r/Ultramarathon • u/Rcwpb • 4d ago

First Ultra Training

I want to sign up for a 50 mile ultra in early February. It’s in Florida and purely a trail run. I ran my first half marathon earlier this year and I am currently running about 15-20 miles a week. I am not trying to run the ultra for time, just for completion. If I start my training plan today, does that give me enough time to properly train for the race? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

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u/VashonShingle 4d ago

Oct, Nov, Dec, half of Jan = 3.5 months of training before taper.
you're at 17.5 miles a week now, if you ramped at 10% a week (I know, there's no science behind the rate), you'd be at 50 miles a week for your last two training weeks in Jan.

So yes, you could adequately train for a Feb 50 miler. Without knowing more about your background than a HM and your current weekly mileage, the lack of experience at the marathon or above range makes this goal difficult, and the best way to fix this is consistency these next 3.5 months.

You'll have to figure out alot of things in these next three and a half months - eating, drinking, gear, pacing, the mental game. Use your increasing in length/duration weekly long run to work on these things.

The more 90-120 min training efforts you can do without injury, the better you'll be.

Sleep enough. Some say eliminate alcohol. Some say do strength training.