Collecting Laps: one lap at a time to 100: Week 16, Learning from the Process :

Counting laps week 16, training for umstead100

Collecting Laps: one lap at a time to 100: Week 16, Learning from the Process

With our recovery week behind us, we now step into the heart of our training. This next block is where the volume and intensity will build, demanding more from our bodies and our systems. As we look ahead, it’s crucial to adopt the right mindset. Training is not the flawless execution of a plan; it is the messy, invaluable process of learning from imperfect execution. Every run, especially the “bad” one, is a dress rehearsal for race day and an opportunity to learn.

This is part of a series of posts regarding how we prepare, plan, and train to complete the 100-mile Ultramarathon Umstead 100. Our series for this event: Collecting Laps: one lap at a time to 100. For all the ultrarunning series, here, follow the link. Training for a 100 . Alternatively, you can also follow our Podcast so you don’t miss the weekly summary post.

This is the time to deliberately stress our systems—our fueling plans, our gear choices, our mental fortitude—to find the breaking points. A failed gel, a chafing spot, or a moment of profound doubt on a 25-mile training run is a gift. It’s a problem you get to solve now, in a low-stakes environment, so you have a proven solution ready when the same issue appears at mile 75 of Umstead. This week, we focus on the art of learning from the process.

Assessment:

Your assessment this week is about reframing your experiences. It’s about finding the valuable lessons hidden within the daily grind of training. We will focus on three key areas of learning.

The Gift of a “Bad” Run: Sooner or later, you will have a training run that feels awful. Your legs will be heavy, your motivation will crater, and every step will feel like a chore. Your first instinct will be to quit. Don’t. These runs are your single greatest opportunity to practice mental resilience. Instead of stopping, slow down and troubleshoot. Are you dehydrated? Behind on calories? Is your running form breaking down? Learning to diagnose and solve a problem when you are tired and frustrated is a core ultramarathon skill. The solutions you find on your worst training day will be the tools you use to save your race.

The Long Run as a Laboratory: Every long run is a chance to hunt for friction. Remember our focus on “the little things”? A minor irritation on a 3-hour run will become an agonizing, race-ending problem over 24 hours. I once had a hydration pack that felt fine for shorter runs, but after four hours, a seam started rubbing my lower back raw. I learned that for me, that specific spot needed a combination of lube and a strip of Kinesio Tape as a protective barrier. I would have never discovered that without pushing the duration. Use your long runs to find these problems and engineer solutions.

Making Recovery a Ritual, Not a Chore: Recovery tools are useless if you don’t use them. I used to keep a foam roller by the couch, intending to use it while watching TV. It rarely happened. The solution? I moved it into the shower. After every run, while the conditioner was in my hair, I had one or two minutes to roll my calves and quads. By integrating the tool into an existing, unbreakable daily routine, the habit became automatic. Assess your own recovery practices. How can you make them so easy and convenient that you can’t not do them?

Planning:

Your planning this week is about proactive problem-solving. It’s about anticipating the small disasters of race day and preparing solutions in advance. Here is a checklist of veteran pro-tips to build into your drop bag and aid station strategy.

The Toothbrush Trick: A travel-sized toothbrush and a small tube of toothpaste are magic at 4 AM. A quick brush can wake you up, reset your palate from hours of sugary foods, and provide a significant mental boost to carry you into the sunrise.

The Doormat: Pack a small, cheap doormat or a square of carpet in your drop bag. At Umstead, if it rains, the area around the main aid station can get wet and muddy. Having a clean, dry patch of ground to stand on when changing socks and shoes is a massive psychological and practical victory.

The Electronics Kit: Assume your technology will fail. Pack a spare, cheap MP3 player and a backup pair of headphones. Have portable USB chargers ready for your phone and watch. A silent night can be mentally brutal and deflating if you were counting on a podcast to get you through it.

Lube Application: To avoid getting greasy anti-chafe lube all over your hands, food, and gear, pack a few disposable painter’s or medical gloves. It makes the process clean, fast, and efficient.

Diabetes Learning Notes:

For the Type 1 athlete, the theme of “learning from the process” is at the very core of our existence. A “bad run” for us is often a “bad blood sugar day,” and it can be incredibly frustrating. However, these are our most valuable learning opportunities.

Your Assessment this week is to embrace the “bad BG day” as a data-gathering mission. When a run goes haywire with a stubborn high or a series of lows, don’t just get frustrated—get curious. After the run, sit down with your data. Was it the new breakfast you tried? The stress of a busy workday? An inaccurate carb count for a new gel? Every frustrating run provides a piece of data that helps you build a more robust plan. The goal is not to have perfect blood sugar on every run; the goal is to learn how to fix imperfect blood sugar when it inevitably happens.

Your Planning involves creating a T1D Redundancy Kit. This is your proactive solution to the most common equipment failures. This kit should be packed now and live in your gear bag, ready for every long run and race. It must contain:

Complete Meter Backup: A spare glucose meter with fresh batteries, test strips, and lancets.
Complete Infusion System Backup: A full, new infusion set; a backup vial or pen of insulin; and backup syringes in case of total pump failure. Don’t forget spare pump batteries.
Complete CGM Backup: A full, new CGM sensor and its insertion device.
Adhesion & Prep Kit: Skin-Tac or another adhesive, alcohol swabs, and adhesive remover wipes.

Having this pre-packed kit removes a major source of pre-race anxiety and ensures that a simple technology failure doesn’t end your race.

This week’s actual numbers: