Episode 505: Meg Eckert Runs 636 In 6-Days
Meg Eckert recently became one of only five humans to ever run 636 miles or more in six days. She is now the overall American Record holder and Women’s World Record holder for the 6-Day event. Meg is also a full time math teacher, coach, and puts up incredible results in a variety of events, including finishing third this year at the Cocodona 250, and winning the Vermont 100 Mile.
Meg: meganeckert.com | IG: @_megeckert
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Episode Summary
Recent six-day performance & history
Meg added 33 miles to her previous 603-mile six-day mark, setting an outright American record (636 miles).
By individual (not performance), this ranks her 5th all-time in six-day distance.
She discusses the rich history of six-day events (late 1800s/early 1900s peak at places like Madison Square Garden, later dormancy, recent revival) and how she only learned the history after her first race via people like Joe Fejes.
Race selection & trail vs. loop benefits
Primary 2025 targets were Cocodona 250 (3rd place in a strong year) and the six-day; other races (Vermont 100 win, Northburn 100 in New Zealand with ~29k ft gain, 100 miles at the Dome as a training run) fill gaps based on what appeals.
Trails improve durability and form for flat loops (better foot pickup, turnover from rocky descents); short loops create mental fatigue that trails help reset.
Backyard ultras
She’s competitive in the space and notes rapid growth (welcoming community that also draws competitive athletes; draws both road and trail runners).
Views sleep deprivation (inability to get full REM cycles) as the long-term limiter more than pure distance/injury, though adaptation to repeated distance matters. Sleep strategies remain individual and evolving (bank early/frequent short naps; rest even without sleep has value).
Upcoming: Front Yard Ultra in Melbourne in early May (with Sarah Perry, Phil Gore, and others) as a spring focus.
Six-day race strategy & execution
Pre-race spreadsheet planning around target sleep time off-course, paces, and total distance (day 1 typically strongest/longest due to noon start and freshness).
Sleep: aims for ~2–4 hours/day total (broken into shorter bouts); this race was her most effective yet but still required mid-race adjustments (e.g., shifting nap times). Uses eye mask, earplugs, and consistent cues; falls asleep less easily later in the race.
Highly individual—some athletes sleep in longer blocks, others in many short ones. Notes examples like Joe Fejes vs. Yiannis Kouros (more sleep but higher total for Fejes).
Nutrition: keeps regular meal structure (breakfast/lunch/dinner + substantial midnight snack) plus Precision Nutrition Flow gels (~45 g carbs/hour baseline, more if possible) for easy on-the-go fueling. Hydration is intuitive with variety (water, electrolytes, tea, soda, protein drinks) to fight flavor fatigue.
Foot care: few blisters; changes socks every ~12 hours; used three pairs of Altra R1s (rain forced a third; otherwise two would have sufficed). Prefers the R1’s balance of ground feel and cushion; fresh pairs provide a big late-race boost. No major structured run/walk plan—walks when needed (especially while eating) and has deliberately improved her purposeful walking pace via treadmill work and practice.
Training structure
Longer distances mostly come from races rather than solo 50-mile+ training runs.
Emphasizes back-to-back long runs (e.g., 20+ miles Friday evening + Saturday morning) and occasional ~100K weekends for time-on-feet and the mental stimulus of running–sleep–running again.
Post-six-day, speed declines; she reintroduces strides and tempo work (starting easy, no pressure on old paces) once soreness/inflammation settle to rebuild efficiency.
Lifestyle, recovery & upcoming
Full-time math teacher (commutes by running ~3 easy miles) + Sharman Ultra adult coaching after longer runs. Enjoys the full, busy schedule and finds the six-day meditative/repetitive nature almost like a retreat from daily mental load.
Recovery from a max six-day is less predictable and longer than a 24-hour (4–6 weeks before feeling good training again after 600+ miles; more ups/downs and false “ready” signals). 24-hour bounce-back is faster and more linear for her.
Upcoming: 24-hour (track) in early December (prior best 153 at Desert Solstice; goal to improve); interested in Worlds if the window/location works. Turkey Trot over Thanksgiving in a feathered costume. Open to more 200-mile trail races but not necessarily returning to Cocodona immediately.
Sleep needs: prefers 9–10 hours; can manage on 7–8 for short periods.
Timestamps:
0:00:00 Intro
0:01:21 Meg Eckert’s 636-Mile Six-Day Record
0:02:29 The History of Six-Day Racing
0:03:55 Rediscovering the Six-Day Event
0:05:20 Choosing Races: Cocodona, Vermont, and Six Days
0:07:45 How Trail Running Supports Loop Racing
0:09:02 Backyard Ultras’ Explosive Growth
0:11:38 What Limits Backyard Ultra Performance?
0:14:40 Sleep and Rest Strategies
0:17:21 Meg’s Next Backyard Race
0:18:13 Planning for a Six-Day Record
0:22:35 Adapting Sleep and Crew Strategy
0:23:50 Sleep Strategy in a Six-Day Race
0:29:37 Nutrition and Fueling
0:32:14 Foot Care and Shoe Choices
0:35:25 Running vs. Walking in a Six-Day Race
0:40:16 Training for Multi-Day Events
0:44:11 Balancing Teaching, Coaching, and Training
0:47:58 The Mental Side of Six-Day Racing
0:49:35 Recovering from a Six-Day Race
0:53:01 Injury Setbacks and Strength Training
0:55:06 Getting Speed Back After a Six-Day
0:57:19 Meg’s 24-Hour Race Goal
0:59:02 Team USA and 24-Hour Worlds
1:00:25 Competition vs. Chasing a Personal Goal
1:02:16 What’s Next on the Race Calendar
1:03:35 Meg’s Sleep Schedule
1:04:18 Where to Find Meg
Episode Transcript:
Zach Bitter (01:21)
All right. Meg, welcome back to the show.
Meg Eckert (01:24)
Thanks, Zach. Great to be back.
Zach Bitter (01:27)
Yeah, I'm really excited to have you here. You were on the show, I want to say it was May of last year after you ran 603 miles, which to be honest was enough. That was enough miles for six days to to
Meg Eckert (01:41)
Hmm.
Zach Bitter (01:42)
keep me excited and um and happy for your progress. And I mean it was a next level world-class performance in and of itself. But here we are, roughly a year and a half later, and you've added an extra
33 miles to that distance and also claimed an outright American record in the process. And correct me on this, where does that place you in the all-time standings for six-day events distance traveled?
Meg Eckert (02:10)
I believe by individual people, not performances, it's fifth overall.
Zach Bitter (02:16)
Fifth. Okay, so
Meg Eckert (02:18)
Yeah.
Zach Bitter (02:18)
only four other humans in the history of the world have ever gone further in six days than you, which is pretty incredible to think about.
Meg Eckert (02:26)
Pretty wild.
