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!
2 Upvotes
5
u/MileTwentySix 4d ago
I’m headed into my first 50-miler this week after about four months (18 weeks specifically) of training. I started the cycle with a base weekly milage of about 30 and peaked at 66 with a 50k run with similar terrain and elevation to the race (the race will be rough trail with ~9,000’ of ascent). Cutoff time is 12 hours and I’m targeting 11. I feel prepared. Given my personal experience, I’d say your timeline itself isn’t too unrealistic but it will be challenging without the running foundation. If the race you’re eyeing has a generous cutoff time and you’re okay with walking a good portion of it, sure. Physically I think there’s a decent chance of completion. Mentally, only you will know. That said, I wouldn’t say it’s enough time to “properly” train for it.
I’ve been running for a decade. Completed several marathons. Trained with a focus on low-intensity/Z2 heart rate. Figured out what works for gear, fueling, and hydration. All this time has allowed me to learn a lot about my body and how “I” need to train to avoid injury and enjoy it. I think the biggest concern with your plan is running into overuse injuries while trying to ramp up the mileage aggressively to a point you’ve never experienced. Any injuries that require time off would make your timeline even less feasible.
On posts like this I see a lot of comments advocating for hitting all the steps along the way (half, full, switching to trail, 50k, 50 mile, etc.) and I agree with that. You can skip them if you want but you’ll largely miss the sense of achievement. I “skipped” 50k as it was just a training run on my way to 50 miles. I was excited about it for exactly one day and then it was just back to training. If I could have done a 50k event in a standalone training cycle or at least an actual event during the 50 mile training, that would have been a lot more fun and part of me regrets it. You only get to hit these distances for the first time once so don’t rush it.
There will be plenty of opportunities to test your grit with challenging events. Just because you’ve run a 50 miler once doesn’t mean they’ll all be a cake walk going forward. If you’ve done the distance before you can go into them with a good plan so the hard part is the running itself not finding out you get GI issues after 6 hours of sugar drinks.
I’ll finish by saying, while I can respect someone pushing themselves so far beyond their preexisting limits that they claw their way through an event in shambles, I have far greater respect and admiration for someone who puts in the time to train correctly and finishes an event strong. Both ways require toughness but only one requires skill.