There are few general rules floating around that coaches often use to judge whether someone is ready to start training for a 50 miler. Pushing too hard too soon is a recipe for injury. Most 50-mile training plans are either 16 or 20 weeks long but don’t go thinking you can jump up off the couch with no base fitness, train for 20 weeks, and be good to go. How long does it take to prepare for a 50-mile run? Running 50 miles is going to be hard, but building your mental toughness will make sure you get through, no matter what race day throws at you. Train yourself to always believe you’ve got another ounce of fuel in the tank and it’ll be there when you need it most. How did you feel? What kept you going? What kind of things did you tell yourself at that moment? You’re going to have lows at some point during a 50 mile run so every bad training run is an opportunity to practice getting through those lows. I don’t mean on purpose, but when you have a bad run look at it as something to learn from. As my favorite comic book dad says, “Go do something you hate. Are you totally exhausted after being up all night with your toddler and it’s pouring rain? Perfect. Here are some of my favorite ways to developing mental toughness while training: Go for a run when you REALLY don’t want to. Thankfully, you can develop your mental toughness like any other muscle, it just takes practice. If the idea of voluntarily entering a ‘pain cave’ just made you recoil in fear, you might have a harder time adapting to the mental demands of ultrarunning.
If you’re used to pushing your physical and mental boundaries, the pain cave of ultrarunning will be familiar territory for you. Mental toughness is a huge factor in how your first 50-mile run will go and how hard it feels. There’s an old saying in the ultra running community: “Ultrarunning is 90% mental and the rest is in your head.” It’s easy to roll your eyes at this (I mean, obviously there’s some level of physical fitness needed too), but it does highlight the fact that physical fitness alone is not going to get you to the finish line of an ultra. Ok, ok, I get, you’ve made up your mind! Now let’s make sure you’re as ready as you can be. You want to earn the title of ultrarunner with your unbounded badassery. You want to see the look of awe on people’s faces when you tell them you ran for 6+ hours on Saturday morning. While the peons out there are acting like their marathon training is the most extreme thing in the world, you want to casually drop, “oh yeah, 26.2 miles? I did 27 on my long run last weekend.” Being a little different is the first step to running a 50 miler. I can only assume that means you’re a little different from most people, but I’ve got some good news for you. And yet, here you are, looking for advice on running 50 miles.
A daily commute of 50 miles? No, thank you. Preparing to complete a 50 mile run is a big deal.
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