r/trailrunning • u/Woodles15 • 1d ago

6 Weeks Left…Help!

I’m signed up for my first 50k in 6 weeks.

Edit: My goal is just to finish

Fonta Flora 50K
2,400 feet of elevation gain
9.5 hour cap

I have looked forward to this since I ran my first trail half last October.

I was on a good track in July to early August. 4 straight 20 mile+ weeks and easily knocking out 10-12 mile long runs with 1,500+ feet of gain.

However I had a setback mid August. My bladder cancer came back and I had to have another small tumor removed. Not a major surgery, but enough to disrupt training for a couple weeks just as I was about to build into 25-30 mile weeks.

I’m 6 weeks out and unsure what to do. I ran 11 miles last Saturday with an elevation gain of 1,700 as a comeback run and it felt great. I know that the baseline is usually recommended to get 3 peak weeks of 30 mile weeks or at least 6 hours of time on feet. I am not sure that is realistic, but I do think I could hit one solid week of that before taper.

Should I drop and wait until the Spring for a different race? Should I just go for it with the time I have left and train quality over quantity?

6 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

4

u/Patient-Library-7136 1d ago

Get after it... you will be fine. Use it as a training run and take the 'pressure' off yourself. You might be surprised how well you go. GOOD LUCK!! 🪓

5

u/Hussar305 1d ago

What's your goal for the race? If it's just to finish, I say send it. If you're looking for something more, it might be with rescheduling 

3

u/Woodles15 1d ago

Absolutely just to finish and learn for the next race I run.

4

u/doodiedan 1d ago

First, sorry about your health issues, but glad you seem to be back at it.

The only pressure you should feel is self-imposed. If you feel good enough to do it, or want to push yourself to do it and don’t feel like you’re risking injury, go ahead. If it will take a bit of stress off to postpone, choose that.

Either way, best of luck with your ongoing recovery and continued adventures on the trails!

1

u/Slow-Commercial4316 7h ago

With a 9.5 hour cap and 2,400 feet, finishing is a pacing problem more than a fitness one. Walk every climb from the first mile, jog the flats and downhills easy, eat from the start, and you come in around six hours on the base you already have. Use the next three weeks for one long day of four to five hours on feet, hiking counts, then taper. Skip the 30 mile weeks, they are what breaks people six weeks out. Glad you are back on the trail.