Advice from a strong finisher

If I remember correctly, in 2007 I ran 6 days a week. I built up the back-to-back runs from 15/15 to 20/20, and I ran it on the hilliest roads I could find. I think I did those 20/20 3 times, and the highest weekly mileage would have been around 85.

I did the ultra in 5:40 in 2007 and 5:50 in 2008.

Another tip:

My other tip for ultra training, particularly for a hilly course like connemara, would be to add in some cycling into your weekly training. It'll relieve the potential boredom of non-stop running somewhat, and will strenghten up your quad muscles (which will be more than likely the first point of failure in a hilly ultra, from my experience)

Lessons to think about

"The lesson I took from the day was that being able to cover the 39.3 miles was less to do with being mega-fit and more to do with how you paced the run."

Here is an example plan:

My training plan didn’t differ too much from a normal marathon one.
I loosely followed the Hal Higdon Ultra plan. It’s basically all about your weekend long runs and building those up gradually. You need to be used to running on tired legs and the Sunday long run was challenging more mentally than physically I found. But Connemara Ultra really gets going when you hit 26 miles in Leenane so you need that preparation
Below are some details on my Ultra training plan. This worked great for me. Every one will have a different view though.
But before I attempted the back to back long runs I had built my legs up to 20 miler and I had a good base. I always have a step back week at least every 4th week In general there was a gradual build up of weekend long runs. My weekend long runs in the last 11 weeks looked like:


Week 11 Saturday 12 miles
Sunday 16 miles
Week 10 Saturday 14 miles
Sunday 18 miles
Week 9 Saturday 16 miles
Sunday 20 miles
Week 8 Saturday 4 miles Step back week
Sunday Race 10 miles
Week 7 Saturday 20 miles
Sunday 20 miles
Week 6 Saturday 24 miles
Sunday 20 miles
Week 5 Saturday off Step back week (Wedding)
Sunday off
Week 4 Saturday 24 miles
Sunday 21 miles
Week 3 Saturday 12miles
Sunday 16 miles
Week 2 Saturday – Indoor tri
Sunday 11 miles
Week 1 Saturday 0 miles
Sunday Race

Training Plans

Sam did an excellent Marathon. 3:24. If I had kept up the training that I started with him I'd have got pretty much the same I'd expect. But I didn't. I didn't commit to the goal. However, I did do the 1/2 marathon, albeit without much training. Now is the time I have to commit to doing the training for the Ultramarathon. Like Sam I'll have to simply rely on myself. I can go to the phoenix park for runs. I can enlist Sam or Gav or Karl for runs. It all starts now.

I am currently 13st 11lbs. I don't run regularly. I don't feel very fit. I have sore shoulders and back. It's time I got back into things.

First goal is to start believing I can do it. Next goal is getting together plans, understanding the plans and then executing the plans.

Here is an example of an Ironman that then did the Ultra:

http://markstrainingblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/connemara-ultra-marathon-race-report.html

Ultramarathon thinking

I'm meeting Karl at the weekend to start putting together a plan for the Ultramarathon.

Here's the site.

It's going to be 60km. Right now I've been doing a few 6km so it's time to push the boat out a bit.

Sam has proven that a good plan means great things. Once you stick to it.

First of all, I belive that I can do it.

November

2nd November 6km

December >> Waterford 1/2 Marathon

January

February

March

>> April 11th

21st February http://www.maratonvalencia.com/ could be good.

I've just read a post about the race and this is what it says:

"For those who think it's mad running 39.3 miles here's how I get my head around it: I jog really slowly for 13 miles, even slower than I think I should. I'm trying to make those miles not register in my legs. Then when I get to the 13 mile mark I forget about them altogether and starting counting up the marathon miles. So in effect I start to count the miles from scratch at that point. So when I get to mile 14 I actually count that as mile 1 and so on from there. That's cos that's how it's predominantly marked from then on. It fools your brain and so kinda fools your legs!

The next 13 miles are fairly flat so I run at my normal pace. Towards the end of this 13 miles as I'm coming towards Leenane I start to meet marathoners from the regular marathon race. This is a great distraction as I say hi and how's it going to anyone I pass.

The next 13 miles is all mostly uphill but the key thing is once you turn at Leenane with 13 miles more to go, you just keep telling yourself at that stage that you are heading for home. Just get up those hills, one foot in front of the other, that's all it is and get home as fast as you can."