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Haha new ultra plan :)
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getting up early.or running late into the night is a good way to get it done......I'm lucky that for the first time in 21 years we can actually do our long runs together....which is why we rae tackling our first 1900 miler as a team
1900 miler wow
hehe
Hi, been reading the blog, never run an ultra, lots of marathons though, and have been fascinated by this 4:1 thing.
I've got an ultra booked, Saltmarsh 75, 2 days 37 & 38M respectively, and in my innocence just thought bit of running, then walk a bit will get me through, planned on 1hour run/10min walk repeated, but have been worried about day 2, if wall it on day 1.
Reading up a bit, is it really 4min run/1min walk, for the whole run? Just seems so against the grain, I only ever run like that doing speedwork, and I think I might just get very impatient.
Any advice/experience relates welcome, and please state the obvious, I really am very much an innocent where ultras are concerned, but have hit the wall on several marathons, do not want to do so at Saltmarsh.
My ultras have to have mountains / big hills in them. So I can walk up hill , run the flat and down hills, not a lot to think about really. If I find myself walking down hill then I know I am having a bad day / struggling .
Don't think I have ever run a flat ultra , so cant advise sorry.
senidM: It's up to you, there are no rules you can run it however you want, but those that do a full run/walk strategy however long the segments are do try to do it usually from the beginning.
You can plan to save energy by doing say 25/5 for the first couple of hours if that makes you feel more of a runner
then 10/2 for a couple of hours etc...
I've never actually been good and stuck to run / walk for a whole of an ultra, but i've done it for a few long training runs, and it really does leave you with a lot more energy at the end of it. 4/1 or 8/2 are some quite common ones. But so is 25/5 really if you are going to do that and not the tradition walk uphill, run downhill and start of running the flats, and hope you are still running them further along then having a plan and sticking to it is quite good, on long training runs doing it i've found you do struggle for the first half an hour as you think you aren't putting in enough effort, but you do get in to the swing of it after a while.
In an actual event it's even harder, as frankly you don't want to look like a wombat walking 4 minutes into the race, hence quite a few I think do 25/5 for the first hour or so, or just run for the first couple of hours purely for the "well it's bloody embarrassing walking this early in the race" factor.
What you need to remember though is that it's not about looking cool at the beginning, it's about the getting over the line at the far end, as long as you do that within whatever the time limits that have been set by the organisers are then congrats
Ta Booktrunk, very informative, and yes, running after 4min did make think that the other runners would think I was a wombat, BUT, after lots of marathons, I know only so well, last 6 is whats important, any idiot can run first 6 fast!
Will try a few longer runs, North Downs 30K springs to mind, start at back and do 8:2, see what happens. Think I usually do around 3hrs, and have ended up knackered, so will make a good comparison.
Well, Sunday's run/walk experiment worked pretty well, although not really as intended. I underestimated how hilly my intended route was (Strava says it had 3000 ft of gain) and so, 4:1 was not a realistic strategy, if walking the uphills. So, I very quickly changed to walk uphills, run downhills, jog flat and, if there were any longer stretches of flat, to do a little bit of walking there too. My aim was 20 miles, averaging 12 minutes a mile and so coming in at 4 hrs. I came in just under the 4hr mark but what really pleased me was how even my pace was, which is rare for me over long distance. I was almost bang on 5 miles for each hour. Felt good overall, didn't need a huge amount of nutrition (no gels) and recovered pretty quickly.
The tester, as has been mentioned, is doing this in an event from early on. I have a marathon in 3 weeks as a training run and I know from past experience that I am very weak willed when it comes to sticking to a reasonable pace from the start. Too many people who I think I'm quicker than, that I don't like being in front of me! I've just got to remember how good it feels to pass people late on in a race.