I consider myself a marathoner but the idea of ultras keep bumping into the forefront of my mind.  I've running Goofy's Challenge (half marathon on Saturday, Marathon on Sunday) this coming January.  While that's not really an ultra I consider it a sort of baby step. If I like it I might consider doing the Can Lake 50 (50 miles, primarily roads, around Canandagua Lake, NY).

My question is how do you get started?  How does ultra training differ from marathon training? 

My apologies if this has been covered 100s of times here already.  I poked around a little but didn't find what I was looking for.  Please feel free to respond with just a link. 

Thanks,

Greg

I'll certainly consider a 50k before biting off a 50 mile race.

In training for Goofy (13/26) how should I adjust my training?  I've seen recomednations of doing two long runs on the weekend instead of one.  So instead of doing an 18 miler maybe two 16s or two 13s.

I've done Goofy a couple of times. One obvious key is not to go fast on Saturday. You'll want to, but musn't. As far as the long training runs for Goofy, one suggestion I had read was to approximately double your Saturday run on Sunday as you work your way up in your long run mileage (6/12, 8/16, 10/20, etc). Mentally that had some benefit the year I tried it. Not sure about a true physical benefit. Most likely neither race will be a PR. As long as you accept that and rein in the Donald on Saturday, you'll be fine on Sunday. Not so surprisingly the first time I did it, right around mile 12-13 on Sunday I felt like I usually feel when finishing marathons.

The first 26+ run I did was a training run comprised of four 8 mile loops. I stopped and ate between loops 2 and 3, rested some, and went back out. It was sort of unintentional. I kept feeling okay at the end of each loop. Lo and behold, suddenly it was 31 miles. Running time was about 4.5 hours, but clock time was almost 6 hours. To Jerry's point, I definitely needed real food to fuel with.

And I'm not sure if this was Jerry's point, but to me the jump from 50K to 50M was a lot more than two alphabet letters. That's 19 miles. Mentally for me it was a completely different story. Before finishing a true 50+ miles of straight running July 31st in a 12 hour ultra, I had run 56 miles in a 24 hour ultra a couple of years ago. For that one I ran 28 miles 7pm-midnight, then slept 8 hours (I live nearby), then came back and run/walked another 28 miles the next day. I don't consider that really a true ultra, but it was certainly a true effort. Kind of like back-to-back marathons.

And by and large, the training I do is for marathons, but when the ultra came up I just did it. There wasn't time to adjust my training.

I'm new in the Ultra forum too, so apologies if this is repetitive.

mta: Reference was to Jerry's earlier post. I'm a slow composer.

With this in mind don't get suckered into thinking a 50km "is only 6 more miles than a marathon" it is a BIG jump to start, you will have to go on long training runs and try different things to eat, bananas, other fruit , grain bars, sweets and drinks to see if you like them and also more importantly that your body does not reject them, carb gels will not be enough

 

 So I'm getting ready to run my first 50k and was suckered into thinking it is only 5 more miles than a marathon.  Since I'm now less than 3 weeks away I'm a little hesitant to do a long training run and try to figure out fueling.  I've done OK on marathons with just water, gatorade and 3-4 gels.   Should I just stick with that for a 50k and just take a couple extra gels?  If I try to eat some of the food at the aid stations, is it better to start early during the race with food or wait until the later portion?

MTA - fixed text box quote.

I guess nothing really changed for me...one day I said...hey, I am going to run a 50k, so I did that, and began to run marathons as training for my 50k's and then I ran 100k and I used 50ks and marathons to train for that and then just outa the blue I decided to do a 100, so I just ran lots of races and training runs and did that...I don't put tooo much thought into the whole thing...I drink and eat when thirsty...I run when I can...I don't make training plans, just go day to day...If I got time to run for 4 hours I do,  Hey if you got what it takes then you should have no problem...

Pansies need not apply for ultrarunnnig.

I'm a pansy.

 

So says the man who runs 300 marathons/ultras a year. 

Last marathon was(4) 2004. Did a 20 mile two weeks ago.  50k set for Nov 14. Yes, I am the one thinking it is just 6 miles past the marathon.  Thought  vanquished from the mind forever! Should I  be eating on my long runs? How far for long run.?Time on feet was 4 hours for last long run. So far jelly beans and water have been my only refueling. Will do some MP miles before race(have not in the past).Raced 13.1 yesterday 1:47:51. The goal is to finish .Hopefully come in <5 hr.

clay, not all 50ks are created equal... it really does come down to how much of an asskicker the 50k's course is.  You might be faced with a long marathon (if it really is 50k, extra 4.8 miles, not 6.... though very few are that exact).  You might be faced with something altogether harder. Technical trail running, climbs, creeks... stuff that makes "run a consistent pace" somewhat fictional. Dunno.

What 50k are you signed up for?

For the 50k I ran on Saturday, I drank a bunch of fancy sportsdrink (perpetuem, consider it to be sportsdrink plus protein) and also ate a few gels (chased with water from a different bottle)... probably more out of boredom than actual need for extra fuel.  Then again, that race had one and only one aid station, at 15.5.  So I had to run with two bottles.  Some races will have lots of aid stations.  Some won't.

if it is an asskicker course, I wouldn't worry so much about marathon pace.

For the record, I can run a 3:22 road marathon.  The 50k on Saturday was a 6:50.  The 50k I "ran" two weeks ago was a 7:45.  Then again, the 50k where I got hardware earlier this summer was a 4:35.  Later in the summer, I ran a 5:05... but that was in the middle of the night at 90 degrees and 200% humidity. My times kind of stink and I have a bigger drop off between my road and trail times than many of my friends (I am "The World's Worst Trail Runner"), but I listed those times to say this: trail races can vary widely from one to another. 

(I also ran a trail marathon in May at 6:37.  Personal worst marathon time by almost 90 minutes. That one was hard.)