Under the radar, I returned to full-time work at iRunFar for the past five months while Managing Editor Sarah Brady welcomed her son Max into the world. (Hooray!) My relative lack of writing and running over that time are reflective of my priorities over the same period: namely, to help Meghan Hicks bring forth the best iRunFar possible over that time. Despite our pie-in-the-sky expectations, I hope we came close!
Now, I have less than two months until the biggest running of my year, the 2024 Ultra Gobi 250 Mile in China, a nonstop race where you carry a pack of mandatory gear and food. Yeah, I’ve got some base fitness as well as a bunch of 25- to 35-mile long runs to go with a fine enough run at the recent Never Summer 100k. Still, I understandably feel underprepared. What to do about that? Well, I’ll highlight my running — be it the actual runs or supplementary work around running — for the next two months.
Cruising a ridge early in the 2024 Never Summer 100k in Colorado. All photos: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Are You Highlighting Anything?
What do I mean by highlight? I use it in the sense proposed by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky in their book “Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.” As the first of four pillars in Making Time, they prescribe the Highlight step as ” Start[ing] each day by choosing a priority.” And further explain that “[a]sking yourself ‘What’s going to be the highlight of my day?’ ensures that you spend time on what matters most to you and don’t lose the entire day reacting to other people’s priorities.”
In the podcast episode in which I was introduced to the pair and their Make Time concepts, I believe they pushed the highlight concept further than the standard “prioritize the most important work task” idea to figuring out the most important task for your day that aligns with your life’s priorities, especially one that could easily be lost. None of us is likely to miss that 2 p.m. key meeting with the boss, but it’s easy enough to fill our days and miss out on spending two hours with a loved one, turn a planned two-hour run into a 20-minute run, or cooking a healthy and enjoyable dinner.
Descending toward Kelly Lake on the Never Summer 100k course.
What Will I Highlight?
I’m now back to half-time work at iRunFar with a mix of routine and high-priority projects, but I have no doubt that I’ll get them done, while at the same time checking off overdue personal projects. In fact, it’s due to my propensity for getting such things — highly important or not — done that I’ll actively highlight my running for the next while so it doesn’t get lost.
So, what do I need to work on:
- Running with an 8- to 10-pound pack
- Continuous running
- Walking with a purpose
- Rehabbing my Achilles and calves
- Recovering
In thinking about this, I’ve constructed highlights on the monthly, weekly, and daily levels.
Running the ridge after summiting Diamond Peak during the 2024 Never Summer 100k.
I’ve long had two big run/fish goals for the summer and they’ll lead my efforts on the monthly level with one scheduled for August and the other for early September.
I’ll save you the fishing details, but the August adventure could be up to a week-long stretch of 25 to 40 miles per day with a 15- to 20-pound pack here in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. While the roughly 230 miles in seven days will be less than what I’ll run at Ultra Gobi, it’ll be at higher elevation, with much more vertical gain, and a pack weight double what I plan to race with. Is it 100% tuned toward ideal Ultra Gobi training? Heck no, but it’s an adventure that I find super motivating and it’ll certainly move key aspects of my fitness in the right direction.
The September adventure will mimic Ultra Gobi a bit better. It’ll be a 100-mile effort, likely all on paved or decent dirt roads with a pack a bit lighter than my Ultra Gobi pack. Hopefully, the fishing slows my roll enough that I don’t blow myself up a month before Ultra Gobi.
The start of a long run/fish near Lizard Head Pass in Colorado in late July.
On the weekly level, outside of those big adventures, I’ll be looking to log a runnable long run with my pack as well as several other race-weight pack runs. At this point, I’m hoping time with my pack will both greatly improve my efficiency and lower my injury risk.
On the daily level, obviously, when the day calls for an important run, that’ll be my focus. However, just as important will be highlighting rest, recovery, and rehabilitation. Indeed, today I highlighted an hour recovery run with a friend and stretching my calves numerous times while writing this article.
Is any of this highlighting approach groundbreaking? Of course not! However, I’m optimistic that it’ll be a useful way for me to prioritize things other than “productive” tasks, whether that’s my running in the coming two months or various other aspects of my life in the years going forward.
Call for Comments
- What would you like to highlight in your life in the short term?
- When have you highlighted your running? How did it turn out?
Running the Colorado Trail near Hermosa Peak.
