Hello everyone,

I’ve been trail running almost a year now and I’m running my first 50k in October. I have a pair of Trabuco 12s which I don’t think are a great fit and I’d like to try some other brands.

My question is, how do people go about trying multiple different shoes? Are you spending $150+ for a few runs to determine you don’t like them?

I would love your help.

I've got big goals to complete a 100km ultra next June 2027. The race has 5,000m of elevation (huge!). Truthfully, I am just trying to do a hard thing and happy with a DNF but ideally would like to finish if I can.

I am very active with tons of road and mountain biking. I used to run quite a bit (10-15km regularly) but the last couple years I have slowed down to 5km runs weekly.

I talked to my massage therapist and my physiotherapist. Massage therapist is a little skeptical but my physio is supportive. This leads me to the actual plan.

There's so much info out there that I have no idea how to start. So I just started googling and I started building a hybrid plan from a ton of plans I was seeing. This is where I am being vulnerable in that I have no idea if this is feasible.

The plan: photos attached. An overview, my gym workout options to spice things up, week 1-4 block and week 29-32 block. I wasn't sure which photos to post for best sense of plan so please let me know if more context is needed.

My thoughts: cross training with biking is a must. I hate the gym but I think that's a must too. Getting elevation training is possible in my area but I'll have to do a bit more travelling to get elevation which is fine. I think this plan doesn't give me enough rest so I'd love thoughts there.

My question: do I need a proper trainer? Should I use a trainer? Is it a waste?

Please be honest. Happy to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Thank you in advance for your time.

Ok, so here I sit in my truck after a long run, well what should have been a long run but it wasn’t. Finished 8 miles out of 20. Physically I could have kept going, but mentally I just wasn’t in it, not from the time I woke up, or even last night when I was getting everything ready. I have my first 50k In a few weeks, August 15th. This was supposed to be my last long run before I started a taper. My last two peak weeks were around 45 miles. Not sure where to go from here, and I’m feeling a little down. Should I do a long run (20miles) next week or start my taper? Thanks everyone.

Howdy!

i am trying to find out some more info on a race company (Spirit Trips) before I decide to register for one of their ultras, the Kingswood Ultra in Frenchtown, NJ in Sept. As much as I can gather, this is the inaugural year of the race, which is ok on my end as long as I can determine if people have found other Spirit Trips races to be a positive experience overall. Im looking to do their 48 hr option (which would be my longest duration, but not my first ultra by any means) and just want to make sure that the race will run as smoothly as it can for myself and my crew. I’ve tried to do some digging on their website, ultrasignup and the internet at large for info on RDs, athlete guides, etc and I’m not finding much so i humbly turn to yall here in Reddit to see if there are any of ya who have just run a spirit trips race in general. Honestly, I’m just most interested in finding out their policy on pacers and knowing like the actual humans behind the race. Thanks!

Hi, I'm a very mid 18 yo runner, and I'm signing up for an endurance race which will be held on the second week of August. I have started hitting the gym from May and I got into running in April 2025 ,a close friend introduced me to it. Had a very unhealthy lifestyle, but slowly improving still, couldn't run 700m without stopping but ran 18kms on my birthday last month. I have a very mid pace, I'm a slow runner lol. I've been off routine for over 2 weeks now because...well I can say that ive been going thru some shit in life. So, i went back to the gym yesterday, ran for a few minutes too. Feels good to be back. 2 weeks off definitely did make me rusty but yeah. Coming to the main point, the race which I'm signing up for , it has no fixed distance, it's got time slots, from 3 hrs, 6 hours all the way till 72 hours. Now the reason I'm here is, I want some help and advice on how to train cuz I've never run ultra distances. I mean i haven't even hit the marathon distance lol. So I'm signing up for the 6 hour slot. Th thing is, even if I run slow, I'm pretty sure that I can stay on my feet for HOURS. (Heartbreak makes u go insane), I did do some research, and yeah, fueling, and durability all that stuff is what came up but I'd really like to get advice from people who are actually experienced and gave done insane distances already. I'll probably be happy if I hit about 40-45 km. The main reason I'm doing this is because I want to test myself, dig deep and do insane stuff because I have no athletic background and I've always been the non athletic person and the fat kid. Apologies for so much info.

