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Toying with the idea of stepping it up to an ultra sooner rather than later (Keswick 50km in May). Wondering if any of you nutters who already do ultras could advise how the transition from marathons to ultras is, it looks as though a lot of the climbs are more of a walk, albeit with a fair old stride and the in-race nutrition is a lot more solid food than in road-based marathons. The longest I've done on a trail is half marathons, but I've found them more enjoyable to complete rather than aim for a time-based target (which is one of the main motivators for me on road races), and in some ways more enjoyable, the tougher they make the course.

I've got Seville marathon (flattest in Europe, just 10m altitude change over the whole course) in February, which will be marathon #7 for me and don't think I'll decide on Keswick until after this.

Any advice though would be great, cheers.

-Cove, Manchester is the same date as Yorkshire Half Marathon (Sheffield), which I'll be doing - cracking course which is pretty much all uphill for the first 5 miles.

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in5omniac don't worry about the transition if you are an experienced runner, and it sounds that you are. I've never run a 'marathon' but have now completed 5 ultras while my previous longest race was only 18m.

You're only looking at a few extra miles but it will be hillier and rougher terrain than you are used to. The second half will be mentally tough as you will need to focus on the track when your legs are tired - I keep being asked if the views were nice but honestly I only ever see the path ahead.

Assuming that you'll train properly the 2 biggest issues I find are mental toughness and the ability to eat during the race. Eat little but often and start during the first hour - don't rely on gels but proper food. I really struggle to eat but found fresh fruit on my last one went down well. Keep yourself hydrated and that you are getting enough salt into you - I struggled badly with cramp during my first and while I'm getting better I've not quite mastered it. I've now got salt capsules to carry with me and take them at intervals during the race and when I feel any cramp coming on. However try out different products as they can affect your stomach and mean that you don't feel like eating, which can be a big problem. I carry a lot of sweets with me (jellies, jelly beans - the small ones - dried fruit like apricots etc).

Find out the terrain of the race, how hilly and what surfaces it covers and find some training runs that will replicate it (if possible get down and reccie the route). Looking briefly at the website its more undulating with two bigger rises rather than full mountains climbs. This will also give you a good idea to what you need to wear on your feet. Also make sure your clothing is comfortable - nothing more painful than chaffing shorts! I use some anti-chaffing gel but also loads of baby oil. I cover my feet with this as well and never have a problem with blisters.

Get yourself a realistic training plan and try and make it varied, long / short, fast / slow, off road / on road, hilly/flat. I've really struggled with some niggly injuries since I started Ultras which appear down to lack of core strength (I basically have none!) so try and add some gym type work in.

Get your entry in and start your training ASAP as 8 weeks wont be enough. You'll need a few weeks to recover from Seville and a few weeks to taper so get the training done pre-Seville.

But most of all enjoy it (if not during at least afterwards!) Good luck. Keep us updated!

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Thanks College Boy, lots of food for thought there. Don't suppose you have any recommended links for training plans and any other sites offering tips and advice you've found useful - fitting it around work might be a tricky one for me, living in York too means I need to get out somewhere to get decent training runs done on trail, the moors, Harewood estate, Castle Howard estate, Dalby Forest probably the most suitable near at hand.

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l've linked to quite a few FB pages but find the generic ultra running pages are just full of the same repetitive questions about kit (shoes, packs, waterproofs headtorches etc.).

However race specific pages are far better - such as the West Highland Way and the Highland Fling. The Fling would be good for you as its at a similar time of year to the Keswick race. The WHW has links to podcasts by previous runners which you may find useful. Possibly find some local ultras (Hardmoors is probably the closest) as this could give you local runners for support / training routes.

I've not really looked into training plans as I've a mate who's given me lots of advice. I then generated my own plan around other commitments. Something my mate did for the WHW was to train long over 4 consecutive days then the rest of the week was recovery. For the fling I tailored this to 2 long days over the weekend ( one 15-20 and the other 20+ but off-road/hilly), a long run mid week and then a hill or speed rep session. I'll dig out the plans I had for the Fling and last years WHW (I started train for this but didn't get through the ballot).

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I'm in for Manchester Marathon as well. Determined to crack sub 4 hours this time.

A couple of pals did it last year and said it was billiard table flat and not ridiculously busy either. Only issue they mentioned were sleeping policemen road bumps at a few points that seemed to trip some folk up.

Just need to break the news to the Mrs now.....

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lossiemouth 10 mile Turkey Trot today. My first 10 miler and liked the distance. Great conditions apart from the icy roads which where a bit of a nightmare in places. Great spread at the end and really well organised.

And most importantly the coolest medal :-))

Edited by Lamia
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