#4x4x48 - outsidethecomfortzone callousthemind preparethesoul beadaptable

[mubal4]

Wrapping It Up – The 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge        

 We are living in unique times.  Interesting way to describe this I guess, but it is unique.  Globally, we have pivoted, adapted, and by this time, created some new normals or at least different ways of doing things.  Likely, some good habits have been formed and some may have gone back to some old tricks 😊!!  I know I have consumed more beer and types of foods over the last two months than “normal.” 😊  It is all good though; based on what I’ve been fortunate enough to see, via social media, Facetiming/Video conferencing with family/friends, or just talking with folks, we’ve been overcoming these “unique” times well.  Although changes have been made, one thing that has remained consistent for me is running.  Overall, in the last 2+ months I don’t believe I am running farther or more. Like most of our lives, I’ve just changed some things up a bit.  Part of that has been due to timing and circumstances with the quarantine and social distancing; some because the type of race I have coming up in July; and part because some shit has just gotten boring to be honest.  So, when I saw this David Goggins Challenge video come across my Twitter feed, it grabbed my attention.

 You can watch the 1-minute video, but it is basically running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles.  It was pretty cool how he positioned it too; “if you can’t run, walk; if you can walk; do pushups…….”  It seemed like his intent was to just to get people moving, out of their comfort zone, and adapting to the nonsense.  Since I am training for a 100-miler I thought this would be a great training exercise for a number of reasons.  Obviously, the mile over two days, sleep deprivation, nutrition planning, and one big differentiator, life commitments!!!  In the race, I won’t be thinking about family responsibilities, work, or puppy stuff 😊; it is just left foot, right foot. Since I started this on Thursday afternoon, I still had some conference calls to attend, work commitments, and family stuff so it added a layer.  That said, as it relates to the family commits, Robin, as per usual, and the girls, sacrificed a ton, not only with dinners and puppy stuff, but, at least for Robin, sleep too.  Thursday and Friday nights, I headed out at 1030pm and 230am.  The first session each night, Robin was just about headed to bed but at 230am she was sleeping, and I tried to be as quiet as possible, for her, as well as for the puppy too 😊.  It was nice to hear on Saturday morning once she woke up that that nights 230am session, she didn’t even hear me leave or come back.  Guess all these years doing these crazy things it is good her mind is at ease while I run around Phoenix at 230 in the morning 😊😊😊!! That all said, none of this really came to mind when Robin and I discussed doing it.  All I thought was 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles? I can do that!!  So, at 230pm on Thursday, we got things started, easy peasy and session 2 at 630pm was awesome with a sunset, late afternoon run; I was in my happy place.  All good.  Got back and had a quick dinner (I will get into the nutrition in a moment) and we all were just chilling on the couch.  Now, typically, Robin and I are toes up in bed by 10pm so, as my body clock was telling me, right around 945pm I started dozing a bit on the couch; fortunately, I had an alarm set just in case.  But the thing was, I was setting an alarm for 1010pm to go out and run 4 miles at 1030pm. Needless to say, as I was tying my shoes, my comment to Robin, “why the hell did I commit to this; this is f#$%ing stupid.”  She wished me a “have a good run, I will be sleeping when you get back.” 😊  The thoughts of feeling sorry for myself were quickly gone as soon as I started session number 3 and the night air, cooler temps, and darkness provided a different perspective to my run.  I wanted to run around our area of town just to see what was happening, if there was anything happening.  Out here in AZ, the stay at home orders are being lifted and there are a couple of restaurants/bars I would be running by so I was intrigued to say the least.  There were still a few folks out walking at that time and traffic was light; however, this one bar, about 1 mile from our house, was packed.  I guess the regulars were just waiting for things to be lifted.  I went by again on Friday nights 1030pm run too and same deal. I giggled a bit but it also gave me a sense of relief that maybe things are working toward “normal.” Also, won’t lie, a beer sounded good at that time.

