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The David Goggins Challenge

I first heard the name David Goggins somewhere on the internet, maybe a year or two ago. I listened to his story - a young overweight man with a dead-end job that decided to turn his life around and became a Navy Seal, ultra runner, and one of the toughest men on the entire planet. It was pretty inspiring.

If you don’t have time to listen to the full two hour Joe Rogan podcast, watch this shorter video that summarizes his life (and get ready to be motivated afterwards).

Sometime last year, I heard about the David Goggins Challenge. I’ve been getting into running more and more recently, and I’m always looking for something to push myself a little bit further. The Goggins Challenge seemed right up my alley. Definitely something that would challenge me, but not something that would be out of my reach.

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Like the picture above states, you simply run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours (for a total of 48 miles). This challenges you in two different ways:

  • Physically - running a lot of miles over a short period of time
  • Mentally - not being able to get a full night of sleep since you have to wake up and run every 4 hours

A couple days before, I started to prepare for the weekend challenge. I meal-prepped, bought some carb supplements, and did laundry (since I would be sweating through a lot of clothes). But like most new and difficult things, nothing can prepare you for the real deal.

The running overall was not that bad. I run 4 miles about three times a week, so each run was relatively easy. I didn’t feel too tired or exhausted until towards the end of the challenge. And even then, it wasn’t that bad.

The main issue I faced in my earlier runs was tightness/soreness in my leg muscles, primary my hamstrings. This was probably caused by not having enough recovery time in between each run - something my muscles weren’t used to. This wasn’t something that I expected to happen, but it makes sense. Constant stretching throughout the weekend helped with this.

There was also some soreness in my Achilles tendon on the last few runs. All but one of my runs were on pavement, so the constant striking against a hard surface definitely caused this. This was the worst pain point throughout the weekend. Who would have thought that my Achilles heel would be my actual Achilles tendon?

Another thing I didn’t expect was how technical I needed to be. There were a lot of things I didn’t consider that would make a difference. Eat food too soon before a run and you get stomach cramps; don’t eat enough food and you’ll be sluggish. Put your shoes in front of a fan when you’re done running so they can dry. Otherwise you’ll still have sweaty shoes for your next run. Drink as much water as you can, but make sure to use the bathroom literally right before you run, or you’ll only be thinking about the bathroom for the next 4 miles. Find time to charge your phone, headphones, and watch at some point between runs so they don’t die on you. Plan out when you’re going to wear (and sweat through) your short sleeves, long sleeves, and sweat shirts. You want to have appropriate attire for both the middle of the day and the middle of the night.

Overall though, this challenge was exactly what I was looking for - it pushed me physically and mentally, but not to the breaking point. The large number of miles seem intimidating at first, but they’re quite manageable when broken down. This challenge was difficult, but it was not as hard as what I thought it would be.

I’ll be looking forward to participating again next year. Here’s a few things I’ll be doing differently though:

  • A few weeks before, do some multi-run days to train my muscles for shorter recovery periods
  • Stretch A LOT the couple of days before the challenge
  • Do more runs on softer surfaces (like grass or dirt) to not put so much stress on my Achilles tendon