It is ENTIRELY possible to train for and run fifty miles - er... well, if it isn't we're in big trouble! But in any case, if you're wondering how Ray and I trained, here's the short version: We got Mondays off. We ran shorter runs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We got Friday off. We ran long runs on Saturdays and Sundays.
How short is "shorter" - and how long is "long"? During our first week of training back in June, our short runs were 4 to 7 miles, and our long runs were 7 and 14 miles. After ups and downs in our training, we ran our hardest week at the beginning of October, with short runs of 4 to 6 miles (but it was supposed to be 10) and long runs of 26 miles (two back-to-back marathons on October 10 and 11).
And here's the long version, in case you were wondering. We compared the training plans we found online from the magazine Runner's World, runner Hal Higdon, and a web site called UltRunR. We decided on a combination of them, but built our plan on Hal Higdon's, for the most part.
So, what does that mean? Below you can find a chart of what we planned to do over 23 weeks (although it changed slightly in practice).
NOTE: While we didn't plan speekwork, we often tried to run the middle weekday run at a faster pace. Otherwise, we stuck to 9:00 to 11:00 minute miles for all of our training, and we tried to incorporate fast walking, too.
Week 1: 4, 7, 4, off, 7, 14, off = 36 miles
Week 2: 4, 7, 4, off, 7, 15, off = 37
Week 3: 4, 5, 4, off, 7, 11, off = 31
Week 4: 4, 8, 4, off, 7, 17, off = 40
Week 5: 5, 8, 5, off, 8, 18, off = 44
Week 6: 5, 5, 5, off, 8, 13, off = 36
Week 7: 6, 3, 6, off, 6, 20, off = 41
Week 8: 7, 3, 6, off, 7, 23, off = 46
Week 9: 7, 3, 6, off, 7, 24, off = 47
Week 10: 7, 4, 6, off, 10, 16, off = 43
Week 11: 4, 6, 6, off, 10, 18, off = 44
Week 12: 4, 6, 8, off, 10, 20, off = 48
Week 13: 4, 8, 6, off, 8, 10, off = 36
Week 14: 4, 8, 8, off, 20, 14, off = 54
Week 15: 4, 10, 8, off, 20, 16, off = 58
Week 16: 4, 10, 8, off, 18, 10, off = 50
Week 17: 4, 10, 6, off, 26, 26, off = 72
Week 18: 4, 4, 8, off, 10, 8, off = 34
Week 19: 4, 4, 8, off, 18, 16, off = 50
Week 20: 4, 7, 8, off, 10, 26, off = 53
Week 21: 4, 10, 8, off, 16, 10, off = 48
Week 22: off, 4, 6, 6, off, off, 10 = 26
Week 23: 6, 4, 3, 2, off = 15 and then 50!
Total planned miles: 991 plus 50
Total actual miles: about 850 plus (hopefully) 50
