Relentless Forward Progress_ A Guide to Running Ultramarathons - Bryon Powell [30]
Seven-day running weeks are best saved for those ramping up to 70 miles per week during peak training. Be aware running a 70-mile week in ultra training differs significantly from a 70-mile week in marathon training. The longer and more numerous long runs, backto-backs, and more time on feet counsels toward running the mileage in six days with a rest day. If a seven-day week is for you, I’d recommend modifying your training schedule per the six-day week suggestions in the preceding paragraph and then adding an additional 4 to 6 miles per week in the form of a Monday run.
There’s no need for someone following a 50-mile-per-week plan to run seven days each week. In fact, I highly recommend taking at least one day off every week, preferably Friday, as noted above.
Altering Weekly Mileage
Each of the training plans in this book is built around one of two peak training week mileage totals—50 or 70 miles per week. However, it’s possible to modify these training plans to provide for other desired peak weekly mileages so long as you follow a couple of key principles.
First, respect the long runs, as they are the basis of your ultra training. Don’t routinely cut them short or lengthen them. Similarly, leave any back-to-back long runs unaltered with the exception of very high-mileage runners, who may add a few miles to the shorter of the runs.
Second, add or subtract miles from your weekly totals relatively evenly throughout the training plan. For instance, it’s ill advised to run the prescribed mileage for week 1 though week 12 before suddenly adding an extra 10 or 15 miles to every week.
Third, aim to alternate harder and easier days on weekdays. Don’t simply add miles to your easy days until they resemble your hard days or subtract from your longer weekday runs until they look like your easy days. Training is based around stressing your body before letting it recover.
Finally, you should have significant experience if you intend to run 80 or more miles per week! Use your ingenuity and presumed training experience to log the extra miles, whether it’s by adding more miles to individual runs, running seven days per week, and/or running twice some days. It’s okay to log high mileage, but don’t overdo it. The easiest way to ruin ultramarathon performance is by overtraining.
It is possible to run a 50k or 50-mile on fewer than 50 miles per week. How to do so is explained in chapter 5.
Jumping into the Deep End: Starting Training Plans at Week 5
Experienced marathoners who have consistently trained at 50 miles per week or more, excluding recovery weeks and rest periods, over the past year may begin with week 5 in the provided training schedules. However, a few things need to align for that jump to make sense. Here are two scenarios in which I have no reservations with you proceeding directly to week 5. In one scenario, you ran a marathon (or a training run of similar length) four or so weeks before starting your ultra training. In the interim, you’ve taken time to recover, but have gradually returned to running regularly and comfortably logs two-thirds of your normal training volume by the week prior to starting the ultra training program. Alternatively, you’re already running maintenance mileage within 20 percent of your peak mileage with long runs of at least 16 miles every few weeks.
Preparatory Races
Unless you live in a hotbed of ultrarunning, you’re unlikely to find tune-up races that fit exactly into your training plan. Fortunately, there’s no need for that fit to be perfect. Tune-up races can usually be moved two or three weeks in either direction with little effect. In fact, you could run a prescribed tune-up race up to a month early, if absolutely necessary.
There are a