One of my favorite Doors song titles. For those new to Ultra Marathon waiting for the sun means waiting out the low points because things will get better. It happens to everyone including the elites. It’s taken me hours to shake a nasty monkey off my back. I say, you wait until it gets better… or the race finishes… either way the problem gets solved.
At the same time, don’t just passively wait. You’ve got to identify the issue and get to fixing it. Drink more water, down a bunch of calories, duct tape some body part… get it done.
As an example, I went out for a 25 mile trail run in Flagstaff Az. Nothing really wrong other than my body didn’t want to run and my mind completely agreed. Even though I fueled before the start, I’m 30 minutes into the run and figured I better get started on turning this around. So, I slam a red bull… run 30 minutes more… still feeling the same negative stuff. Down a GU… run 30 minutes… nope, still not feeling it. Another GU… run 20 minutes… finally I’m feeling better. From there, regular GU intake and other foods kept my spirits up and I completed the run feeling fantastic. Two hours I struggled before I felt like I even wanted to be out there.
Sometimes you have to wait for the sun.
