OK OK. 50K.

It’s been years since I signed up for a race I had to train for.

I did the Marine Corps Marathon and the Philly Marathon and didn’t train a lick. This was a terrible move. I was hobbling and cursing myself for weeks. I swore I wouldn’t sign up for a race until I could commit to training for it.

And I really wasn’t planning on signing up for anything this year. But a whole host of people I love are running various distances at Chesterfield Gorge the end of May and it finally just seemed like I might as well too.

This time I want it to be different though. This time I want to know I’ve done everything I can to ensure my body doesn’t get injured and that I can finish happy and strong.

I’ve got 14 weeks (I’m docking myself a week, as I’m getting my ass handed to me by whatever nasty cold is walloping the nearby population) and the first step is picking some reasonable training plan as a guidepost. I’m not planning to stick to the letter of the law, but I need help as it’s been a long time.

I was slowly building a nice base when I tweaked my knee, which has healed now, but I feel like I’m essentially starting from scratch.

Nick said he’d help me look at a couple options. Here are a few of the sites I found:

50K Training Plan - MapMyRun I love this one, a collab w UnderArmour as it gives strength, recovery, stability exercises too. What I’m not sold on is the mileage and rest. Respectively, it seems low and there seems to be a lot of rest days in there.

David Roche’s article in TrailRunner Mag This one’s more tailored to an ultra over 50K but I like the mileage here better.

How to Train for your First 50K Not quite a training plan, but a good jumping off point with some ideas, esp for long run approach.

I’m leaning towards a mix of the two — taking the multifaceted nature of the top one and mixing the long-run approach of the bottom two.

And just like that, I’m getting excited.