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2012-08-08 11:06 PM

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Subject: Help out a newbie!?

So I finally making the leap into the ultra world.  But what the heck do I do?  How do I train?  Where do I look for a training schedule?

My background... I have done a couple Ironman's, several 1/2 Iron's, a whole lot of other stuff, and some other stuff !

 

I average about 1000 miles a year running and I would say 60% of the time those are on the trails.  This years I am a bit over 600 miles with 30,000 feet of elevation gain. 

 

All sounds ok, but Ii am clueless when it comes to going long (especially on the trails!)....

 

Where is the best place to look (beside's here of course), what about a schedule?  What is the best advice you have either LEARNED (the hard way) or someone gave you?!

 

I don't plan on winning (except in my own mind), but I do want to finish and be happy.

 

edit to add... Race is October 28th.



Edited by swbkrun 2012-08-08 11:14 PM


2012-08-09 3:00 AM
in reply to: #4354236

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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?

Welcome to Ultra running :-)  What distance race are you doing in October?

I'm like you - I'm not out there to win 'officially' lol.  Just out there to enjoy & challenge myself.  If you're training for a 50k then a marathon schedule could get you to the finish with maybe just making the longer runs a smidgen longer, but I'm not even sure it's necessary.  The biggest thing I've learned transitioning to Ultra distances is to slow down and learn how to not only walk during the runs but to also be okay with walking during the runs. he he 

I think there are some schedules out there for 50 & 100 milers on the web.  Some of them look pretty good.  I know a bunch of folks that do 100 milers (currently training for my first) and they all train so differently.  You will see many different approaches to it. 

2012-08-09 10:59 AM
in reply to: #4354236

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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?
I remember that feeling of being lost. Especially coming from IM training were there are a bazzillion plans.

From what I can tell from being at this for a couple years there is one main idea, run lots.

From that there are kind of 2 camps, especially for the BOP and MOP people, either you put your efforts into total weekly volume and sacrifice the distance of your longer runs, or you put your efforts into longer runs, perhaps even back to back long runs, and sacrifice your total weekly volume (although perhaps not time).

I know when I started I thought it was all about the long run. However, I have started to see the damage a long run does to my weekly training and am leaning the other way, getting more quality miles in rather than slogging it out for 5+ hours on the trail every Saturday night.

I think the first couple ultras are the hardest because you don't really have the base of running that long, however, if you can fit in 3-4 longer races a year in I think you will start to find the training starts to take care of itself and your best training run for the next race is your current race.

I good podcast is talk ultra http://www.marathontalk.com/archive/talk_ultra.php

Good luck.
2012-08-10 5:42 AM
in reply to: #4354236

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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?
BigDH,

You have provided an excellent and succinct advice. Your comments are appropriate for a someone new to the ultra scene or someone looking to reassessing their approach. Thank you!
2012-08-10 6:51 AM
in reply to: #4354236

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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?

I tweak around with this schedule along with some from the book Relentless Forward Progress.  This site only does 50K and 50 miler

http://www.scrunners.org/ultrasch.php

2012-08-10 8:49 AM
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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?
Thanks all this is great stuff. It gives me a wee bit more excitement about my first 50k.One more question... Let's say the schedule you follow says 24 miles... Do you run those 24 miles on the trail? My race is a 50k with some pretty brutal hills..


2012-08-10 3:57 PM
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Subject: RE: Help out a newbie!?

swbkrun - 2012-08-10 9:49 AM Thanks all this is great stuff. It gives me a wee bit more excitement about my first 50k.One more question... Let's say the schedule you follow says 24 miles... Do you run those 24 miles on the trail? My race is a 50k with some pretty brutal hills..

If you're going to be running a trail race, then I say definitely do your long runs on trails, and if there are brutal hills in that race, then include a healthy dose of that kind of terrain in your running, and definitely in your long runs. I've found that my legs -- IT Bands, calves, and ankles specifically -- needed to adapt to the changing terrain of trails, as well as the ability to stabilize myself going up and down steep hills.  Additionally, pacing on trails is significantly slower than on roads, and I've learned a lot about slowing way down in order to go longer on race day.

There's a guy in Michigan that I've raced against several times that has been killing all the 50s and 50ks that he enters, winning by 20+ minutes at times, and I know that he runs almost exclusively on pretty flat MI roads, but he runs in the low 6 minutes per mile in his training, and he's a 2:30 marathoner who just got 2nd place at Burning River 100, his first hundred miler.  I think he's the exception, for he is an exceptional runner.

The takeaway for me from this guy's training is that some fast road running is good for keeping leg speed and turnover high, so I try to run roads 1 day a week, but the leg strength I gain from hill running is going to pay higher dividends on race day.

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