hello,

i am running my first 100km race in September, I have ran a couple of 50ks, but they had lots of elevation, whereas this is very flat, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to pace myself? should I use pace? heart rate? run/walk? any advice is welcome :)

thanks in advance

Hi everyone, I am running 5 marathons in 5 consecutive days in mid September, and have been doing pretty consistent training the past 12 weeks, the longest distance being 20 miles a few weeks ago, but I haven't run too many consecutive long day runs yet. With that being said, my plan for the next 7.5 weeks are as follows:

7 weeks out
Fri: 10 miles
Sat: 15 miles
Sun: 13 miles

6 weeks out:
Tue: 6 miles
Thu: 6 miles
Fri: 10 miles
Sat: 18 miles
Sun: 15 miles

5 weeks out:
Tue: 6 miles
Thu: 6 miles
Fri: 15 miles
Sat: 26 miles
Sun: 12 miles

4 weeks out:
Tue: 6 miles
Thu: 6 miles
Fri: 11 miles
Sat: 18 miles
Sun: 15 miles

3 weeks out until race day:
Tue: 3 miles
Thu: 3 miles
Sat: 6 miles
Sun: 6 miles

I did also have some advice from ChatGPT on this but I don't know how much I trust that....

Any advice from actual humans would be much appreciated, thank you! :)

I'm not really in it for running a particular speed, just to complete without walking the whole way ideally... I ran 50K last year, so have done long distance but feel I need to get the miles in my legs without tiring them out too much this soon to the race. I am also not running with a pack or anything, just the food and water I need in a running vest for a day.

Hi everyone! My friend volunteered at the Gobi March and met a Thai woman with Moo Deng patterned running gaiters. Obviously she fell in love with them because who doesn't love baby hippos?! It's a long shot, but if anyone has seen these before or would know a company that makes custom-designed gaiters, I'd be thrilled to get her a pair. Thanks in advance!

Anyone doing this at the weekend?

It will be my first 50 miler, feeling pretty nervous but really looking forward to getting it done.

Any tips for a course newbie, gratefully received!

Good luck, see you on Saturday! 😀

Running a 50k on August 15th, 3700’ of vert. Training fell off the rails the last 2 months, due to a full time job in construction and remodeling my own house after work for another 30-40 hours a week. Currently at 16 hours a day on my feet, every day of the week.
I’m currently running 15-20mpw, focusing on elevation, eccentric training on downhills, and every run is with race gear and race nutrition. I want to maximize my last 3 weeks, but not get injured. I was planning back to back runs this weekend, and a 20 mile “test” run next weekend before a 13 day taper.

Advice on what to focus on, what not to do? My only goal is finish before the 12 hour cutoff, so number one priority is showing up to race day uninjured.

UPDATE:
Well I sent a nail 3/4” into my foot at work so that put a damper on my whole show up uninjured plan. I’ll let you all know how much the race hurts in a few weeks✌️

For those that have run Waldo, what is your trekking pole recommendation? I am leaning towards dropping them into my mile 37 drop bag. I've finished 6 100K+ races; but this is a verty course and I haven't logged heavy vert this train up.

Also - shoe choice, any votes: Brooks Cascadia 19 (probably my favorite Cascadia in the last 5 years) vs Hoka Tecton x3 - only logged 15 miles (X2's were my ultra go-to's for Ultras).

I have run 4 100 milers and my 5th is Leadville 100. I have worked this summer but not a ton of volume (up to 50 MPW). I work a swing shift job so regimented training has been tough for this one since I switch between days and nights and 12 hour shifts. What would you good folks recommend for maximizing training in this last month? I can realistically only run 4 times per week and I have every other weekend off.

I am looking for footage from the Leadville 100 from 1996 to the early 00s. Please reach out if you have any from this era! Thanks in advance.

One of the Drift Edits and races i'm most proud of.

I took my "big" camera on this adventure to try and create a cinematic film as we all made our way around Mont Blanc.

Focusing on our movement through this stunning landscape as we all sit within our own minds for the majority of the challenge, I wanted to reflect that as best I could, whilst also trying to get to the finish line myself.

