Category: My Personal Journey
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Why you need a training plan
Throughout my life, I’ve done my best training for running with the help of fantastic running coaches, who helped to dictate a lot of the intense workouts and running efforts I conducted. But since leaving university, I’ve failed to get coaching advice from others, and I’ve failed to follow a distinct plan. Instead, I’ve followed…
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What I’ve learned through five weeks of injury rehab
The past five weeks have been mentally exhausting, but also incredibly rewarding as I’ve undergone my injury rehabilitation from plantar fasciitis. I’ve spent a significant amount of time learning about ultramarathon running as a sport, but also about injury prevention and healing, ensuring that when I come back to running, I’ll be in it for…
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Hidden Gem #1 – Running with a varicocele
A year and a half ago, I started to realize that my left-sided friend down under was significantly larger in size than the right-sided friend down under. I also noticed that exercises like jumping jacks or certain stretches caused me peculiar pain. It was the type of momentary pain I had experienced for years in…
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Running with a varicocele
A year and a half ago, I started to realize that my left-sided friend down under was significantly larger in size than the right-sided friend down under. I also noticed that exercises like jumping jacks or certain stretches caused me peculiar pain. It was the type of momentary pain I had experienced for years in…
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Why I’ve chosen a 6-hour for my first ultramarathon
I first started dreaming of ultramarathon glory in high school, before I had even completed a half-marathon. But after years of injury issues and slowly falling out of love with the sport, I concluded that running wasn’t meant to be in the grand scheme of my life. I decided that it was silly for my…
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Coping with a running injury
Let’s face it. You’re devastated. I’m devastated. We’re all devastated when it comes to running injuries. So much of our identities revolve around running, and while we’re often fine taking running off by our own omission, it’s terrible for us to take time off when it’s thrust upon us instead.
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Lifestyle and mindset changes since I started training for an ultramarathon
At a low-point in my life, an awfully difficult day of desperation and distraught, I turned to my computer and searched for meaning in the form of upcoming (sold-out) ultramarathon races in Ontario. ‘I’ll get out there next year instead’, I said to myself. Since taking on this path, I feel happier with who I…
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How to prioritize running in your life
The most common barrier to training for an ultramarathon is time. For those that want to make running a priority in their lives, it takes a massive amount of devotion and dedication. If you mix running and exploration together like I do, you’re likely going to be taking up even more of your time as…
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Finding your motivation to run long
There are both healthy reasons to run, and unhealthy reasons to run. Sometimes those reasons merge, and sometimes what started out as a journey toward better health quickly becomes a journey toward worsened health. I found myself in this state between 2017-2018, where I was inevitably destroying my body.
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Falling in love with running again
Addiction is funny. Conveniently, but simultaneously inconveniently, so is love. When you put those two together in a cake mix, it’s hard not to find a delicious treat waiting on the other side of a burning oven. From around 2010 to 2018, I was addicted to running. Conveniently, but simultaneously inconveniently, I also loved to…
Rhys Desmond 