Some honest thoughts about my trail race training.

My next race, The North Face Endurance Challenge 50K, is scheduled for April 9th, 2016.  Just a little over two months away.  This will be my third ultra trail race.  I have never really followed a training plan in the past for two reasons.

• I run mostly for the pure enjoyment of being out in nature, so it’s hard to stick to a plan when I’m exploring new areas.  I enter trail races for the opportunity to check out new areas, on a pre-planned path, in relatively short period of time.
• I typically run long distances, between 30-40 miles per week, just for fun.  When I have looked up training plans in the past, the sum of the weekly mileage really doesn’t change much from what I’m already doing.  Up until the last month prior to a race.  So I tend to ramp up my mileage and intensity one month before a race.

It’s time for a change. My goals are to start racing in different states with varied terrain.  This requires planning.  I’ve decided to use the 50k training plan from ultraladies.com.

So far, so good with the exception of this past weekend’s winter storm / blizzard.  Thanks for the snow, Jonas.