6 hours ultramarathon without specific training?

...........this is the one thing you have enough time to train IMO. On slow runs between now and the event, practice stopping to walk for a bit while eating half a PBJ, a bagel, whatever. Maybe get on irunfar.com and look up articles about race nutrition for ideas.

good luck! You're taking on a real adventure, and I hope it goes well. Don't know where you live or what the weather is like these days, but pls. pay attention to heat/humidity, need for hydration. Remember there's no shame in dropping out if you get in trouble.

Anyone remember that guy who reckoned you could run an ultra off HIIT only? Then never took up the challenge or proved it as far as i know

Wrote book called "The 4-Hour working week" or some such nonsense.

I'd guess you would be somewhere between 37 up to maybe 40 miles

depending on course and weather.

I'd go out at about a 9 :30 mile pace for the first 3 to 4 hours and

adjust from there.

Thank you very much to you both for the very helpful answers! Still not made up my mind, but the answers brought me further along the way.

People are giving good "how to run your first ultra advice." But that advice probably makes more sense if he has been doing some very long runs to prepare (3 or 4 hour walk/run sessions).

I wonder though if the OP would be better off going a little faster than the suggested paces, then walking a bit periodically.

If his normal running pace is more like 7 to 730 pace, 930 pace might be slow enough to really trash his legs. Maybe he should run at a more typical slow pace, but walk when he drinks water, snacks, etc. on a regular basis.

Maybe run 45 minutes to an hour with no break, then take a short walking break every 30 minutes for a few cycles, then every 15 minutes, etc.

The thing is, if somebody told you to go hike for 6 hours, you'd have no problem completing that. So the question isnt "can you keep moving for 6 hours," it is "how fast can you average for 6 hours." You'll have no problem finishing if you do it conservatively.

Depending how many weeks from now is "a few weeks," you could easily get in 2 or 3 prep runs. Go for a 25 mile run/walk and force yourself to walk half the time you'll end up running about 16 and walking about 9. Your only goal here is to be on your feet for a long time, it shouldnt be very aerobicly taxing. Bring a backpack with snacks and water and eat/drink while walking. You are just practicing moving for a long time and figuring out what food makes your stomach hurt too much to run.

Thanks very much for this, very interesting. I have myself been mulling over doing something like this.

As you suggest, running at 9:30/mile pace feels quite unnatural to me, and I'm worried that it might not ultimately help that much, in that my lack of experience of running for a long time may cause me to feel the effects of the impact anyhow; maybe it would be better to run as much as possible with my normal easy pace to cover as much distance as possible before the effects of the impact really kick in, and then shuffle/walk the rest.

The course is essentially flat, mostly on asphalt (rest on gravel road), and one loop is about 2km I think. Even if I run a pace which feels really easy, on such a course I'd reckon it'd be 4:30/km or so. If I can manage 3 hours total around that speed, then even if I walk the rest at 10:00/km, I'd be at around 60km. But I would imagine that even in a lot of pain I could shuffle an hour, maybe two, at 6:00/km or so, in which case this plan might bring me up past 70km.

The question would be how often to insert a walking break in the 'quick' section, and for how long. Every 45 - 60 minutes sounds reasonable; would just a few minutes walk (less than 5) rejuvenate me to any significant extent?

The race is in 11 days by the way.

You might be fit but you will be surprised how difficult that 6 hour race will be.

Problem No 1 will be that you will start running too fast. You think it is slow but it is too fast.

2. You don't know how to take care of yourself during such a long race. Nutrition is the key but if you have never done it you won't know how your body will react. Start eating and drinking early but also don't overdo it.

3. It's a long grind. 3.5 hours in you might think that this will never end.

4. And then there are blisters and chafing you might have to deal with it.

5. You need to keep going in order to get miles in. Run, walk, run. It might be ugly but you have to keep going.

That in a nutshell is an ultra. Some people like it, most don't.

Good luck at your first one!

first time 6 hours wrote:

The course is essentially flat, mostly on asphalt (rest on gravel road), and one loop is about 2km I think. Even if I run a pace which feels really easy, on such a course I'd reckon it'd be 4:30/km or so. If I can manage 3 hours total around that speed, then even if I walk the rest at 10:00/km, I'd be at around 60km. But I would imagine that even in a lot of pain I could shuffle an hour, maybe two, at 6:00/km or so, in which case this plan might bring me up past 70km.

This kind of math never works in an ultra. There is no way that you will walk at a 6 km/h pace when you can't run anymore.

70k is very optimistic for somebody who has never done a Marathon.

Thank you! Yes, I'm especially worried about 2., as I have no experience of this, and do not wish to end up with a loose stomach for most of the race.

With regard to 1., due to my lack of specific training, I'm debating whether it might be better to just accept this, and run well for a few hours with some brief walking breaks to take on food, and try to force myself to shuffle/walk the rest.

