First Ultra :-s

Hi all,

After a bit of time out due to injury problems I completed the Black Death Run in a little over 2 hours. I'm a pretty good plodder This was my first ever race.

However 20 minutes ago I signed up for the Salisbury 54321. I like the idea of a trail Ultra because my nerve injury was agrivated by running on roads. I believe its 50k. I have a little under 3 months to train. I have a really good engine and my base fitness is pretty good. I'm just going to look to finish and not set the world on fire.

Question is should I train for this as a marathon seeing as its only a few miles more?

Thats what I thought. Plus I prefer hill runs to speed sessions so that will be a welcome relief

How long should my back to back runs be? 15miles each or should I be aiming higher?

if you are doing it just to finish and not to win it......then i would suggest just doing all your runs off road and at a comfortable pace........

to avoid injury i would avoid all speed sessions or reps.just get out there and run.putting in walk breaks whne you fancy them....

i liked 20 miles followed by 10 the next day......and then when the ultras get longer then i increse them both a little

good luck

That sounds like heaven. I love plodding along. not the fastest person. Thats why ultras appeal to me. So really I just got to put the miles in and thats essentially it?

Again glad to hear you say that. I try to run too far on consecutive days because of the problems i've had. I break my days up with Cycling alot too. I know nothing can replace running but I have found that my body copes better with alot of cross training. However I am slowly starting to run most days now. Would it be a good idea to drop perhaps a half marathon in before? Am I going to gain anything from this?

if you are doing longer ultras then cycling can really come in as useful training ........i find that if i do a slow run after my long run..the first few miles is really slow and my legs are tired but then they come back to life and I feel better and get a full recovery quicker......

but build up them both slowly.don't go straight out and do long runs......

its finding what works best for you

A half marathon is 13 miles, so no different, and certainly no longer, than a day's training. It's how you'd approach it that would make a difference. At race pace it would be fine, if you belted around it there would be little to gain, and you would risk injury.

Yes train for it like a marathon (it'll hurt less) but, as mentioned, get some training in over similar terrain with ideal footwear

time to get over those Purbeck hills, Vic!

Cheers guys.

I've got less than 3 months to get sorted. I've gone right back to the beginning and I done a short 3 miler this morning to get my legs back after Sundays race. Then popping out for a 10 mile cycle tonight again just to get the legs working. I've mapped out a real simple schedule and the most I will do is 15 miles on a Saturday and the same on the Sunday. I suppose its a mental barrier that I need to get through. IE knowing i've run the race albeit over 2 days. But I have to say I will be doing a lot of cycling Main reasin being that I suffer from Sciatic nerve problems and if I do too much too often it can be a sod. I have some trail running shoes and because I live out in the country many routes to take. Plus I will get onto Exmoor now and again to mix it up