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Multi-Day Racing Strategies part 2

by Arpan DeAngelo

First Timers

It would be easier to run your first multi-day race in a timed race rather than a mileage race. A timed race would be a 48 hour, 6 day, ten day, etc. with no fixed mileage to reach. In these races there is less pressure to reach a certain mileage goal. Although you may have your own mileage goal in these races, your strategy would be based mostly on surviving the whole duration of the race.

If you want to average 50 miles a day, for example, you would split the day up into sections of time. You should decide on how much sleep you want to get at night, perhaps 4 to 5 hours sleep. That would give you about 19 hours left in the day if it is not a stage race. In those 19 hours you will need rest breaks as well. If you decide to take a 20 minute break every three hours, that would be another two hours of break time. That means you will be on the track only 17 hours if there are no problems. Then you can factor in a bit more time out for toilet stops, etc. Time in medical may also take away from the time on the track. So we can estimate about 16 hours on the track which means you need to cover a little over 3 miles an hour to reach your 50 mile per day goal. If your goal is higher, say 60 miles per day, then your will need almost 4 miles an hour if you take all the breaks and rest times.

This initial race strategy gives you the basic idea of how to structure your day and your mileage. Of course not everything may go as planned so you will be changing the schedule slightly as you go. But if you know in your mind the basic structure of each day, then you will better be able to run and/or walk with consistency while still getting your needed rest and recovery time.

Mileage Races 

In a mileage race, such as 700, 1,000, 1,300, or 3,100 mile races, you have to consider the amount of time allotted to cover the distance when you structure your day. Starting with the average daily mileage again, you subtract all the time needed to sleep and rest and eat, etc., and as before, you figure out how many miles per hour you must average. In this case with fixed mileage, you may have to average more per day than a timed race simply because you goal is to reach the final mileage destination. Consequently, this type of race will involve more pressure both physically and psychologically simply because you do not have as much freedom to arbitrarily choose your mileage for the day if you want to reach the goal.

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