Forums >Racing>Walking pace for Ultra
My first ultra coming up, a 50-mile. Will use a run/walk strategy. Have been working on improving my walking pace, and I have it down to around 12:50 to 13:00 in time trials on the track. On a recent long training session (flat, non-technical course) of 30 miles I was able to maintain a pace of around 15:00, even when significantly tired.
Question: Is this a good pace? For reference points, I typically race the marathon in the range of 3:45 to 4:00. For the 50-mile, the run segments will be at a pace of 11:00, and the ratio of run to walk will be something around 2.5 to 1, by distance Thanks!
Rick
Seems a little too fast. Does that pace feel natural? I won't take credit for it, but I heard "walk like you are late for work". For me, that is about 14 mm pace. Any faster and it seems like I rotate my hips unnaturally.
You didn't ask, but it seems like your running pace is unnaturally slow based on your marathon time. Run your easy, comfortable pace. I am guessing 9.5 mm. Add your walk breaks and enjoy your 50 mile finish.
12-22 Last One Standing - dnf 37 miles
1-23 Sun Marathon - 3:53
3-4-23 Red Mountain 55k - 7:02
4-15-23 Zion 100 - 27:59
That's way fast. The walks are for recovery and rest while still racking up miles. I shoot for staying under 20:00, with 17:30 preferable. I of about the same ability, hitting 4:00 marathons in route doing ultras; I've never run a marathon.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
This is your second post on this ultra. Can you tell us a little bit about the course? It's hard to answer your questions without knowing what this 50 miles is.
5k- 18:55 (2018) 10K- 39:04 (2017) Marathon- 3:00:10 (2018)
I'ts the JFK 50 Mile. Course is about 11 miles on the Appalachian Trail, with the remainder on the C&O Canal towpath and roads.
I will walk almost the entire AT portion (due it being rather rocky and not wanting to roll an ankle) at a pace of around 18:00. For the canal and road portions, I will alternate walk/run at a ratio of around 2.5:1, with a running pace of 11:00 and a walking pace 15:00. This being my first, goal is merely to finish within the 13-hour limit, while allowing some margin of error, so planning around 12:00 to 12:15.
I bet you'll do a fair bit of running on the AT portion. While there are some rock gardens and other rocky sections most of it isn't too bad. Enjoy yourself and good luck!
Have a good race. Join the Ultra runner's group and let us know how it goes.
That used to be my attitude. But I ran the numbers and realized just how big a difference a faster walk can make... well, in a 6-day race. So I worked a lot on my walking form and pace before my first 6-day. Surprise, it translated to faster, easier walking at 24-hour and Spartathlon (153-mile road race) as well.
For training I will walk 4-5 miles on a treadmill, start it at 15-min pace, and gradually up it to about 10. Fastest I will walk in a race is around 12:30 pace, which late in a 6-day is faster than many are running.
You can still recover while walking fast — you are using less energy than running. I've read that the theoretical tradeoff point is around 12-min pace: faster and running is more efficient; slower and walking is more efficient.
MTA oops, I see goal race just happened.
Are we there, yet?
My guess is he will be doing more, so advice not superfluous.
That's interesting about the 12:00 threshold. I wonder how that may shift for us slower runners where 12:00 is still a good running pace.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Having tried to walk fast, I'm impressed with racewalkers going the distance under 10:00 pace, and often much faster than that.
Yeah, I should do some training on my walking, I just walk like some regular dumb person, and not a trained athlete!