Forums >Running 101>From couch potato to 8 day ultra marathon event
Hi
I've been challenged by a friend to run the Goretex Trans Alpine Run in 2012. 270 km distance and 15 km altitude (total elevation gain) over 8 days. I've just posted my training schedule at: http://alpinerun.blogspot.com/2011/04/training-calendar.html
4360 km in 18 months. Doable? What do you guys think? Will I succeed at the challenge? I'm new to serious running, so would appreciated all feedback.
Thanks!
Running Blog: On my two feet
Beginner all over again
I suppose it depends on your fitness level and your body's tolerance to training?
If you listen to your body,
gradually increase
but cutting back every few weeks for a "Lite week"
I'd say likely you will make a lot of progress over time.
A Saucy Wench
wow...I read the title as "from couch potato to ultra marathon in 8 days". 18 months sounds better!
More than anything focus on keeping most of your runs easy. No, easier than that. NO, like you could take a nap while running easy. Your biggest challenge is going to be to build a big base with no injuries.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Really the thing that matters most is how obsessive and stubborn you are. Those are the two traits that matter most in endurance runners: obsession primarily during the training and stubbornness mostly during the event.
not bad for mile 25
Yeah, it may be less of the physical challenge than whether you get sufficiently obsessed with running to feel it's worth doing the ultra. It could happen. Good luck!
>> 15 km altitude
Are you sure about this?
Do you mean total elevation gain perhaps?
NO, like you could take a nap while running easy.
Thanks.
"If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus
With 15 km altitude I mean that the total climb of all trails put together is 15 km elevation gain.
My cardio fitness is moderate, by that I mean average. Not rubbish, but neither is it good. Beginner level.
Most of the training will be slow. I can't run faster than jogwalk anyway - my left arm still healing from a two+ week old fracture. But I will need to run a lot of trail - and a lot of hills. The climbing is what worries me most, as the area where I live is quite flat. Seems that I'll need to do a lot of out of town running during weekends.
Proper link to the training schedule.
Training Calendar
Do sign up as subscribers to the blog if you like it. I'll try to post updates on my progress regularly.
My training log is public and visible here on RunningAHEAD.
Training Log
I look my best blurry!
I definitely believe it only takes about 18 months to be adequately obsessed! Building a base without injury is tough if you become overzealous. Don't I know it! Good luck!
Slow! Got that, thanks I'm gonna build a milage base by going mostly veeeery slowly. My fitness level is so bad, right now I don't really have any other choise on that one
Any suggestions on how to prepare for the long climbs? Except the obvious: to train long climbs in the mountains.
The area where I live is quite flat. I've bee thinking about running/walking in the stairs of some high building once a week or so.
I've never run an ultra, but I have an interesting conversation with an ultramarathoner. We talked for a few miles while running a marathon. He mentioned running a 100 miler each of the two previous weekends. His hill training was 4 to 6 hours at 4.5 MPH on a treadmill set for a steep uphill (15% ?) on Saturday, followed by 3 to 5 hours on Sunday on the same treadmill at the same speed except it was set for a steep downhill. I googled him afterward. He was one of six people to complete the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning that year.
There's a lot of good information on training for ultras at www.ultrunr.com.
This.
Have you qualified for Boston? I want to interview you!
Message me!
www.miloandthecalf.com
You may be thinking about priorities wrong. What you need to transform the most with your training is not your body, it's your mind.
There are lots of ways to take that comment, some of them unflattering. They probably all apply.
good luck.
Self anointed title
His hill training was 4 to 6 hours at 4.5 MPH on a treadmill set for a steep uphill (15% ?) on Saturday, followed by 3 to 5 hours on Sunday on the same treadmill at the same speed except it was set for a steep downhill.