Zach Bitter (02:29)
The the the six day event is one that I I I really like to follow it when I get the opportunity to because ever since I started looking into the history of ultra running more a few years ago, outside of just
You know, what we get from the media and things like that. And then what you can kind of poke around and find from just, you know, following the sport for a while is that the six day event has such a rich history to it. So I think people think of the six day event in ultra marathon running and sometimes they maybe think, Okay, well that's kind of an odd event. I wonder why that is what it is. But in reality
I always try to remind people whenever I can that that was like the premier sport event in the United States for decades in the late 1800s and it's at its pinnacle and then into the early 1900s before it kind of went a little more dormant due to things like the bicycle invention, competition for other things. And then also I think there was probably not a very great end-of-life stage for people at that eight at that time frame who were hammering six-day events the way they did them back then. So it it is something where
It's not as niche as maybe people think. And you've certainly had a lot of people who have had a lot of focus and a lot of opportunities put up performances in this and and and now you're kind of near the top of that mountain, so to speak. So maybe the question in there is just like how much do you follow the history of the sport and the six day event itself?
Meg Eckert (03:55)
So initially, when I first got into it, absolutely not at all. I did not realize how far back it went. Like many other people, I didn't realize that there were 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden betting on this event in the early 1900s. Like had no clue about any of this. And after my first race, I really fell in love with the Six-Day event, and I wanted to know more. And so I started started reading some books on the Six Day and started doing talking to people who were extremely
extremely involved. 'cause my initial
My introduction to Six Day was just talking to Joe Fias. Um, we were at a race and he's like, How about a six-day? And I'm like, What is that? Um, so that's how I got started in the crazy world of six-day events. And so the journey to figure out how long it's been around um all the people involved in it, that it is this really big thing that kind of just laid dormant for a little while in the middle of the 1900s, I guess there weren't a lot of situations.
Days getting put on, there weren't a lot of races happening. It didn't really get a lot of attention at that point in time. And then to see like the recent years, um, it spiked. And there's more interest, there's more athletes going out and doing these events. Um and it's gaining a little bit of momentum and a lot of attention, I feel like, lately.
Zach Bitter (05:20)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think you're part of that. So um it's exciting to think about just what the future holds with that sort of stuff. Um I wanted to ask you before we dive into the six day stuff a little bit more and your record and everything that went into that is you're also someone who does a lot of variety and is quite successful at it. And it's not just flat.
paved loops or something like that. It's you who likes to get on the trails and things like that. And you know, I was just reminding myself of what all you've done this year before we started recording on your ultra sign up page. And if we go back inside of 12 months, you have um across the years in there, you have a third place finish at the Coca Cocodona 250, which was a historic year from a performance standpoint. You had
Vermont hundred mile, which you won, which is a historic hundred miler on the trails, definitely a different type of event compared to a flat loop. And you did a hundred miles in six days in dome, which I assume was a training run for you, more or less, with respect to what you were trying to get out of that one. How do you even go about picking your races at the beginning of the year? Is it just like, what am I feeling like doing? And you kind of target that, or do you go in with a couple events you really want to nail and then everything else kind of fills in the gaps?
Meg Eckert (06:45)
I do go in with a couple of events that I really want to nail. Um, for this year it was definitely Coca-Cola on the sixth day. Um, that was my primary focus. And then I fill in with whatever sounds intriguing. Um, at the end of uh 2025, I was really missing the trails. I had Coca Dona on my schedule. And so the whole beginning of twenty twenty five, I spent as much time as I could on trail. One of the races not listed in there, um, because it's not an ultrasound race, is Northbourne 100.
in New Zealand, which is a pretty treacherous hundred miles fully exposed. There's one tree on the whole course. I think it was like 29,000 feet of gain over the course of a hundred miles. It was intense.
Zach Bitter (07:29)
wow.
Meg Eckert (07:30)
Um but I want it. I want it to do something different. I want it to be on trial. I want it to be in the dirt. So I really pursue whatever race I'm doing with um or whatever event I pick, honestly, with a passion, whichever one calls to me.
Zach Bitter (07:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you find getting on the trails for a period of time like that helps with your durability for these short loop courses? I've always found that if I come off a train it's been a while, but when I come off a build that was trail focused, I just feel like I can maybe hammer the body a little bit differently going into some of the flat training.
Meg Eckert (08:05)
I agree. I agree. I believe that there's um benefits from both bouncing back and forth. Um, I know like when I get on the trail of coming from roads, I forget to pick up my feet. So I learn to pick up my feet again. I don't shuffle anymore and so then I jump off the trail and my turnover's a little better 'cause I've been descending on these steep rocky descents all the time on trail. And so they do have some benefits and they do support each other as different as they are.
Zach Bitter (08:35)
Yeah. Yeah, it's kinda fun to think of the both both the physical and the mental side of it too, because there's there's definitely a fatigue that I think you get from doing short loop courses or more monotonous courses where just taking a break from it for a little bit is a little it's kind of refreshing and then you come back with maybe a little bit of an appetite to hop back on a course like that.
Meg Eckert (08:56)
It definitely takes a little bit of the mental fatigue out of it.
Zach Bitter (09:02)
And so speaking of a lot of loops that tend to be on trails, uh I'm I'm at risk of becoming a super fan of uh the backyard ultras now. Uh it's just been an event that I got kind of interested and curious about back when it kind of first started kind of getting some attention with bigs. And then every time I have someone new on the podcast to talk about it or I see a story about something that I I feel like I
just gain a little bit of insight into that world to the degree where I get more interested in it and want to learn more. And I've sort of had this passion of just trying to kind of fine-tune the different variables in that space as to how what differs there versus what you'd see in other ultra marathon type activities and stuff like that. But how much have you been following the I you're in the backyard space, by the way. You're like quite competitive in that world
Meg Eckert (09:56)
Yes.
Zach Bitter (09:57)
as well. So
I just wanna hear what your thoughts are with the growth of X. It feels like in the last maybe even probably two years for sure, but even in the last like twelve months, it has just really, really grown fast to the degree where it's taking up a lot of the space in terms of viewership and things with people following ultra marathoning.
Meg Eckert (10:20)
Yeah, it's definitely an exploding um
of ultra marathons and I think you're seeing uh some of the road ultramarathons come in, you're seeing some of the trail ultramarathons come in um into the space because it is just such a it walks that fine line in so many ways like you got the trail course at Biggs, you have the road course at Biggs, but it's it's very appealing because it's my opinion is it's very welcoming. You can you can go in, you can go for your first
ultra marathon in my backyard. You can go for your first hundred miles out of the backyard. Um you can go hang out with friends for a weekend. You can it it draws people in because I think of it as the community of the backyard. And then people get there and realize, oh, but there's a competition to this too. And those of us with a competitive drive also um tend to l enjoy the um
the kind of games that are played and the support that's given also within that. Um, and it's just I love watching it explode. It was even smaller when I started a couple of years ago than it is now. And the attention it's getting is just amazing.
