Wondering what is 50km to miles? You are not alone. There are a lot of athlete out there who are curious as to what is the proper amount of time needed to prepare for a 50 kilometer race. Welcome to rundreamachieve.com. I am glad you have made it here. 50 kilometers is 31 miles. It takes a great deal of time and effort to train properly for a race of this length. Yes, you need to build your endurance.
That being said, you also have to also focus on speed development and improving your lactate tolerance. There are many people who can go out and run easy for a number of miles or kilometers. There are far fewer who can run fast over 50km. I have created 16 week 50k training plans built for athletes seeking to run fast over 31 miles.
Perhaps you are mot focused on middle distance running. Well, we have just about everything here at RDA for that as well. My goal with this post is to share with you some tips and strategies I have learned from over 30 years in the sport. I want more of my visitors working smarter rather than just hard. We all have been taught to work hard in this life. How come some people use leverage and others do not.
How can a PhD or MD be six figures in debt and be forced to work the rest of their lives. In comparison, a high school drop out is making more in a month than the PhD or MD makes in a year? Someone is using leverage and someone is not, respectfully. So, in order to use leverage with any topic you need to study what the best to do be as successful as they are.
What Does 50 KM Mean in Miles?
The exact distance for 50 kilometers is 31.07 miles. I only did one 50km run in my career and that was a 31 miler I did in 3:02:05 (5:54 mile pace) while training for the 2011 Monumental Indianapolis marathon. I finished in 5th place overall with my second fastest marathon time of 2:26:43. My personal best is 2:19:35. So, I understand what it takes to run fast at longer distances like the 50km race. You have to improve your ability to burn fat at race pace. Yes, you still burn fat also while running slow.
That being said, you have to learn to use what you have more of, fat storage, when you race. In addition, conserve what you have far less of, carbohydrates. Again, 50km to miles comes out to 31.07 miles. So, run longer but also faster. Also, always alternate a faster, varied place long run one weekend with an easy recovery long run the next.
Runners hit the so-called wall for various reasons. One of them is simply they run out of glycogen stores. Of course, improper pacing, dehydration and mental fatigue are other reasons for hitting “the wall”. That being said, if you start running a higher percentage of your weekly miles faster than your goal race pace you will succeed. So, you don't have to experience the “wall”. What you need to do is train at faster paces. In addition, watch your pacing in the early stages of your races. You don't want to go out too hard and then pay for it later. It is much better to be conservative early and aggressive when it counts.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PRIVATE, MEMBERSHIP COMMUNITYWhat is a 50km Race Called?
People searching for 50km to miles also want to know what a race of this length is called. Races that are anything further than a marathon are called ultramarathons. I have only run a few of these in my 30 year running career. I never raced one but did several 27, 28, 30 and 31 mile long runs preparing for my marathons. Nutrition also plays a significant role in your training. So, protein intake is vital to ensure your muscles are recovering. In addition, how well are you paying attention to hydration during your long runs?
I write that because many long distance runners are not ingesting sufficient fluids and calories during their races. 50km to miles comes out to 31.07 miles. How can you cover that distance in the fastest manner possible? Train far below your goal race pace and often. I would recommend training at, near or far below your goal pace around 40 percent of your weekly mileage. Of course, this will take time to build into. So, be patient and follow our 16 week 50k training plans here at rundreamachieve.com
Remember, we are talking about 50km here, not a 5K or 10K. yes, you may be able to get away with drinking fluids in the shorter races but not these long races. Again, you have to pay attention to and study what the best middle to long distance runners are doing. They are not sipping but drinking in their races. We have 3 choices in this life, be average, good or great. It is up to use to decide how truly great we want to be. I am a firm believer in doing faster long runs as well. That being said, I am equally focused on recovery and ensuring my athletes are jogging on easy days.
Is 30 Miles an Ultra Marathon?
