interested in doing Badwater and becoming youngest finisher of soloultra 146
Sat, 02/26/2011 - 22:23
#1
Hello all. I am an 18 year old from Canada and have been interested for a few years in running Badwater. Before you think I am crazy, I have been running races since I have been 8 years old and i have been on a track team for the past few years. I know this is very different from an ultra marathon but I think it is a goal I really have a shot at.
What do I need to do to get this whole process underway?
and just a sidenote on training :P ive been ramping up my mileage weekly to prepare to train for this...what kind of weekly mileage do you guys do?
thanks,
Scott
Whitney Summit Member
Scott,
You're probably no more crazy than the rest of us. Basically, what you need to do is train for high mileage, train for heat, and train some on hills. There's a bit of homework to be done to learn the skills for taking care of yourself out there. Best thing is to read everything you can find and talk to everyone you can find who had run the course. You need to find a crew. Then you set a date and make room reservations for yourself and the crew. You collect all the gear you need. And then you run.
John and I will be glad to help in any way that we can, if you decide you want to go for it. What sort of weekly mileage have you been running in the past couple months? How long are your long runs? I think mileage is sort of personal--different people run this on a wide variety of mileage. Your training plan will depend very much on what your specific goals are. But just to give you an idea, I don't think I ever ran much more than 60 miles per week in training for this--usually less. Some people run much more, some people much less. The important thing is to figure out what works best for you. Just keep in mind that mileage is only one piece of the puzzle.
Hope this helps a little.
Marcia Rasmussen
2003, 2006 - BW Crew
2005, 2006, 2007 - Solo Crossing
Best time - 46:20