24 hours until my first ultra!

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tappae
tappae Posts: 568 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Tomorrow morning, I'm running a 40 mile trail race! There are a few paved miles early on and one of the shorter trails is quite wide, but the rest of the course is on single-track hiking trails. The race uses a total of 11 different trails that skirt our local water supply lakes.

My training hasn't been sufficient to "race" this one, but I'm confident of finishing, which is my goal anyway. My longest training run was 26.5 miles and I felt like I could keep going at the end of that one. I had hoped to get in a 50K run, but couldn't find the time. 7 hour workouts can be a little hard to schedule.

I averaged 12:30 per mile on my longest run and the cut-off pace is 18:00, so I should finish with 2 or 3 hours to spare. Still, even if I'm the very last finisher, I'm going to consider it a victory, since I've never gone 40 miles by foot in a single day before.

Replies

  • MrsSausage58
    MrsSausage58 Posts: 143 Member
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    That's amazing. You should be really proud of yourself. Well done!
  • mcjmommy
    mcjmommy Posts: 148 Member
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    Wow, please post a follow up after the race so we can hear how you did. Good Luck to you tomorrow!
  • CaseyM1985
    CaseyM1985 Posts: 65 Member
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    This is AMAZING! I also saw you're from Greensboro, which is also pretty neat! (I'm from Kernersville)

    Can't wait to see the follow up post about how you BEASTED it!
  • redredy9
    redredy9 Posts: 706 Member
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    Good luck tomorrow! I hope you have a great time and enjoy every minute.

    Ultras! I am a marathoner and I can't even begin to imagine!

    Please update us after the race!

    Go Tappae! Go!!
  • timeasterday
    timeasterday Posts: 1,368 Member
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    That's awesome!! Good luck to you! I hope to start doing some ultras one day.
  • JenAndSome
    JenAndSome Posts: 1,893 Member
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    That's amazing! Good luck!!
  • TheLoneMarmot
    TheLoneMarmot Posts: 43 Member
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    I admire you.

    Have a good time (in both senses of the word).
  • catwg
    catwg Posts: 9
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    Good luck and enjoy! I've had a similar race rattling around in my thoughts for a while now. I'd love to hear a follow-up on expectations versus outcomes, physical/mental hurdles, overall impressions...
  • Smamfa
    Smamfa Posts: 139 Member
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    Good luck!!
  • davemunger
    davemunger Posts: 1,139 Member
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    Awesome. My favorite piece of ultra-running advice comes from my friend Jeff McGonnell, who has run more than a hundred ultras:

    "Start slow, then ease off on the pace."

    I'm signed up for my first ultra next March -- something I never thought I'd do!
  • AisforAmazing19
    AisforAmazing19 Posts: 68
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    Wow! Good luck!
  • ElliottTN
    ElliottTN Posts: 1,614 Member
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    Good job and good luck man. Update us when you're done.
  • sarah456s
    sarah456s Posts: 98 Member
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    Good luck, and have a blast!!
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    fantastic - hope everything goes well tomorrow - have a blast!
  • shaynawess
    shaynawess Posts: 8
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    I will be praying for you! I know you will do a great job. BTW, I can not imagine running or anything else for THAT long!
  • tappae
    tappae Posts: 568 Member
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    Thanks, everybody!

    It was a lot harder than I expected! I thought I could probably finish in 9 or 10 hours and ended up around 10:20. There was a 12 hour cut-off, so I still beat that by an hour and a half. Of the 64 that started, 14 were not able to finish and only 4 finished behind me, and 2 of those got age group awards, since only 3 women in their forties finished. The other 2 were in my age group. I'm most impressed by the 50-something men. Only 3 of them entered the race and they finished 1st, 3rd and 16th, so they all got awards! I was also seriously impressed by a 45-year old man that passed me right before we got to the aid station at mile 30. He beat me by over an hour and passed 7 more people in the last 10 miles. I had been behind him at mile 4 and I guess I probably should have stayed there!

    I might be writing up a full report on my blog. If so, I'll post the link here.

    Oh, and I should mention that walking is terribly difficult today!
  • suppakana
    suppakana Posts: 307 Member
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    Dude, that is an incredible accomplishment, and even the people who didn't finish should be extremely proud.

    Me, I'm doing good to get out of the house and go to work today :laugh:

    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbos3BnMYE47LEsBq9OZ2JCrtclps3cLVEzrLYxxTeo7kqt-8f
  • davemunger
    davemunger Posts: 1,139 Member
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    Really impressive! Congratulations; that's a huge accomplishment!
  • tappae
    tappae Posts: 568 Member
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    Here's the blog post about my race:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/tappae/view/triple-lakes-trail-race-40-miler-race-report-584360

    I think the most surprising thing about how sore I am is that I wasn't sore at all after my 26.5 mile run 3 week ago.

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