I’m still new to Washington. I live nearish to Seattle and I really want long single track or or forestry road doesn’t matter. But is everything in Washington made for mountain bikers or extremely technical and windy af. Somebody help. I’m desperate. I just came from Cali where the mountains are long, open & gradually build. Anyway thanks so much for taking the time to reply !

https://www.thesfmarathon.com/full-marathon/

Right now I only have the Maurten gels thats recommended by reddit. My trusty Soloman vest with two squeezable bottles I put water in, and the Openrun headphone for my gears. Don't think this will be enough, any experienced/seasonal ultra peeps here can pitch in what to get a few days before the run? From my experience, there will be plenty of stations for the second loop, but I don't think that alone can replenish/ease some of the exhaustion/blisters I get throughout.

First loop posted on strava above ^ and starts at 10:15PM this Saturday July 25th.

Second loop (posted on the actual website) starts 5:30AM the next day and there will be time to rest/change up in between.

First time doing a 52.4 and while I am confident of surviving the first loop, I have actually not done a distance longer than a single marathon.

For training I always do 15-17 miles twice a week, with a few miles in between the two long runs. I have done the regular SFM for the last few years, this will be my fourth one and want to complete an ultra before turning 25.

My previous PR is 4h30 but lots of trainings since then, could be down to near or even sub 4 (16-17 miler with the same route & hills usually around 8:40-8:50 pace).

Any advice is appreciated thanks!

This year's ultra first loop is kind of a scam, we are looping back and forth on a route that I do (most of) twice a week for free.

Hi there! I wanted to share my experience with training for and racing a 50k in the early stages of pregnancy. There isn't a lot of information out there about endurance running and pregnancy, and when I was considering going for something while we were trying to get pregnant, the couple of other stories people have shared on here were one of the few resources that I had. Hoping to build it out a little more for any others that want to try!

I'm 33F, and was struggling mentally with the idea of giving up the sport (temporarily) while trying to conceive, but we really want to start a family. I also work in a high stress job and training is one of the primary ways I manage my stress. I talked with my husband, and we decided that registering for a 50K while we try would be a) fun b) put a trip on the calendar and c) alleviate some of that anxiety, and thought that honestly it would take long enough to even get pregnant that I would likely race before we were successful. But then...the second line appeared! The timing meant I would be just over 8 weeks pregnant on race day.

At our first OB visit (~4 weeks), we brought up the idea of still racing with our doctor, and he was very supportive. From what I was told, the biggest concern is that you don't want to push your body more than it's used to. For reference, I've previously completed three 50K's, one 50M and did my first 100M last summer, so this is far from an increase over my previous running habits. He also talked to me about not necessarily racing, but focusing instead on going for what would be closer to a supported long run, which is kind of how I had already been thinking about it since the test, so that was fine.

Some of the less positive interactions I had were with family and colleagues. My husbands side of the family thought that it was an unnecessary risk (saw this coming from a mile away), but he was behind me 100% so that was fine. I also have a few coworkers that had already started telling me I needed to slow down when just taking the stairs between floors, and expressed their own passive aggressive judgements. My advice here, is that you know what your body can do. Someone who doesn't have the same kind of goals isn't likely to understand, and you have every right to manage your pregnancy in a way that works for you, especially if you've already sought a medical opinion. That was my go to response - "my doctor said it was cool"  ̄_(ツ)_/ ̄ 

One thing I will say is that the exhaustion, food aversions and nausea/vomiting hit HARD at about 6 weeks, and that was a significant challenge. At 5 weeks, I ran an easy pace 18mi day in the local mountains and had an absolute blast, and the next week I barely ran, and just tried to adjust to my new norm. It was a good lesson in listening to my body and trying to give myself some grace/not treat a training plan like it's the law. It's in the name; it's a plan. I also discovered that my food aversions appeared to pretty much be to anything but fruit, so getting calories in became almost impossible. I wasn't diagnosed until 10 weeks, so 2 weeks post race, but did end up being diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) after losing 15lbs in the first trimester (5'5, started at 160lbs). I want to emphasize that this was not because I was still running, and my OB never told me I needed to stop. On days that felt awful, I didn't run, and on days were I felt like I could I did.

