Hello, I’m Alastair from Trail and Kale and welcome to my ULTIMATE guide on how to train for a 50k ultra marathon. This 50k training plan and race guide covers EVERYTHING you need to know about ultra marathon training and racing tactics.
This training and racing guide is packed full of trail running advice, including how to choose your target 50km race for your first ultra running race, how to create a personalized 50k training plan based on your chosen race, and I also provide downloadable PDF 50k Training Plans that you can follow.
I will be sharing a range of downloadable 50K Training Plans based on the length of the training plans (in weeks), and also different ones based on the elevation gain that your 50k race may have.
Being a trail race, these factors matter and this is why I provide specific training plans for your particular race scenario.
Sometimes within this guide I may also refer to the trail marathon distance too because I use a very similar training schedule and race tactics for both race distances, and let’s face it there’s “only” 8km difference between the two. ;).
I’ll also share how to train for your chosen race, the best trail running gear based on my reviews over the years, how to fuel while ultra marathon training and racing, how to avoid overtraining injuries, secret race tactics, and more!
This isn’t your average 50k training plan, this truly is my ULTIMATE guide to smashing your first 50k trail race with all the experience I have learned over the years – and I’m sharing some secrets you definitely won’t have read before!
If you prefer your 50k training plan advice in video form, then click here to visit the full ‘trail marathon / 50k training plan & racing guide’ playlist on my YouTube Channel, or watch the videos embedded below.
PLEASE NOTE that although I may be referring to trail marathon training specifically in this video series, all the advice and information is highly relevant to 50k ultra marathon training too as I employ the exact same training and racing methods.
The Ultimate 50k Training Plan: Table of Contents
How to choose your 50k race
Creating a personalized 50k training plan
Printable 50k Training Plans (.PDFs)
Choosing the best running gear for your race
How to fuel your body while training and racing
How to avoid overtraining running injuries
Race tactics to help you outsmart your competition
My proven ultra marathon recovery routine
Preparing for race day and managing startline nerves
Finish your race feeling strong and smiling! 🙂
Before getting into how to choose your race, I’d like to quickly let you know that I have a whole section called 'Mind Fuel', that focuses on running tips and thought provoking blog for curious minded runners.
My Mind Fuel category shares running tips and techniques on topics like how to run longer distances, improve running form, how to run faster, how and why to improve cadence, the importance of interval training, the best stretches for runners, and many more!
Check it out after reading this 50k training plan.
How to Choose A 50k Race And How Your Choice Will Dictate Your Training Plan
If you want to fully understand how to best choose a 50k training plan and execute it like an absolute boss, performing to the best of your ability, when race day arrives, it’s important to know the specifics of the trail race you’re training for.
Race metrics like elevation gain, elevation loss, altitude, terrain, climate/weather, and even the amount of people who will be in the race are all key performance indicators that can have a significant bearing on how you should be training for your first, or next 50k ultra marathon.
This information will therefore dictate what your 50k training plan should look like in terms of priorities and focus areas.
This phase of your 50k planning should be seen as a fun moment where you have the opportunity to commit yourself to something truly epic, fun, beautiful, unique, or all of the above rolled into one.
Choosing a Trail Marathon vs. 50k Ultramarathon
Most ultra runners, if asked, ‘What is an ultra marathon’ may give the response that ‘an ultra marathon is any distance longer than a marathon distance – so anything longer than 26.2 miles (42k)’. This is the technical definition of an ‘ultra marathon’.
However, once you get into long-distance trail and ultra running and you learn the secrets of how to run longer without getting tired, you realize that shorter ultra marathons, and even trail marathons, can be more ‘ultra’ than longer ultra-marathon distances.
Running a 50k distance is not significantly longer than running a marathon distance (roughly 8km or 5 miles), but earns a prize for being the shortest ultra marathon you can run and is, therefore, a very popular race distance for people wanting to run their first ultramarathon, because the distance is so often the most obvious metric to focus on when you’re setting your goals as a runner.
However, consider whether you want to run the longer race distance, or face a bigger challenge. I have run trail marathons and even 30k races in the mountains that are technically SIGNIFICANTLY more challenging than some 50k ultramarathons I have run.
That has been due to the other elements mentioned above, including being raced at altitude, having more significant elevation gain and loss to overcome, and being on more technical terrain that takes longer or requires more effort to run on. It’s worth thinking about!
Alastair at Lavaredo Ultra Trail
Here are some helpful resources for choosing a trail marathon or 50k trail race
The techniques and types of training runs in this 50k training plan should, in some ways, also apply to shorter 10km, 21km (half marathons), 30km races too.
The main differences will be the distances and ‘time-on-feet’ for each ultramarathon training run.
Ok, so as I mentioned above, your chosen 50k ultra marathon is going to determine your specific 50k training plan but there are some key ultra marathon training runs and goals that you need to think about hitting.
There is a way to make your training a little bit easier, and that’s by having a running partner, this could be one of your friends or even your spouse.