Zach Bitter (11:38)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. The one question I'm continually trying to figure out with that one is what is the big variable that limits performance or where we see these individuals stop. And my initial assumption was sleep deprivation has to be it, right? Like if you do everything right, eventually sleep deprivation comes up and gets you. And I feel like Phil Gore sort of
shifted my mindset with that a little bit because he's so formulaic with trying to bank small naps that he seems to not have that be the limiter for him. And unfortunately right now my assumption is that injury is what limits you. And
Meg Eckert (12:18)
Yeah.
Zach Bitter (12:19)
um I hope that doesn't end up being the case because I don't think that's necessarily a great side of or a great way to maybe look at things like that. But do you have any thoughts on that? Just like what
When you're doing a something like a backyard ultra, is does something stand out to you as like this is the thing that really keeps us from going further or what will eventually create a spot where we don't see as much continued performance and maybe really micro advancements and how far people can go in these sort of things?
Meg Eckert (12:47)
I think it's gonna be. I still think it's gonna be sleep deprivation. I've said that before and I still kinda hold to that. Um, there is something to say about your body going a certain distance and then going back and doing it the second time. There's a different reaction usually than there was the first time. Um there's an adaptation I feel that happens to your body as it gets more and more familiar with distance. So I don't know if that distance and injury is gonna be the limiting factor. We're seeing people run across the country.
We're seeing people ah you know, doing a six-day event. We're seeing people do all of these different events that are going longer than a backyard. So that's more of a conditioning thing. I definitely think sleep and the inability to get a full REM cycle is going to be what will be the limiting factor in the long run. Now, how far can we actually go before sleep becomes a factor? That's a whole nother question.
Zach Bitter (13:42)
Yeah. That's a really good way to look at it too, because it almost brings me back to another interesting part of that discipline that I like to think about is just how the different variables combine to yield the best performances. And it interests me because you don't have to be the fastest person. Like the bar to be successful, the running efficiency bar to be successful at a backyard ultra seems to be maybe lower than say a single day ultra would be if you want to compete.
just because being faster than you need to be likely would come at the expense of being good enough at some of the other things potentially that would get you further on in that. And one of those would just be simply being durable. So maybe that's just playing around with finding that balance between how much of my actual running efficiency I let go of in order to create a more durable body that's not going to get injured on say a fifth or sixth day or something like that.
Meg Eckert (14:40)
And I think that's also why it takes people a little bit of time to figure out the backyard because that part's individual. Um, how much sleep you need, what pace is best for you to run at, what's more efficient for you, um, is very individual and it takes some time I think to figure that out.
Zach Bitter (14:58)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Do you have a sleep protocol for a backyard ultra that you try to lean on or is it more intuitive?
Meg Eckert (15:04)
Um, I don't really have a sleep protocol for backyards. The idea is to try to get in and sleep as early and as frequently as possible. Um that to me is still like my experiences, I'm still making some tweaks and changes. I'm seeing things out there, I'm seeing other runners do certain things and I'm thinking, Oh, I should try that next time because we're this far in the race. I haven't been here before and maybe I should be doing this instead. It would be more efficient. Um
So it it it's constantly changing.
Zach Bitter (15:38)
Yeah. Yeah. And it might
be something you have to be able to adapt to to some degree too. When I was following the world team championships, I think it might have been uh. I think it might have been Sam Harvey was talking or like he wasn't talking, but like his crew was sharing, which is another thing I love about this. We get so many interesting stories and things that get shared during the event itself. It's not all kind of like wrapped up and then maybe told afterwards. And he had a strategy where he was going
quite a bit faster than what he would need to to complete a loop to try to sleep, but he was struggling to fall asleep. So at what point do you just kind of pivot off of that a little bit and say, okay, I'll just wait for my body to actually really demand it. Um, I know like Mark Dowdle has a little bit of a different strategy where he when he's he's a little more conservative in general compared to some of the other people that I've hit from what I've seen anyway, hundred plus yards, but he gives himself enough time and he just lies down. And if he falls asleep, he falls asleep. If he doesn't, he doesn't. But either way he's kind of
resting and he just kinda lets it all fall the way it ends up happening from there.
Meg Eckert (16:41)
Well there's something to say about rest is rest, right? Just being off your feet, your eyes closed, you're not forced to move. You have those moments where your body is absolutely doing nothing. And even if it's not sleeping, you're getting some benefit from taking some kind of that stressor of moving and pacing and getting in within the hour off of yourself. Um, and that's a lot of it too, because the backyard game is also very mental. So you're thinking, Okay, this is where I need to be in this yard by this time in order to
make the full loop. and I think that that moment of just I don't have to worry about that right now is enough sometimes just to reset for the next yard.
Zach Bitter (17:21)
Mm. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting stuff. Do you have another backyard on the horizon that you're thinking of maybe doing?
Meg Eckert (17:29)
I do, I'm really excited. Um, at the beginning of May I'm gonna go to Melbourne and run Front Yard Ultra. Um, in Melbourne with Sarah Perry and Phil Gore and Lucas. So we'll have a good crowd there, a good number of runners. Um many I've run with before, so it should be a very good time and a very good um competitive watch. See some good tactics.
Zach Bitter (17:54)
Yeah. Is that one of
for sure. Is that one of the focused events for next year?
Meg Eckert (18:00)
yes. Yes, it definitely is. It is my spring focus.
Zach Bitter (18:05)
Well, that'll be fun. Well I'll mark my calendar to make sure I'm paying attention to that one. So um
Meg Eckert (18:11)
Nice.
Zach Bitter (18:13)
yeah, let's jump into the six-day world record a little bit. So you went into the event with a goal to target the men's American record, I think. So
Meg Eckert (18:25)
That's
Zach Bitter (18:27)
yeah, so you I always find that interesting with respect to these timed events because they are so controlled.
It gives you this scenario where if you pick a goal and you're like, okay, this is what I'm gonna target, you can kind of work backwards with, all right, how do I want to try to do this in a way that's gonna get me there? I'm curious about how much of that pace planning you do in the early stages. Are you looking at it through I wanna try to hit a certain number of miles per day or bank time or be a little more conservative and try to be kind of even to that? Uh is there any sort of strategy heading in with respect to that?
