An inside look at my training for the 50 Miler

It will be a race like no other. 78 K's of up and down/hill climbing/water crossing adventure through the Seaton Trail. It is one of the most challenging yet breathtaking areas to run or walk in. Whereas road races have specific training programs geared to a specific time that you want to achieve, trail running is more about conquering the terrain as opposed to finishing in a specific time (at least it is for me).

I cannot extrapolate a road training program and make it work in the trails. Because of the weather, though, I've been forced to do most of my training on the roads. For my long runs, like yesterday, I purposely pick hilly routes so that my body can get adjusted to them.

Every two weeks I've been slowly increasing my long runs. It started at 20 K's and now I'm up to 36 K's. I will go as far as 50 K's for a training run and possibly 55 K but that's it. I want to save my body for the actual race.

What has forced me to be more disciplined is the fact that I have had to practice a different running strategy for my longer runs. In the past I've done everything from 10 minutes running and 1 minute walking (10 and 1's) to 20 minutes running and 1 minute walking (20 and 1's). For the trail race, however, I have been able to pick the brains of several accomplished ultra trail runners. They seem to agree that a running/walk combo of 20 minutes running and 5 minute walking has served them well. They also agree that it is important to walk every hill to conserve energy even if it comes before a scheduled walk break. The other lesson I've learned is that the really good trail runners are consistent throughout the race. They take that walk break even if they are feeling good.

Yesterday I practiced my own version of this for the very first time. It was difficult because some of the walk breaks came right as I was heading into a strong wind gust. I was not used to taking such long breaks so I developed my own run/walk strategy. As I was listening to my mp3 player I would run for 5 consecutive songs. This usually lasted anywhere from 18-22 minutes. Then I would walk for the entire length of the 6th song. Sometimes it would last 3 minutes, sometimes it would last 5minutes. I found this strategy very helpful.

Taking walk breaks when physically and mentally you want to run, is something that I'll need to practice. I know that when I'm actually doing the race I'll need to take several walk breaks as I'm anticipating a very challenging day. However, the practice that I'm doing now will only pay off for me during the race