Am I too late!?

[mariaconaghan]

Hi there
Was out with my club this morning enjoying the blue skies when one of the guys mentioned this race. I've just checked out your webpage and I am (probably very stupidly) interested!!! Not sure though if I've left it too late?

I run with a club in liverpool and and would say I'm reasonably fit. Did Paris marathon last year in 3.11 not around that just now but we are gradually upping our miles on the the sunday runs. Did 15 today - a long way off 53 but do you think it would be stupid to give this a go this year or hold off!?

Look forward to any advice

Maria

[Tim]

Hi Maria, of course you're not too late! ;D

Your past performance shows that you have a very decent pair of legs and lungs but you may lack a bit of experience when it comes to the long runs. That said, with a bit of change to your training, I'm sure you could do the Fling.

There's nothing magical about ultra running (although don't tell anyone that), you just need to change the emphasis of your training a bit. If it's your first ultra I wouldn't worry too much about your speed but you need to work a bit more on your long runs.

There are as many training regimes as there are ultra runners so I'm hesitant to offer specific advice but getting a good long run in every couple of weeks won't do you any harm. You don't need to do mega mileage (many runners doing the full WHW don't do more than 50 miles per week peak) but you do need to spend some time working on nutrition & hydration which is crucially important for ultra distance running.

Do as much of your training on trails as you can and remember that walking up hills is perfectly normal in trail ultra races!

Go on, get your entry in, you won't regret it.