Meg Eckert (19:03)
There is a strategy. day one is always gonna be more than likely, um, historically, it's always the strongest day. You're gonna put up the most miles um on day one. And that you kinda go in knowing and part of that is you're coming in, um, you're fresh. Most of these uh six day events, they start at noon. So you had your full morning. Um, you're not gonna get off the course at six PM. So you're just on the course longer on day one. So you're
Gonna bank some more miles there, anyways. Um, but I do a lot of strategy planning in advance um because I'll have that goal and then I'll have okay, this is what I think. Um this is how much I think I'm gonna be off the course each day, is actually what I'm looking at first. Um, so I'm looking at I want to be off the course for this much sleep time, um, and then I'm looking at these are gonna be my paces, and then okay, if this is my paces, does all of this add up to my
final goal with my sleep time. So it's it's all this playing with numbers, um
inside a spreadsheet to get the numbers to match what I want them to be. And sometimes that means I'm taking away from sleep. Sometimes that means that I'm running faster. Um, which is really only working on day one, 'cause after day one you're only running the pace you can run. You normally can't run the speed that you want to run, later on in the event. So a lot of it is played around ahead of time and then uh reviewed with the crew and then executed um throughout the race. Things
Things obviously change, nothing goes according to plan, but it's it's it's there.
Zach Bitter (22:35)
Were things going closer to plan for this one than they normally do, or was it just the same kind of variable like changing of the strategy as you go, but with a little bit quicker paces scattered out throughout to get you to six thirty six?
Meg Eckert (22:51)
Um, I think things didn't go entirely according to plan, that I know. Um, I think what has happened is um having the same crew for two events now and then um well more than two events actually, um, but two six day events and knowing um how we work together, it's been really we've become very good at adapting
quickly and on the go to things that might not be working, for example. Um my plan was initially to push through and get my sleeps at like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. and then 2 and 3 p.m. And that just wasn't working for me. And so we made a quick little change kind of on the go of changing the times of those sleeps. Um and we had some some early on things that we also had to adapt with just um making the stops more efficient, making them quicker when I'm coming off.
Zach Bitter (23:50)
Yeah. Yeah, the other interesting thing about the six days compared to a backyard ultra, and I asked Phil Gore about this too. I asked him kind of in the frame of will you do a six day? And his answer was he'd like to at some point. And then I was curious how he would maybe adjust his sleep protocol for that, given that you kind of have a blank slate of how you structure it with a six day, whereas you kind of get forced into a fairly specific routine with the backyard ultras.
Is there like a duration of sleep you're trying to hit when you decide, all right, I'm tired enough to fall asleep, or is it in that range as well?
Meg Eckert (24:25)
That ranges as well. So this was probably my most effective sleep planning that I've done. But that's all , it's all how little I can get away with and still function. So this was less than the time before. The time before was less than the time before that. And so really it's playing with okay, if I do this again, can I get less? Um and be on the course more. It's
Zach Bitter (24:53)
Interesting, yeah.
Meg Eckert (24:55)
It's really hard because you do you walk that fine line of how much sleep you can get within or not get within a hundred and forty four hours.
Zach Bitter (25:08)
Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of one of those things where you know no sleep is probably gonna be performance d detrimental to performance to some degree. So then it becomes, well, where is that crossover point where more isn't gonna keep me out there long enough to go as far as I could? And it seems like it's just one of those things you just gotta do enough of them to be able to really figure out where that is for yourself and you're in the middle of that process.
Meg Eckert (25:33)
Yes, and it is what's interesting is all very, very individual. So you'll look at some people who have done very well on the sixth day, but yet they're on course for eighteen hours, twenty hours, and then they're getting a four hour sleep. Um and then there's people like me who maybe break up into a couple hours, a couple times a day. And then I've even seen people who go down for thirty minutes and they might do that four times throughout the day.
eh And that's their so so it's very variable, it's very personable, it's it it it becomes um you gotta find what fits for you. Um and that's the challenge of it, because it is a very unique uh a unique strategy. Uh sleep is a strategy that is uh unique to a person.
Zach Bitter (26:26)
Yeah. Yeah. I remember the first time I got really interested in that was it was I can't remember what year it was, but it was across the years when Giannis Kuros came over and he and Joe Fiji just had a fairly close race. And one thing that stood out to me was I think Joe slept two or three times as much as Giannis, but he ended up finishing with more total miles. So at that point I was like, Huh, I wonder if there's the
Yeah, my first thought was like, well, maybe there's something in between those two that would be optimal, or maybe it is very individual and for Joe, he's gonna perform better with a little more sleep and Giannis is able to just tolerate a little bit less and still keep moving. Um, I do remember a story coming out of that year where Giannis was like running into fences or something like that. So maybe maybe that's the sign you need a little more sleep.
Meg Eckert (27:11)
Yeah.
Yeah, and that's that tipping point. That's where
Zach Bitter (27:18)
Yeah.
Meg Eckert (27:18)
it's like, hmm, maybe that wasn't, you know, my best I didn't have enough to function very well at that point in time.
Zach Bitter (27:26)
Yeah. Yeah. It
It is kind of funny to think about. Do you ever have a situation where you lie down and it's just like I can't fall asleep and you just say, All right, we're gonna move on and get up and get back out there? Or is it pretty clear to you at the point where I'm just gonna lie down and pass out?
Meg Eckert (27:43)
So the deeper I got into the six day race, the less I slept.
Well, I was getting more sleep, but the harder it was to go to sleep. So there were more times where I would lie down and be like, I'm getting back out there. and I did that a couple of times on shorter breaks where I just didn't want to be in the cabin. I wanted to be moving on course. Um early on I don't really have an issue with sleep. I pretty much have trained myself that I go in. Um I have some tools that I use that I've practiced um off the course, such as um an eye mask, um, earplugs.
things that signal, hey, it's time to go to sleep now. When you get these things, you go to sleep. And that has really helped me fall asleep quickly, um, and get the most out of that time.
Zach Bitter (28:31)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was curious about that if there's like a ritual or something. Cause I think there's probably like breathing techniques even too that can create a more restful opportunity or something like that. But maybe maybe that's hard to apply to something like this when you're I mean everything is probably out of whack to some degree. So who knows what works and doesn't work when you're days into an event.
Meg Eckert (28:52)
I think there's definitely training you can do for sleep though, um, that becomes efficient. Um, breathing techniques are actually one of them that are out there. Um, I don't
I personally employ those, but I have heard of other people too. Um, because it does. It signals sleep. Anything you can associate in your mind with this is when I go to sleep, then it's gonna increase your chances of getting to sleep and not wanting to run back out of course.
Zach Bitter (29:23)
Yeah. Yeah. So it sounds like you usually plan for roughly two hours per day when you're doing a six day then?
Meg Eckert (29:31)
I'm getting somewhere between two and four hours a day. Yeah.
Zach Bitter (29:35)
Okay. Interesting.
I want to jump in a little bit towards the nutrition side of things. So I can imagine there's a very wide range of stuff you're going to eat over the course of a six day event, but how do you strategize that? Is there like a foundational product or thing that you lean on quite heavily and then you sprinkle other stuff in along the side of it? Or how do you even begin that process?
