Running a 100 miler with a friend. Actually never ran an ultra in my life. Doing this for fun to break up marathon training but want to know what are your go to workouts in the training block? I will be running a 50k before the race.
Running a 100 miler with a friend. Actually never ran an ultra in my life. Doing this for fun to break up marathon training but want to know what are your go to workouts in the training block? I will be running a 50k before the race.
Get ready for your first DNF. A 50k as a preparation is not enough for a 100 miler.
You might have a small chance if you picked Tunnel Hill 100, which is basically a road course. Any other race (which one is it?) will be much harder.
Ideally you do at least 2 or 3 50 miler and the last one should be at the same difficulty level as the 100 miler.
Your training miles might be plenty, since you don't really need more miles for running ultras. But the approach and the challenges are very different.
Let me know which one it is, what is your Marathon time and your current mileage. I am happy to guide you along.
A long run at "forever pace" with lots of elevation gain and loss.
Don't be afraid to hike the climbs and ease down the descents.
You want to train your body's ability to use fat as a fuel source, your gut to handle lots of nutrition and your muscles' durability (particularly your quads). Time on feet will do that.
Running a 100 miler with a friend. Actually never ran an ultra in my life. Doing this for fun to break up marathon training but want to know what are your go to workouts in the training block? I will be running a 50k before the race.
Running a 100 miler with a friend. Actually never ran an ultra in my life. Doing this for fun to break up marathon training but want to know what are your go to workouts in the training block? I will be running a 50k before the race.
Get ready for your first DNF. A 50k as a preparation is not enough for a 100 miler.
You might have a small chance if you picked Tunnel Hill 100, which is basically a road course. Any other race (which one is it?) will be much harder.
Ideally you do at least 2 or 3 50 miler and the last one should be at the same difficulty level as the 100 miler.
Your training miles might be plenty, since you don't really need more miles for running ultras. But the approach and the challenges are very different.
Let me know which one it is, what is your Marathon time and your current mileage. I am happy to guide you along.
Eh. A 100 miler is just as mental as it is physical. A 50k can be plenty in training. You don't even have to run a continuous 50k in training for a 100 miler imo, if your volume is good & if you're dialed into nutrition. OP, take the back to back long run advice. It doesn't have to be every week and both runs don't need to be killers. It depends on what you're already used to. In marathon blocks, it's common for well trained runners to be doing an easy hour Saturday and then their long runs on Sunday. You could easily get 30 miles like that. Maybe get to something like 90-100min Saturday/2.5-3 hours Sunday.
Honestly good marathon training will work for most ultras. Good mileage + some tempo/threshold work + long runs. Consider elevation if your 100 miler is hilly. Practice your fueling, especially on long runs. Practice getting in 60-90g/carbs/hr, even pushing a little more than that if you can.
Get ready for your first DNF. A 50k as a preparation is not enough for a 100 miler.
You might have a small chance if you picked Tunnel Hill 100, which is basically a road course. Any other race (which one is it?) will be much harder.
Ideally you do at least 2 or 3 50 miler and the last one should be at the same difficulty level as the 100 miler.
Your training miles might be plenty, since you don't really need more miles for running ultras. But the approach and the challenges are very different.
Let me know which one it is, what is your Marathon time and your current mileage. I am happy to guide you along.
Eh. A 100 miler is just as mental as it is physical. A 50k can be plenty in training. You don't even have to run a continuous 50k in training for a 100 miler imo, if your volume is good & if you're dialed into nutrition. OP, take the back to back long run advice. It doesn't have to be every week and both runs don't need to be killers. It depends on what you're already used to. In marathon blocks, it's common for well trained runners to be doing an easy hour Saturday and then their long runs on Sunday. You could easily get 30 miles like that. Maybe get to something like 90-100min Saturday/2.5-3 hours Sunday.
Honestly good marathon training will work for most ultras. Good mileage + some tempo/threshold work + long runs. Consider elevation if your 100 miler is hilly. Practice your fueling, especially on long runs. Practice getting in 60-90g/carbs/hr, even pushing a little more than that if you can.
I read an interview with Cavin Woodward some years ago. Woodward was once holder of world records at both 50 and 100 miles and he set them both in the same race. His comment about training for races of that length was that all you could do was to get yourself into the best marathon shape you could. He was not a big miles guy, I recall 70 as being a good week for him, nor did he do long training runs. I think he usually topped out around 15-16 miles. But he raced a lot. He'd often race marathons on successive weekends.
A difference here is that as far as I know all of his races were on roads or tracks. I don't know how this translates to races over mountain trails. I do notice that a lot of ultra runners do seem to race fairly often.
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A long run at "forever pace" with lots of elevation gain and loss.
Don't be afraid to hike the climbs and ease down the descents.
You want to train your body's ability to use fat as a fuel source, your gut to handle lots of nutrition and your muscles' durability (particularly your quads). Time on feet will do that.
I’d agree with much of this but easing down descents is the opposite strategy to train the quads. Running down them with purpose will better do that, at least on some runs. Also, quality long runs(running up hills, injecting some faster pace running) and accruing time on feet over the totality of training make these long slogs at “forever” pace unnecessary. I never ran a good ultra when prioritizing these types of runs. Ran my best ones when each I trained more like a marathoner with some minor tweaks. My long runs weren’t long slogs.
Straight from the mouth of a winning ultra runner who graduated from my high school and came back to help run summer xc camp I attended: you need time on your feet. You need some fitness and speed to be competitive, obviously, but just having a lot of experience with 8-10 hour days on your feet will do a lot for you. For the weekend long runs (or every other weekend, maybe) where you’re really trying to simulate the difficulty of powering through an ultra, forget about the distance and just go for longer and longer stretches of time on your feet. Knowing what it’s like for your feet to swell and ache, if/when it will help to switch shoes, how to manage fluids and fueling, all that stuff really comes into play for an ultra as well.
A long run at "forever pace" with lots of elevation gain and loss.
Don't be afraid to hike the climbs and ease down the descents.
You want to train your body's ability to use fat as a fuel source, your gut to handle lots of nutrition and your muscles' durability (particularly your quads). Time on feet will do that.
I’d agree with much of this but easing down descents is the opposite strategy to train the quads. Running down them with purpose will better do that, at least on some runs. Also, quality long runs(running up hills, injecting some faster pace running) and accruing time on feet over the totality of training make these long slogs at “forever” pace unnecessary. I never ran a good ultra when prioritizing these types of runs. Ran my best ones when each I trained more like a marathoner with some minor tweaks. My long runs weren’t long slogs.
For an inexperienced ultra runner, bombing the downhills is a good way to not make the start line. It's also a good way to drastically reduce your ability to get time on feet in a single run.
You need to pick your battles at first, and I'd say endurance is likely the thing that's lacking for someone who's never run an ultra before.
Also, I agree that "totality of running" is a better strategy for increased performance, but that wasn't the question in the original post.
im a national champion. im also an alcoholic. just wing it, trust me its so much more fun to just just piss into the wind. yes you will end up pissing onto your sorts, but hey, thats life and it makes a good story.
or i like to 90 min saturday, sunday 21k morning 21km sunday evening. use less carbs than you think or you will be pooing in the grass.