Yes, a 30 miler is an ultramarathon. 30 miles or 48 kilometers is much further than the marathon (26.2 miles). The good news is training for an ultramarathon is not that much different than training for a marathon. Again, it is only about 5 miles further than the marathon distance. So, the training you do is very similar to what marathoners do. Of course, if you are training for a 50 or 100-mile ultramarathon there may be some differences. Yes, there are runners who race and find enjoyment running that far.
50km to miles comes out to 31.07 miles. So, you have to have the mindset of a professional athlete and be as consistent as you can to succeed. Again, we can be average, good or great. It is entirely up to our daily actions how great we aim to be.
The main focus when it comes to training for ultramarathons is to first build your aerobic base. We cannot start our specific training phase until we first lay the foundation. You have to strengthen the body's muscles, joints and ligaments with easy running. Of course, I do recommend doing 100 meter strides 2 to 3 times a week during your easy days. These are not all out sprints but the last 20 meters of the strides should be.
Strides are great to work on acceleration, form and forcing you to stay relaxed at submaximal efforts. So, you should gradually increase the effort of your strides until you are sprinting all out in about the last 20 meters of your 100-meter stride.
What is the Average Pace for an Ultramarathon?
The average pace per mile for ultramarathon athletes hovers around 13 minutes. The world record for men for the 50km event is 2 hours 42 minutes and 7 seconds by South African Ketema Negasa set 23 May 2021. The world record for females is 2 hours 59 minutes and 4 seconds set by American Des Linden.
She hit the marathon point in 2:31:12 to give you an idea of just how fast she was running. In fact, she held 5:47 per mile for the entire 31.07 miles. 50km to miles? There is your answer. Des Linden and other great runners like her have trained a high percentage of their weekly volume far below goal marathon race pace.
These runners are also running longer tempo runs. I teach this concept in the running courses, interact with our running community and include it in our training plans. Runners that follow my philosophy are getting results to. Why? Well, they are spending more time training at their anaerobic threshold. In addition, are working once per week training at their vo2 max. Your vo2max is your maximum oxygen uptake.
You are working at or around 100 percent of your maximum heart rate at these types of efforts. For example, doing 16x400m repeats on the track or 10x1000m on the roads. We can only spend a few seconds to minutes at these types of efforts before we have to stop.
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The reason being is because we are building up more lactic acid than we can clear. So, we do have to take breaks between harder intervals. No, ultra marathons are not unhealthy. That being said, you do have to be smart. Again, it goes back to work smarter rather than harder. So, you have to pay attention to recovery in preparing for longer races. For example, taking ice and/or epsom salt baths.
Also, hydrating well before, during and after your long runs. You also need to get plenty of sleep as well. I would recommend a minimum of 8 hours per night if you can. Again, all of the benefits of the hard training that you are doing is going to come within the rest period.
So, if you keep pushing you body too hard too often then it becomes unhealthy. The legitimate results come from working hard and then allowing sufficient time in order to recover from that work. I hope that makes sense. It comes to doing quality work versus just running long and slow every day. Remember, most runners have time goals in mind. Perhaps, you want to run 50km in 5 hours or under 4 hours. If so, you have to train in such a way as to get that goal pace to feel easier.
Closing Thoughts
So, 50km to miles is 31.07 miles. How fast you run those miles is going to be up to how you prepare. I recommend subscribing to the RunDreamAchieve YouTube channel. I create new training videos each week geared around topics that can help yield my athletes better results. Lastly, pay attention to your muscle tension when you are in training and racing. Your fascial muscles usually tense up first.
So, make sure you are telling yourself to stay calm and in control when doing your workouts or in the race. There is no need to waste any mental or physical energy when it comes to racing.
Let your competition be up tight and nervous the morning of the race, not you. Make training the most difficult part of your race preparation. There should be nothing in the race you competition can throw at you that you haven't already experienced in training. They will test you with surges in your races. I promise that if you follow the advice I briefly shared with you that you will be able to sustain pace longer than they can, respectfully.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your race successes. Make sure to click on any of the green buttons within this post to learn more about RunDreamAchieve resources. Our goal is to get you to succeed in your chosen event whether the 400m or 50km road race.
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