Meg Eckert (30:02)
so the best thing that I've found is to have to keep my regular meal schedules. So to have my breakfast, have my lunch, have dinner, and have um kind of a more substantial kind of midnight snack. But then in between those, I want something quick. I want something I can digest easily, I want something that'll keep me on course, um, that I don't have to chew so much. So I've learned highly on uh precision nutrition, especially there.
flow gel because it's really really easy for me to take in while I'm going, take in one or two an hour, and then take in my actual uh substantial meat kind of protein um fat bases in between when I'm having those actual meals.
Zach Bitter (30:55)
Mm-hmm. Are you targeting a certain amount of grams of carbohydrate per hour? Or is it just here's a baseline, I know I'll probably be able to get in, and then if I can do more, I'll do it.
Meg Eckert (31:04)
So my baseline um is at forty five. I try to get forty five in an hour. Um and then if I can do more than that, great. Um sometimes yes, sometimes no. Um but forty five, if I can stay at forty five, I'm good.
Zach Bitter (31:20)
Mm. Yeah. Yeah. How does the hydration play into it too? Because I imagine that becomes very important or this very important is but you're also like your workload is a little lower because you're out there for so long too. I'm sure weather probably plays a big role here. Do you go in with a certain amount of fluid intake per hour you're trying to hit, or is that more based on intuition?
Meg Eckert (31:43)
That's more based on intuition. So I'm and I'm also getting my liquid intake from multiple sources. Um I'm not sticking entirely to water or just electrolyte mixes. I'm also taking in tea and soda and protein drinks and other sorts just because flavor fatigue becomes a very real thing later on. So whatever I can get that tastes a little bit different that I'm still hydrating with.
is very helpful.
Zach Bitter (32:14)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. w one thing that was really interesting to me was again, Phil Gore. He and I just find his strategy so interesting because it's just so detailed. So you can extract a lot of interesting stuff out of it. When he does this he has this rotation where I think it's right now he's settled on every twelve hours he'll take his shoes and socks off and wash his feet. And he claims that because he does that, he doesn't get a lot of blisters and
hot spots and things like that could be a pinch point that would impact performance quite a bit outside of your fitness. Do you do anything like that for foot care? 'Cause I can imagine your feet are just aching by the end of this.
Meg Eckert (32:54)
Um, I actually don't have many blisters. I don't have to really focus too much on that. I do change my socks every 12 hours. That's just a nice refreshing feeling. Um, and on the sixth day itself, um, I only had three pairs of shoes. I went through three pairs of shoes the whole time. Um, one of them I was only forced to go through due to rain. Um, so I could have gone through the entire six days in just two pairs, and I'm wearing them.
out to Coast R ones. Um and the only reason I switched is, you know, after a few hundred miles, having that nice, fresh, out-of-the-box cushion just feels amazing. It feels like just a new shoe entirely, a new foot. Like it, it really made a difference later on in the race to be able to switch.
Zach Bitter (33:44)
Yeah. Yeah, so you went with the R two pairs of R ones or th I guess three technically 'cause of the rain. Okay.
Meg Eckert (33:49)
Three. Yeah, three 'cause of the rain.
Zach Bitter (33:51)
Yeah, 'cause you wore the R ones for your six three as well, right?
Meg Eckert (33:56)
Mm. Yes. The R ones actually have been part of every single one of my six days. I wore it at the dome also.
Zach Bitter (34:02)
Okay. So you've just found that that shoe is the money shot for you and you're not gonna they're gonna pry it out of your cold dead hands. Yeah.
Meg Eckert (34:10)
exactly. I mean I finished the sixth day, no blisters, uh toenails
still looked pretty good.
Zach Bitter (34:17)
Yeah.
That is one of the more comfortable shoes that you can wear. The toe box on that shoe is awesome. I love the way they built the upper on that as well to kind of protect your feet from the abuse you could take from just small little insults hour after hour. So I can appreciate that you like that one. Do do you ever I I am curious, like so you haven't considered trying a different model that has more cushion than that one just to change that up or is that maybe
Too much of a variance and there's just enough of a variance between a fresh pair and a worn pair that gives you that sensation?
Meg Eckert (34:53)
Yeah, I feel like there's enough variance between a fresh pair and a worn worn pair. I like to really kind of feel the ground um to a certain degree while still having the protection on my foot and still having the nice cushioning. And so the R1 is kind of that nice kind of middle ground for me where I can still feel my foot hitting the ground and the takeoff. It's not a super cushion like super shoe style. It still has that, um but it has all the cushioning.
For that distance.
Zach Bitter (35:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. Are you doing any sort of structure around when you're running and when you're walking? I think it's interesting because I mean you're going 106 miles a day. So it's fairly quick and when you take out r sleep breaks and things like that, your moving pace is fast enough where I'm sure you're doing quite a bit of running during it. But do you have any sort of strategy with that or is it just pulsing in walk breaks when you feel like you need them?
Meg Eckert (35:53)
I don't have too much strategy around that. I walk when I need to walk. I do think
Um, and of course everything does become a blur, so this might not be entirely true if you ask my crew. But I do think at times when I was struggling to get um calories that I would take something from them and walk for a little bit and eat. And that was kind of my structured walk break. But I don't really remember walking too much of course, other than at the very, very end, the last couple hours.
Zach Bitter (36:27)
Yeah. Yeah, I always think about that 'cause my thought is like mechanically your body is gonna be more receptive to the things that you've been doing the most, just like you know, any training would be. So if you're gonna do a lot of walking, it would make sense in my opinion to practice walking maybe or get more efficient walking. Or if you're gonna do less walking and more running and therefore your running pace is a little slower, be practicing more of a shuffle type of run, I guess.
Does that go into any of your strategies when you're preparing for these things, where I'd imagine that would be different from say like a hundred mile or a twenty four hour where you're basically running the entire time?
Meg Eckert (37:06)
It does. Um, I've greatly improved my walking pace. I had that kind of nice little lollygag walk during my first six days. And so I realized that a lot of the people are walking a lot faster than I am. And so
Over the past couple of years I've really worked on increasing and walking with a purpose. Um, simple things like getting on a treadmill, um, starting it at a walking pace and then making it just a little quicker and just a little quicker and seeing how fast I can go and continue to maintain that pace. Um, even at the dome, like you did mention, I did use that as a training run. And um when I was practicing at that walking pace.
and just how fast can I do a lap walking while still making it efficient. Um and I'm still not there yet. There's some really really talented race walkers out there and just power walkers in general who aren't race walkers. They're just really, really efficient and they're walking.
Zach Bitter (38:12)
Yeah. It's been a very long time since, but I had Evan Dunfey on the podcast years ago and he's been a medalist at the Olympics and race walking. And when you look at how fast they are able to go, it's not necessarily gentle at that point. So you do have to consider the wear and tear you're gonna take from walking as fast as those folks do. But it does make me wonder about where that line is or if I can get efficient enough at walking, when do I start?
just employing more of that and does that give me the ability to work through different mechanics so that as far as your body's concerned, you're doing quite a bit less of any one thing.
Meg Eckert (38:49)
And you're definitely employing something different. If you're able to walk and run efficiently, um, you're using a whole different muscle group almost. It's um it's amazing. There was one race I did a few years back, um, and it was in kind of my recovery season, my rest season, and so I was like, you know, this is a timed event. I'm gonna go walk it, I'm gonna go have a good time. It was a very social loop course.
And
I think I did 120 miles walking, maybe. I was so sore for weeks. I was so sore.
Zach Bitter (39:28)
Yeah.
You have to walk. It's one of those things where I feel like you're the impulse is like, I just I I I can walk. Like I've been doing, I've been walking my entire life. I've been practicing, but it's different enough, I think, with these things where if you end up doing more of that than you expected to, you're just gonna be sore in a different way. And it's not free , it's not a freebie, it's still something that needs to be refined.
Meg Eckert (39:52)
Right, right. Oh,
and it's definitely something when you're looking at walking um a fifty K and you're walking and and you wanna walk it like efficiently, you gotta train for that. You just can't show up and say, I've been walking my whole life, this is gonna be fine 'cause it's uh you're gonna feel it.
Zach Bitter (40:09)
It's never easy. There's always work involved.
Meg Eckert (40:13)
No. Always.
Zach Bitter (40:16)
I'm kind of curious about you're doing quite a bit of racing, which feeds into what I would imagine as a long run type stimulus relative to something like a six day or a backyard ultra. I are you doing I'm sure you're doing long runs in training as well. Do you have any sort of targets that you're like you're trying to hit in training when you're getting closer to one of these? Are you doing like
really long, long runs, or is it more just standard run training and then jumping in enough races where your body's getting exposure to those longer periods of time?
Meg Eckert (40:48)
Um, so if I'm gonna do a longer, longer run, um, I'm gonna jump into a race. Um, when we're talking about like a hundred miles, hundred K or something like that. I'm gonna jump into a race when I'm training for something like this. But as for my weekly long long runs or my weekly runs, I'm looking at a lot of back to back. So I'll I'll go um on a Friday evening and go do a double digit twenty plus mile run and then Saturday morning wake up and do a
twenty
plus mile run. And so I'm not doing huge
I don't ever think once I did a 50-mile run or even a 50K run within my training that wasn't a race, um, that I wasn't jumping in a race for. So I do. I find that like a lot of the um adaptation happens through time on your feet, um, short shorter breaks because you're gonna have to go down and get back up and be back out on course. And so if if you're able to kind of structure these where you're doing double day runs or you're doing
Back-to-back long runs, then you're getting that stimulus of constantly um running, going to sleep, running again.
Zach Bitter (43:27)
Mm. Yeah. Do you have a back to back long run structure you try to get up to before something like this? Or is most of the structure within the events in the back to back long runs kind of more in addition to those?
Meg Eckert (43:41)
if I can get oh gosh, maybe a hundred K weekend in once, um, over Friday, Saturday, Sunday, if I can get a hundred K weekend in, um by myself, um, then that's
That to me is pretty much all I need. A lot of that is just more not the physical build as much as that is the mental build of I can go out there and do a hundred K weekend, um, on my own and be fine.
Zach Bitter (44:11)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting when you start thinking of all the components. I do want to dive in a little bit just to your lifestyle in general because you're a busy person from what I gather. You're not just training for these six day events and ultra marathons. You also uh you're also a teacher as well. So, or and a coach, I think, right? So what does a day look like for you?
Meg Eckert (44:37)
Ha.
Um, so I run and commute to work. That's part of my daily training, my nice easy three mile. I'm a school teacher. I teach math from seven thirty in the morning until about three in the afternoon, and then I squeeze in my longer run, whatever that's gonna be that day, or my speed work, whatever I have. And then I go straight to coaching. Um so I coach adult math athletes with Charmin Ultra and so I go straight to coaching after my long run.
and then uh rinse and repeat the next day.
And honestly I wouldn't get rid of any piece of it. It sounds like so much, but I get so much joy out of every little piece that I'm doing in my day, my interactions with people, my interactions with kids, um, my own personal time when I'm out on a run listening to an audiobook. Like I enjoy everything that I'm doing in a day and so it's busy, it's chaotic at times and some some days I'm like, my gosh, I got so much to do but it all works out. It's it's all it's all very much very
Yeah.
Zach Bitter (45:43)
Yeah,
It is one of those things where like when work is what you would do otherwise, it's a lot easier to fill literally an entire day with things that would look unsustainable. And yeah, it's hard not to look at what someone else is doing and think, you know, how would they associate it with work. So in their mind they're thinking maybe they have to get through that, whereas you're maybe looking at it through more like I get to go to this next activity and enjoy it. Do you find you need
like some decompression from any of that stuff leading into a an event just to feel like you're ready to take on something like a six day, or is it something where you can kind of run all the way literally and figuratively all the way up to the the start of it and then jump out and just change course for that six days essentially?
Meg Eckert (46:30)
I kind of feel like I can run all the way up to it. I will say that I do take the time to kind of pamper myself before a race. Like I'll go and get a nice little sports massage or go to the sauna for a few days or go go to the spa and just kind of decompress and lighten my training load. Um
But a lot of times like on the sixth day or these longer distances in general, longer races, um I try to get to the race a little bit early. So that in itself um is a decompress period because I'm in a new place, new environment. Um I will say before the sixth day we went to Europe early and we're traveling through Europe and I I'm looking at my watch, you know, because it's counting all my steps for the day and I'm
I'm like, I haven't. I only did a six-mile run today, but my gosh, my steps are ridiculous because I was walking all through Europe. Like, I don't even know if I get this much in the States. I'm gonna be exhausted by the time the six days starts.
Zach Bitter (47:33)
That's
funny. Yeah. Yeah. I always wonder too about it because we I I it's easy to think about the physical demands of something like this, but then there's the mental d th from training anyway. Like we think of like, okay, I need to do these workouts so my body's ready for this, but there's also that that mental ability to stay focused for six days and
I do wonder with someone like yourself who has a very busy schedule where you must feel like your mind is always on maybe directionally towards different things, how much of that is going into just training your your your mind to be able to tolerate the demands it's gonna have to go through on an event like a six day?
Meg Eckert (48:16)
I will say in six days, it becomes very meditative because it's very repetitive. You're with the same people the whole time. Um, you're just running. It's very simple. Um, there's nothing else that I have to think about while I'm out there. So as crazy as it sounds, it's almost like this little retreat for where it's just
Zach Bitter (48:35)
Yeah, I could see that. Yeah.
Meg Eckert (48:36)
like, okay, this is the only thing I have to do is just keep running. Um
And so it makes it in some ways very nice where it's its own little community and it's out it's away from the outside world.
