![]() ![]() Whereas a “minimum training” program might be sufficient if I were just trying to get back into the ultra scene with a performance similar to 2010, or if I were just planning to chase cutoff times to the finish line, it won’t deliver the type of performance that I want.Ĭourse stats. I’d be happy to finish in 7.5 hours (9 minutes per mile pace), which is usually good enough for top 30, and I’d be delighted with anything better. Running to finish or to compete? I have finished ultras before, and I don’t need to pay a race entry fee and fly to California in order to finish another one. ![]() So unlike a more seasoned runner for whom a 50-mile race is fairly routine and/or for whom recent ultra finishes constitute training for the next one, I’ve had to spend some time in determining how I should best train. (It does, however, have some highlights: second place in 18:17 at the 2008 Leadville 100, my first and only 100-mile race a PR of 8:02 for Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, which is 42 miles in length and has 22,000 vertical feet of gain and loss and a 20th-place finish in 8:08 at the 2010 Endurance Challenge.) Moreover, my ultra racing history is thin. I’m not an expert in training for 50-mile ultra trail races - I’m not a running coach, dedicated student of running science, or even a professional ultra runner. With $30,000 in prize money for the top 3 male and female finishers, this event attracts a star-studded international field, and to be in the mix I’ll need to bring my best. I ran this same race in 2010, a few months after the Alaska-Yukon Expedition, and it will be my first ultra marathon since. Six weeks from this Saturday, I’m racing The North Face Endurance Challenge GORE-TEX 50-Mile in California’s stunning Marin Headlands. ![]() ![]() Amanda in the Marin Headlands during the 2012 TNF marathon ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |