Training for a 30 mile trail run!

24

Replies

  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    ktfranke wrote: »
    I had a girlfriend ask me to do a 30 mile trail run with her in late July! I've never run a marathon before, just a half! But I'm getting into my training, and I'm feeling optimistic so far! Ready to take on the beast! Let's do this!!!

    You've got this!
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.

    I don't even know that I would do 80/20 in this instance. If she's only running 3-6 miles at a time right now and has 5 months to get up to 50K I'd recommend everything be low intensity miles. Time on feet and having a good high volume base is much more important than pace/speed.

    Of course we still have no idea when she ran that half marathon that one time or what her current mpw is.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited February 2016
    sjohnny wrote: »
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.

    I don't even know that I would do 80/20 in this instance. If she's only running 3-6 miles at a time right now and has 5 months to get up to 50K I'd recommend everything be low intensity miles. Time on feet and having a good high volume base is much more important than pace/speed.

    Of course we still have no idea when she ran that half marathon that one time or what her current mpw is.

    I think her MPW right now is pretty low, probably under 15 by the sounds of it. Low intensity would probably be around 12 miles per minute? All speculation, of course. :)

    ETA: oops 12 minute mile not 12 miles per minute, that's damn fast!
  • SumnyUK
    SumnyUK Posts: 33 Member
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    edited February 2016
    sjohnny wrote: »
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.

    I don't even know that I would do 80/20 in this instance. If she's only running 3-6 miles at a time right now and has 5 months to get up to 50K I'd recommend everything be low intensity miles. Time on feet and having a good high volume base is much more important than pace/speed.

    Of course we still have no idea when she ran that half marathon that one time or what her current mpw is.

    I think her MPW right now is pretty low, probably under 15 by the sounds of it. Low intensity would probably be around 12 miles per minute? All speculation, of course. :)

    If she can run 12 miles per minute she'll have no problems completing this 50K.

    Low intensity is whatever she can run at a pace at which she could carry on a conversation. Could be a 12 minute mile could be an 8 minute mile. All we know is she ran a half one time and runs somewhere between 3 and 6 miles per run some unknown number of days per week.

    I just wouldn't be doing any intervals and probably not even much in the way of tempo runs if I was doing what we seem to think the OP is trying to do.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    Tone?
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited February 2016
    sjohnny wrote: »
    sjohnny wrote: »
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.

    I don't even know that I would do 80/20 in this instance. If she's only running 3-6 miles at a time right now and has 5 months to get up to 50K I'd recommend everything be low intensity miles. Time on feet and having a good high volume base is much more important than pace/speed.

    Of course we still have no idea when she ran that half marathon that one time or what her current mpw is.

    I think her MPW right now is pretty low, probably under 15 by the sounds of it. Low intensity would probably be around 12 miles per minute? All speculation, of course. :)

    If she can run 12 miles per minute she'll have no problems completing this 50K.

    Low intensity is whatever she can run at a pace at which she could carry on a conversation. Could be a 12 minute mile could be an 8 minute mile. All we know is she ran a half one time and runs somewhere between 3 and 6 miles per run some unknown number of days per week.

    I just wouldn't be doing any intervals and probably not even much in the way of tempo runs if I was doing what we seem to think the OP is trying to do.

    I agree with the "just run" idea here since that's what I'm doing right now to train for a Spartan Super with only 6 weeks of training after being off for nearly a year with an injury. I just think adding in speed training adds to the risk of injury.

    And yeah, was at work and typing too fast LOL 12 minutes per mile!
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    sjohnny wrote: »
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    Tone?

    You're obviously typing with hard keystrokes.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    _Waffle_ wrote: »
    sjohnny wrote: »
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    Tone?

    You're obviously typing with hard keystrokes.

    So that's what that clicking was!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    So I'm going to add a little different perspective here. I've done 3 greater than marathon distance trail "runs"/hikes. Unless you are a really strong runner, you may be able to finish faster by running less. At the very minimum, finish the same with less wear and tear on your body. A lot will depend on the terrain. The ones we've done were very hilly. Fast walk the level, climb hard on the uphills and run the downhill. We hop scotch many runners that pass on the flat, but we blow past on the climbs when they have to recover. I also hit the downhills a little wrecklessly, but it's fast. While not considering myself a runner in these events, I finish in the top 25-40% of the entrants. I also don't need to run as part of my training either.
  • ThickMcRunFast
    ThickMcRunFast Posts: 22,511 Member
    sjohnny wrote: »
    sjohnny wrote: »
    What type of training program are you doing? Are you following 80/20 training? If you are going to up your millage so much in just a little bit you probalby should be doing a lot in the low intensity area to avoid injury. I'm sure you can finish the race but it's the training injury risk that would have me concerned.

    I don't even know that I would do 80/20 in this instance. If she's only running 3-6 miles at a time right now and has 5 months to get up to 50K I'd recommend everything be low intensity miles. Time on feet and having a good high volume base is much more important than pace/speed.

