Long run before the Ultra

Ultra may be a misnomer for the 25K run, but it is still ultra for me - it would be the longest run ever. RFL, the organizers of Bangalore Ultra 2008, organizes training runs every other week and this was the last one before the ultra at Belandur. It is a trail and road 8.4K out and back route, with a bit of gradient on the road.

I had done this earlier once(just one lap), but didn't quite like the trail for some reason, especially the road part of it. You also have to cross a railway track, which was really scary for me. However, this time the goal was Ultra preparation, so the track didn't really matter. Being one who follows Galloway to the letter, plan was to run 25K. Galloway recommends running long runs with the same or more distance as the race distance, in this case 25K. The idea here is to familiarize the body to the same distance before the race. But the difference between this long run and the race is that the long runs are run 2min slower than the targetted race pace. But for me everything is a long run because I don't have targets for the races yet.

I completed two laps in 2h20m and felt pretty strong, especially the knee, which usually gives up within 2 hours. I used a 2min run - 2min walk this time, which seem to fit well for the long runs. I wasn't sure if I should the the third lap because I was the last guy and the organizers would have to wait for me and I wasn't sure of the knee as well. It went well for another 4K before it became a bit tough. So I walked most of it, especially the gradient up. I also skipped the last 1K because it was getting tougher. I completed in 3h30m, about 24K, longest distance and time ever! 

But I was happy that the knee strength has improved since the last half marathon and I need to work more on the knee than the runs before the ultra. I was also wearing a new shoe and it looked pretty good as well.  Also Galloway's advice on doing runs(slower but) as long as the race or more seems to be pretty good one - I would have known my problems with my knee long before the Kavery Trail Marathon for sure!