My 50 Mile Training Plan

I felt a bit intimidated after signing up for the Buffalo Run, my first 50 miler coming up on March 26th. There are a ton of websites and books about marathon training, but not nearly as much about training for an ultramarathon. I looked around for training plans and found a few possibilities. My goal is simply to finish under the 12 hour cutoff so I chose one of the milder plans and mirrored my plan off of suggestions from the website http://www.scrunners.org/ultrasch.php

(Another EXCELLENT website with training for an ultramarathon is http://www.fitnessintuition.com/howtorun.htm )

The most interesting thing I learned about ultra training is that most plans recommend having the longest training run be around 30 miles. But most marathon training plans recommend a max of around 20 miles....and then you can make up the extra six miles on race day with the adrenaline (which is a lie - because those last six miles hurt).

I can see that if you're well-trained, you can just make up the extra six at the end of a marathon. But that is radically different than making up an extra TWENTY MILES to finish an ultramarathon. I am very interested to see what happens in those last 20 miles.

I made a few adjustments for races but I weekly mileage from sample training plans stayed the same. Here is my rookie 50 Mile training plan:

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I just finished a book by Haruki Murakami called "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". I liked it. It's different. It's a little random. It is basically just a collection of thoughts about some of his running experiences.

There was a particular chapter that I loved - the one where Murakami talked about his first (and last) ultramarathon. He describes the way he felt mentally and physically in great detail. It got me nervous and excited for my first ultra coming up. Here are a few quotes:

He talks about feeling worn out at the halfway point and wondering how in the world he would be able to finish the rest of the race. " I realized something was wrong. My leg muscles had tightened up like a piece of old, hard rubber. I still had lots of stamina, and my breathing was regular, but my legs had a mind of their own. I had plenty of desire to run, but my legs had their own opinion about this."

"The thirteen miles from the thirty-four mile rest stop to the forty-seventh mile were excruciating. I felt like a piece of beef being run, slowly, through a meat grinder. I had the will to go ahead, but now my whole body was rebelling. It felt like a car trying to go up a slope with the parking brake on. My body felt like it was falling apart and would soon come completely undone. Out of oil, the bolts coming loose, the wrong cogs in gear, I was rapidly slowing down as one runner after another passed me."

And then the kicker:

"As I ran, different parts of my body, one after another, began to hurt. First my right thigh hurt like crazy, then that pain migrated over to my right knee, then to my left thigh, and on and on. All the parts of my body had their chance to take center stage and scream out complaints. They screamed, complained, yelled in distress, and warned me that they weren't going to take it anymore....I tried to talk each body part into showing a little cooperation. Encouraged them, clung to them, flattered them, scolded them, tried to buck them up."

Oh boy. What have I gotten myself into?

Why You Should NOT Race

Recently I told you why racing is so awesome. But in full disclosure, there are a few reasons why NOT to race.

1) If you're anything like me, you won't sleep the night before a race. You will be so nervous and excited that sleep will avoid you. I did quite a few half and full marathons last year and still felt this way the night before each race. As you're getting dressed for the race you will feel like you just downed 17 Benadryl.

2) You will feel inferior as you stand at the starting line. Every single person around you will look athletic enough to be on a Wheaties box. You will worry whether or not you have trained adequately to finish the race.
(Disclaimer: the moment the race starts, all these fears go out the window and your mind becomes focused on the task at hand: putting one foot in front of the other.)

3) After the race you will feel kind of sore. But I have bad news Pedro: it's nothing compared to how sore you will feel tomorrow. You will walk like you don't have knees. You will feel more affection toward ice packs and Tylenol than you feel toward your children. You will feel like a chicken pecked every square inch of your legs.


But I promise you that all these things pale in comparison to the enormous sense of accomplishment you will feel.

"Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about."
PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

Why You Should Race

Normally I don't trust a thing I see from the Weather Channel. Their website will say that it is a calm 7 mph wind in our area, but when you look outside it is windy enough to blow small children into the next area code.

But I finally came across something I did agree with from a Weather Channel meteorologist named Mike Bettes. He said:

"When I first started doing races, I didn't understand why people did them. I thought it was boring. But give it a try. If you're new to the sport, or maybe even an infrequent runner, try it. Once you do it and finish a race, there's such a feeling of self-accomplishment—that's really been one thing I've taken away from doing running events. Because it's just you, and you have just yourself to credit for doing what you did. It's always a great feeling afterward, because you know you did it all yourself."

