No. It's plenty of time.

Absolutely not. November is not too soon to tackle a 100 either. Go get it!

Thanks for the reply

Thanks. I'll start with 50 and go from there.

Good idea. Trust me, 100 is completely different from a 50. Yes, more than plenty of time. Warning, once you go to Ultra's, you won't come back.

Attempt is a bit different than race a 50 miler. You can train for and complete a 50 miler by November, even with taking May off.
I have heard some say your long days will be no longer than you did for your marathon training. No reason to go longer than 22 miles on a training run. Same applies to marathon and ultra training, even a 100 miler. I can see how this likely accurate.
When I did a 100 miles, I found value in doing a 600k bike ride before going out and running for 30 hrs. The familiarity of riding into and through the night was helpful when it came to entering darkness during a hundred. The 100's I have done both started at noon, so nobody finished before it got dark.
Enjoy Masochist Mnt.

Maybe no reason to go longer than 22 miles for a 100 miler if you're the type of person who has the experience of 600km rides and the training those rides would entail. However that would apply to very few. For the vast majority of runners it would be asking for trouble.

......and Kitch, another yes for going for the 50 mile.

Plenty of time, especially for someone who is already in BQ territory.

I can't imagine a marathon+ mile training run could allow someone to recover soon enough to be productive. I see value in being out on the trail for 30 miles, but that could be 6-7 hrs of running. Get 20 in on Sat, 10 on Sunday and fit in 30-35 during the week.
Maybe I will see it differently one day, but I thought the "marathon training long run" concept makes sense.

I'm guessing you're not running 100 milers then?

If or when you are, you'll probably consider the 30-40 miles as just another long training run. If a runner can't cover that easily enough in training and bounce back the next day, they're probably not going to be in too good a shape with 50 or 60 miles yet to run on race day.

My apologies if my assumptions about your race experience are incorrect. Yes, there are some low-mileage trainers out there doing 100 milers, but not usually very well and usually off the back of many years running and some solid ultra experience.

Though none of this is very relevant to the OP's original question.

How would training to RACE an ultra be different from training to RACE a marathon?

Mileage- same
Intensity- lower (when training for ultra)
Long runs- slightly longer (when traing for ultra)

Seems like you might do back to back Sat/Sun long runs.
Sat- 28
Sun- 16

Maybe do more trail runs.

But the weekly intensity is probably less and you might do more runs on trails.

So recovery shouldn't be harder.

That's quite a generalised question.

It depends on the ultra you're training to race. The term ultra covers a huge range of events, not just in distance but also terrain and elevation.

A trail 50 km or Comrades is more akin to marathon running and the training (and much of the recovery) reflects that. 100 miles of trail is another beast altogether and that was the crux of the comment to which I originally responded.

So you are advising someone to not run over 22 miles when training for a 100 miler but would advise them to do a 600k bike ride? Interesting concept.

Miles won't be the problem if you finish Boston next month, it will be elevation and trail running. That race from what I heard is "tough" and "technical"...so you have to hit the trails right after Boston and hopefully, you have some 20 something good hard trail nearby. This assumes you really haven't done any technical trail running. If you have, you'd be fine just on touching up your mileage a bit and tweaking your training a bit.

The last thing w/ ultras is pacing and nutrition. You're gonna be out there for 8+ hours unless you're a superstar so getting your pacing and nutrition dialed in difficult coming in new from marathons, IMHO.

Good luck...

Can second this approach, the key to ultra training is the back to back long run days. If you can do both on trails great, if not try to get your longer run on the trails (your feel and joints will thank you). As a triathlete going long/time commitment of b2b long days should not be a problem. It also might help to get a few different pairs of trainers.

Worked for me, but was not put in the context of others need to do it.
I like listening to other athletes and their experiences. The stories I listen to most intently are from those who have been in the endurance scene for many years and love it.
I have yet to DNF/DNS at any races/rides/runs/tris. I am hopefully just a babe in my endurance journey so I am sure my day will come. I probably need to push my limits more, but I feel like I am pushing my limits by setting aggressive time goals for certain distances. I have achieved some but still chasing others.
I went from a 50k in 2005 to a 100 miler in 2014 without passing go or doing a 50 miler or 100k first. I did the long rides (brevets) between 2009 and 2013. Not recommending it as a bridge from a 50k to 100 miles, but simply sharing my story and the course I took.
I wanted to see if I could do 100 miles in 30 hrs by foot (definatly not running the whole time). I finished it and even went back for more of the same silliness on the trails 2 years later.

When I guestimate a quick tally from my journey:

(10) 5k’s,
(10) 10k’s, (2) 15k’s
(2) 10 milers
(8) 13.1’s, (1) 25k
(6) Marathons,
(1) 50k
(2) 50 milers,
(2) 100 milers,
Various other trail races including a stage race

(2) road bike races,
(10) or so 100 mile rides including training rides but excluding brevets,
(6) 200k brevets,
(2) 600k brevets,

(5) sprint tri’s,
(10) Olympic tri’s,
(5) half IM’s,
(1) IM

Sorry the thread was hijacked, thread, but all the input is well intended and hopefully helps. Again, good luck at the 50.

I definitely appreciate everyone's thoughts and advice regarding Ultra running. Even though I'm training for a Mary, I definitely include trail running into the routine, 1/week. Like trail running on recovery days or some long runs because it requires me to stay focused and increase my cadence

I hope not because I am training for Boston and signed up to do a 100 miler in September.

Planning on racing Boston, running two more marathons in the next four weeks after Boston and then transitioning to summer running where I slowly lengthen my long jog out from 30 to 45 miles...... plus as others have said, back to back long runs on the weekends.

We will see how it all turns out. It should be fun.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

As at least one other person has indicated here, you probably will see it differently if you really get into ultras. Thirty + milers every weekend is far from unusual. Plus, it's fun - and isn't that the point of all this? ;)