{"id":45807,"date":"2022-02-16T12:02:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=45807"},"modified":"2022-02-17T11:15:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:15:57","slug":"crossfit-endurance-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/crossfit-endurance-training\/","title":{"rendered":"How I’m Training for My First Ultramarathon in 9 Years… With No Long Runs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In 2013, I ran my first 100-mile ultramarathon<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then, just like that, I quit running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quitting wasn\u2019t really the plan. But I got busy with the tour for my first book, and just never started training again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 100 had been the culmination of a decade of hard work, ups and downs, a Boston Marathon journey<\/a>, and of course, a plant-based diet<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had actually loved running the race, and figured it was the first of many 100\u2019s. But after I stopped, I learned that I really<\/em> enjoyed not running at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s pretty much what I did. For the next nine years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even When I Used to <\/strong>Run, I Wasn\u2019t a Runner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even when I used to run, I said I wasn\u2019t a real runner<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were times when I felt like part of the community (particularly when I read Born to Run<\/em>, and later, after the Boston Marathon bombing<\/a>.) But running never did for me what I knew it did for real runners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never \u201cneeded\u201d to run like they did, and really, I never wanted to run either. Mostly, it made me bored \u2014 especially the dreaded weekend long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race days excepted, I can\u2019t think of a single day when I\u2019d have preferred to run than to stay inside. Or to go to the gym, or play soccer, or whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why run at all, you ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because even though I didn\u2019t love running, I loved training<\/em>. Having a big goal, making visible progress, and eventually accomplishing something that I once thought was impossible (for me, anyway). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boston Marathon and the 100-miler became significant sources of meaning and pride for me, and still are. For me, they\u2019ll always be symbols of what\u2019s possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving was addictive. That\u2019s why I ran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now\u2026 I\u2019m back. With a twist.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last year was a transformational one<\/a> for me. I got into near-daily kettlebell training, and I\u2019ve kept it up for 14 months now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that time, I started running again. Never because I \u201cwanted\u201d to, but just for fitness. Two miles here, three miles there. No long runs, and almost never more than 10 miles in a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, I ran a 10K with my son. A friend who worked with the sponsor offered us free entry, and I figured why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I ran a trail half marathon out in San Francisco, a Spartan \/ No Meat Athlete collaboration. \u201cA work event,\u201d I told myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then on a whim, I signed up for a 5-hour run on New Year\u2019s Day. I didn\u2019t do any traditional training \u2014 really, I just wanted to see how all my kettlebell training would translate into easy-pace ultrarunning. It wasn\u2019t an astounding result, but it wasn\u2019t bad either: 28 miles, good for third place among men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Definitely encouraging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, this was without specific running training. The half marathon had been my longest run up until then, and other than that, an easy nine-miler and a couple seven-milers were it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it possible<\/em>, I wondered, that I could start racing marathons and ultras again\u2026 without doing almost any of the long runs I dreaded so much?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so began Act III of my running life. (If you consult your program, you\u2019ll see that Act I was qualifying for Boston, Act II was the 100.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Run Ultramarathons Without Doing Long Runs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first time no-long-run training has piqued my interest. In 2011, I read it about Brian Mackenzie and Crossfit Endurance in Tim Ferriss\u2019 4-Hour Body<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claim was that Crossfit Endurance athletes ran 100-milers without ever doing more than a half marathon in training, focusing instead on strength, form (via the POSE method), and the spillover benefits of anaerobic workouts into aerobic fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Count me in,<\/em> I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, there was a catch. Just about every mile (and fraction of a mile) on the sample Crossfit Endurance plan in Ferriss’ book was fast. If not a 400- or 800-meter repeat on the track, it was a race-pace 10K, 10-miler, or half marathon\u2026 pretty much every weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, and did I mention Crossfit workouts themselves? Not just between running days, but often on <\/em>running days, in the evenings following a morning track workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was intrigued (how could I not be?). But with an aversion to Crossfit that kept me from showing up at a box, and a lack of publically available training plans, I let the fantasy of becoming an ultrarunner who didn\u2019t do long runs die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 Books Guiding My New Approach to Training<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My success in the 5-hour run this year rekindled that fire. Without any running beyond a half marathon, and a whole lot of kettlebell training, I had managed to run 28 miles without injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if I kept up the kettlebell training, but added some more serious running to my weekly routine? What if I trained in the Crossfit Endurance style, and limited my long runs to races themselves? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started digging, and I didn\u2019t have to go far. I devoured three books in the span of a week, all of which focus more on strength, technique, and mobility than on pounding out miles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n