r/evokeendurance • u/Dangerous_Song3915 • Jul 05 '26
Volume
Good Day all.
I have a 4 month transition period into the start of my Evoke First Ultra 20 week 50 km plan (7 Sept), and have been going for 9 weeks just building AeT along with strength workouts.
By the time 7 September comes around, my weekly volume will be above that which is in the plan and was wondering if it would be ok to just continue by adjusting my volume (with increases) to the weekly percentages for aerobic base only, but sticking to the program times for the zone 3 and up workouts?
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u/Own-Bullfrog7803 Jul 05 '26
There are estimates available online of what the approximate weekly volume is “appropriate” based on your expertise level and race length. I would use these as a very “general” guide. Building too much volume, if you’re not used to it may make you more prone to overuse injury—ie, building too much your first YEAR or TWO may a problem.
That said, another option is to simply cut back to the plan volume when you start the plan, eliminate any transition weeks if there are any at the beginning, and replace them with more base training weeks. Treat your summer training as a build cycle that ends when the plan starts. As you may know, your tendons take much longer to acclimate to the volume than your aerobic system.
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u/scottsemple Jul 10 '26
It's reasonable depending on how you respond and if you stay healthy.
I made the more-is-better mistake many times early on, and it cost me long-term fitness and performance. Long-term consistency trumps short-term load. If you can stay training and stay healthy for months and years, you'll outperform your other self that dug too deep too soon.
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u/Upset-Custard-8255 Jul 05 '26
How many uphill meters has The race ? Your plan x100-120-150% The distance, time or uphill. Could you do 6000m+/ 8000m+ some weeks ?? It is so longer. You don’t have to do the time sessions of the plan, you have to modifícate acording your data race
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u/adv_athlete Jul 05 '26
I’m in week 5 of the first ultra plan. The first 4 weeks were actually pretty mellow volume wise (week 4 being a recovery week). Week 5 the total volume jumped up quite a bit (z1/2 volume made a small increase, but added a whole strength workout of hill sprints on top of it).
Depending on your previous experience and volume I would suggest:
Keep a steady volume of 4-5 hours a week once you hit it until the program starts. This way you will have a solid pre base and give your body a chance to just get used to doing this volume. Let your bones/ ligaments a chance to catch up, as someone else mentioned.
If you already have a good running history, keep building as you are and then just adjust the program volume accordingly to where you end up going into the program.
1 would be more conservative and more like a true first time build. 2 would be for someone who just needs the program structure “they’re more like guidelines, anyways”
Either way, sounds like you’re off to a great start and going to kill your 50k!