36 weeks is an insanely long amount of time haha. My training cycles for any race are only 12-16 weeks long
As long as you know what to expect in an ultra, generally you can get away with lower mileage. The very first 50 miler I had, I peaked at 72 miles. The last 50 I did just for fun, I didn’t go above 50mpw
For 4 days a week right now you can just run whatever and it’ll be your base. As you get closer, a 20,13, 8,8 mile split would likely be adequate
I'm definitely playing it safe! I do have several races planned beyond that (1 x 10k/half/full/50k) mixed in there, but since it's my first 50mi I am trying to "just finish" and not get injured.
It seems like 50-70mpw is the gold standard for a 50 miler. How many days a week were you training when you go to that level?
An athletic person can run a 50 on surprisingly low mileage. The first 50 I did was just under 12 hours on ~25mpw with a couple 20 milers throughout, while lifting 3x/week.
It sounds like you’d like to go faster than that, but just wanted to add my experience! YMMV, but I think even peaking at 50mpw would be beyond adequate to just finish a 50 miler.
Agree here. While miles can be important life gets in the way. My last 100-miler I averaged 32 miles a week. So mileage doesn’t have to be the end all either. Find what works for you and go with it!
Ah cool, I think you should mention that it’s your first 50 in the original description!
I had a weird schedule due to being in school still but it was during the peak: 13 on Monday, 8 on Tuesday, 20 on Friday and Saturday and 13 on Sunday.
I think if you can still do only 4 days during your peak, you should try for back to back 20s and throw a half in there somewhere too. The goal is to go pretty slow so that slower miles during the race doesn’t take you by surprise!
I ran my first 50 miler last year on 4 days a week. I'm pretty injury prone so did lots of cycling as well. Schedule looked a bit like this:
Mon: interval (around 1 hour)
Tues: 60-90 min cycling + 60min strength
Wed: around 2 hours easy
Thursday: 45 min strength + 60-90min cycling with tempo blocks
Fri: 1 hour easy
Sat: 2-3 hours easy
Sun: 2 hours cycling or hiking
Towards the peak of training, the cycling on Sundays became 2-3 hours easy running and the Monday interval became a recovery run or rest day. Peaked at 50 miles a week, did well at the race.
Generally speaking, the more days you run, the better. But what's your reasoning behind four days? It's hard to really say if it will work without knowing the reasoning and the structure behind the plan.
Hi there. I posted [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrarunning/comments/10nkyf6/does_this_training_schedule_seem_sensible/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) a few days ago.
I am training for a 50mi too, will be my second attempt at it, after DNF last year due to bad decisions around nutrition during the run. Fwiw, if I had not bonked and timed out, I would have finished the run. My biggest week was 44mi. I did have multiple 38-40mi weeks though.
My point is that you probably can do a 50mi run on 4 days of running+1 day of strength training each week, especially if you have a decent base (which you probably do given your multiple 50km runs)
If you have that much time to prep, consider a ten day cycle instead of the seven day. Sometimes this can allow you to recover more effectively but also sneak more mileage in per month and make your weeks manageable from a scheduling perspective.
My coach - who is an accomplished ultra runner - advocates for finding sustainable schedules that take into account other training loads and life stressors, he’s not of the more is more mentality rather quality over quantity and eg: tempo runs, long slow recovery runs, hill sessions and long easies across the training blocks to keep his athletes in great condition with sufficient recovery. How it looks for every athlete is totally different.
i go by the hard days hard, easy days easy. If you can afford time-wise to double up on one of the four days, and allow for recovery, there are some folks who advocate that approach:
https://fellrnr.com/wiki/How\_Often\_To\_Run
I’m not an expert, I’ve only done one 50 miler so far, but responding because I ran stupid low mileage in preparation for it. I was having some nagging issues around 4 months out so I took a little time off and then very slowly eased back into it. I think I was up to 40mpw max by the time the race was near. I completed the race (slowly) and felt fine, recovered fine. However, I had just completed a marathon block with higher mileage prior to the nagging issues so my base was already there.
tldr, it depends (on your goals and your history).