Zach Bitter (48:50)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's it's one of those things where sometimes I feel like when I when I get really busy from a variety of different stuff where you just feel like you're kind of herding cats or just like bouncing from one thing to the next, that's more mentally stressful to have to account for all that stuff. You're basically juggling a bunch of different things. And my mind sometimes goes to, you know what, maybe it would be easier to live primitively where all I have to think about when I wake up is where do I find food and water and then go to bed the next day. Like that's
That's gonna be difficult, but it's gonna be very limited in what I have to be thinking about doing. So it sounds like a six day event. It's very clear what you need to do and there's not a lot of distractions outside of that.
Meg Eckert (49:32)
Exactly. Exactly.
Zach Bitter (49:35)
Awesome. Yeah. So I'm curious about recovery from a six day event. Does that if you were to do let's just say like an all like a max effort 24 hour where you're trying to PR or get up to some of your top performances in that world, does that differ? Is there a different recovery strategy or timeline that you look at for a six day versus a 24 hour, or is it more just kind of the same, the same basic setup?
Meg Eckert (50:02)
Um, it does differ. Certain certain things are the same. So you're still messing up your circadian rhythm, you're still going through the night, you're still pushing really hard. Um, so there's that the sleep adjustment, getting back in the rather
regular rhythm, muscular fatigue and pounding and so on. Uh but from twenty four, I find that for myself, I'm gonna bounce back a little bit faster. Um if I'm going for 24 hours, my muscles are gonna bounce back quicker. They're familiar with being out for 24 hours. I'm gonna be running or moving quickly at least by the end of the week, more than likely, within five to seven days. But when it comes to the sixth day, and I also will say coming back from a 24
Is a bit more linear. It's a bit more predictable or okay, this is how I feel today. I'll feel a little better the next day. I'll feel a little better next. When it comes to these multi-day events, and I'll even say in the backyard too, its recovery is much less predictable. There's a lot of um, I'm going out and I feel fine today, and then the next day, there's absolutely no energy. I'm tanked, I'm fatigued. You would think I failed.
I finished the race yesterday. Um so there are a lot more ups and downs, um a lot more false I'm ready to train again. Um and then eventually at some point um
I find that I am ready to train and in these six day events what I've found um when I'm going past six hundred, it's four to six weeks before um I actually find that I actually feel good training.
Zach Bitter (51:49)
Is it kind of depressing in those four to six weeks? You must feel kind of like you're almost so far out of your routine at that point that you have to uh have to almost behave as a different person.
Meg Eckert (52:03)
It is. It really is. Um, I think for me, like the worst part of um racing is the fact that I know that I won't be running for
a few days or a few weeks afterwards, it'll look different. Um, I won't be as strong as I was when I came in because I'm putting all my effort into this race. And because I love racing as much as I love racing, it's also hard knowing on the flip side, like I'm gonna have to go through a recovery period again. And it it can get really depressing, especially when um when running is something I use um
as a tool just to enjoy life, right? It's just something I do every day.
Zach Bitter (52:47)
Yeah. Yeah, it's probably kinda like if you get an injury where you're like, Okay, I've just got this thing taken away from me and I'm gonna have to be patient before it comes back.
Meg Eckert (52:57)
Yes, I'm very much the same feeling.
Zach Bitter (53:01)
I can't think of any from what I've seen, at least major injuries in your career, have you just been pretty injury avoidant your entire career? Has anything happened where you had to be sidelined by something that took you off of training and racing for a bit?
Meg Eckert (53:20)
I did have a couple um injuries, uh not so much related to fronting, um as just um
stupidity uh running down a snowy mountain without spikes was not smart. I broke my foot jamming it between some rocks. So I was out for seven weeks. Um but I learned through that process um prior to that I wasn't doing any strength training. I was just out running. Well now I can't run because my foot's broken. So what am I gonna do? I have to be active and I dove into strength training. So I feel like there's always kind of a silver lining to injury
Zach Bitter (54:05)
Mm. Yeah. Yeah. I've learned some interesting cross training and uh techniques that I think have been useful that I use when I'm not injured because I've been injured in the past too. So yeah you do make uh lemonade out of lemons as they say with those sorts of things sometimes.
Meg Eckert (54:22)
Definitely. Definitely. And there are a lot of things we don't realize until we're in that situation, unfortunately.
Zach Bitter (54:28)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Meg Eckert (54:30)
We can hear it a million times, but until we're there it's like in one ear, out the other.
Zach Bitter (54:36)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think when you were on the podcast last time, I asked you a bit about just training structure and things like that. And I am curious though, when you finish a six day and you recover and you're ready to get back to it, are there certain types of training that you find are most beneficial to try to round you back out? I imagine training for a six day event is very it is is specific enough to that event where it maybe takes away from just your ability to
run efficiently at certain intensities. Is there any sort of like run development type stuff you tried to employ after something like that to sta make sure you you still retain your ability to run, say, a fast hundred miler or maybe
Meg Eckert (55:19)
Mm-hmm.
Zach Bitter (55:19)
even a shorter event than that?
Meg Eckert (55:21)
I do get slow.
Um, you get really slow after a sixth day.
Zach Bitter (55:25)
Yeah.
Meg Eckert (55:27)
So I do start to incorporate some tempo runs and some strides and I start trying to start really easy, with absolutely no pressure on what paces I could hit before or I should be able to hit. Just this is gonna be faster than what I'm running right now. Because the problem that I've found with in recovery from the sixth day is that I end up at this like
moderate pace, this medium pace. And it seems to be the only pace I can ever do any run at. And it seems like that's gonna be my new zone. Like it's this 30-second window. This is my new pace per mile and I'm never gonna go any place other than here. and it feels hard and it feels easy at the same time and it's ridiculous. So I try to add in um once the muscle soreness is gone um and the inflammation I try to start adding in little strides. I'm just a
a little bit faster than what I'm doing. And then I slowly try to increase those, increase the number, increase the pace, um, increase the duration. And so what I've found is that over time it takes a few weeks, but then I start seeing those um moderate paces turn into much better, much more efficient running.
Zach Bitter (56:42)
Yeah, so it does come back is what you're saying.
Meg Eckert (56:44)
It comes
back. It's not as quick as I want it to be ever, but it comes back.
Zach Bitter (56:50)
Yeah. It goes by. I'm sure one of your strengths is patience, so I'm sure that is one of the opportunities you get to use that.
Meg Eckert (56:58)
Yes, lots of patience.
Lots of patience and no frustration. It's so easy to say, I was here. Why am I not here now? Um, you gotta take the time to kind of be kind to yourself, accept where you're at that moment, and just continue to do the work to make progress.
Zach Bitter (57:19)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. You said when before I hit record we were chatting a little bit about some upcoming races and that you have twenty four hours on the schedule that you're thinking about?
