50 Mile Training Plan

(As of June 11,2019) I’m on Week 5 of this 24 week training plan from Bryon Powell as published in his book “Relentless Forward Progress”. This is a total of 1266 miles between June and November (including the race).

My Strava numbers look a little low for weeks 2 & 3 because I went camping with my kids and frontloaded my long runs on Friday and made up for lower miles via hiking, swimming, canoeing, etc. I also ended up doing more miles in Week 4 because I did a race-specific long run during the week of the July 4th holiday. Overall, though, I’m feeling good and confident in my fitness for the 18 mile long run this week.

Race-Specific Training

While a lot of the training is just about putting in the miles and building up endurance, some of the training should focus on the specific attributes of the race. Some ultrarunners, like Kaci Lickteig, are able to train in flat Nebraska and then show up and place 3rd at the Western States 100. Most others train on similar terrain, comparable altitude, if not the actual course. Since I am close to the JFK 50 Mile race course, I have the luxury of being able to do some of the training on the actual course (which I did last week on the first Appalachian Trail segment). My goal is to have run the entire course in segments prior to the race.

Breaking down the JFK 50 Miler

I see the race breaking down into 4 major segments.

1-Boonsboro Road Start

(2.58miles, 583ft elevation)

The race starts in downtown Boonsboro, MD and quickly starts uphill on a road climb. While this should ameliorate the tendency to go out too fast, I feel like I should be able to run the climb (i.e. not walking this early in the race). So this means some hill training in my future. I’ve got a couple of good options right out my front door. Old Waterford Rd and Thomas Mill.

2-Appalachian Trail Section

(13.75 miles, 1,880ft elevation)

Arguably the toughest and most interesting part of the race is over South Mountain on the Appalachian Trail. I’ve run the first 7 miles of this, and it is steep rocky sustained technical running with nice level ridges mixed in. The southern half looks to be more level with a massive descent at Weverton cliffs down to Harpers Ferry.

I will need to run this entire segment through North to South, and may run the Northern half several more times. The goal here is to run the AT section efficiently without using all my energy. There will still be a long way to go from Harpers Ferry.

3-C&O Canal Trail

(26.2 miles, 125ft elevation)

Congratulations, you just ran over a mountain…now run a marathon! Thankfully this is nearly completely flat and I can train on the W&OD trail near my house. I will change into my Hoka Bondi 6 road shoes at Harpers Ferry. Even though this is technically a trail, it is a wide flat gravelly path.

4-Road Finish to Williamsport

(8.2 miles, 344ft elevation)

The race finishes as it starts on paved roads gaining 344 feet over rolling hills. There is no specific training for this except to JUST KEEP RUNNING!!!

Hopefully with the training plan, putting in the miles, and some race-specific training, I can finish the race before the 13 hour cut-off.