my first 30 miler

I hardly dare creep on this ultra forum with my wee 30 miler but I need advice.

I am doing the Chagford Challenge on March 27th.  It is a very hilly off road route - over Dartmoor etc. It is self navigation so will be squinting at the map regularly.

I did an off road Marathon last October (4.44) and am up to 20 miles at the week end now.  I do get quite tired and only run 2 - 3 times more during the week plus a couple of gym sessions.

My question is should I run more than 20 miles  or just keep my weekend runs to that.  Should I try doing say 14 mile runs on both sat and sunday - gulp.

Alos I am doing the Grizzly two weeks before but will only trot along in my own sweet time - actually I only have one speed over this kind of distance and that's politely called steady!!

So if I am going to put in an extra big run when would be the right time? - I am also moving house but that's a whole other marathon!!

Would appreciate your words of wisdom

I did my first 30 miler last October and only did around 20 miles leading up to it. I took the 30 miles really easy, around 10.15 per mile on average I think. Normally do long runs at 9-10 minute pace, recent half marathon is 1:37.

I am now training for a 40 in August and a 50 in October, and am planning on doing some slow long ones at ultra pace - I want to do 30 miles before the 40 and then I reckon I'll be ready for a 50.

I personally would try to do 25 miles or so, nice and slow, maybe 3 or 4 weeks before the race. Hope you enjoy it!! Oh, might be worth doing some hill work midweek too!!

Thank you - that all sounds good.  I am a member of a running club and in our training sessions we have a variety of stuff including hill reps.  I can't step out of the door without being faced by an enormous hill.

 Good luck with your forthcoming races

 What the sombrero man said, I wouldn't do any more than 24 in prep for a 30 and no less than three weeks before your main event.  I'd probably do at least one of your sessions as a speed session and one as a hills session then do my LSR at your expected race pace, that way you're covering you the runs you really need to be doing in three days and so if you get out on another day it's a bonus.

 Having said that I run to how I feel on ultras rather than a specific pace, if that's 8 mins on the flat or 12 minutes uphill then so be it

Pretty much as has been said above, you dont need to put in the total miles of the race in a training run before hand, although a warm up race about 6 weeks before can help over a shorter distance (say a resonably tough 15-20 miler in this case). If you are going over Dartmoor I can recommend getting the hill training in. Going up and down, I find its the fast downhills that hurt more than the uphills!

As it is self navigating, then remember its better to check the map for an extra 15 seconds than run the wrong way for 15 minutes.

It is acceptable to walk. So don't kill yourself trying to run if your legs don't want to! Some people stick to a pattern like previously mentioned (25/5). Others take an a approach of run downhill and flat, any hill that you can't see over the top of then walk it! you will most likely develop your own method.

At the end of the day, get your key training in, any extra you can manage without detriment is great. Time on your feet is more important than miles. On the day just listen to your body, if it can go a bit faster then go faster. if it needs to go slower then go slower... just dont stop

Oh... and once you have done the 30 prepare yourself for the fact you will most likely get home aching and look for a 50... and before you know it you will be running in the middle of nowhere as the sun comes up, munching flapjack and thinking "not bad, only a half marathon left to go and I'm finished!"

I will shut up now!

Ha ha - that's brilliant.  I live on Dartmoor so am well used to big hills every time I run. 

Thanks for the tip about the map - am most nervous about getting lost even though there seem to be very comprehensive written instructions as well as OS no's etc.

definitely ditto TH on the info re the map - thumb on map and map orientated in direction you are going so you only have to keep glancing down rather than stopping and trying to re-sort each time (apologies if you are an experienced map reader and know this already!!). Luckily recent ultras I've done have needed fairly little navigation but have done a few mountain marathons and used to do a navigating event of 50-miles in 24-hrs in the Chiltern Hills as a teenage Venture Scout (way before the concept of ultras took off) and the navigation on the move was the fun bit!

 I use the walk ANY hill, jog/run flats and downs. Quads are definitely the thing that seems to take the hammering.

Certainly agree you wouldn't need to run further than 24/25 miles in training. I too tend to run how I feel on the day, just kind of let the legs decide.

I also did my first 50 miler recently. 

It has to be said that once you have done a 31 or 35 mile race and found that your legs dont drop off, you immediately develop a hankering to try your hand at a 50 mile event.