 This is where adapting needed to happen because my body and internal clock was not going to be used to these next 30 or so hours.  Running the initial 12 miles from 230pm through 1030pm wasn’t much out of the realm of my comfort zone.  Now, I was getting home at 11pm, trying not to wake up Robin and the dog (the girls were still up doing what teenage girls do at that time 😊), getting fluids in, getting cleaned up, and getting things ready for 230am…….& hopefully trying to get sleep.  Well, I was a bit amped up from the run so I thought that sleep was going to be tough.  I got cleaned up, got plenty of water in me, and then figured I would watch some TV to put me to bed.  Well, that worked, and I fell right asleep and woke up about 90 minutes later.  Interestingly getting up at this moment and getting out was much easier than at 1030pm. Not sure why but it was.  The run, however, was a bit weird and at both 230am sessions.  I kept these 2 runs close to the house around this 1.35-mile loop.  I didn’t want to stray to for, well, since it is 230am. On the first loop, Thursday, I guess this would be Friday morning, I first heard a rooster crowing!!  Yep, a rooster – we don’t live near any farmland.  On the second loop, I heard what I thought was a leaf blower…..@ 230am?  What the hell?  Then, the most interesting thing happened on the last loop.  I was on this one road, drive it daily, and I white SUV pulls out of a side street.  Okay, at that time of night, could be going to work, coming back, whatever.  They pull out but just turnaround and head back where they came.  My first thought was that maybe they were scouting out homes/cars to break into or something or, maybe they were just drunk.  No big deal. I finished up the run and went home; didn’t think about it.  However, 24 hours later, on that same loop at that same time, same car, same spot, pulls out, now we are going towards one another, it stops…………I kept running, faster now and find a dark spot on the road, click off my headlamp and stop. The car was already moving but then did the same thing, u-turn in the middle of the road.  This was a bit freeky man and it was on my first loop too. I was running by there two more times. Holy shit right!!  Well, nothing happened but it was just some weird stuff. I told Robin yesterday afternoon that I was going to go up there all next week at 230am, dressed in all black and see what happens 😊.  

 That was pretty much the only excitement of the event.  Back to Friday morning, since the nature of this event, getting time on the trails was difficult but did go out at 630am Friday.  Got on the trail, got some climbing in and it was a beautiful day. Stopped to take a shot of the trails from the top that I shared above.  Also was able to get out on the trails Friday night and Saturday morning.  Friday night I was able to meet a nice rattlesnake too!!! By “meet” I mean he was on the side of the trail and scared the poop out of me.  I never did see him, just heard him.  Not sure if I would rather face the white SUV or the rattler?  The remaining sessions were all, pretty much, uneventful; just getting them done and keep moving forward.  Overall, it was a great challenge and believe awesome training on many fronts. Although there wasn’t much climbing, it did offer a number of different layers that will definitely help come July. Want to again thank Robin and the girls for all the support, sacrifice, and help they provide me during these nutty things I do.  All the folks that reached out via text, calls, or the FB live sessions, thank you very much.  Very inspirational and you guys helped keep me going.  

 Haven’t been much into statistics and stuff when it comes to these kinds of things.  Hell, up until January I was still using my 20+ year old Ironman stopwatch but Robin got me this Garmin one for Christmas and it has been fun to sort of geek out with it.  So, for those that may be interested, I am providing some “noticings” from the 4x4x48 event.  Thanks again for keeping me going and following along 😊!!

 ·         Started at 230pm 5/14 and ended at 1059am 5/16 – total hours = 44.5-ish!  

·         Total miles = 48.7

·         Total running time = 433 minutes (7 hrs 13 mins) – thought this was interesting that it was an exact number.  Zero seconds after added up 😊

·         Average pace = 8:53 (36:05 average for each 4ish mile session

·         Total Vert = 1186

·         Sleep = approximately 5 hours total

·         9 shirts & 7 pairs of shorts (yep – reused shorts – easy to do when you jump in the pool after a run), 12 pairs of socks, 3 different pairs of running shoes

·         Food intake – 2 strawberry/banana milkshakes, 2 peanut butter/banana Clif bars, 2 apples, 1 grilled cheese, 2 hummus tortilla wraps, approximately a half a box of regular Cheeze-itz (original flavor), couple handfuls of peanut butter pretzels, 1 double expresso Clif bar gel