Training info request for 26.2 mile trail race

I have signed up for the Dupont Forest trail marathon in October up in Brevard NC.

Can anyone offer some advice for training / web sites for a trail marathons? Should I just do a
standard marathon schedule and throw in some additional hills and trail practice? Im told that the
trail runs are much more difficult due to the fact that you can't 'zone out' and cruise because you
have to place each foot to avoid roots, rocks etc. Im having some trouble tracking down info b/c
most of the trail running sites seem to focus on ultra's, and this is just 26.2 miles.... so I don't
want to go overboard with an ultra schedule or under train with a standard marathon program....

I have been running 20-25 a week since November after finishing IMF.... there are 25 weeks to go
until the race, I have run 3 marathons, not including IMF.

Thanks in advance for any direction!

brian charlotte, nc

 

Brian, The course description only says "several rolling climbs" so without knowing more, it's hard
to recommend anything specific. But in general your standard marathon training, mileage wise, should
be sufficient (assuming it's been sufficient in the past) but do most of your long runs as well as a
weekly tempo on trails similar to what the course will be like if possible. A good rule of thumb is
that a hilly trail marathon will take about an hour longer than a normal marathon. So with this in
mind, train to drink and eat more than you would for a normal marathon (if you've done an IM this
should not be difficult) and practice climbing/power walking if you think you'll be doing it in the
race. You do have to pay more attention on trails but you'll find you're less beat up afterwards.
Good luck!

- The Trailrunner

"Brian Drake" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I have signed up for the Dupont Forest trail marathon in October up in Brevard NC.
>
> Can anyone offer some advice for training / web sites for a trail marathons? Should I just do a
> standard marathon schedule and throw in some additional hills and trail practice? Im told that the
> trail runs are much more difficult due to the fact that you can't 'zone out' and cruise because
> you have to place each foot to avoid roots, rocks etc. Im having some trouble tracking down info
> b/c most of the trail running sites seem to focus on ultra's, and this is just 26.2 miles.... so I
> don't want to go overboard with an ultra schedule or under train with a standard marathon
> program....
>
> I have been running 20-25 a week since November after finishing IMF.... there are 25 weeks to go
> until the race, I have run 3 marathons, not including IMF.
>
> Thanks in advance for any direction!
>
> brian charlotte, nc

 

Brian Drake wrote:
>
> I have signed up for the Dupont Forest trail marathon in October up in Brevard NC.
>
> Can anyone offer some advice for training / web sites for a trail marathons?

I haven't done anything that long yet, but run primarily on trails. Besides what The Trailrunner has
already said, one big difference in trail training is that people usually (not always) do runs in
terms of duration (time) and effort or type of run (easy, tempo, fartleks, etc) rather than pace
(min/mile) since trail distances, including races, are frequently approximate. Don't get hung up on
details but focus on specificity.

Im told that the trail runs are much more
> difficult

Depends on your definition of difficult Slower than flat paved course
- most likely yes; but a lot more interesting and as The Trailrunner said, won't beat you up as
much, in most cases. Trail runs do tend to have more variable surfaces and more and steeper hills
than road runs, but not always.

Depending upon how strong your feet and ankles are and whether they are used to twisting, you might
want to take it easy for your first few trail runs until lower limbs adjust to variable surfaces.
But it would depend a lot on how gnarly the trail is or isn't and what you are used to.

If you're still looking for information on the course itself or additional comments besides what you
get here, you might ask at http://rwforums.rodale.com/forum.jsp?forum=35 I didn't find Dupont Forest
in a google search of r.r or the RW forums. But the RW trail and ultra forum (trail runs of any
length) does have people from SE US, maybe even NC.

It looks like it has frequent aid stations so you may not have to deal with carrying fluids.

But most importantly, have fun! and keep us posted.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

 

Brian Drake wrote:
>
> Can anyone offer some advice for training / web sites for a trail marathons?

I know a trail marathon is not an ultra in the pure definition but check out http://run100s.com/
There is a lot of good training data with lots of questions you probably forgot to ask. Besides,
once you do a train thon and find out how much more fun and less physically destructive, you will up
in distance.

--
Caveat Lector "the further you go outside, the further you go inside" - B. McKibben Doug Freese
[email protected]

 

Kevin Sayer's Ultra running site: http://www.fred.net/ultrunr/

I've done 50Ms, 50Kms, (no 100s yet) etc - his site was a good place to start. Once you get the
notion that it isn't a road race out of the way, very long trail runs can be a blast....

All the best