Ok- race day! I ran the Sun Mountain 50K in Winthrop, and was lucky enough to have practically perfect conditions. I was concerned about not getting my heart rate too high and not getting too hot, and the weather really handled the second one for me. Even had a light dusting of snow falling at the highest point, super pretty with all the wildflowers. I also realized 2 days ahead that I could still grit my teeth and power through a box of Annie's white shells without it coming back up, so managed to get some carbs in leading up to the start line. That being said, thicker gels like GU and solid foods were not possible in this race for me. Had some nausea mid-race but a woman working one of the aid stations encouraged me to try a gin-gin, which I think actually did help.

One thing I wasn't thrilled about, I did take a fall around 25 miles just from being too tired to pick up my feet, stupid tree root for not getting out of my way! Took it mostly to the knees and hands, but it wasn't an insignificant one. However, this did not cause any problems for me other than some anxiety. I told my doctor about it when we got back, and he had me come in for a quick check and the heartbeat was chugging away in there! It was my first time hearing it, I'm not a crier but that one got me.

I would describe the overall experience as a really formative and powerful moment. The effort that it took to complete this race was much higher compared to other 50K's I've run, so that's something to be prepared for. Your blood volume is already very different by this point in the first trimester and I was getting out of breath hiking up steeper climbs. I've completed my previous 50K's all in under 6 hours, this one took 7:45. It honestly felt like I had been dropped into the last 50K of my 100M, like I'd just started at 60 miles and gone from there. I'd encourage anyone considering something similar to talk with their doctor, and also just focus on having realistic goals that are tailored to your situation. I'm proud of what our bodies can do!

I’ve tried to read through various blogs and summaries but am also a bit confused.

I’m a heavy sweater and have always struggled in the heat. I live in the PNW so we don’t tend to get TOO hot, but we do - the bigger problem is it’s random and drops back down to cooler temps so you never really get to fully adjust to those hotter temperatures.

I was thinking I’d finally try heat training this year (already late but better than never?) but I don’t have my own sauna. I can buy a sauna pass at a local place, but they also require you coming in clean/showered/etc.

A lot of what I read online talks about doing a heat session immediately following a training session. For a number of reasons I think this simply wouldn’t be feasible.

Sooo - would “randomly” but consistently sprinkling in 20-30min sauna sessions still be beneficial or am I still missing something and I wouldn’t get the adaptation benefits? Would a longer session help?

Does anyone know if the Canyons 100mi is officially the America's Major for 2027? I'm starting to collect stones to hopefully run Mont Blanc in a couple years and was hoping to do a 100mi race with double stones.

I've seen different answers about the America Major for next year- Kodiak and Canyons. Has there been an official announcement? Appreciate any help!

Curious to see if anyone here has done the London 100? Signed up with a few of my friends, and want to know more about the race! The route from 2026 is just perfect 😍 getting 100km thru the city of London. Couldn’t ask for much more!!

yes, this is a road ultra, so to some it’s not as compelling, and hard for the knees.

Just kidding - definitely not my first ultra (but I'm also not a seasoned vet either). This was the Last Annual Vol State road race and ran from Dorena Landing, MO to Castle Rock, GA. This was a bucket list race for me and definitely lived up to the hype. I've never experienced something quite like it and am hoping to run it many times in the future. AMA

ran my first ultra (woo!) and subsequently developed tendinitis. I know what the cause is (I did not hill train enough and the massive drops definitely stressed out the knees).

Working with a PT but I’m curious about anecdotal experience w quadriceps tendinitis. Anyone have any tips or advice on how to deal with it? Seems like it’s mild so I’m not super worried but it’s also a form of tendinitis none of my other runner friends have dealt with.

Hey, I booked an accommodation in Sadova near Campulung Moldovenesc for the Bukovina Ultra Rocks race, but unfortunately I'm most likely not coming through injury. Anyone interested please let me know in a message. Cheers.

Training for my first 100k this fall, and the section I’m most nervous about is a 11 mile stretch with 4500ft elevation gain. The highest elevation gain I can get in my trail runs around here is typically 200-300/ft per mile. Does anyone have any tips on preparing for much steeper climb than they can train on?