4x4x48 Challenge: How I got on!

Note: The links next to each run has a more detailed description on how I was feeling at the time

Over the weekend of March 4th-6th, I completed the 4x4x48 Challenge (run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. More importantly, with the help of some great people, we raised nearly €3000 for St. Brigid’s Hospice, The Curragh.

In this blog post, I am going to quickly go through my training for the event as well as the event itself and how you can be best prepared to tackle the event if you decide to do it in the future.

Unlike training for most one-off events, there’s no blueprint for the training that goes into doing the 4x4x48 challenge. I knew that the challenge would be as much mental as physical. What I wasn’t prepared for was people’s reactions when I told them I was doing the challenge.

Back in October, after completing a marathon and feeling like I gave up in the last 12k (I had been going at a faster pace over that distance than I ever had until the legs seized up), I listened to David Goggins’ audiobook, Can’t Hurt Me. Hearing about his upbringing, how he overcame all the odds and going through hell week 3 times on his way to becoming a navy seal was nothing short of inspiring. Based on that and hearing about the 4x4x48 Challenge, I knew I had to do it.

And maybe it was because I was immersed in his book and his content that when I started to tell people about the challenge in the weeks leading up to it, a lot thought I was pretty crazy. Even though it was a Goggin’s challenge, I thought I was ready.

In December, I set out to do a 50k run in one day. Breaking it down into 3 10 and a bit mile runs with a 5 minute break in-between, made for a great start to Christmas week!

I struggled on the third go-around of that 10 mile loop and finished with tired and sore legs. But, unlike the marathon two months before, I was back training two days later. It was the pace of the marathon that killed me. I knew that if I could build up miles in the legs, I could get through the challenge. I also knew that I can’t predict the weather.

And in the weeks leading up to the challenge, the weather was shocking. So I forced myself out into it on my long runs and made sure I did them. Because, if I could do 33k in heavy ran, I could win the mental battle to get up at 4 am and run 4 miles if faced with the same conditions.

After getting my 5k PB in mid-February, my runs were either based on being much longer than the 4 mile target or cycling before a 5-6 mile run so I could get used to running on tired legs. I wanted the training to be tough so that when it came to the challenge, each run felt like a training run.

I also wanted to make an event of it. The more long runs I did, the more I thought about the challenge, how I could get others involved and different ways to raise awareness for the challenge. Over time, or runs I should say, I realised I couldn’t do 12 back to back runs in the same place. I would have to travel to different locations. I saw this as an opportunity to make this challenge mean something more to me. To run in places I would have run before towards different events. To run in places that mean something to me. And to catch up with people that I may not have seen in a while and involve them in an event.

So the wheels were spinning on how I would plan out the weekend. With the charity link up and running, the social media reel posts in full swing, and the miles in the legs done, it was time for the challenge to begin.

When it comes to early morning training, I always say the night before is key. if the alarm goes off at 5:15 am for a 6 am session, if you are not prepared, you can lose that mental battle to get up. “Oh, I’m really tired”. “I don’t know where my training gear is”, "I haven’t eaten”, “I deserve a rest for all I have done until now” etc. I had no idea how sleep deprivation would affect me over the two days so I need to make those mental battles as easy as possible. I had all the clothes that I would need over the two days prepared and ready to go. I was lucky enough to have all my food prep done. I knew exactly where I needed to be for each run and outline for social media posts before and after each one too (including remembering what run number I was on because that got confusing from runs 5-10!).

At 8 pm on Friday, March 4th, the challenge started with Eric in Phoenix Park. Including a part of the route where the Dublin Marathon goes through, a lot of my training would have taken place in Phoenix Park. I was lucky enough to pretty much have it as a back garden to where I lived and could think of no better man than Eric to run it with.

Run 2 was back in Maynooth, where I first got into running, training for the marathon in 2017! I also made the commitment to training inside the Roost with Elaine that year so I could think of no better place to start it than there! Even a ruptured ACL with a week before when skiing, couldn’t stop Elaine doing the run with me… well, she was on an electric scooter, but I was happy she could make it.

Run number 3 was alone at 4 am near the house. And, being a Goggins’ challenge, you need a bit of suffering. So I left the headphones at home for this one. Because I knew the 4 am would be challenging, I was more up and ready for it. I actually fell into a deep sleep before the second run with had me pretty groggy to start. But couldn’t sleep right before this one for fear of sleeping it out and ruining the challenge!

It was the only run I suffered on for a different reason than I had imagined. After run 2, I came home starving Instead of having the granola and yoghurt, I went for an easier option to make, more pasta that was good to go with a short blast from the microwave. Big mistake. I had consumed what felt like more carbs in the last 12 hours than I had all week and I cramped up big time on the run. Forcing myself to keep going, I was getting what will probably be the closest to contractions every few minutes in the second half of the run. They’re getting closer I thought after every wave of relaxation. Thankfully, this story ends with me making it back to the house in time.

