About 1 month ago, I signed up for my first ultramarathon. The race is 50km in length – the typical “beginner” ultra running distance.
I’ve never run a marathon. In fact, I’m somewhat new to running in general, aside from a three year stint in cross country in my early teens. I started running again about a year and a half ago when I spent a summer in Colorado and wanted to improve my cardiovascular fitness in order to take on longer and more challenging hikes with my friends, coincidentally the same summer I decided I wanted to become a mountaineer. That fall, I signed up for a 25k trail run, and promptly got my ass handed to me.
I made every possible mistake. My water bladder broke and dumped water all over me, I bonked, I rolled my ankle, I started too fast and hit the wall, I cried hysterically at the finish line and it took me forever to get there, but I did manage to finish and I vividly remember all these people around me with knowing looks, as if to say “it’s ok, you’ll get to try again.”
So now I’m trying again.
The Strats
My goals for the 50k are relatively simple:
- 1. Complete 12-16 weeks of training without injury.
- 2. Complete at least one long run of 22mi.
- 3. Finish within cutoff.
1. Sustainable training
Since I’m only in my second year of consistent running, it’s not feasible for me to be running incredibly high weekly mileage yet (see goal #1). There’s a decent argument to be made that if that’s the case, 12-16 weeks of training simply isn’t enough. However, the last time I considered running a 50k, I got burned out around week 4 and one of the factors was how much time I was dedicating to my training cycles. This reduction in training time is an experiment, which might not work. Either way, I’ll get to find out.
My typical week consists of four to five runs: a long run, a speed session, and two or three easy “standard” runs. In later training cycles, one of these standard runs will become a second shorter long run for back-to-back long runs, a well known ultra training technique.
I do my long runs and at least one of my easy runs on local trails. I try to look for trails with similar elevation gain to the race course I’ll be running (about 100ft of vertical per mile). For any run lasting longer than an hour, I bring food and water with me. I’ve found a nice equilibrium around 150 calories per hour accompanied by 1/3L of water.
Frankly, it’s hard to get out the door a lot of the time. It’s winter in Seattle, and often dark by the time I can get out to run. If I ramp too quickly or push hard on the wrong day, I get blisters and lasting soreness. I had some trouble around week three with a mild calf strain, but patience and faithful PT allowed me to resume training after about a week. Especially as a new runner, I can feel myself toeing the line between getting stronger as efficiently as possible and pushing into injury territory.
Complaining aside, these runs are oftentimes a ton of fun and a very meditative part of my day. I come out feeling calm and capable, and I’m seeing steady improvement in my running economy.
2. Long runs
I typically use heart rate zones to pace the majority of my runs, with easy runs being strictly zones 1 and 2, and my long runs in zone 2 on average. Over the past year and a half, I’ve seen steady improvements in my running economy from zone training, and if you’re a stats person like me, it feels pretty good to see that you can run the same distance in remarkably less time with identical cardiovascular effort!
For the first long run I did, I realized that without thinking I’d already crushed my goal pace, which was originally simply to beat the cutoff. After that point, it was like a huge weight lifted off my mind. I was able to start having fun experimenting with my long runs. I can test out what gear I want to bring, so that I know I’ll be able to trust it. I can also test out different states of mind, different food, and different levels of effort.
This has simultaneously been the best and the worst part of my training. As I take on higher mileage, I leave my long runs sore from consistent pounding on trails and often ravenous as I’m still working out the kinks in my fuel plan. I’ve also felt a unique focus and calm being truly unplugged from my phone and responsibilities for hours, and seen some beautiful parts of my local natural areas. While the training is difficult and time consuming, it comes with a unique confidence and appreciation for my own body and the world around me.
3. Finish
Part of the reason I became interested in ultra running was because racing for a nine hour day didn’t seem all that different from a 9 hour mountaineering push. I thought to myself, ‘Surely if I can climb for nine hours, I can run slowly for nine hours?‘
I want to treat this race the way I treat any of my other objectives. I have a clear goal (finish the race) and I also have events that warrant turning around. I will not continue to run if I am injured or ill. I will not continue to run if the conditions on trail make it dangerous to do so. I will not continue to run if the rules prohibit me from running.
After my 25k experience and subsequent mountaineering objectives that were also high effort days for me, I also know a little bit more about about the “pain cave” and how to navigate it. I know that for at least one point during the race, like all my other objectives, I’ll start looking for a way out because it’s hard. The key, I think, is acceptance. I accept that I hurt in that moment, that what I’m doing is hard and I don’t know if I’ll get to the end. I also make a promise to myself that I won’t quit until one of those conditions for stopping is satisfied. So far, most of the time, I manage to stick it out.
During the race I hope to maintain that mental focus for as long as possible. I’ll let the crew figure out if I’m moving fast enough. By the time I’m on the course, there will be nothing I can give besides what my body has for that day. I already know I’ll be proud of myself no matter what.