Could I do the virtual Spine?

[1willgetthere]

The virtual spine is a challenge to run (or walk) one of these distances during the month of January (so spread over the month not in one go), 26.8 miles, 43 miles, 108 miles , 160 miles, 268 miles.

My husband is an ultra marathon runner and is signing up for the 160 to help with his training and suggested I challenge myself to do the 43. But I was thinking that wouldn't be too challenge and thought I could do the 108. My husband laughed ! And said I am not appreciating how hard that would be.

I started c2k5 in the summer and now do 5k 3 times a week, all be it slowly and often with a minute walk in the middle.

I am 3 stone over weight, with sore knees and hips after runs. And was planning on doing some strength training to help with this.

I do have the time as my kids are teenagers. However I am peri menopausal and sometimes lacking in energy from hot sweats disturbing my sleep.

Am I being delusional to think i could do the 108 miles?

Well 5k is about 3 miles so you are currently doing 15 a week. Multiply that by 4 is 60. It's just if you thjnk you can do another 48miles on top and how you fit that in.

I want you to do it just to shut him up. Cos I think he was a knob to laugh

That would be an average of 6k every day which is possible but the injury risk would be very high for someone relatively new to running. If you really wanted to do it then I would make sure you mix in lots of walking and make sure you get rest days. Perhaps run 6k 3 days a week, walk 8k alternate days and have one day off. Most ultra runners spend a lot of time walking so it would still be in the spirit of the challenge!

That is disappointing from your husband. You are showing ambition to really challenge yourself. You need him to provide positive support, not scoffing that 'you could never'. The challenge is the dedication of getting out and doing something every day to achieve your goal.

I have run for a few years, done a few half marathons but my husband is a pathological runner- runs 6 days a week without fail (and I mean without fail) and can run a sub 3hr marathon.

Just pre covid I suggested I needed a challenge and that I would sign up for a 100k ultra. He really pissed on my chips and said I needed to get a couple of marathons under my belt first before attempting that. This made me sad and I told him so. Then he saw the error of his ways and said if I wanted to do that- he would support me practically (I.e. taking on bulk of childcare when I needed to do long training runs and then recover).

I signed up in the Jan having done no more than 13.1 miles previously and in the July ran 100k, finishing in the top 3rd of all females- we totally bossed it and I'm not sure I've ever been prouder of myself.

If you want to challenge yourself and do it, then go for it. It is a bit more than 5k a day, so 30ish minutes of running. You can build in some lingerie runs, say 10k at the weekend so you can also build in a rest day. If injurynis a worry- do activations/ warm up before yiu head out and rake it slow. If you need to Jeff it- go for it- if some days tou walk rather than run- then that is no problem. You can also break up daily mileage to two walks rather than one run etc. It's about getting out, getting active and doing it.

If you need it for a virtual run, we can be a virtual support group!!

I think.you switched units during this calculation - it’s only 15 km per week, rather than 15 miles per eeek.

I wouldn’t sign up to the increased distance - you’re doing really well alteady, so just protect your enjoyment of that.

Thanks for the replies and support. I think breaking it down and including walking, it will be a challenge but one I can (possibly) rise to.

I work from home and was also thinking of doing a few short morning walks could help add up the miles, with the longer ones in the evenings. I need to get organised for work but will work out a schedule later.

"I want you to do it just to shut him up. Cos I think he was a knob to.laugh" is what i was thinking too.

And yes some virtual support through January would be great.

Just seen the reply from MaarcaCarassi, a different view.

I dont enjoy running at all but do enjoy the sense of achievement after.

Quite likely. I was breastfeeding a tiny baby and am sleep deprived so I'm very likely talking nonsense.

Thanks for pointing out my error with kindness.

Op i thjnk you should keep this thread open and document progress.

By my calculations, it’s roughly 24 miles a week, and you’re currently running about 9 miles a week.

The biggest danger is injuring yourself- there’s a rough rule of thumb of not increasing running volume by more than 10% each week to try to manage this risk.

So what you could do is plan to cover 24 miles a week as a mix of walking and running, and gradually increase the running volume within the mix? You could get a head start by aiming to run 16.5km this week (spread across 3 or 4 days).

Given what you're doing at the moment and that makes your knees and hips ache I'd say it's too much without building up more gradually and you're asking for injuries.

I think if you increased your running so dramatically you might injure yourself. I set myself a challenge of running 5k a day for a month when my previous level was 5-7k a week. My fibula shattered. Wouldn’t recommend it. But you could walk 5k a day?

As much as I would love to see you stick two fingers up at your DH I also think it is too much of a jump. You are enjoying the achievement of running. You do not want to push so much and end up on the injury bench for Feb and March. What would be the point.
Why don’t you set your own goal that sees you gently increase one of your runs each week?

I think you could do it if you plan it out with a mixture of walks and runs, amd gradually move from 3 runs a week to running every alternate day. Sit down and plan it out. You could add in a treadmill walk/run also.

Break it down to each week of January, and maybe aim for covering 110k thus (I can't think in miles ...)
Week 1: 20k (5k over your 15k, the extra 5 k as two walks)
Week 2: 25k (maybe 4 runs of 5k each + two walks of 2-3k)
Week 3: 30k (maybe 4 runs of 6k each + two walks of 2-3k)
Week 4: 35k (maybe 4 runs of 7k each + two walks of 2-3k)

Or after Week 1, increase runs to 4 per week, and increase the distance gradually, with a mix of walking & running

But I'm also wondering how much you facilitate your DH's ultra-marathonning. How much is his achievement at the cost of your health? I agree with @BlackCoffeeAndSugar - he's a knob to treat your aim that way.