The lack of sleep continued as I got out of bed after 7 am to travel to Clane for run number 4. It was great to run with the run club, even if I felt a little selfish that I was doing my own thing during it as well. Having only started it up this year, seeing how it’s grown and the people we had during our first event in February was class! Having my own little challenge was good too. Despite what I thought at the time, and having 8 people there, it would not be the biggest event we would have in Clane that weekend.

The legs felt great and I felt good too as got a few cups of coffee into me and travelled down to Wicklow to run with my Dad along the beach for run 5. Running with my Dad is always fun and it’s great to see how much he still pushes himself when he sets his mind to something. And he had set his mind on running the 4 miles… twice! He was hoping to do it in 50 minutes, the first run was done in 44!

We were greeted back at the house with a big plate of potatoes, veg and lasagna from the mother. More fecking carbs I thought! But, I could not turn away good food!

With the folks there to definitely wake me, it was the first time I fell into any sort of a deep sleep since before the second run at midnight. I got an hour’s sleep in before it was up with 30 minutes before the next run. Dad was somehow 10 seconds faster on this run as we broke the halfway point of the challenge!

With the hour’s sleep and Mam’s insistence on another cup of coffee and a second serving of lasagna, it was back to Clane for run number 7 and more members of the Run Club joined me on this one! It was now that I was expecting the challenge to kick in and get tough. But it was still really enjoyable. A really nice evening run, despite my previous concerns that I might be getting tired and cranky at people, I was having a great time. I was having great chats along the run. Feeling a little heavy from all the food but still having a great time. but I was waiting for the crash…

A short nap on the couch after a protein shake, I couldn’t handle any heavy food at this stage, brought me to run 8 at 12am with Eric and Dara in Kill. And they kept the pace high. I felt I was struggling a little to keep up but pride made me go that bit more. Dara also informed me of what a "hanging chad” was. Basically, if I had run 4.3 miles, instead of 4, I could say I ran two marathons in 48 hours. Eric had brought up two marathons before to me on the first run, saying that I should run again for the 13th run at 8 pm on Sunday. I had already made a commitment to drink with people at that stage and there was no way I was leaving them to run another 4 miles just to say I ran two marathons in two days… that doesn’t mean I had ruled out running two marathons in two days either.

“I think Dara dragged you along on that one”, Eric said as I made my way back to the car for another 90 minutes of broken sleep before the next one.

Run 9. What I thought was going to be one of the two most challenging runs. It was tough getting out of bed for this one and I was 7-8 minutes late getting started. But, once I was up, I was raring to go. There’s something about running by yourself at silly o’clock, especially after seeing a taxi drop a lad home as my 4 miles began, that makes you realise you’re doing something a lot of others wouldn’t. You’re putting yourself out there. It’s hard to explain, but it gives you that kick. That combined with Eric saying I was getting dragged along a run meant I had a point to myself to prove. Having just a Fulfil bar instead, I left for that run, glasses still on, and tore up the road. With no cramping issues, I pushed myself to my fast 4 mile run of the challenge. A little FU on that one, I felt great as I finished up 4 miles! Just as I looked at the phone to take the selfie and head back to the house, I saw that it had locked itself for another 7 minutes. In hindsight, it was probably a good thing as I loosened out the legs on a lonely walk through Kill until I could use my hone again for the update.

8 am was tough to get up for as well. I also knew it was probably the last time I was getting sleep until the challenge was over. Back in Clane for run 10, it was another beautiful morning and great that there was breakfast for me after, too. An hour's shite talk, took my mind off the challenge before it was back home for the penultimate run.

This was the second run that I thought would be very challenging. So close but not quite at the end! I would love to talk about how the struggle was getting real and that I needed to grind out these last few runs but that never happened. Having different events, just made this so enjoyable. I ran with Niamh, the girlfriend, around the Farm, which included the first hill of the challenge (personal reasons that I will hope to talk about someday!).

Having finished up the 11th run, there was only one left at 4 pm. And I had 3 plus hours to make the 20-minute road journey to start it. Yep, that meant time for a sneaky 4 mile run. So I got some food into me, loosened out the legs with the massage gun and added a few stretched before I did a sneaky 4 mile run.

Then It was off to Clane for the last one. I had left it intentionally open and vague for if people wanted to run with me. In all my training runs leading up to it, I envisioned running this with 2-3 people, heading back to 2-3 at the car park and then meeting a few others throughout the night at a local pub. I didn’t see that there were quite a few people to see me off on the last run and even more, including the folks, to see me come back from my last 4 mile run.

The suffering never came (that will come from a later challenge down the line). A lot of it was due to how prepared I was and the miles put into the legs beforehand. But more than all that, it was due to the people and the support network I had around me. Like I said in one of the posts, there’s no such thing as a self-made person. I’ll never say I ran those miles because we did. There’s a lot from others that helped build me up into thinking that running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours was a task I was capable of doing. Just like I will say there was a lot of help in raising nearly €3000 for St. Brigid’s Hospice, The Curragh too!

If you’re going to do the challenge next year, get the miles in the legs. Prep your entire weekend from food to clothes to tracking the runs. And enjoy it! Because I certainly did!