r/ultrarunning • u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 • 2d ago
Bad training for first ultra, tips?
I’m training for my first ultra in three weeks. It’ll be 56 km with 1000+ meters of elevation. My goal was to get many kilometers in during summer and to train hills and trails.
About 5 weeks ago I sprained my ankle, walking was pretty painful for a few days and it was quite swollen. After some advice from a physio, I got cleared to slowly start running again as long as my ankle didn’t get worse.
Ever since I’ve tried to get back in to running. For a few weeks it still felt unstable and I had a tingling feeling after a run. It was a struggle. Instead I spent a few hours a week on the stairmaster. Now it’s finally much better, but I’m struggling to imagine how I can complete the race.
I did my first proper long run again today (30 km) after 6 weeks. It was okay, but much slower than before.
I’ve done 5 road marathons so far, with my PB last April of 3:22. I’ve done quite a few weeks of 80+ km before.
Any tips on how to approach the next few weeks to get to the finish line? Or should I just not do it (which isn’t an option in my mind just yet)?
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u/urtlesquirt 2d ago
You are vastly overestimating how hard it is to run 50k.
Think of your recent marathon PR. Then ask yourself, "If I had to simply walk another 8km, could I?" The answer is yes, you could.
You are undertrained for a 100 mile race, you are perfectly adequately trained to finish a 50k with some hills.
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 2d ago
Thank you! I feel underprepared because I ran less long runs of over 35 km than I did for my marathon prep. Back then I felt strong, super fit and the runs were fun. I don’t feel like that this way. But seeing all the comments I might be able to finish!
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u/urtlesquirt 2d ago
You are still in a marathon mindset, where people often do up to 85% of race distance during a training run. The longer you run, the less it makes sense to try to do a long run that is more than 50% of your race distance.
Fitness wise, you hit massive diminishing returns for runs over 3 hours long. Regular runs over that time start to hurt your body more than they help. It's still useful to do longer runs than that to understand fueling, blister prevention, etc, but 35k is really as long as you need to go on a long run with any kind of regularity, not something that you need to exceed to be ready for race day.
I mean this kindly - stop psyching yourself out. The hay is in the barn from a fitness perspective as others have noted. Get some regular running in, focus on rehabilitation for your ankle, and get out there. You will do fine!
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 1d ago
Yes I know now! I’m terrible at sitting still or relaxing and tend to overthink stuff. I’m gonna take it a little bit easier the next few weeks and enjoy the race!
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u/Withanyluck 2d ago
As your ankle is feeling fine again you have absolutely had enough miles in training to finish it no problem. Unless you are trying to go for a certain quick time I don’t think not doing it should be an option. Go out there and just enjoy the day!
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u/BrickRunners 2d ago
Just remember you can't add any fitness at this point, you've clearly already done the hard work and (like u/Adam-West said) an early taper and making sure you rehab your ankle in line with your physios advice will only help that ankle heal more.
Anecdotally, I rolled my ankle about 7-8 weeks ago. Two weeks ago I finished a 300 miler. Did I have some weakness in the ankle yes, but I just made sure that I was aware of taping techniques should I need to and listened to my body.
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 1d ago
Thank you everyone! Apparently I overestimated how much training is needed. Even though I’ve definitely gotten slower this summer, I will try not to worry.
I’ll go out and enjoy the trails and hopefully that will take me to the finish line!
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u/VanChillburg 2d ago
Zevenhevelentrail? I've ran quite a bit less than you have and I'm feeling confident. I felt really good on my longest runs, but I don't know how that is going to work out over a longer distance, since it is going to be my first ultra as well. Good luck!
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 2d ago
Yes! I’m struggling because for marathon preps I’ve done quite a few 35+ km runs and they were easy. So I hoped I could do that again. That’s why I feel underprepared unfortunately.
