I'm a week out from my first ultra marathon and deep into taper. After months of training, I'm feeling prepared, confident, and surprisingly calm, with all of my gear, nutrition, and race-day plans ready to go by the front door. Instead of chasing a specific finish time, I'm focused on controlling my effort, staying on top of my fueling and hydration, and enjoying the experience. Thanks to everyone who has followed my training and offered encouragement and advice, and I can't wait to share how the race goes in the next episode.

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Chapters

• 00:02 - Introduction to the Journey of an Ultra Marathon Runner
• 00:14 - Final Preparations for the Race
• 01:46 - Preparing for the Race: Goals and Mindset
• 02:38 - Preparing for a New Challenge
• 03:08 - Reflections on the Journey
• 03:36 - Preparing for the Ultra: Insights and Reflections

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Well, hey y'.

All.

Welcome to Mama Runs and Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s, training for my very first ultra marathon.

And this podcast is me saying all the things out loud of what the hell am I thinking?

Well, we are down to the final week and much to my surprise, I have thoroughly enjoyed all of this.

I was worried about what my marathon friends refer to as taper crazies, but my taper has only been a shorter one and we still maintained the kind of like hills and stuff as I was previously doing, which would be my intensity portion of my workouts.

But just cut back on the volume and I am feeling great.

So obviously hopeful that that continues, but I've been packed for my race for two or three weeks at this point.

Everything is ready to go.

I don't have anything else to gather up.

I have pre measured all of my liquid hydration.

I have already laid out and stuck everything in all the pockets for my gels.

I have everything that needs to be in the refrigerator already ready to go and packaged and labeled and in a container.

And all I have to do is stick it in the cooler when we're read to head out the door.

So I'm feeling extremely prepared.

I have a couple friends coming in from out of state who are also running the race and I am just beyond excited that they're going to be there.

I kind of can't believe they're coming on this way to do the event and they have so much depth of ultra running experience and it just means a lot to have them there.

So really excited about what's about to go down.

I don't have a ton of thoughts or concerns or worries at this point.

I've done what I can.

I did all my training, I shared with y' all all the things that have been making me worried about it and I'm just feeling good, like I'm not anywhere near as nervous as I usually am for a half marathon where I get myself all wound up.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the goals for this race were train well, come to the start line healthy, have fun, and finish in one piece.

So, like those are reasonable goals and that is what we aimed for.

I was not trying to bite off more than I can chew.

I was not trying to aim for any sort of particular time.

I do have like a, I would say it's like a two hour window guesstimate for my finish time and that is more so I can take enough fuel with me and have enough to top off at the aid stations.

It isn't really a pacing thing and it is solely based on the training that I have been doing.

It is not attempting to go any faster than what I have been doing in training.

That's not where we are.

I've never done anywhere near this kind of mileage before, so it would be ridiculous to try to push any sort of pace when I don't even know if I can do this.

So I do have like a day of plan approach.

I wouldn't want to call it like a race day plan because it's.

It.

I mean, I guess it is.

It's just so different from what I've done in the past for half marathons.

Like, you know, when I'm training for like a road race, there's.

There's, you know, certain mileage you intend to hit every 5k or so.

This is just not that at all.

The goals for the day are things like every 45 minutes, hitting my carb target every 45 minutes, making sure I have consumed the amount of liquid that we planned for me to have.

So what I've been trading with all along, nothing new on race day, all of that sort of stuff.

But so the plans are around that sort of thing.

Not about pacing.

It's about effort and fuel and liquid and just keep moving forward.

All that good stuff.

So real, real short one today.

And gosh, I guess next time I'll be talking to y', all.

I will have done it.

Kind of crazy.

Can't believe we're here already.

Before I dive in to the next episode, I just want to thank everybody now who's been along for the ride with Mama Runs and Ultra.

Several of y' all have messaged throughout the course of this podcast with some really helpful tips and advice, and I appreciate it deeply.

As I've said all along, I don't have any personal friends who are anywhere near my age who have done this sort of thing before.

So I didn't have any real frame of reference for how to do some of these things.

Some big details, little details, thought process, all of it.

And it's just been a really great experience.

So I appreciate it.

I hope that if you are finding this podcast years from now, it is still something that is helpful to you if you are also looking to do your first Ultra, especially if you are a newbie who is well into your 50s and beyond.

Off to elevate my legs and chill.

Cuz yes, it is taper week with Mama Friends and Ultra.