Joggaholic
I'm totally new to running ultras. I'm prepping for a 12Hr in late Nov, and I've started doing b2b long runs on the weekends. I've looked at some 50 miles training plans online and they don't get up to 20+miles of b2b runs until 2 months before the race. Am I doing b2b runs too early? If so, what should I be focusing on instead if not b2b at this time (3 months before race)? Or is "the more the better"? (provided that I can recover from them by midweek, and I think that I am). Thanks!
Uh oh... now what?
I don't quite see the correlation between training for a 12-hour event and training for a 50-mile event.
I shouldn't even comment on this because of the B2B part. Do you mean 20+ miles on both days
of the B2B? Do you mean you cannot run on Monday and Tuesday? If yes, that seems to point
at you doing too much. You aren't doing things too early if you have recovery periods scattered
(not randomly) along the way... and some form of a rest/recovery week or so in the last two weeks.
rgot
I am targeting > 50 miles, and therefore I was looking around at 50 miler training plans (since they're easier to find than 12-hr training plans). I don't know if they correlate either, they just seem similar (in distance) to me in my mind, I may be way wrong, due to having no experience in either. And yes, I meant to ask about the long b2b runs like ~20+ on each of the 2 days, which happen late in these training plans. I started doing them and want to know if there's any benefits to doing them this early. I think I am recovering ok. I still run 7 days a week (easy/recovery on weekdays), and my legs feel normal by Wednesday usually. I think you're saying that as long as I'm recovering then I can keep doing them, so I guess I'll keep at it until I need to taper.
It seems like you are starting the 20+ mile B2B runs a little early. Just like a marathon training plan you should start with lower mileage and peak a few weeks before the goal race. A marathon training plan usually doesn't prescribe 6-8 20 mile runs (peak long long for most marathons plans). Also, running 40 ,miles worth of long runs and 20 miles of easy runs seems a little uneven. Usually you want more easyrunning than lonG so I would focus on building your base first.
My writing is a bit skewed because I did not have a goal race. I trained to run ultramarathons, seldom racing them. We ran ultras year round, but only ran hard about once every three months. I went through a 4-week cycle (hard, hard, medium, easy) so I did not worry about wearing down. The running was done on a mix of pavement, trails, and visits to a track.
I think the only time I added something (significant?) was when I wanted to run a subseven-hour fifty. I increased the length of the tempo runs to where I ran sevens for a marathon (3:03ish or whatever it is), then backed off for the two weeks until the fifty.
I don't think you should continue at a high-effort level in your long runs (if you are). I varied the long run efforts by choosing differing terrain, even to the extent of a 40-mile run on pavement with a nice wading in the surf at the end. Look for ways to give your body (and mind) a break without suddenly quitting training because of a goal event. You might try resting on Monday--a six-day run week every third or fourth week would not cause you to lose any fitness.