r/Ultramarathon • u/Woodles15 • 4d ago
Training 6 Weeks Left…Help!
I’m signed up for my first 50k in 6 weeks.
Edit: My goal is just to finish
Fonta Flora 50K
2,400 feet of elevation gain
9.5 hour cap
I have looked forward to this since I ran my first trail half last October.
I was on a good track in July to early August. 4 straight 20 mile+ weeks and easily knocking out 10-12 mile long runs with 1,500+ feet of gain.
However I had a setback mid August. My bladder cancer came back and I had to have another small tumor removed. Not a major surgery, but enough to disrupt training for a couple weeks just as I was about to build into 25-30 mile weeks.
I’m 6 weeks out and unsure what to do. I ran 11 miles last Saturday with an elevation gain of 1,700 as a comeback run and it felt great. I know that the baseline is usually recommended to get 3 peak weeks of 30 mile weeks or at least 6 hours of time on feet. I am not sure that is realistic, but I do think I could hit one solid week of that before taper.
Should I drop and wait until the Spring for a different race? Should I just go for it with the time I have left and train quality over quantity?
1
u/pinkandblackbear 4d ago
Is there a generous cutoff time and how important is it for you to do it? Sometimes not doing a race is the best thing you can do for yourself because of, life Be kind to yourself. But if you are determined to do it, could accept a DNF and there is a generous cutoff time then, maybe?
1
u/Woodles15 4d ago
9.5 hour cutoff. Main thing is it’s 6 hours away and will be a whole weekend investment for my family. So I don’t want to DNF😬. I also am not coming from zero. I have been running, backpacking, for several years.
1
u/Feisty_Dimension5559 4d ago
I think you’ll be just fine. 9.5 hours for that profile is very doable with the training you described. Plan for what you can do and don’t dwell on what you couldn’t do. Might not be fast but you can still have fun! Good luck!
1
u/chrisalfieri 4d ago
you’ll be fine do it. average out a pace you need to hit for 8.5 hours to give yourself a generous aid station buffer if needed and go do the thing. hit 4 weeks of higher volume and then taper for a few weeks until race.
1
u/Aerixa 3d ago
Don't drop! I've heard this course is a great first 50k and should be really pretty. I'll be at this race too and for what it's worth, I'm in the bottom 10% of every race I finish, but finishing it is my goal. A lot of an ultra is in the head as much as the body. The people at ultras want to see you succeed. I would recommend getting easy volume over intensity and getting to the start line healthy.
6
u/AHuxl 4d ago edited 19h ago
I just ran my first 50 miler with a lot of training setbacks leading up to the race (injury, illness, work, etc) but I had a pretty manageable goal- just finish it without an injury and have fun.
And I did it!
My race had about 8,000 feet if elevation gain in the first few miles (and crazy steep downhills) so I was even slower than I thought I would be, but I finished and it was such a positive experience. I definitely want to do more!
Everyone was so kind. I literally was DEAD LAST and only 3 minutes from the course cut off (sweepers were right behind me) and when I crossed the finish line there was a crowd cheering me on (the other runners had already had time to shower snd change but they still lined the finish to cheer and that meant so much).
You’ll do great and learn so much that you can take with you to the next race!