What is the balance on overtraining vs. under training for first 100?
How many long runs did you do? How long was the longest? Total volume?
I would judt like to see how others trained for the first.
And I am a ultra newbie. I have done 7 marathons. My first 50k will be in month.
Go ahead blast away.
The event is August 22nd. Advice for how to best use time?
I AM going to do this, try to talk me out of it if you like, but I am going to give every once of my heart to finish this my first time.
Wow, Leaville? Go big or go home I guess. 
For the best advice I’d join the ultrarunning@yahoogroups.com . Lots and lots of veterans on there who will give you great ideas and info.
Problem is there are many philsophies on this. Some say train 100+ miles a week, others will tell you 70 a week is fine. I haven’t done a 100 so I can’t give direct advice other than you will get differing opinions and you need to know what your body can handle before you hurt yourself.
Apparently you could just do crossfit, and achieve better results.
You might want to check out this forum and ask your questions there:
The best way to treat your first 100 is to just get in the best possible shape that you have ever been in and then go for it. It is like training to get hit by a truck. Then once you finish and recover you will have a better idea on what to do for your specific needs in your next one.
There is no A, B, then C plan that fits everyone.
Good Luck and enjoy.
http://www.run100s.com/Pb/index.htm
Not really training related, and it’s from 1996. Ultra runner.net And run100s.com have good stuff. Best of luck.
Whoa big boy…do the 50k first. Then do a 50 miler. Then consider doing 100. I thought much like you until I did a 50k and a 50 mile and then decided I enjoy riding my bike too much to give up every other form of exercise to devout 100% of my time to trail running. I think somewhere around mile 38-42 it stops becoming an adventure and becomes more of a survival contest and frankly, I felt like I was not doing my body any long term favors. I learned a lot in training and on the day of the events and don’t regret any of it but going longer didn’t appeal to me.
I am doing the Leadville training camp too. We cover 60 miles in 3 days on the actual course.
I never do anything normal ; )
I used to weight 320lbs and be a drunk. Now I am 180lbs, sober and dumb.
I went from 320lbs to running a marathon in a year.
fuck it, its Ultra Running how normal can it be?
I am doing the Leadville training camp too. We cover 60 miles in 3 days on the actual course.
I never do anything normal ; )
I used to weight 320lbs and be a drunk. Now I am 180lbs, sober and dumb.
I went from 320lbs to running a marathon in a year.
fuck it, its Ultra Running how normal can it be?
I’m with you (up to a point). I’m 367 days into my “change”, and I’m down 94 pounds and about to do my first half marathon. My first full will be sometime this summer. My first duathlon is less than a month away too.
As for ultrarunning…won’t happen for me. I dislike riding 100 miles, let alone trying to run that far.
Doing a 100 miler like Leadville without doing a 50 previously is like doing a double ironman having never done an ironman. Can you do it, sure. Not recommended though. Greenland trail is not going to give you a good gauge of running for hours above 10000 feet. I would strongly recommend the training camp they do at the end of June on the Leadville course. If you live in the Denver area you should try and train on the course when you can. There are lots of schools of thought on training for races that long. Mostly you need to run lots. To me the protocol that makes the most sense is back to back long runs on the weekends. The distance covered depends on how fast you are and terrain. But the big thing is to be out on your feet running 3-6 hours both days.
I have several friends who do 100milers. I like to do shorter races like 50 milers as I haven’t had much success at 100’s. This is what they do
6 runs a week
-A long trail run of 30-40 miles once a month. power hike all the uphills to train those hiking muscles.
-A weekly trail run of 14-20mi on the other weeks.
-A weekly speed session of 1200’s or mile repeats or tempo run.
-A weekly hill session of 4-6000’ of uphill at threshold. A few people do both the track session and the hill session but others I know replace the track work with another hill run as the season progresses.
-2-3 weekly weight sessions.
-The other 3 runs should all be easy pace 1-1.5 hours
As for the run itself here’s 100 miler advice I have received from my veteran friends:
-Practice with your light system just enough to make sure it will work for you. There’s not much training benefit to excessive night running.
-Plan on puking at some point or several points:) so don’t freak out when you start puking.
-Run in broken in shoes but new socks.
-Put socks and and maybe shoes in a drop bag that comes after a major stream crossings.
-Know that the second ‘half’ starts at mile 70.
-DON"T use the cutoff times as a pacing guide as you will likely slow down and miss a cutoff.
Guys I know who squeeze in under the cut-off, average about 12-14 hours a week.
Contenders I know average 24 hours a week.
Note that in a lot of 100’s almost half the people finish in the last couple of hours before cutoff.
The most unusual training regime I know of is a 68 yr old German who JUST RACES. He run 10-15 100milers a year.
Doing a 100 miler like Leadville without doing a 50 previously is like doing a double ironman having never done an ironman. Can you do it, sure. Not recommended though.
I used to live in Colorado and know a number of Leadville 100 finishers. All of them crewed the race the year before and would NEVER try to make the jump you are about to attempt. Good freakin’ luck. You’ll need it.
Sarge
I appreciate the advice. I know I have opened myself up to this advice and its good. Dont get me wrong I am scared shitless, but I am training my ass off.
I live in Colorado and also have many close by to have done the race. Although not ideal by any stretch, many first 100 mile attempts have been successful at Leadville.
A few in my little running group have done Leadville as a 1st ultra attempt.
I know it is a large undertaking, but what the hell. Its ultrarunning, its ALL crazy :0
Don’t get me wrong, what you are doing is the kind of crazy ass stuff that I like to do. I just know how hard that race is. Lots of good runners take multiple times just to finish it. At least with your Colorado residency, you’ve got the altitude started. That’s a damn high race and now that I live at sea level, there’s no way I could dream of running it.
If you get the opportunity to run with some other ultra nuts, do it. The CRUDers in Colorado Springs are a great crew of nut jobs who have run pretty much every race in the western half of the continent. Check them out and good luck. http://www.teamcrud.com/index.html
Sarge