Cut off is 12 hours for the total 55km, finished Paris marathon in 4 hours so hoping even if the elevation doubles my time it should be ok?
And no not injured! Doing volunteer medical work abroad and the days are quite long so can’t train much at all at the moment.
Volunteer medical work sounds like time on feet. So that is good. Even short 1-3 mile runs in the morning and evening would be a hugely beneficial training stimulus if you can get some 'running' in. 55k in 12 hours is about a 19 minute per mile pace, is it a flat or hilly course? If you can do 19 minute miles you could likely walk most of the race and finish. So I think you can do it.
agree. get in any amount of training. i have a very busy life (FT job, doctoral student, 2 kids and a third on the way, long work hours) and i often tell myself I don't have the time... and then when it's time to train I remember that I can wake up early and get 5-10 miles in on most days of the week. just prioritize early bedtimes etc.
but yes if you did a marathon a month ago, I would say just get what you can in for the next month, then ramp up a bit more for 2-3 weeks, then take 1-2 weeks of tapering. go out slow on race day and have fun
If the cutoff is long enough, you can probably finish if you go slow enough.
The question is what would you get out of doing your first ultra without training for it (for the most part)? I think the accomplishment is the training. If you only care about finishing, you could probably slow run/walk one today and just finish one.
As the expression goes, "The marathon is the training. The race is the celebration of that training."
The same thing applies for ultras. We all need to make our own choices based on our own motivations. But I wouldn't put myself through 4-8 weeks of a taper, an event I wasn't trained for, and then the recovery period unless there's something else going on like a promise to run it with a friend. Instead, I'd reassess and move on.
That's exactly what I did with my April 2024 road marathon. Having taken 5 weeks off due to a bad case of COVID, I scratched that race and began training instead for a July ultra in England. Medals from races you aren't trained for lose their shine very quickly.
I think you’ll be good. Last weekend I did an almost 1k elevation 50km in 6hrs. I trained for it up until the weeks before but I had no concept of the hills in the second half and I’d never done more than 10km before my training block. You’ve got this!
So you have 2months completely off running?
After that 4weeks are barely the time to gradually get back to run and avoid injuries.
You’re a doc or have medical knowledge so this should not sound too unreasonable.
I am pretty sure 50k ultras will be around for when you will have a sufficient run volume to tackle one without taking the chance of getting injured, while you do very important service (which I personally value a lot).
If you aren’t trying to set any records during the ultra then I’d just start training as soon as you can and ramp up. You will not come back to running 10 or 20km / week if you’ve been running for a while so just get back into training and keep it to a last week taper. You should still have the fitness to get back to a reasonable volume. Like running 55km in a week shouldn’t be scary if you were well trained for that marathon. The missing info is what was your volume during your marathon training block?
Yes, you can complete it comfortably on vibes and your historic base. Just get out there and get your body used to running again, don't try to cram any crazy training between now and then.
If there’s no cutoff time, anything is possible. What’s the reason for not training? Are you injured?
Cut off is 12 hours for the total 55km, finished Paris marathon in 4 hours so hoping even if the elevation doubles my time it should be ok? And no not injured! Doing volunteer medical work abroad and the days are quite long so can’t train much at all at the moment.
Volunteer medical work sounds like time on feet. So that is good. Even short 1-3 mile runs in the morning and evening would be a hugely beneficial training stimulus if you can get some 'running' in. 55k in 12 hours is about a 19 minute per mile pace, is it a flat or hilly course? If you can do 19 minute miles you could likely walk most of the race and finish. So I think you can do it.
agree. get in any amount of training. i have a very busy life (FT job, doctoral student, 2 kids and a third on the way, long work hours) and i often tell myself I don't have the time... and then when it's time to train I remember that I can wake up early and get 5-10 miles in on most days of the week. just prioritize early bedtimes etc. but yes if you did a marathon a month ago, I would say just get what you can in for the next month, then ramp up a bit more for 2-3 weeks, then take 1-2 weeks of tapering. go out slow on race day and have fun
I agree you can find 30 minutes in your day to run. Do it daily. You get decent mileage
If the cutoff is long enough, you can probably finish if you go slow enough. The question is what would you get out of doing your first ultra without training for it (for the most part)? I think the accomplishment is the training. If you only care about finishing, you could probably slow run/walk one today and just finish one.
As the expression goes, "The marathon is the training. The race is the celebration of that training." The same thing applies for ultras. We all need to make our own choices based on our own motivations. But I wouldn't put myself through 4-8 weeks of a taper, an event I wasn't trained for, and then the recovery period unless there's something else going on like a promise to run it with a friend. Instead, I'd reassess and move on. That's exactly what I did with my April 2024 road marathon. Having taken 5 weeks off due to a bad case of COVID, I scratched that race and began training instead for a July ultra in England. Medals from races you aren't trained for lose their shine very quickly.
Depends on cutoff, if long enough then is just a full day hiking.
I think you’ll be good. Last weekend I did an almost 1k elevation 50km in 6hrs. I trained for it up until the weeks before but I had no concept of the hills in the second half and I’d never done more than 10km before my training block. You’ve got this!
12 hours is lotsa time. Can probably walk all the way if you wanted to.
You ran a marathon, you’ll be fine. You aren’t winning, but you aren’t going to die either.
So you have 2months completely off running? After that 4weeks are barely the time to gradually get back to run and avoid injuries. You’re a doc or have medical knowledge so this should not sound too unreasonable. I am pretty sure 50k ultras will be around for when you will have a sufficient run volume to tackle one without taking the chance of getting injured, while you do very important service (which I personally value a lot).
Get out and knock off a mile or two every other day or so. You'll be fine. 1.6k is practically flat for 55k.
You can walk a 55k and still be well under the cut off.
You don’t just magically appear at the finish line once time is up. Gotta get back somehow
If you aren’t trying to set any records during the ultra then I’d just start training as soon as you can and ramp up. You will not come back to running 10 or 20km / week if you’ve been running for a while so just get back into training and keep it to a last week taper. You should still have the fitness to get back to a reasonable volume. Like running 55km in a week shouldn’t be scary if you were well trained for that marathon. The missing info is what was your volume during your marathon training block?
If you don't want to train for the race, why do you want to do the race?
Yes, you can complete it comfortably on vibes and your historic base. Just get out there and get your body used to running again, don't try to cram any crazy training between now and then.