I'm fully expecting it to be torturous, and am still not sure I'll sign up!

Just try it.

Run in the beginning as slow as possible, take care of your body and see what happens. The slower you are in the beginning the more successful you will be in hour five.

It will be a long slog. A run, walk strategy is good. Just keep moving.

Good luck!

And report back to us in the same tread.

You only learn these things by trying them.

What's the worst that happens? You drop out, so what.

6 hour is not so bad, after 3 hours of running everything feels the same anyway.

Don't treat it like a race where u run at VO2 max and feel like you are competing with anyone.

The battle is internal.

If it's flat its not so bad, just pace your self and fall into a smooth comfortable rhythm.

Your biggest problem will be to run slow enough, as you are too used to running fast in training.

Don't run like you are chasing something, run like you are holding something in reserve.

Don't walk! Just learn to slow your pace. Walking just destroys you mentally and can be more painful than running. My mantra is "WALKING SUX".

Often training for Ultras is not possible in a realistic way. Like I can't run 100 k to practice for 100 k race, as it's counterproductive. So normally lots of 2-3 hours runs back to back. So your training is probably not ideal, but who cares if something is ideal, otherwise you will never do it anyway.

Ultras are something u kind of have to just discover whether you can do them or not. I feel like people have this idea that people slowly build up distance to run an Ultra over years, but its more like this growing impatience that you get and you just want to go out and run 50, 100 k or 6/12/24 hr or whatever. Just throw yourself in the deep end, you will get valuable insight in return anyway. More than what you will learn on a forum...

first time 6 hours wrote:

2) If so, what sort of distance could I expect to achieve? What sort of pace should I go out at? It's a local-ish race, only a few really good runners will participate.

3) I am not used to fueling whilst running. Any advice for how I should go about it?

2) I don't really think you can aim for a specific distance. Rather know what pace you need to maintain for an achievable distance. Then during the race you can adjust. But you need to base it on your heart rate. I usually run at around 155 bpm for Ultras, and adjust pace to keep that constant. That gets me around 5:00 min/k. As the race goes that will slowly drop as your HR stays the same. But my max HR is around 200, so for you these values may be lower. The last 1-2 hours you can afford to go up in HR again.

I think 70 k is achievable if you don't break down, don't stop, or don't walk.

3) For 6 hours you don't even need to eat solid food. I would recommend something like fuel-5 which has anyway "long-energy". Calculate how much you need for 200 cal per hour.

Don't underestimate the mental aspect of running in 2 k loop. Focus internally on how your body feels, your pace, your nutrition. Enjoy the feeling of running.

It helps to have a supporter to track you fluid and calorie intake and your pace. Drink every loop.

Did you ever "hit the wall"? I normally get that quite predictably around 30-35 k. I try to prepare by running slower here and making sure I am taking calories in. Around 60-65 k for me is also another low point, as it starts to feel monotonous.

What is the point? Why do a race you are not properly trained for? Risk of injury seems high given insufficient training.

Why train when you can wing it?

King Tiger wrote:You only learn these things by trying them. What's the worst that happens? You drop out, so what.

In a timed race there is no such thing as a drop or DNF. A runner could do one loop and stop running and they would still have a finishing distance.

The one thing that really surprised me when I started running longer races was how much time on feet effected the overall race outcome independent of fitness.

You can be really fit but eventually the pounding on the legs becomes the limiting factor in my experience. If you haven't put in the time doing some very long (even if they are slow) runs, eventually your legs break down and you can't access your fitness. I would think this would be even worse on a road course versus a trail run. It is amazing how guys who are less fit and fast over shorter distances can do well over the long stuff if they have done the long runs to build up that tolerance to the pounding.

Not much you can do about this though if the race is only a few days away.

In terms of nutrition I would recommend experimenting with eating "real" food in the training time you have left. The first few ultras I ran I used gels and energy drinks almost exclusively and my stomach ended up not being very happy with me. I now eat mashed potatoes, PB and J, bananas, avacodoes, potato chips, along with the occasional gel and my stomach feels much better and my energy levels are more stable throughout.

Good luck!

1) Walk, LOTS, and from early on. Just try to beat whatever cutoff times they have.

2) Pay attention to chafing spots and your feet.

3) 200 calories per hour, mostly gels.

4) Pay attention to hydration.

5) You're going to hurt, a lot.

6) Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

I agree with others that the nutrition and hydration aspects are going to be difficult for you. But if nothing else, you can treat it as a first 'training long' effort, while assuming you're going to crash, but that you will learn from it.

Just go for it. It will be a nice experience. I ran a month back for 7hours just for the experience and to learn to know my body and mind. I had water and goodies and picked up some more on the route. Threw in some caffeinated drinks too later in the run. The last 3 hours i put on some tunes on my earbuds. Stayed in hr zone 2 for 88% of the time. Felt special passing that 50k Mark en route. Afterwards it really boosted my confidence, i really feel mentally stronger.