20 Miles: No food; No water

Why you might ask would someone do that for a training run.  The answer is to train for the event I will be participating in.  Now, I’ve never gone that far or that long (3:25) on a run without food or water before but when you get out there in the woods, you never know what you will encounter.

Last fall I encountered a black bear in the middle of the trail.  I dealt with severe dehydration and cramping. 

What I did on Sunday this past weekend was work to train my mind to overcome my body.  I focused on separating the two completely.  The mind controlled my run, not my body.  My body likely would have given up with 5 miles to go when I was a quarter mile from my house and faced with a decision to do one more loop or turn around and go home.

It’s easy to go home.  Most people would have gone home.  I am not like most people.  You don’t have to be like most people either.  Why then do we settle for being like most people most of the time?  I don’t have an answer to that question.  You do though. 

Do you settle for average and easy?  Why?  What do you do when the going gets tough?  What do you do when your career is backed up against a wall and there is nowhere to go from where you are?  Do you cower in the corner and wait for someone else to come and get you out or do you fight like there is no other option?

It’s easy to cower.  It’s easy to quit.  It’s easy to accept failure and let that be the end of it.  Be different.  Stand up and fight to uncomfortable circumstances.  Stand up and fight for what you want in this life.  Stand up and fight.

I ran the entire 20 miles.  My mind did not let me stop.  If I am to earn my belt buckle this fall at Superior, my training will need to be brutal.  I’ll need to push myself in my training to the point where I want to quit.  Once I reach that point, that’s when the training session starts.  I’ve covered 72 miles in just less than 30 hours.  In order to succeed I’ll need to cover 100 miles in under 38 hours.  I will succeed.  I will persevere through whatever that course throws at me on that combination of days in early September.  My attitude will be relentless.  I will need to be more relentless than the course, more rugged of mind than the rocks that look to stop me through the night.  My mind will need to be stronger than the piles of rocks that stand in my way.

I will be successful.  I will overcome.  I heard it said this past weekend about Spartan warriors that the battle was a reprieve from the training.  The fighting against the enemy was a break from the rigors of their intense training.  I will create an environment where the Sawtooth 100, through the rock and root littered hills of north eastern Minnesota, will be a reprieve from my 100 mile training this summer.

My business will thrive.  My time will be well spent.  I will succeed.  

Oh, and I started a new company this week called "10x Traction Wellness".  If you know any employers looking to improve upon their company culture, have them contact me.

Jon Howard - Husband and Father of 3 | Ultra Endurance Athlete | Owner - 10x Traction Wellness, Training Edge Sports

How much water should you drink and when should you drink it?

A good rule of thumb is that you should drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day.  If you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water every day. 

When to hydrate is another question that doesn't get asked often enough I don’t think.  It’s good to drink a glass of water immediately upon waking in the morning.  Also, combine drinking water with daily tasks to ensure you are getting enough water every day. 

When you workout, you should drink 20 ounces before exercise, 20 ounces of water during a one hour exercise session and another 20 ounces within an hour after exercise. 

Your body is made up of mostly water.  To ensure you are performing optimally, make sure you drink enough water every day.

Jon Howard – Husband and Father of 3 | Ultra Endurance Athlete | Owner – Training Edge Sports

Daily Action 1 under exercise is making time for exercise.  Let me explain further.

If you’re schedule is anything like mine it’s tough to find time for exercise.  That’s why we need to make time to exercise. 

Instead of filling your calendar and then fitting the exercise in around everything else, I challenge you to fill your calendar with time for exercise and fit everything else around it.

I’ve explained a number of benefits to exercising already in the past week or so and it keeps showing up in this challenge. 

Our goals and dreams can challenge us and motivate us to do things we might not have though possible.  Making time for regular exercise will have a positive impact on your ability to achieve.

I’ve been careful not to use the word will so far when talking to you but I’ve seen so much evidence of the impact exercise has in people’s ability to achieve that I’ve chosen that word for this.  Making time for regular exercise will have a positive impact on your ability to achieve your goals and dreams.

This can be tough.  Your calendar might be full to the max already.  In my experience, though, I’ve seen adding exercise actually create space and time in people’s lives rather than take it away.  Regular exercise makes us more efficient, helps us learn faster and more permanently, helps relieve stress and put us in a happier mood.

Try this simple trick and you will get exercise more regularly.  


Jon Howard - Husband and Father of 3 | Ultra Endurance Athlete | Owner - Training Edge Sports