4x4x48 Debrief & 10 Learnings

What is the 4x4x48 challenge?

The 4x4x48 challenges is an endurance challenge.

Run four miles every four hours for forty-eight hours.

When I first heard about the challenge I was intimidated by the physical demands of the challenge. Forty-eight miles seemed like a lot and there was the element of the event taking place over forty-eight hours. The duration of the event scared me the most. The 4x4x48 represented a face to face with the unknown. I’ve always found that I experience the most growth when I’m exploring the unknown — so, naturally, I accepted the challenge.

David Goggins’ popularized the challenge on March 3rd, 2020 via a video on Twitter where he asked his followers to compete with him virtually. David Goggins’ is widely considered to be one of the worlds’ best endurance-athletes. Check out his website to learn about his story and put the challenge into the proper perspective. Understanding David’s story is key to understanding the purpose of the challenge.

“Life is all about getting outside your comfort zone, strengthening your mind, callousing your mind and arming your mind — you take this 48 hours [to complete the challenge] and you can put this [experience] in your cookie jar. Your cookie jar is your reminder of how badass you are when times get hard in your life” — David Goggins’, March 3rd, 2020 via 4x4x48 announcement on Twitter

The challenge, in other words, tests mental stamina. The real challenge, then, is not actually running forty-eight miles but rather training and disciplining your thoughts. I call this training and disciplining ‘mental hacking.’ Mental hacking is consciously controlling mental processes to regain control of lived experiences. In training the unchecked self-talk and ‘chatter’ that goes on in the mind we regain control of our perceptions and thus reality. You can turn pain into growth and struggle into development. You are now an agent of your own fate and destiny, how cool is that? The reward to the individual disciplined enough to complete the challenge is the everlasting ‘cookie’ of the experience that can be pulled out of the ‘cookie jar’ at a later, tougher time in life. I sometimes think of David’s ‘cookie’ metaphor like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak — it is often not needed but in times of great need it will be there to serve you.

On January 20th, 2021, David Goggin’s officially announced on his social media channels that the second annual 4x4x48 challenge would be held virtually from 8pm PST on March 5th until 4pm PST on March 7th. I was visiting my parents and watching the inauguration at the time the announcement was made. I immediately turned off the inauguration on TV and started running 5 miles while listening to the inauguration instead — perhaps my most memorable run of 2021 thus far.

During the run I meditated on the fitness goals I have for myself in 2021. Having failed in achieving a 50km goal in 2020 I set my sights on completing a 50km in 2021. I have never run for 50km continuously before and I’m not sure I’m physically or mentally capable of running for 50km continuously. As an intermediate step I planned to complete the 4x4x48 and pound the pavement until I had accumulated enough mileage to take on a 50km.

I then laid out my plan. I would run 30 miles every week leading up to the challenge and then rest the week of the challenge starting February 1st. I reasoned that having 120 miles of pavement pounding on my legs would be both necessary and sufficient to complete the challenge. If I missed the mileage mark (which I did by 20 miles) I would rely on the muscle memory and experience in my legs to carry me though the finish. By March I would then have about 150 miles on my legs which would prepare me well for the next phase of training to complete a 50k a month later.

At 11pm on March 5th I started and at 7:40pm on March 7th I completed the second annual virtual 4x4x48 challenge.

Here are the 10 things I learned from the experience about the 4x4x48 and myself

1. Sleep is critical for the body to rest and recover but even more critical for the mind to rest and recover. Depriving the mind of sleep is one of the worst and most harmful choices we make for mental and physical health. Prioritizing sleep helps us feel sharp, alert and well-rested. The well-rested mind is capable of achieving and accomplishing almost any task while the sleep-deprived mind can make even the simplest and easiest of tasks difficult.
2. Preparation is essential to maximize the chances of success in completing the challenge. In between runs there is only about three hours so every second counts. Planning processes to minimize the number of tasks needed during the actual challenge saves valuable time and mental energy. Buying all the food, electrolytes, protein and vitamins needed ahead of time and organizing your clothes for each run before the run all reduce cognitive load and improve the experience. I would always hydrate, ice bath, shower, refuel, stretch, rest, hydrate and repeat the process.
3. Showering is a huge part of the routine and ritual that helps the body and mind feel clean, refreshed and renewed. Showering after each run is a powerful way to signal to your body that you are taking good care and also ensuring you do not start to develop rashes, blisters or chafing that can occur when sweat accumulates and is not washed away. While David likely does not subscribe to pampering and excessive self-care; the act of showering is a nice way to make you feel more human during seemingly inhumane tasks.
4. Ice baths every other run are an excellent way to manage and maintain overall physical health by reducing natural inflammation that occurs exercising. Ice baths are an extremely efficient and effective, albeit seemingly environmentally unfriendly, way to cool the body down and signal to the body that it is in a state of rest and recovery. The body has a long memory and recalls how it is treated after previous runs on subsequent runs. 20 minutes in an ice cold tub will lower the core body temperature and keep legs feeling fresher longer.
5. Posting on social media is an amazing way to stay motivated, connected and accountable toward goals. Before and after every run sharing an update on Instagram stories serves the purpose of tracking progress publicly (or at least publicly within a private group of followers). Failure is a powerful motivator to spur success and public failure is only amplifying as a motivator. Announcing goals and building off of the support from friends can boost morale during tough times.
6. Stretching before and after every run releases built up lactic acid in the muscles so that the muscles are feelings fresh and spry when they are called upon four hours later. Stretching also reduces the risk of injury and dampens the impact that pavement pounding has on the joints, tendons, muscles and bones. Dynamic stretching, including yoga and rolling out, can make a huge difference in how much the body recovers between runs.
7. Electrolytes & nutrition are vital to stay hydrated and fueled — the body is burning insane amounts of calories to supply muscles with energy while exercising so it is a matter of absolutely to necessity to nourish the body with the nutrients it requires to stay in equilibrium. Complex carbs and protein are best to sustain the body.
8. Friends are even more powerful than social media. Having one or two friends, preferably friends completing the challenge synchronously with you, can reduce the mental stress and pain of having to struggle alone. One of the more difficult parts of the challenge is staying lucid while operating on limited sleep; friends can serve as a source of inspiration to find energy to continue pushing through the tougher moments. Plan ahead to run with friends in-person or to FaceTime your friends before, during and after runs to share success stories. I always got off the phone feeling more competitive and energized.
9. Goals are important to think about during the event to stay future-oriented and focused on longer-term outcomes. Keeping in mind that the 4x4x48 was preparation mentally and physically for a 50k kept my mind disciplined and forward-looking. In times when I am overwhelmed by the difficulty of the present moment sometimes it helps to take a step back and think about the bigger picture and how overcoming the current challenge was is necessary for me to work toward the next, bigger challenge. As in life as in endurance races there are no shortcuts — put in the work today to live the life you dream of tomorrow.
10. Fun is the secret sauce to success in the 4x4x48 or any endurance challenge. Invariably I experienced the most pain and suffering when I was not choosing to be happy and to have fun. The fact is that the mind wanders to the worst and darkest places if not trained and disciplined during a hard task. When I took myself or task too seriously I lost sight of the purpose and meaning of the task. In times that I joked about the absurdity of the task my feet were lighter, legs were fresher and mind was sharper. Remember that this is all temporary — literally in the duration of the challenge and metaphysically in a philosophical sense — so stay humble and grateful each step of the way. Each challenge accepted and step toward completing that challenge is a gift. By the 48th mile on the 48th hour you truly learn what it means to choose to have fun. There is something liberating and freeing about understanding deep inside your core that you are in control of your perception. You are in control of choosing to have fun.