Can I do this?

Hi there,
I signed up for my first 50 miler. I've got just under three months.
I'm 23. I've never been a very fast runner. I'm slow but steady. I do triathlons. I've done an Ironman and loved it. I ran a marathon in early december but my training had to take a back seat because I was sick for the rest of that month. But my mileage is going up again. I was just wondering if you have any advice for me and if you think that the limited training time will be a problem.
Thank you very much for your thoughts

Stephanie

Slow and steady is perfect for a first 50...the only way to go.

It's all about your goals and expectations. Unless you are a remarkably competitive and experienced and talented marathoner, your goal should be to (1) finish and (2) enjoy the experience. Those are reasonable goals as long as you are willing to go slowly enough to stay comfortable. "50 miles is a lot more than two marathons."
If it's a trail race, try to spend training time on trails, the actual race course if possible.
"Eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty and if you can't see over it, walk it."

That's about it. This is from a fellow newbie who really enjoyed that first 50, once it was over. Perhaps some experienced people can be more specific. Good luck to you.

Sure, three months is ample time to be very ready. One factor that you did not mention is the profile of the 50 miles. Is this a road event or a trail event? If it is a trail event, you must prepare specifically for that. If you only run roads, but then enter a trail 50 miles, or even worse a trail 50 that goes up large hills, you then begin to have greater chances of failure.

Make sure that at least two or three days training per week is on a course that mimicks the profile of what you will run race day.

For example, last year I ran in a 100k ultra event which had an "adventure race" sort of format. Four runners on the team must run the entire course together. One of our runners, "Chip", was a good athlete and had finished some 30 triathlons and Ironman events. However, unlike the other three of us, he hadn't practiced on the course of the race, which in fact had 30,000 feet of vertical gain and loss! His mileage was all road, bike, and pool, Unfortunately, after just 50K of the course, he was done- wracked with cramps and exhausted. They allowed us to finish with three runners, but Chip's example is what happens to even a very good athlete who does not specifically train for the course profile.

Thanks for your feedback!
The 50 is a pretty hilly trail run a couple thousand ft higher than where I live.
I've been running on trails once or twice week. Do you think I should do more of that? What about altitude?
Sorry! So many questions!

Thank you!

Hey steph.. altitude can definitely be a factor, if you're one of those people it tends to affect more than some.

I live and train at 3000'+, and can go to 8000' without feeling the difference much. My husband, who trains at same elevations, can't handle higher up without rapid heartbeat & sometimes nausea. My sister lives at sea level and just coming to my altitude to run makes a huge difference in her heartrate & respirations.

That being said, when I first started running, I signed up for races not paying ANY attention to terrain, altitude, elev gain/loss, etc., because I was looking for races in "pretty places." LOL! It made for some interesting mishaps and priceless trail stories.. and I'm none the worse for wear because of it.

Just have fun out there, cuz yes, you CAN do this.

It looks to me as if the weakest link in your training is lack of hill and trail running hours per week. Personally, I feel that long jogs on flat city streets are poor preparation for trail ultras (others will disagree, of course). Better than nothing, good for some endurance training, speed training, and weight control, but still not as good of quality training is it could be on the actual trails. I have seen a lot of fit road runners melt down on hilly trail runs (just last weekend, in fact!).

Please consider throwing in more long trail runs in the mountains, up to perhaps three times a week. You will be glad you did on race day.

If you do treadmill work in the gym, throw in speed/slope training, rather than just running on the usual 0% slope setting.

For actual elevation difference of "a few thousand feet", the thinner air won't bother you much unless you get over 8,000 feet or so, and wouldn't be something to consider in training unless you going to run over elevations over 10,000 feet. Probably no need to factor altitude training in at all.

Hi!
Thank you very to everyone for your advice. I will definitely try to get more trail runs in. Especially on my long runs.

I've been reading different blogs and articles and find that people have very different ideas on how to train for an ultra. Just out of curiosity, why do you think they disagree on less trail runs? What's their theory?

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

-steph

I think that many runners simply don't have enough quality trails nearby to make it feasible to practice on trails more than once or twice a week. There are others who worry about wear and tear on trails vs. roads, thinking that trails are more difficult on the body. Personally I find that the pounding I get from roads is far worse than that from trails, especially since each step stresses exactly the same muscles and joints on the roads. The road ultra marathons I have run have done much more damage to my feet, ankles, and knees than anything I have done on trails, and incapacitated me for long stretches of time.

Some people also worry about "accidents" in the mountains, which I find to be the worst possible reason to avoid frequent and long trail runs. Learning to cope with problems on the trail is something you want to work out in practice, not during a race. Being 100% comfortable in a trail environment is a superb confidence builder on race day.

That being said, here in Japan (where I train) some of the top runners do an amazing amount of road work compared to trail work. About a 4:1 ratio on mileage in favor of roads. By contrast, some of the best U.S. ultra runners are sort of like me- a road is just a way to get to the trails. I suppose that one of the reasons that Japanese runners do so much road work is that many of them come from university marathon teams, not from an outdoor sports environment. They are repeating the same sort of training regimens they learned during their club training.

By contrast, a great many top American runners come to trail running via a background in cross country. For them, running means going up and down hills, crunching over leaves, etc.