Meg Eckert (57:31)
I am, yeah, I'm doing twenty-four at the beginning of December and um it's slightly different, you know, it's on a track, so we're looking at four hundred meters now instead of um half a mile and uh no longer asphalt and not six days. So twenty-four is much even though it's a long event, it's much shorter than what I've just done. So the training is a little bit different too, and that's kind of been fun. Um diving into a little bit uh more of these like
Tempo runs and yeah, longer longer speed sessions.
Zach Bitter (58:07)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a goal for the twenty four hours that you're trying to hit?
Meg Eckert (58:13)
I'm still playing around with that. I've only done one twenty-four before. I did it at Desert Solstice a couple years back. Um, and I at that race I hit um a hundred and fifty-three. Um, I'm hoping my goal is always to kinda like better myself. So I'm hoping to get more than what I did last time. Um, and maybe it'll be a really good day and I'll get more than that. But the goal is always to do better than I did the last time.
Zach Bitter (58:42)
Yeah. Are you thinking what the qualifying window is for worlds right now?
Meg Eckert (58:50)
I believe it's open, but I don't think they have set a location yet, um
Zach Bitter (58:55)
Okay.
Meg Eckert (58:55)
for worlds. Yeah, as far as I know, there's been no announcement made by IAU.
Zach Bitter (59:02)
Okay. But would that be a goal if you got on the team to compete at Worlds then at the end of the whenever they decide to put something on the calendar, I guess?
Meg Eckert (59:13)
definitely. Definitely. I
I would love to go to Worlds with Team USA. They always look like they have such a blast too. Um, every place they go. They're just such um yeah, it just looks like a great time.
Zach Bitter (59:26)
Yeah. Yeah, the women's US twenty four hour team is so strong too with the potential participants in it. And I think we saw exactly what it can be at Desert Solstice a couple of years ago where you were part of the race. Um, if I remember right, maybe places two through four on the women's field were separated by roughly a mile at the end of it all. So you guys were you you gals were all just
Working hard up until the very last minute at that one.
Meg Eckert (59:59)
Yes, yes. That was such a fun race to be a part of because there is gosh, I think there were like five or six women out there that were just right around um the same the same mileage for a good while there. And then
Zach Bitter (1:00:14)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Eckert (1:00:14)
At the end, yeah, we were all it it's amazing. You can run for 24 hours and be that close to that many people.
Zach Bitter (1:00:23)
Yeah.
Do you like that kind of pressure? Cause I think with with some of these events, you know, you well, when you're in when you're running six hundred and thirty-six miles in six days, at a certain point it almost becomes a time trial where it's just you versus yourself versus feeling like you have I mean, you might be chasing a ghost, so to speak, but you don't necessarily have that pressure of another person just in front of you or just behind you. Do you prefer one or the other, or is it just kind of two different flavors and they both have their benefits and disadvantages?
Meg Eckert (1:00:53)
Yeah, they both have their benefits and disadvantages. I like both. Um, I like having people. I like having the competition right there. Um I also like going out and saying this is this invisible invisible ghost that I'm chasing and let's go for that one. So if it doesn't it doesn't matter too much. I do really um internalize and make all of my goals as personal as I possibly can. regardless of like outside
circumstances I'm very competitive with myself. Um and then given the opportunity I can also be quite competitive um on the course.
Zach Bitter (1:01:32)
Mm. Yeah. Do you have any training races? I guess you're coming up pretty quick here in December, but do you have any training races you're gonna do before?
Meg Eckert (1:01:41)
Um, not so much. I am gonna do it. We're visiting my husband's mother for Thanksgiving. So I will do a turkey trot in a very fun costume. It's gonna be really competitive. uh
Zach Bitter (1:01:51)
There we go. Awesome.
Awesome. Did you pick your costume out already?
Meg Eckert (1:01:59)
Not yet, but I'm really I'm I'm thinking it's gonna involve feathers. Yeah, turkey feathers, of course. Maybe
Zach Bitter (1:02:05)
Okay, that makes sense.
Meg Eckert (1:02:10)
the gloves. The gloves are pretty cool. Just have some fun with
Zach Bitter (1:02:13)
Yeah. Yeah. Uh
Meg Eckert (1:02:15)
it.
Zach Bitter (1:02:16)
Do you think you'll do Coca Dona again in the future?
Meg Eckert (1:02:20)
I'm not sure. Coca Dona was a really fun race. I really um love two hundred sun trails. That was my first two hundred on trails, so I think I wanna explore maybe a few others before circling back.
Zach Bitter (1:02:33)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, there are some to pick from now. So yeah, it's not just picking what discipline you want to do, it's also picking which event within all that.
Meg Eckert (1:02:45)
Yes,
yes. And there's quite a few options in many different places and different styles too.
Zach Bitter (1:02:52)
Mm. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. The two hundred to three hundred mile distance on the trails is just another one of those disciplines that has just grown so much in the last few years. It's fun to see all the different live streams and everything that goes into those. So, um, yeah, it'll be fun to see what you do there again in the future.
Meg Eckert (1:03:13)
Yeah, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to it. I like to bounce back and forth and I know the trails are in my future too.
Zach Bitter (1:03:23)
Awesome. Well, Meg, I don't want to keep you too long because I know you're probably gonna be at school teaching in less than twelve hours. So
Meg Eckert (1:03:32)
Yes,
That is a true statement.
Zach Bitter (1:03:35)
I won't try to ask one more question. How many hours per night do you sleep? Are you one of those people who only needs like four hours?
Meg Eckert (1:03:42)
I wish I was. I am so
Zach Bitter (1:03:43)
Ha ha ha.
Meg Eckert (1:03:44)
jealous of the people who are. I
Zach Bitter (1:03:46)
Mm.
Meg Eckert (1:03:46)
I am one of those people that I can function for a few days in seven to eight hours, but I personally love nine to ten hours of sleep. I love to sleep. I love my sleep schedule.
Zach Bitter (1:03:57)
uh So
vacations, weekends, and summer break are the catch up on sleep phases of the year.
Meg Eckert (1:04:07)
I wish that was true. I just packed too many adventures into this. Yes,
Zach Bitter (1:04:10)
Yeah. Yeah, just get a different type of hard.
Meg Eckert (1:04:15)
exactly.
Zach Bitter (1:04:18)
Awesome. Well, Meg, before I let you go, where can people find you? Social media, website, coaching or anything like that?
Meg Eckert (1:04:24)
Yeah, so I'm at um on Instagram, um at underscore MegEckert. Um, I coach with Sharman Ultra, so you can find me at MeganEckert at SharmanUltra. And then I'm also uh on MeganEckert.com.
Zach Bitter (1:04:41)
Awesome. Well link all that stuff to the show notes so listeners can go check out what Meg is up to. Meg, thanks again for coming on. It was awesome to chat and congrats again on uh the phenomenal performance at the six day.
Meg Eckert (1:04:55)
Thank you, Zach, so much for having me on. Great to chat with you too.