Ultra training

andysport1

Upping my training ready for a killer ultra marathon, my lsr is around 15-20 miles. My question is there any issue with putting 2 lsr's back to back ? Will my training benefit from back to back lsr's ?

Machka9

Running ultra or cycling ultra?

andysport1

@Machka9 Running

Machka9

Ah ... OK. My ultras are cycling so I might have a different training approach.

TavistockToad

@MeanderingMammal is a good person to ask i think

MeanderingMammal

andysport1 wrote: »

Upping my training ready for a killer ultra marathon, my lsr is around 15-20 miles. My question is there any issue with putting 2 lsr's back to back ? Will my training benefit from back to back lsr's ?

Back to backs are good, gives you experience of running on tired legs as well as simulating the mileage.

What distance is the race?

andysport1

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

andysport1 wrote: »

Upping my training ready for a killer ultra marathon, my lsr is around 15-20 miles. My question is there any issue with putting 2 lsr's back to back ? Will my training benefit from back to back lsr's ?

Back to backs are good, gives you experience of running on tired legs as well as simulating the mileage.

What distance is the race?

It's only 34 miles but apparently one of the uk's hardest due to the hills, have a look it's called dartmoor discovery. For most people it seems to be 2 1/2 to 3 hours longer than their marathon pace, and there's a 7 hour cut off.

rybo

andysport1 wrote: »

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

andysport1 wrote: »

Upping my training ready for a killer ultra marathon, my lsr is around 15-20 miles. My question is there any issue with putting 2 lsr's back to back ? Will my training benefit from back to back lsr's ?

Back to backs are good, gives you experience of running on tired legs as well as simulating the mileage.

What distance is the race?

It's only 34 miles but apparently one of the uk's hardest due to the hills, have a look it's called dartmoor discovery. For most people it seems to be 2 1/2 to 3 hours longer than their marathon pace, and there's a 7 hour cut off.

Wow! That's a short cut off! I just did a 36 mile ultra and only 5-6 people would have made that cut.
But to answer your question, back to back runs are good, I'm not sure I'd do back to back 20's, but 10/12 & 20 should definitely prepare you.

The_Enginerd

I'd agree with @rybo about back to back 20's being unnecessary for a 34 mile race. My training for a 50k looks pretty close to marathon training, but focused on more training on the trails and hills.

For time reference, my marathon time is in the 3:08 range, and my 50k time is in the 5 hour range for most of the trails out here which have ~5000 ft of elevation gain/loss over the course. It looks like the Dartmoor Discovery is under 4000 ft and actually a bit over 32 miles based on the course maps I found, so 2-1/2 hours longer sounds about right depending on your marathon time.

MeanderingMammal

andysport1 wrote: »

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

andysport1 wrote: »

Upping my training ready for a killer ultra marathon, my lsr is around 15-20 miles. My question is there any issue with putting 2 lsr's back to back ? Will my training benefit from back to back lsr's ?

Back to backs are good, gives you experience of running on tired legs as well as simulating the mileage.

What distance is the race?

It's only 34 miles but apparently one of the uk's hardest due to the hills, have a look it's called dartmoor discovery. For most people it seems to be 2 1/2 to 3 hours longer than their marathon pace, and there's a 7 hour cut off.

I'm familiar with the area, did some of my early military training there. The cut is quite aggressive, when you think that the Commando 30 has a cut off of 7 hours for officers and 8 for ORs. The terrain is challenging, but at least you're not carrying a bergan.

For that distance of agree that back to backs of 12-15 followed by a 15-20 will help. You accumulate the mileage over a longer period but you get the physiological and psychological benefit of fatigue. That said a standard marathon plan should do the trick, unless you've never done a full marathon before.

andysport1

Thanks guys, 2018 is an anniversary year so it's getting an extra 2 miles, I've done marathons, I'm returning to running after 8 years of long distance triathlon.
& so loving the running now, it was so hard when trying to combine it with 250 miles a week on a bike, the legs refused to run properly.