You currently run around 9 miles a week. The 108 challenge would be around 24 miles a week. That’s a huge jump in distance.

Agree with pps- 108 miles in a month isn't a lot for a regular runner, but stepping up so rapidly from what you're doing now is asking for trouble. You'd almost definitely give yourself an overuse injury, unfortunately.
When upping the mileage, around 10% a week increase is in the realms of "sensible" if you want to avoid injury. 24 miles up from 9 is far beyond sensible and into the "definite injury" zone in my experience.

Don't be disheartened though. Why not do the 43 but aim to improve your 5k times at the same time?

More broadly, "virtual Spine" made me laugh a bit. The hardest part about the spine race isn't the distance in itself, it's the terrain. Do you have to do the virtual Spine on something trail-like to stand in for the Pennine Way or do you do it anywhere?!

Thanks for the replies, I am taking on board the responses but still want to do the 108. However will do half of it running and half walking, and if I feel its too much for my body I will increase the walking %.
I have sometimes done 4 5ks in a week if I have done a park run too so I think 12 miles a week running is doable.

My plan
Monday, I go to a local 5k running group which is a mile away and I usually drive, but will walk there and back. So 3 mile run and 2 mile walk.

Tuesday, my son has a 50 min club, I will walk while he is there hopefully close to 3 miles.

Wednesday, another 50 minute club for my son and I usually do a 3 mile run, I will try to up this to 4 miles.

Thursday rest

Friday, i dont work Fridays 4 mile run or walk depending on how im feeling and if meeting my mum who would walk with me

Saturday, 3 mile run and 1 mile walk

Sunday 4 mile walk.

To answer some questions
Yes I have facilitated my husbands running over the past few years, and yes I guess somewhat to my detriment but I didnt really have the inclination to up my exercise before. But now the kids are older I can make the time even if my husband is out. My husband does also encourage me and will do some of his recovery runs at a slow pass with me or help pace me on the park runs.

I know virtual spine, is silly really as it has no correlation to the challenge of The Spine, so no it can be done on the flat.

We live some where very flat too and its a 30 min drive to the nearest decent hill/mountain. But we may get to go on a weekend, for some more picturesque walks.

Although flat and borning I do feel safe to go for solo runs in the dark early evenings, we live in a very built up area with lots of people and cars to dodge while im out.

Go for it, @1willgetthere !!

@1willgetthere have you got some decent running lights?

So you currently do a bit over 36 ish miles a month. 108 miles is 3 times that. Do you feel you have enough fitness, staying power and time to run 3 times as far as you do now? It might well involve running more often as well as further.

I’m currently doing a challenge to run 5k every day in December. 5k is not a problem, but every day is beginning to exhaust me.

You DH is a knob for not supporting you, but don’t injure yourself out of bloodymindedness.

Your plan seems pretty sensible. And if you start to get niggles you can always up the walking/ reduce running if you need to.

Spend some time properly warming up for your runs with activations etc- there is a reason elite athletes do them! And then spend time in the evenings stretching/ doung yoga- there are some great ~15min programmes on YouTube. Search for Yoga with Cassandra or Adrienne.

The very best of luck OP. Really confident that yiu will have this- do let us know how you get on

Thanks for the responses
I do have a chest light, but most the paths are light with street lights so only need them for areas shaded by trees and the paths there are so bad with tree roots I do slow down in those spots.

I dont have the fitness/joint wellness to run 3 times more but do for walking so with my plan to walk half of it im feeling positive.

I will keep posting and let you know how im getting on, as this will help motivate me and possibly be motivation for others.

Go for it OP, don’t listen to your husband. I used to do a lot of running and what I’ve found with blokes is that they don’t want to do any distance stuff unless they can log a decent time. This makes them belittle us… case in point I ran London in 4h 57m. I was ecstatic as I wanted to get under 5h. One of the school dad comments was “oh no, what went wrong”? Followed by a (one way) conversation about why did I bother and why should slow people like me waste a potential place of proper runners like him…. And how his sister in law did the same thing and took 7h and he thought she should be ashamed… I shouldn’t have listened to him. But I did and I stopped running. This was in 2018 and I’ve barely run since.

I don’t mean to derail it but my point is - don’t listen to him and do it! And also thanks because you’ve inspired me and I’ve also signed up :-) Mine will be mostly walking with a bit of C25k. Best of luck to you!! And here’s the link for anyone else who is tempted

https://www.ultrabritain.com/events/montane-spine-race/montane-virtual-spine-race

In your situation and given the time of year I’d do the 43 to kick start the year, and pick my own challenge to train towards. Mainly due to the time of year (dark) and risk of injury/exhaustion increasing mileage in a short time to do 108.

less than 4 miles a day - less than 2 hrs walking a day
or 1 hr work days and longer walks at the weekend

but in January that’s in the dark and cold and not motivating so it’s tough

I hit that naturally in a typical month- about 150 miles - but I do walk a lot

do you have a distance counter on your phone to see what your current average would be? If you do 43 miles normally in a month then it won’t be a challenge

Thank for the replies, I have just signed up for the 108, I will walk most of it, I dont mind the dark and cold but hoping for not much rain in January to help me through.

Mermaidbutterwagon , sorry you were put off running for so long, I think its amazing you did a marathon (i dont think i will ever get to that, but im ok with that, if I manage a 10k one day I will be delighted) and I think an amazing time too. So happy that I have inspired you. We can both use this thread to update our progress.

Im planning at trip out to the countryside tomorrow for a walk to set me off to a good start.