I can walk out my door and easily run 30 miles at sub 7;30 pace any day of week but my fast speed comes and goes . I’ve been known to have a couple rough weeks the What’s the cause of this? I am shooting to run sub 2:30 next spring but think based off that I could work myself down to sub 2:25 if not faster. In 2017 I ran 22 miles at 9pm at 8 min pace the following morning at 8am ran a road 50k time trial in sub 3:20. Am I meant to do ultras?
Your body does what you train it to do.
Congrats! You have completed your career's worth of base phase running. It is now time to turn your attention to speed work. For the next 4 years, you are to do nothing but intervals, fartleks, pyramids, repeats, etc.
Hell, you might even manage 2x18miles at MP with a 4 hour rest.
Humans are just biased to keep going rather than increase speed.
If you run longer, you adjust physically. Trying to run the marathon quicker can be a real challenge.
Ultras are often healthier long-term, but if you run them only for the competition, you may run into the same problems.
Try to find joy in the training, and the choice of race will be easier to make.
Xcguy0988 wrote:
Am I meant to do ultras?
Yes.
jesseriley wrote:
Humans are just biased to keep going rather than increase speed.
If you run longer, you adjust physically. Trying to run the marathon quicker can be a real challenge.
Ultras are often healthier long-term, but if you run them only for the competition, you may run into the same problems.
Try to find joy in the training, and the choice of race will be easier to make.
More if you are slow twitch like me. I can literally run a half thon at my 10k pace. It shows how much I such at 5 and 10ks I guess. I expect to run some epic thons in the future. I want to get down to 2:25 someday too
Xcguy0988 wrote:
I am shooting to run sub 2:30 next spring but think based off that I could work myself down to sub 2:25 if not faster.
Those are good times, especially for just running easy all the time in training.
Toss in a few interval sessions and a faster long run each week like Kipchoge, and you might be able to break 2;20.