Anyone participating in the David Goggin’s 4 x 4 x 48 challenge this weekend? For those that are unfamiliar, this is running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 hours (total of 48 miles over two days).
For anyone who has done this before, what was your experience?
Anyone participating in the David Goggin’s 4 x 4 x 48 challenge this weekend? For those that are unfamiliar, this is running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 hours (total of 48 miles over two days).
So a watered down Big’s Backyard Ultra?
(total of 48 miles over two days).
I’d prefer to just bang out a marathon two days in a row.
I did it about 2 years ago on a random weekend when my wife was out of town and I was bored. Physically, it wasn’t hard. Mentally, it was mildly challenging. The worst part about it for me was it rained most of the weekend I did it and I felt like a wet dog for 48 hours.
So a watered down Big’s Backyard Ultra?
Several years ago - nevermind how long, precisely - My first coach would do* this *while on business travel: She’d do three miles on the hotel Dreadmill in the morning, three more at lunch , ANOTHER three before dinner and finish up with a final three at bedtime on the 'Mill
She presented this to me and we made a game of it we called it **"La Tortuga’s 4x5x6 or “Run Like an Idiot” After a few attempts, I had YET to get the 4th leg done, until I finally *completed one in on Black Friday in 2010. Since then we’ve sorta settled on a name for the format: “20K Solo Relay” or simply “Black Friday”
At the time, and for quite a while in fact, everyone was “Four 5Ks in one day? Why would anyone do that? That’s CRAZY!!! And stupid - just do a single 12-miler and be done with it” Adding that the preferred start time was 6AM, making the legs 6A/Noon/6P/Midnight, it’s a full-day event*. Not only is it a challenge to get out the door on legs that are getting deader & deader, there’s also refueling and re-hydrating to do, if you intend to do each leg at max pace or close to it
Now, with the Backyard Ultra format blowing up globally over the past couple years, my race, the Slowest Marathon and even Goggin’s 4x4x48, seem a little SOFT in comparison
Back when I was working and traveling I used to things like this frequently, especially at conferences. Get up early and do an outside run of about an hour. I then skip the conference lunch and grab 30 mins or so on the treadmill and then do another run in the evening. For multiple day affairs, I’d sometimes swap the evening run for an easy spin bike session and then repeat the next day. It was definitely more fun than attending some conference lunch or dinner or just sitting in the hotel room.
I did it about 2 years ago on a random weekend when my wife was out of town and I was bored. Physically, it wasn’t hard. Mentally, it was mildly challenging. The worst part about it for me was it rained most of the weekend I did it and I felt like a wet dog for 48 hours.
I did it last year and had the same experience. It was actually not hard to hit decent splits even late in the challenge but it was a slog mentally to get home, eat, shower and do it again in 3 hours. I was happy I did it but it is definitely a one time thing.
It was my first venture into Virtual Racing - long before it was a necessity - with runners from here, another forum I belonged to, a few FB friends, and so on
I made custom bibs for all participants and emailed them around
Results were submitted and awards were given: Fastest Total Time , Fastest Single Split , Most Consistent Pace, First to Finish All Four Legs
I then made up others on dates besides Black Friday - there was a “Dog Days” in July and a “Back to School” in September
The largest starting “grid” was 26 runners: in order to make sure everyone won something, I expanded the Awards to things like “UK Champion” for someone from England, “Australian Champion” from OZ, “Great Lakes Regional Champion” to MI, “Great Plains Regional Champion” to KS, and so on
Eventually though, my effectiveness as RD fizzled, and the event kinda passed by the wayside
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(total of 48 miles over two days).
I’d prefer to just bang out a marathon two days in a row.
I did an Everesting thing a couple of years ago…
The climb was NOT steep enough.
And I took the ride tooo easy.
It ended up sucking a whole bunch.
Not in an exciting, painful way!
No…
It was more like being stuck on a greyhound bus- driving from Houston to Fargo, listening to Christian radio.
Constant annoyance but no real challenge.
I am with you.
This challenge needs more intensity and less late night dithering.
If you want to make it more intense, do it. Run all the 4mi legs at 5k pace. Choose to do 5mi or 10k per leg instead of only 4mi. Find some hills and do all the legs on a 5% incline, uphill both ways. Decide not to sleep during the 48 hours. Do it fasted, only taking water and electrolyte. Stop and do a set of pushups, crunches, planks and jumping jacks every mile. Add extra bike or swim workouts in between each run leg. There are so many ways to add intensity. Me? I’m sticking to the standard 4x4x48 which is intense enough for me. 4 down, 8 to go!
On my 2400th day of running everyday I did 1mi x 24 every hour. That was rough. Trying to eat and sleep we’re the worst. I have a pool so I jumped in after each run.
Started at midnight.
Congrats on being almost done!
I started Wednesday at 4pm due to weekend scheduling conflicts and finished Friday at noon. Got a total of 7.5 hours of sleep and lost 6 lbs. Would do it again, but not for awhile.
Stay hard
On my 2400th day of running every day …
I asked what you were using for a minimum in the 100/100 thread, so I won’t ask again
Good job!!!
It was more like being stuck on a greyhound bus- driving from Houston to Fargo, listening to Christian radio.
Constant annoyance but no real challenge.
This is a great metaphor.
It was more like being stuck on a Greyhound bus - driving from Houston to Fargo, listening to Christian radio.
Constant annoyance but no real challenge.
This is a great metaphor.
“Riding a Greyhound bus is like being trapped in a rolling Walmart”
Congrats to you too, and any other STers who completed the 4x4x48 this weekend! I agree 100% - i’m not ready to think about doing that again! But, i’ve got 363 or so days to forget it and change my mind.