Ultra Distance??

I run/walk marathons. I mean, I run most of them, but I don't think twice about walking through drink stations or while eating a gel or while going up a particularly tough hill. I ran Loch Ness non stop last month and was comprehensively trounced by a VERY fit looking guy who was doing a regimented run/walk. We leapfrogged each other a few times then his run pace just seemed to get faster and faster and I didn't see him at all after about 10 miles... I mean, okay, so most people think you should run marathons. But that doesn't mean YOU have to! Or that you even have to do one before moving on to ultras. If you like being out on the hills all day, you'll probably LOVE ultras. Go for it!

im thinking of adopting 20:5 ratio for my next 50miler as its flat as flat can be  so no natural walk breaks included ie.hills!! jave never tried the regimented run/walk thing before now as past 2 ultras were fairly up and downy....chance to experiment now

Big-foot- you'll need to get used to the idea of runnig on your own, on a sparsely- marked course, if you are going to do an ultra- yesterday on my 50k race, I could see at least 1 runner for about 3/4 of it, but also had spells of 30 mins or o where I didn't see either another runner, or a course marker. This is one of the things that makes ultras very different to marathons, where you might be jostling for space on the road- but I would think it would suit you, if yuo're an experienced hill walker.

big foot, i marshalled at the purbeck marathon and we all stayed till the back markers had gone past us!

A lot of the feedback I've got from people who have ran marathons have said all of the ones they enjoyed the most, the Marshall's had stayed until the end. I know that the Marshall's aren't paid and what they do is in their free time, this makes it highly commendable and personally I really do appreciate it. The Wolverhampton marathon isn't marked at all so if you didn't know the area or couldn't remember it from the first time around (where you were guided by Marshall's) then you were lost. Tricialitt, in open spaces I'm quite happy running on my own, do most of them have maps provided??? but I know what you mean, i guess its something Ive got to get used to. Max's Mum, its great to see the Marshall's out on the course and i get a well needed (at times) boost from them cheering the runners on and giving you encouragement.RWD i guess the Marshall's could be out for a very long time with some of the distances involved for ultras??

I've just entered the Ladybower 50 as my first ultra, part of the attraction is that its run round a couple of reservoirs so hopefully the navigation side of things will be restricted to keeping the water on the same side of me throughout the race.

Hi GazOC, this looks good, im not too sure of the cut off times though

Hi BF, The final cut off of 13 hours averages out at over 15 mins/ mile so I'm pretty sure the others will be generous enough as well. 

.....and you wont need a drink stop!! 15 / min miles make it seem more doable.

loulabell wrote (see)

im thinking of adopting 20:5 ratio for my next 50miler as its flat as flat can be  so no natural walk breaks included ie.hills!! jave never tried the regimented run/walk thing before now as past 2 ultras were fairly up and downy....chance to experiment now

And what 50 miler is that? Done a lot of Run/walking on ultras - always good to experiment but do it on your training runs rather than on the day else it can be a pretty lonely time!