You’ve done it. You’ve got shoes, some knowhow about some common injuries, a basic routine and you’re getting out the door and putting foot to pavement several days a week. Now comes the next step: keeping yourself going and pushing to the next level.
This is where setting sights on a race or finding a running group or partner can come in to play.
“If you have a date with somebody and you know, ‘We’re gonna run every Tuesday and Thursday after work,’ you’re gonna show up because you know that person is going to be there waiting for you,” said Marjorie Brinton, former president of Durango Motorless Transit and longtime ‘On the Run’ columnist for The Durango Herald.
Finding someone else who likes to run, or hike if that’s more your cup of tea, in Durango isn’t the most difficult task, but it can still be awkward to approach strangers and start planning an exercise regimen.
Brendan Trimboli, president of Durango Running Club, recognizes this and said he has worked to make socialization a focus for many of the events organized by the club.
“It’s supposed to be more of a forum instead of some intimidating, exclusive club,” Trimboli said.
Events include a Wednesday night trail run that rotates on a weekly basis, Tuesday night track workouts at either Fort Lewis College or Durango High School and a Saturday morning group run that starts at Durango Joe’s on College Drive.
“We’ve tried to make everything as low barrier of entry as possible. The goal is to encourage people to show up to these,” Trimboli said.
Brett Sublett, owner of Durango Running Company and assistant cross country coach for Fort Lewis College, said attending events put on by a running group, whether the running club or a gaggle of friends, is a great way to be consistent and reach goals.
This is true for individuals looking push it into ultra-running territory or those going from couch to 5-kilometer.
Sean Meissner, a running coach in Durango, leads some of the track workouts for the running club and said a good goal for beginners looking to finish their first 5K is to get out three to four days a week.
Total mileage a week should be in the range of 12 to 15 with a stress on starting small and building up, Sublett added.
Continuing to do this for a two-month period will allow most people to get through a 5K and build from there.
“They’re not going to be racing the 5K top speed, but just doing it comfortably so they can get through it,” Meissner said.
When seasons change or life becomes too busy, cross training and treadmills help a runner stay fit. Squeezing in a short 30 minutes can provide a good workout.
While group runs can increase motivation and consistency, the benefits can extend further as it provides an opportunity to bond with people you might never otherwise meet.
“You’ve got people with all sorts of crazy jobs and family situations and stuff but then they have this one thing in common, and it’s just a good starting point to meet good people and make friends,” Trimboli said.
Trimboli didn’t fully appreciate group runs when he became heavily involved in distance running while living in Boulder and attending a graduate program he wasn’t particularly enjoying.
“I found myself spending more time out on the trails, maybe it was an evasive tactic to procrastinate my school work or something, but I just found a lot of peace in the solitude,” he said.
The time spent running in Boulder had him contemplating a career in ultra-running, participating in various events and meeting a variety of people who are still a part of his life even now that he has moved away from this career aspiration.
Dale Garland, run director for the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run, said even though he doesn’t run as long of distances or as often as he used to it’s the communal aspect of running that has stuck with him.
“That’s one of the things I think that has kept me involved with it as long as I have,” Garland said.
For experienced runners looking to push into ultra territory, there are a number of considerations that don’t apply to beginners.
You still have to build up to your endurance over time and let your body adjust by running “shorter” distances, but this is a relative concept, Garland said.
“You talk about a 50K, which is 31 miles, but in the ultra world that’s a short distance,” he said.
Garland said endurance build up goes beyond distance and into time, as endurance runs will routinely take athletes past the 24-hour mark.
“Mentally that’s as hard to do as some of the physical stuff,” he said.
A way to feel out ultra races is serving as a pace runner for participants in the second half of the race.
This gives runners a chance to feel out the course at a shorter distance, see firsthand what it requires, the toll it takes and come to grips with the one constant of endurance running: the suck.
“At some points it’s going to suck regardless of if you are winning the race or in the back of the pack or anywhere in between,” Meissner said.
For Trimboli, these distances are less about being the best runner in the field and more about being the most strategic.
“I feel like that distance is an analytical kind of game,” he said.
Nutrition is always a big factor, and eating as you run is necessary because your body doesn’t carry enough fuel to power itself through a 100-mile-plus run.
But you have to know what you can eat on the run and keep down.
“You can’t just wait until race day to learn how to do that. You have to practice that stuff in training, specifically on your long runs,” Meissner said.
Go into a race with a nutrition plan and stick to it. If you don’t, you could be in for a bad time, which is exactly what happened to Meissner in 2015 at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, a 103-mile foot race through the French Alps.
“I went through a lot in those 42 hours; I had great highs and great lows and ate a lot of different things, drank a lot of different things, threw up, tried to sleep, went through two nights, almost two full days. I learned a lot out there,” Meissner said. The biggest being that his training hadn’t mimicked the realities of the course.
Sublett said this a vital step for runners looking to tackle long distances and extreme environments, such as the Badwater Ultramarathon he ran in 2007, which covers 135 miles through Death Valley in the middle of July when temperatures often top 120 degrees.
Sublett was in Durango when he was preparing for the Badwater. To mimic the race conditions, he would go for runs in June with multiple layers on.
“I was wearing sweatshirts and a beanie and gloves and people would see me running on what for us was a hot day. ... People just looked at me like I was a lunatic,” he said.
lperkins@durangoherald.com
