Okay, folks, I've been given the green light by DW to dive into a 50M race in 8 weeks. Obviously there isn't much time between here and there. If anyone wanted to take a look at my training plan and offer feedback, I'd appreciate it. In particular, would I be better served jumping up the long runs more aggressively with a shorter effort the following week?
Running History:
* 40 years old. Running for 4 years.
* 1 trail 50k. 2 road marathons.
* 2,700 miles in 2013. 2,600 in 2014.
* Prior 12 weeks average 67 mpw, including ramp up from 7 week layoff. Low = 50 miles High = 82 miles.
The plan is keep a similar mileage to my peak marathon base and shuffle it around to better suit a 50 mile effort. I would like to keep running daily and maintain the mid-week long run. Also, need to get time on trails and practice nutrition. Here's the overview, but feel free to check out my training calendar.
Wk8: 80 miles. 20 mile long run.
Wk7: 83 miles. 24 mile long run.
Wk6: 71 miles. 16 mile long run. [CUT BACK]
Wk5: 81 miles. 14 + 20 mile BTB long runs.
Wk4: 75 miles. 26 mile long run.
Wk3: 83 miles. 31 mile long run.
Wk2: 59 miles. Tempo 10 days from race. 13 mile Long. [TAPER]
Wk1: 28 miles. Keeping it easy. [RACE]
Well the first thing that leaps out to me... starting at 80 miles, a week after running a 10-minute marathon PR? Really? You have amazing recovery powers. Also, wasn't that marathon supposed to be a tempo effort? Have you improved that much?
Overall, looks pretty reasonable. If it were me, I'd try to squeeze in another 50k midway through. I see you have a 31-mile LR in "Wk3" -- correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that two weeks before the race? That seems too close. I'd do it three or four weeks out, and find a 50k race to do it at.
Good luck!
The goal was to BQ and my fitness came around quick enough that I decided a week before the event to go for it and race that marathon. It worked out. This gives me the two months to shift gears and do the 50M.
As far as recovery, I feel pretty good. I'm used to running on tired legs, but I don't feel any soreness or tightness. My feet felt a little beat up a couple of days ago, but everything felt really good in my hour run this morning. I don't want to over do it and risk injury, but can't find a specific reason to hold back either. I respect your insight, so maybe I'll bail on tomorrow's tempo and take a more tentative approach to this week's mileage.
I hear you that a 50k two weeks out is probably too tight. With a marathon 3 weeks out, I thought that doing a 50k the week before the marathon was too much, even pacing these at 50M effort. The terrain difference can't be helped, but I could tack on some miles to simulate time-on-feet by running a few miles prior to the marathon start or getting in a 90 minute run the day before. Do either of those make sense?
Joggaholic
Are you doing Rocky Raccoon 50? I'm very tempted to do it so I'm interested in seeing what your training plan looks like.
Yes, RR50 is the one on my radar. My target workouts are on my calendar, but my plan is really to
(1) get on some actual trails.
(2) get in 3 marathon-or-longer runs.
(3) work on a nutrition strategy.