    Of course we still have no idea when she ran that half marathon that one time or what her current mpw is.

    I think her MPW right now is pretty low, probably under 15 by the sounds of it. Low intensity would probably be around 12 miles per minute? All speculation, of course. :)

    If she can run 12 miles per minute she'll have no problems completing this 50K.

    Low intensity is whatever she can run at a pace at which she could carry on a conversation. Could be a 12 minute mile could be an 8 minute mile. All we know is she ran a half one time and runs somewhere between 3 and 6 miles per run some unknown number of days per week.

    I just wouldn't be doing any intervals and probably not even much in the way of tempo runs if I was doing what we seem to think the OP is trying to do.

    Yeah, I think a full stop to all speed work is probably in order. Sounds like OP is a little below 10k trained right now, with a half marathon under her belt at some point in the past? This is definitely long, slow mileage territory. I think I once had a 20-week ultra plan, and that first long run was still 8 miles, graduating quickly to back-to-back long runs (the bread and butter of ultra training). Pace will entirely depend on terrain. Though, a runnable 50k is in many ways much more difficult to a mountainous one.

    tl;dr: Still don't have enough info to advise.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    rybo wrote: »
    So I'm going to add a little different perspective here. I've done 3 greater than marathon distance trail "runs"/hikes. Unless you are a really strong runner, you may be able to finish faster by running less. At the very minimum, finish the same with less wear and tear on your body. A lot will depend on the terrain. The ones we've done were very hilly. Fast walk the level, climb hard on the uphills and run the downhill. We hop scotch many runners that pass on the flat, but we blow past on the climbs when they have to recover. I also hit the downhills a little wrecklessly, but it's fast. While not considering myself a runner in these events, I finish in the top 25-40% of the entrants. I also don't need to run as part of my training either.

    This is really exciting news to me! I'm way down on mileage for a knee issue and I'm looking forward to a PR in my next marathon.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    OP has been asked simple questions that are absolutely essential for which she hasn't responded to most and you have issue with the "tone" of those trying (but unable because missing info) to provide useful information?

    What have *you* added to this thread? I mean, besides the mini-lecture to those actually trying to help.
  • ktfranke
    ktfranke Posts: 217 Member
    rybo wrote: »
    So I'm going to add a little different perspective here. I've done 3 greater than marathon distance trail "runs"/hikes. Unless you are a really strong runner, you may be able to finish faster by running less. At the very minimum, finish the same with less wear and tear on your body. A lot will depend on the terrain. The ones we've done were very hilly. Fast walk the level, climb hard on the uphills and run the downhill. We hop scotch many runners that pass on the flat, but we blow past on the climbs when they have to recover. I also hit the downhills a little wrecklessly, but it's fast. While not considering myself a runner in these events, I finish in the top 25-40% of the entrants. I also don't need to run as part of my training either.

    Thanks for this advice rybo! Good information! My plan has been to walk/run as needed based on the terrain! Im not going to respond to everyone else, because there are too many...lol!
    I'll keep you all posted on my progress!
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    jofjltncb6 wrote: »
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    OP has been asked simple questions that are absolutely essential for which she hasn't responded to most and you have issue with the "tone" of those trying (but unable because missing info) to provide useful information?

    What have *you* added to this thread? I mean, besides the mini-lecture to those actually trying to help.

    Yeah I don't think it's any different than the numerous "I'm not losing weight!" threads on here. People come on and suggest that they might be logging inaccurately or various other suggestions. It's not always what the OP wants to hear. But it doesn't mean the people offering advice are rude or mean or want to lecture anyone. They've probably just been in that same place themselves and want to pass that info along.

    If the OP wants to hear they can go from 6 miles to 50k in a really short amount of time without risking injury they aren't going to get that advice from me. I also don't tell people to 'eat more' when they complain they aren't losing weight.
  • ktfranke
    ktfranke Posts: 217 Member
    What kinds of gps watches do you all use?!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    edited February 2016
    SumnyUK wrote: »
    While the questions being asked are pertinent, some of the tone in this thread sounds like a lot of people are just wanting to find reasons to give a lecture, as opposed to friendly advice.

    and your friendly advice is? or are you just finding an opportunity to sound butthurt?

    OP....along with the usual advice of building volume slowly etc etc etc the word that comes to my mind is specificity.

    If you're running a long trail race spend a good proportion of your training time running in conditions as close to the race course as you can find. Trails typically involve hills and if you've spent most of your training time running on nice flat terrain they will seriously kick your butt.

    I'm running my first trail race this summer too, fortunately the course is a short drive from my home (and I know I need to spend a lot more time on hills.....)


  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    ktfranke wrote: »
    What kinds of gps watches do you all use?!

    I have a Garmin 920xt but I think the similar model that ultra runners tend to prefer is the Garmin Fenix. Or the Sunnato Ambit 3? I could have that one wrong. The 920 and Fenix are very similar but 920 is more geared towards triathlon.