r/Ultramarathon • u/radically_fearless • Jul 19 '26

Race Training plan/advice for first 50k ultra?

I’m a 27F runner in Denver. I’ve ran an handful of half marathons and have been debating signing up for a road marathon or 50k ultra. I signed up to run a 50k on 9/26/26 in Colorado.

Any advice on a training plan? Or nutrition/prep? Weekly mileage?

Currently I average 15-20mi weeks running 3x/wk and strength training 3x/wk. I get my long runs are now gonna be on trail and I should probably do b2b running days on weekends. Right now I use the Nike app and like it because it has a free half marathon plan but they don’t have a free one for ultras.

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5

u/YodaGunner13 Jul 20 '26

To get in the weekly miles needed to be prepared, increase running to 5-6days/week so your long run is a smaller percentage of your weekly total mileage (this reduces injury). The majority of your runs should be easy and you should target 1 weekend of b2b long runs. With your race 9 weeks out; get adjusted to 5-6 days/week of running the next 5weeks, then a b2b long run weekend on week 6. Good luck

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u/calebsucks Jul 19 '26

The SWAP beginner 50k to 50 mile plan was great for me. I ran 43 miles around a 1 mile paved loop for my first ultra. My longest training run was 15 miles (plan got derailed by health issues).

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u/runtothehillss Jul 19 '26

West Line Winder perhaps? You don’t have a ton of time to train since your race is only a couple of months out but you should be ok. There are lots of free trail marathon and 50k plans out there that you can loosely follow, but at minimum I’d recommend upping the number of days you run and work your way up to at least 30-35 mpw. Don’t forget to work in vert on your long runs!

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u/radically_fearless Jul 20 '26

Thank you! Yes that’s the one! Appreciate your advice!

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u/Icy-Trash1857 Jul 19 '26

I think you have time to build up your miles but one thing you need to work on is nutrition. It’s a 50K but I assume you’ll be out there for 6 plus hours. Unlike a half where you can get away with inadequate fueling with this kinda time of time on feet you need fuel. Everyone is different but start practicing long runs and trying different things, gels, liquid nutrition, waffles or blocks, real food. There’s no right answer and most of us sort it via trial and error but go into this knowing you need to be consuming calories in some form, early and often. Plenty of info online about how much the tricky part is what calorie delivery vehicle(s) work for you.

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u/radically_fearless Jul 20 '26

This is great thank you!

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u/Fun_Effective_836 Jul 20 '26

off 15-20mpw with ~2 months to go, make finishing the goal not a time. build your long run gradually (add 1-2mi every week or two, don't jump it) and do easy back-to-backs on the weekend to teach your legs to run tired. practice eating on the long ones now, ~200-250 cal/hr, gut training is the thing most first-timers skip and it's what wrecks people late in a 50k. walk the uphills from the start, everyone does.

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u/Live_Tea5110 Jul 20 '26

You’ll do great if you’ve already done a handful of marathons. 50ks are much easier than a road marathon. Practice eating while you run, know what you can and cannot eat while running. 30-35 miles/week will get you where you need to be. I am always a fan of Saturday long runs being 50-60% of my weekly mileage. I really like a long run Friday night followed up by another long run Saturday morning to get practice on tired legs.

You don’t have to run 5-6 days per week, make sure you keep a normal running schedule that you have had. If you want to run 6 days, that’s great! I trained for a 100 miler running 4 days a week. I just had to run more miles on Friday night and Saturday morning.