I'm considering entering a 6 hours ultramarathon in a couple of weeks. However, I've never run a marathon, or even run a half marathon competitively, though I've run 20 - 28km or so many times in training. I haven't done any specific training for it. Nevertheless, I'm thinking that the pace in an ultramarathon is rather slow, so maybe good aerobic fitness and some mental toughness will see me through?! I've done a few 'tough' things every now and then, e.g. a few weeks of 110-120km entirely on a treadmill in singles in 6 days a week of running, a few months back. I am also used to cycling or walking for several hours.
To give an idea of my level as a runner, I ran 19km yesterday in the forest on a route with several very steep climbs at about 4:30/km pace, and it felt very easy. I haven't raced much recently, but ran a 9:44 3000m in January, and underperformed in that race; I think I am quite a bit better aerobic shape now, though I haven't done any speedwork for a while.
A few questions:
1) Is this realistic?
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?