50 Mile Pacing

My goal for AR50 is to embrace the 3/2 run/walk right from beginning and hopefully keep the same pace throughout the event. Based on Ultra running analysis of 24 hour track runners I pulled from some of the early 1980's Ultrarunning magazines I snagged on Ebay, they claim that slow and steady wins the race. Don Choi and other 24 hour legends used to bake in their walks immediately and keep a remarkably consistent pace for the entire 24 hours, only slowing down at the every end, if at all. I got the idea of 3/2 from one of these articles and I am going to see how it plays on AR50. It sounds extremely conservative to many I have talked to, but as the following analysis shows, you can follow this and finish well in the top 50% of the race. It would be possible to break 9 hours using this strategy and that time is very respectable. The following link has great advice on how to finish your first 50.



My main goal is to finish. However, I have secondary goals of breaking 11 hours and then a stretch goal of breaking 10. I will stick to the 3/2 throughout the whole run, however, and avoid any early surges because I am "feeling great", knowing how these can sabotage you later on. I am learning to love the walk/run methodology as the miles seem to fly by. I can eat really well during the two minute walking periods, plus I dont get really fatigued. One downside might be that their is an over-engineered mechanical side to this that might take one away from the flow that comes from the runners high. Will find out if I feel like a cog on a wheel after 40 miles, and if this really can work for the entire race. My long run is only 27 miles so far to this point.

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