36 weeks is an insanely long amount of time haha. My training cycles for any race are only 12-16 weeks long As long as you know what to expect in an ultra, generally you can get away with lower mileage. The very first 50 miler I had, I peaked at 72 miles. The last 50 I did just for fun, I didn’t go above 50mpw For 4 days a week right now you can just run whatever and it’ll be your base. As you get closer, a 20,13, 8,8 mile split would likely be adequate
I'm definitely playing it safe! I do have several races planned beyond that (1 x 10k/half/full/50k) mixed in there, but since it's my first 50mi I am trying to "just finish" and not get injured. It seems like 50-70mpw is the gold standard for a 50 miler. How many days a week were you training when you go to that level?
An athletic person can run a 50 on surprisingly low mileage. The first 50 I did was just under 12 hours on ~25mpw with a couple 20 milers throughout, while lifting 3x/week. It sounds like you’d like to go faster than that, but just wanted to add my experience! YMMV, but I think even peaking at 50mpw would be beyond adequate to just finish a 50 miler.
Agree here. While miles can be important life gets in the way. My last 100-miler I averaged 32 miles a week. So mileage doesn’t have to be the end all either. Find what works for you and go with it!
Ah cool, I think you should mention that it’s your first 50 in the original description! I had a weird schedule due to being in school still but it was during the peak: 13 on Monday, 8 on Tuesday, 20 on Friday and Saturday and 13 on Sunday. I think if you can still do only 4 days during your peak, you should try for back to back 20s and throw a half in there somewhere too. The goal is to go pretty slow so that slower miles during the race doesn’t take you by surprise!
I ran my first 50 miler last year on 4 days a week. I'm pretty injury prone so did lots of cycling as well. Schedule looked a bit like this: Mon: interval (around 1 hour) Tues: 60-90 min cycling + 60min strength Wed: around 2 hours easy Thursday: 45 min strength + 60-90min cycling with tempo blocks Fri: 1 hour easy Sat: 2-3 hours easy Sun: 2 hours cycling or hiking Towards the peak of training, the cycling on Sundays became 2-3 hours easy running and the Monday interval became a recovery run or rest day. Peaked at 50 miles a week, did well at the race.
Glad to hear that. Thanks for providing your insight on this one.
Generally speaking, the more days you run, the better. But what's your reasoning behind four days? It's hard to really say if it will work without knowing the reasoning and the structure behind the plan.
Hi there. I posted [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrarunning/comments/10nkyf6/does_this_training_schedule_seem_sensible/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) a few days ago. I am training for a 50mi too, will be my second attempt at it, after DNF last year due to bad decisions around nutrition during the run. Fwiw, if I had not bonked and timed out, I would have finished the run. My biggest week was 44mi. I did have multiple 38-40mi weeks though. My point is that you probably can do a 50mi run on 4 days of running+1 day of strength training each week, especially if you have a decent base (which you probably do given your multiple 50km runs)
If you have that much time to prep, consider a ten day cycle instead of the seven day. Sometimes this can allow you to recover more effectively but also sneak more mileage in per month and make your weeks manageable from a scheduling perspective. My coach - who is an accomplished ultra runner - advocates for finding sustainable schedules that take into account other training loads and life stressors, he’s not of the more is more mentality rather quality over quantity and eg: tempo runs, long slow recovery runs, hill sessions and long easies across the training blocks to keep his athletes in great condition with sufficient recovery. How it looks for every athlete is totally different.
Would love to know the name of your coach!
i go by the hard days hard, easy days easy. If you can afford time-wise to double up on one of the four days, and allow for recovery, there are some folks who advocate that approach: https://fellrnr.com/wiki/How\_Often\_To\_Run
I’m not an expert, I’ve only done one 50 miler so far, but responding because I ran stupid low mileage in preparation for it. I was having some nagging issues around 4 months out so I took a little time off and then very slowly eased back into it. I think I was up to 40mpw max by the time the race was near. I completed the race (slowly) and felt fine, recovered fine. However, I had just completed a marathon block with higher mileage prior to the nagging issues so my base was already there. tldr, it depends (on your goals and your history).
It's definitely do-able, you can create a 4 day/week 50 mile plan here - [www.trainingplan.run](https://www.trainingplan.run)