Run & Grind

  Recovery Run After a 100km Ultra: Medicine or Poison? I Tested It Myself Two days after finishing a 100km ultra at Cheongnamdae, I laced up again. Here's what happened — and what science says about it. My Body Rejected the First 300 Meters Two days after the Cheongnamdae 100km ultra, I put my running shoes back on. Honestly, even walking wasn't comfortable. The moment my foot hit the ground, my palms went cold with sweat. My entire body was screaming at me. "Not yet." But then something strange happened. Around the 300-meter mark, my body started to loosen up. By the time I hit 1km, I could actually run. I started at an 8:00/km pace, and before I knew it, I'd settled into 6:30/km. I ended up running about 5km total. The real surprise came afterward. Walking felt noticeably easier than before the run. That's when it hit me. "So recovery runs really are a thing." · · · Why Does Running Help You...

  Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 6 'A Long Novel' I. Two and a Half Hours Left Ultra marathon distances never seem to land exactly on 100km. Last year's Cheonan Heungtaryeong Marathon was about 104km. This year's Cheongnamdae, I heard, was over 101km. Later, checking the Garmin data of finishers: 101.7–101.8km. After eating fish cake soup, I was ready to head out. It was 5:30 AM. The cutoff was 8:00 AM — cross the finish line by then, and you're official. 16.7km in two and a half hours. On any normal day, that's nothing to worry about. But this wasn't a normal day,,, Before heading out, someone asked, "Does anyone know exactly how many kilometers are left? This is my third ultra, but my first Cheongnamdae. The hills are brutal. And the cutoff is 16 hours instead of 17,,," "Same here. First time at Cheongnamdae. I had no idea there'd be this many hills." Then someone nearby chimed in, ...

  Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 5 'Good Morning' I. At the 50km Mark After eating and changing clothes, I checked the time. It was just before midnight. That morning, as I left the house, my wife had said, "This is so annoying. Why do you keep doing something so dangerous,,," It stayed with me. She was probably still awake, so I called. "Hello?" "Hey, Hwayoung. Are you okay?" "Just ate. I'm fine except for some blisters on my toes." "Okay. If something's wrong, just quit." "I'll call you in the morning." II. Married? Or Just Running Partners? After 50km, a couple kept appearing — passing us, then falling behind, then passing us again. Were they married? Just running partners? Hard to tell. At some point, we ended up walking together for a bit. After eating a power gel from my pack, "Captain, I've got a chocolate bar in here,,, not sure when to ea...

  Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 4 'Amazing People' I. The Thinning Crowd For the first 10km, you run and walk surrounded by a thick crowd. Past 20km, the crowds start to thin out. They bunch up again going uphill, then scatter on the downhill. By around 30km, it's just people running at a similar pace — passing each other back and forth. That's how I arrived at the 30km checkpoint (CP — where food and water are available). II. Just Let Me Get to 50km,,, For the first 20km or so, I stayed with the four people I started with. Jjong called out every kilometer — "1%!", and I heard him all the way up to "17%!" before he surged ahead and I couldn't hear his count anymore. Durumi and Bravo, running quietly and steadily, also pulled ahead. Only the captain remained by my side. The captain had his Garmin set to beep every 400 meters. At the start, he said, "Jeong, just 250 laps around a track. That's all." ...

Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 3 'A Thousand Thoughts' I. Passing the 10km Mark As I passed the 10km mark, I was feeling so good that I stopped to take a photo. My legs felt great, and my mind was firmly locked in. 'Just don't push too hard.' 'If an injury hits, it's straight to hell — no matter what, don't overdo it.' At my last ultra, an injury left me counting from 1 to 100 over and over for four and a half hours as I dragged myself through the final 20km. Knowing that pain, I kept my excitement in check and stayed disciplined. II. The Never-Ending Mountain Before 20km Before my first ultra, I believed you had to run every meter — uphill, downhill, no matter what. But during that first ultra, we had to cross a mountain, and the difference between running speed and walking speed was almost nothing. And not a single person ran the entire mountain. That's when I learned: 'Ultra marathons ar...

Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon — Part 2 'I Feel So Good!!' I. Stuck in Traffic I don't really remember what we talked about in the car. But the traffic was way worse than expected. The original plan was to find a restaurant nearby, eat a proper meal, and change into our gear with plenty of time to spare. Instead, we grabbed a quick lunch at a rest stop and headed straight to the venue. The closer we got, the more the cars refused to move. In the end, we parked 1km before the entrance and changed right there. 🏃 This time, I really wanted to finish without injury. For the first time ever, I taped up my knees, ankles, and the soles of my feet. Applied Vaseline on every spot that might chafe while running. Packed extra power gels, a water bottle. Even threw in a spray pain reliever. Walking past cherry blossoms lining the street and a river stretching out beside us, we arrived at the Cheongnamdae main gate. A little further down, we found the ...

Cheongnamdae 100km Ultra Marathon Part 1: "This is so frustrating" Why do we return to the pain we swore to never face again? ··· I. My Second 100km Challenge Last September, the Cheonan Samgeori Heungtaryeong 100km Ultra Marathon. At the 45km mark, an injury flared up in my left sole. Trying to compensate for the pain, I overstrained my right knee. By the 77km mark, my right knee finally gave out.   With both legs failing, every step felt like agony. I spent over four hours forcing myself to walk, barely crossing the Finish Line.   'How am I going to get home?!' I couldn't even get in or out of a taxi on my own.   More than the pride of finishing, I just wanted to go home and see my family. But those memories of agony were short-lived. Before I knew it, I was already thinking about my next ultra marathon.   I don't even know why I want to do this again. Yet, these words were already coming out of my mouth: "My legs need t...

I wanted to stop her. But I've been through the working world myself. I know what it feels like when relationships at work fall apart. That's why I couldn't say a word. In Her 50s, 30 Years of Experience — Why She Quit After Just 2 Weeks My wife's one-week story, and the husband who watched from the side ··· It hasn't been a year since she left her last job. She quit because her body and mind were exhausted. But with our first in college and our second in high school, there's no end to the expenses. Maybe it's the economy, but relying on just my income felt too risky. So she decided to send out one resume a day. ··· In her prime, callbacks came immediately. But now, one or two weeks would pass with nothing. After a couple of months like that, she deleted her last salary from her resume. After that, calls started trickling in. ··· She went to an interview. She didn't have high expectations, but the boss seemed reasonabl...