I absolutely LOVE races. From a logical perspective some people have a hard time understanding races. "So you're telling me that you PAY $70 to run for 26 miles and you get a shirt and medal at the end?" I can see their reasoning. But I get so much more than that. A few of the reasons I love races are:

1) The sense of accomplishment I feel afterward when I know I did something hard.
2) The pride in knowing that even if my time was crappy, I did the very best I could do.
3) The volunteers - they are always so happy and encouraging.
4) The excitement and uncertainty of what will happen when you're standing at the starting line.
5) The crowds and spectators. Having someone cheer you on or give you a high five is a big emotional boost.
6) The medal at the end - proof of what you have achieved.

Signing up for a race is also an incredibly motivating factor. Once you have signed up there is no backing out and the training begins. My recommendations for new runners are:

1) Find a race and sign up. NOW. Even if it's your first 5k. Don't wait until later to register. The sooner you sign up, the sooner your motivation will increase. (Plus the races sometimes fill up.)
2) Sign up for a popular race that lots of people run. Being part of a big crowd of people is an even bigger adreniline rush.
3) Tell your friends and family. They will be a positive support (and maybe you can talk one of them into being your running partner).
4) Be prepared because after you do one - you will be hooked.

34 Miles Or Bust

I survived. This week was the peak of my training for the big race in 3 weeks. I ran a total of 65 miles. As a special bonus, I didn't die!

Monday, February 28th 2011: 11 miles @ 10:42 minutes per mile pace. Running 11 miles was not nearly as hard as dragging my sleepy carcass out of bed at 4:40am (?!?!) to get the run done before work.

Tuesday, March 1st 2011: 5 miles @ 10:22 minutes per mile pace.

Wednesday, March 2nd 2011: Longest run ever - 34 miles @ 11:15 minutes per mile pace. I went back to Sheep Bridge Road so I could run on dirt, much easier on the legs.

I had a pep talk with myself before I started running. It went kind of like this: "Okay, Cory. You are going to reach a point where this is going to hurt. It will be hard. You will want to curl up on the side of the road, cry like a school girl, and pray for the angel of death to visit. But you CAN do this! You CAN!" And then I channeled Forrest Gump and I ran. And ran. And ran. There were only a few sections of the road that were muddy:


I came across a podcast called The Marathon Show and listened to that for the entire 6 hours and 23 minutes. One remarkable story was of Donald Arthur who received a heart transplant at age 55 and has since run 41 marathons. I got choked up and my eyes watered. Or maybe that was just the salty sweat burning my retinas?

I explored side roads, trails, and sections of the JEM trail and the scenery was simply incredible. Sometimes I would come around a corner, see what was ahead of me, then just stand and stare.






I think the most important key to running distance is pacing which I was very aware of from the very start. I was very conscientious about conserving my energy and if I started to even slightly feel out of breath, I slowed down. And something amazing happened! I never hit the wall! I never got electric leg cramps! I never hurt so bad that I expected to have my obituary in tomorrow's newspaper!


I treat almost every run like a science experiment. Sometimes I'm testing pace. Sometimes I'm testing the run/walk method. Sometimes I'm testing stride. This time I was testing FOOD. Preparing for the ultra, I wanted to see what foods my stomach would tolerate after long distances. I raided our treat cupboard. I took a bag of candy, Doritos, PB&J sandwiches, dried mangoes, a maple bar, Gu, Oreos, and Mountain Dew.


I realized that the foods which sound edible at 30 miles are: EXACTLY NOTHING. Toward the end, I was having a battle with my stomach just to eat a Gu packet. I know that eating during the last half of the 50 miler will be a challenge. I could not be more happy with how this training run went. It gave me a big boost of encouragement for the upcoming race.

Thursday, March 3rd 2011: Rest

Friday, March 4th 2011: 4 miles @ 11:36 minutes per mile pace. Those were 4 miles of pure agony. My legs felt like steel pipes.

Saturday, March 5th 2011: 11 miles @ 10:38 minutes per mile pace. I need mental health counseling. No sane person would wake up at 5:30am on a SATURDAY to run.

It was a great week of running and I can't believe that my un-athletic body ran 65 miles this week. Bring on the Buffalo Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I like to say, and I truly believe, that every run brings new experiences. You just don't know what they might be until you actually do the run. That's one of my major reasons for pushing out the front door as often as I do—the adventure of it all." ~ Amby Burfoot, Runner's World