When deciding whether to do something, if you feel anything less than “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell yeah!” — then say “no.”
Derek Sivers
I gave myself one week to decide whether to continue with my training for the Yeti 100 Mile Ultra, but if I’m being honest I made up my mind sometime near the end of my 50 mile run this past weekend. My heart isn’t in it. It took me almost ten hours to finish this past Saturday, and I don’t have the mental capacity to double that in a couple of months.
Running has been huge for me over the past few years, and I don’t want to risk all of that by biting off more than I can chew. I’ve included the training schedule I was planning on following below, to give a sense of the time commitment I was walking into. From July to the end of September, I was going to be spending roughly eight to ten hours each weekend running. To me, at this point, that is not a fun level of commitment. That’s overkill.
Does that mean I no longer want to accomplish 100 miles? Absolutely not. The first thought that crossed my mind, laying down after my run, was that I had more left in the tank. But how much more? That is the question that ultra-running tries to tease out. You know you have limits, but you keep failing to reach them. When I’m ready to find out, I’ll sign up for another 100 mile race.
One thing I discovered over this past week is how few resources there are that deal with quitting something before you’ve started. Everything is job focused (which makes me wonder how many people quit jobs before they’ve started). Instead, I decided to read about what it takes to finish a 100 mile race, since that’s ultimately my decision: Do I have what it takes, or am I willing to get there in the next five months? The answer to that question is clearly no. “The difference between 50 and 100 miles is purely mental.” I read that everywhere, and right now I’m not mentally in this thing.
I’ve decided to re-frame my decision. I am quitting now, so that I do not quit during the race. When I’m ready to run and train at the levels below, I will know it.
| Week Number | M | Tu | W | Th | F | Sa | Su | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | — | 4 | 6 | 4 | — | 16 | 10 | 40 |
| 3 | — | 4 | 6 | 4 | — | 18 | 10 | 42 |
| 4 | — | 4 | 6 | 4 | — | 20 | 10 | 44 |
| 5 | — | 2 | 4 | 6 | — | 10 | 8 | 30 |
| 6 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 20 | 12 | 50 |
| 7 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 22 | 12 | 52 |
| 8 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 22 | 12 | 52 |
| 9 | — | 2 | 4 | 6 | — | 10 | 8 | 30 |
| 10 | — | 4 | 10 | 6 | — | 25 | 13 | 58 |
| 11 | — | 4 | 10 | 6 | — | 25 | 13 | 58 |
| 12 | — | 4 | 10 | 6 | — | 25 | 13 | 58 |
| 13 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 10 | 8 | 36 |
| 14 | — | 4 | 12 | 6 | — | 28 | 15 | 65 |
| 15 | — | 4 | 12 | 6 | — | 28 | 15 | 65 |
| 16 | — | 4 | 12 | 6 | — | 28 | 15 | 65 |
| 17 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 10 | 8 | 36 |
| 18 | — | 4 | 15 | 6 | — | 30 | 15 | 70 |
| 19 | — | 4 | 15 | 6 | — | 30 | 15 | 70 |
| 20 | — | 4 | 15 | 6 | — | 30 | 20 | 75 |
| 21 | — | 4 | 8 | 6 | — | 10 | 8 | 36 |
| 22 | — | 4 | 15 | 6 | — | 30 | 20 | 75 |
| 23 | — | 4 | 15 | 6 | — | 30 | 20 | 75 |
| 24 | — | 4 | 10 | 6 | — | 10 | 10 | 40 |
| 25 | — | 4 | — | 6 | — | 10 | — | 20 |
| 26 | 5 | 3 | 2 | — | — | 100 | — | 110 |