I mean, it’s not the smart thing to do. Announcing 11 months ahead of time that I’m gunning to win the 2027 Vol State race puts a huge target on my back. Everyone’s on notice. I’m not sneaking up on anyone. It’s out there. Dozens and dozens of people now know about this. It’s officially a thing.
But there is method in my madness and this is why I decided to go this route.
- Motivation / Accountability
- Education
- Having Some Fun
Now I’m normally a pretty motivated person. My guess is most ultrarunners are. You don’t sign up for ridiculously long races without being committed to putting in the time and effort to train for them. The difference with this training cycle for me though is that I’m not just doing the same old, same old. I’ll be looking to add workouts (hills, track days) to my weekly schedule which is not something I’ve historically enjoyed. I’m also adding back in a daily core workout habit, which had fallen by the wayside a number of years ago. And finally I’ll be incorporating weekly strength training, which is something I’ve never been successful doing. These are three things I could definitely use some help with self motivation and that’s where the external accountability comes in. I’m currently planning on monthly updates so knowing I’ll have to report out on this will help keep me honest. And it’s already done so with a couple workouts where I would normally have just skipped them, however knowing The Revolution is a thing has kept me on track.
This blog is meant to be both entertaining and educational. I’m still not sure I can market myself as an ultrarunning expert, however I’ve picked up a thing or two over the years. My hope is that by documenting my training over the next year you can pick up a thing or two about how I approach it. I plan to be more intentional so will get into my thought process a little bit about why I’m doing certain workouts or interventions. While the volumes and/or intensities may not be applicable for everyone, all of this is scalable. There isn’t anything that will be “don’t try this at home”.
Finally, I thought it would be fun to put this out there. I know the current King of the Road (Addison) and wanted to have a little friendly competition with him. And also with whoever else decides to show up. The entire point of The Revolution is less winning the actual race and more the process of building up my fitness to a whole new level leading up to it. I view ultras more as a team competition of runners against the course rather than runner against runner. So if you’re planning on running Vol State next year, feel free to join my revolution. I’ll take any help I can get!