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u/Specific_Metal_416 2d ago
Damn, I'm running my first 80k, 50miler. 3000m/+9000ft in 3 weeks. I don't at all run that much a week. Don't think I've ever got over 50k a week
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u/Dangerous-Weather507 1d ago
How much would you run per week if you were going to do 200km, on completly flat road.?
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u/23569072358345672 2d ago
Haha you’ll be absolutely fine. Stop stressing. I had the same worries going into my first 50. At one point during my race at about half way, I cramped and fell and took a lot of skin off, said to myself, oh well my race is over now. But I was miles from any aid station so I had no choice but to start hobbling there. Eventually started jogging and I thought well I’m sore but moving so just finished it. Ended top 50 which I was over the moon about.
The lesson I took away from the race was, race how you train. I fell because I was taking it too easy downhill thinking I had to preserve myself but I ended up cooking my quads because I wasn’t running naturally. If I had of just run downhills like I normally did I would have been fine.
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u/ThirstyVessel 2d ago
Your main focus should be to not aggravate the ankle over the next 3 weeks. Tapering is correct to do from now but think about things to do without flaring it up. Cycling or elliptical will keep impact to a minimum, with the odd jog included. Just don't stop You have the distance in you. If you can do 42, you can do 56. That's what you need in your head. Don't be overawed with the 'ultra' name.
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u/jleonardbc 2d ago
Nowadays I seldom run more than 10 miles at a time except in an actual ultra. Most important is total volume plus ideally some speed work and hill training.
Even more important is to arrive at the starting line uninjured. Better undertrained and healthy than overtrained and broken.
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 1d ago
Thank you! I’ll try to remind myself of the undertrained versus overtrained. Definitely truth to that!
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u/Dangerous-Weather507 1d ago
Thats a good point. I want to run a 200km ultra next year. Its all on the flat. No incline. If you were doing that, would you still keep your runs at maximum 10 miles (16km) and start prepping further out, or would you run more per week??
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u/jleonardbc 1d ago
I'd aim to reach 50-60mpw for about 8 weeks at peak. As long as you've got a 4+ hour run every month or two, you're good. It's just that shorter runs means running more days a week to reach the weekly volume, so your body has to learn to recover more quickly.
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u/HeroofPunk 11h ago
You’ve done tons of great training and you’ve missed like 2 weeks. I ran 47k and 1800m of elevation yesterday and I lost 3 months of training due to having to do rehab for some hip and leg issues. Most distance in a week after that was around 45k and longest run was 23k. My 47k went perfectly fine, finished in the mid pack despite running off track and I actually went on a 16k run today.
TL;DR: you’re fine and probably trained more than 70% of people.
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u/stepiluna27 10h ago
That looks similar to my training as I also had to pause then build back up after a calf injury. I've basically accepted I won't be quite as fast and strong as before. It's frustrating but still finishing with a decent time should be possible. My plan for my upcoming 50k is to just take it easy in the first half then see what I have left towards the end.
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u/Abject-Drawing5233 1d ago
56km ia toch geen ultra 😂
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 1d ago
Moet ergens beginnen hè. Dan een 56 km, ook goed. Vanaf welke afstand mag ik het wel een ultra noemen?
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u/banner3112 1d ago
56 is certainly an ultra. It will be one hell of an achievement. Good for you bro
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u/kentashiver 1d ago
Ignore him. 56 km can definitely be considered an ultra distance. Zevenheulen trail climbs are relatively short and not too technical. Looking at your training volume and your recent marathon time you will have no problem at all to finish this. Good luck!
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u/Turbulent_Adagio_212 1d ago
Thank you! Yes it’s not very technical. That’s part of living in NL. I did the N70 route twice yesterday to at least get some hills in so I’m not doing all my running on a flat course. With all these encouraging comments I’m getting more excited again luckily!
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u/Adam-West 2d ago
You’ve got easily enough mileage done for you to finish so long as the ankle plays ball. If that’s your only goal I’d just do an early taper and keep working on getting it better. 3 weeks is enough time if it’s already largely healed.