren't running most of the day.

My best training situation was one when I was supervising a kids' summer program in various city parks. I just did all my commuting on foot--loved feeling like every trip had some real-life purpose.

yeah that sounds like an ideal situation! I'm at about 75 mpw but would like to push it a bit higher, maybe to 100 if I can manage. How about long runs, did you do anything over 24 miles?

You never know...... wrote:

I've done a couple 12 hour runs.

For solid food you should be able fo eat something you like. I ate canned mac and cheese, rice with honey, and little debbie snacks. Others eat frosting, mashed potato burritos, pizza, or anything you can think of.

Set up a chair or table where you can keep your food and set a schedule so you can eat pretty consistently. I was running a 5k loop so I drank every lap and ate every two laps. I got lucky and didn't have any stomach issues the first year and had a good race. The next year was warmer and my stomach went around 6 hours so I hiked most of the last 6 hours.

Cool! this event is a 1 mile loop so I could make a similar plan to eat every 6 or so laps... just out of curiosity how many miles were you able to put down in that first 12 hour race?

Regarding nutrition: Eat some, but don't eat too much. All theses rules to eat 100 -300 calories every hour are BS in my opinion. You don't need to eat that much. Keep in mind that your body has to process that food as well. Later in the race if you don't feel like eating just don't eat. This is a running contest not a hot dog eating competition!

Go for 200 calories an hour. Easily achieved with a honey stinger waffle and a handful of nuts or whatever else. The honey stingers are 150 calories and are little and taste really good. There should be an aid station out there with a bunch of random stuff but definitely bring your own also. Remember to take salt caps also I take one every hour or so. If you are trying to make it as far as you can then you really need to try to maintain 200 calories an hour.

Also don’t do long runs over 24 miles. If you want the most bang for your buck do back to back long run days. I would do 20/18 max on those.

It’s really based on your own tastes and cravings. As you can see from the other posts here, it runs the gamut. Personally, I can’t stomach peanut butter at/before any distance. I lean towards pizza, quesadillas, grilled cheese. Someone mentioned chicken broth. I’m a veggie but agree a hot salty broth is really food late in a long race.