How I Ran Three Marathons In Three Days

I like to write a weekend recap, and with what was essentially a 3 1/2-day trip to run the Tahoe Triple, you’d think I’d have a lot to write about. But I take more of a business-like approach to this one than any other weekend, because even with all the marathons I’ve run this year, I couldn’t just show up and take the races for granted. I had three marathons to run, three marathons to finish, and there’s no way I’d allow myself to turn in a lousy effort.

Ordinarily, three marathons all-out in three days would be tough physically. But I knew it would be a little tougher than normal, because the courses are on rolling hills at elevation. I started to find that I have troubles above 4,000 feet, and the courses we ran on varied between 6,300 feet and 7,040 feet above sea level. I tried not to think about it all heading in. I knew I had three marathons, but I mentally blocked out how difficult the courses would be. I certainly wasn’t looking forward to it, though.

I left work after lunch on Thursday, flying in to Reno. When I got in, I had to drive straight to Tahoe, which was about an hour away, to attend a dinner for all the Triple runners that started at about the time I landed. I was a little late getting in, but I got there just in time to hear Dick Beardsley speak. He’s a running legend, a 2:08 guy back in the day, and it was fun to hear some of his stories. I sat at a table with a friend of mine, Lucia Lake, who is the race director for the 72-mile ultra associated with the weekend of events. I didn’t know I took the seat next to Beardsley until he was done speaking and sat down there next to me.

No big deal, but then when Lucia went up to speak, she started talking about me and went on for a little bit about Operation Jack. At that point, Beardsley started playing 20 questions with me, interested in how I was training, what I was doing to raise money and all those types of things. It was fun to get quizzed by him, but it was kind of awkward, because I’ll never be 1/10 the runner he was.

Anyways, I grabbed some pasta and some pizza and some rice krispie treats, then went to my motel and got settled in. I didn’t have to get up until 5:15 a.m. on Friday, which is fairly late for me on a race day. I think I got to sleep somewhere around 10 or 10:30, so I was fairly well rested. I’m used to running marathons on 4-5 hours of sleep this year due to the travel. I knew rest would be critical, so I was glad to start with about seven hours the first night.

After getting up and ready, I ran the first marathon (recap here) and was pretty wrecked. I texted my wife Tiffany to let her know I was done and safe (women worry about that stuff, I guess) and told her it was the most difficult marathon course I had ever run, because it was. If I had come home having just run that, I would have had a tough weekend. I finished fifth overall with a 3:49. It was that tough.

One benefit of the lake is that it’s cold water, perfect for an ice bath and easier than climbing into a tub. I went in for about 20 minutes before I went back to my motel, then stayed off my feet and got a bunch of work done on the computer. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but knew I needed to eat. About five hours after I finished the race, I went to Denny’s and forced myself to overindulge on all-you-can-eat pancakes.

I was full after three, but I forced myself to eat seven. I wasn’t convinced that I’d really be able to use all the carbs I ate for Saturday’s race, but I figured that if I didn’t burn all those pancakes, I’d use them for Sunday. I wasn’t tremendously concerned about protein after the first day. I’ve run at least 10 or so doubles before, so I know I can fight through it.

After eating, I went back to the lake for a second ice bath. It was about a 10-minute walk to the lake, so that was nice for a tiny bit of recovery. When I got back, I took some ibuprofen PM. It was only about 6:30 at that point, but I figured that would make me tired at a reasonable time. I picked up a couple of protein bars at a grocery store, then went to Burger King to get a small order of fries. My real reason to get the fries was so I could get a ton of salt packets. I had about 6-8 to get the salt back into my system, and I drank a ton of water and a couple of Gatorades to rehydrate. I called it a night, iced my right knee and right foot, and went to sleep, ready for the second day. Oh, I stretched, too. Two ice baths and stretching — definitely important when doing a triple!

I woke up on Saturday morning after getting about 7 1/2 hours of sleep and didn’t feel very tired, which was nice. My legs were a little tight, but not as bad as they normally are the day after a marathon. The ice and stretching must have helped, as did lounging around and staying off my feet for the most part.

I ran the second race on Saturday and my legs were pretty dead, but the pain wasn’t too bad. It was just tough. The run was nice, but it wasn’t a ton of fun because it was so difficult. I was pretty happy with how I did, because out of the top five finishers in the triple, I was the only one who was faster the second day. The course was easier (or, should I say, less difficult and miserable), but the other four were all slower. I went from 3:49 to 3:36 (recap here).

I went into the lake after the race again, but didn’t eat aside from a handful of pretzels. I wanted to work up an appetite, because I knew protein was important before the third race, and I was going to an all-you-can-eat stir-fry restaurant called Fire & Ice. I showered, got some work done on the computer, and about four hours after the race finally ended, I went to eat. I did a number at that restaurant, eating four full plates (each were the size of a dinner restaurant entree) and loading up. Chicken twice, mahi mahi, and then a huge serving of salmon. Lots of rice, tortillas and veggies in the mix there, too. I sat at the bar in the restaurant watching college football and the bartender was amazed by how much I was eating!

I got back to my motel, took another ice bath, then sat in bed watching football. I took some ibuprofen PMs at an early hour again, drank a couple of gatorades, had about 6-8 more salt packets, drank a ton of water and called it a night again.

I got up on Sunday and wasn’t tired but my legs were pretty tight. My left hamstring and right knee felt sore. I guess that’s to be expected after two marathons in two days. The third course is about as difficult as the first one and I knew it was going to be a tough day. It was pretty difficult to have a positive approach. I knew at the end of the day I would have completed the Tahoe Triple, which is a difficult challenge, but I really didn’t want to run 26.2 miles. There’s nothing quite like running 26.2 miles in the mountains when you don’t want when you’ve run marathons each of the previous days.

But I had to do what I had to do, and I battled through the third day (recap here). Of us top five in the Triple, I don’t think any of us finished faster the third day than the second day. But I was the only one who finished faster than I did the first day. I knew I did a good job taking care of myself and that I was ready for this. And I knew I was glad to be done! Any one of these three races would have been one of the toughest courses I’ve run. Lucky me, I got three of them in a row! I finished third overall in the Triple out of maybe 100 or so entrants.

After the race, I went and took another dip in the lake. It felt pretty nice to soak my legs. I was pretty exhausted! When I finally got back to my hotel, I showered, checked out, drove back to Reno and stopped at In-N-Out, then flew home (with a stopover) and finally walked through my door at 9:30 p.m.

I had a snack, posted my race report, worked on my blog, then called it a night. I have to get out the door before 7:30 to get Jack to school on time, which I did yesterday morning.

So, that was my weekend. Normally I have a function, I see something interesting or have fun anecdotes to tell. But for this weekend, I had to take a very serious approach, because if I didn’t, I’d be setting myself for a miserable experience.

Like this entire year has been, it was fun, challenging and memorable, but I’m not so sure I ever want to do it again!