Also there were only 10 people in the event. Let’s not get a big head Nick.
But still. 52 miles. I did it. And I won. And it was one of the coolest days of my life.
Why did I even sign up for this?
Triathlon is my main thing. That’s the goal. Getting better at swimming, biking, and running and eventually becoming a legit age grouper. So signing up for a 52 mile run wasn’t exactly part of the plan.
But I wanted to know what I was capable of. And a 50k just didn’t seem like… enough of a jump into the unknown. So I skipped it entirely and went straight to 52 miles without ever having done a 50k.
That probably says something about me.
How I trained for it (without blowing up my triathlon training)
The whole prep was built around one idea: run slower, run more.
I came off the Philly marathon on November 23rd, took a week easy with some light swimming and bike rides, and then started building. The ultra-specific approach was simple — increase mileage week over week, and the only way to do that without getting hurt was to keep everything zone 2. I basically just locked in a 10-minute pace and stayed there.
December was actually pretty bike-heavy. I was doing VO2 sessions, sweet spot and threshold work on the bike because again… triathlon is the long game. Running was just back-to-back long runs on weekends. 12 and 6 to start. Nothing crazy. Just building the habit.
January is when things stacked up. A deload week mid-month (I was visiting a friend, perfect timing), then back into it with a ~50 mile week, then my biggest week at about 60 miles. That week included a marathon on Saturday and 8 miles the next day. That Sunday run was rough. I knew I was close to the edge so instead of pushing further, I started a mini taper.
Three weeks out: 18 + 7 on the weekend, started doing pace work at 8:30/mile — that was my goal race pace. Two weeks out: about 30 miles, some race pace mixed in. Final week: just staying loose.
I kept some intensity on the swim and bike through the taper because that’s just who I am right now. If I was purely focused on the ultra I would’ve backed way off. But I’m optimizing for triathlon too, so… tradeoffs.
Full Training Plan
Here’s the actual training plan if you want to see every session:
Race week
Three days out I was stretched on the floor looking like a disaster filming myself for the vlog. Body was tight. Running felt mid. I wasn’t visualizing the race the way I normally do before events — honestly because thinking about it made me anxious.
I signed up for a 52 mile run having never done a 50k. I was scared. And I think that’s supposed to happen.
You just can’t fully prepare for your first ultra. You don’t know what you don’t know. The only thing you can control is that you’ll get back up and keep going no matter what.
My dad came out to crew for me. He’s been my number one supporter for all of this stuff and I’m really grateful for that.
Race day
The first 15 miles were honestly uneventful. I was between 8:00 and 8:30 per mile, felt strong, felt fine. Not trying to flex — it just wasn’t hard. Two minute sunscreen stop and back out for loop two.
By the end of the second loop I started feeling the fatigue. But I sat down, got back up, and felt okay again for a while. Somewhere around mile 31 I crossed the furthest I’d ever run in my life. That felt like something.
(Also don’t trust a fart after 30 miles. That’s all I’ll say about that.)
Then around mile 35 my left calf started talking to me. It wasn’t pulling, but it was giving me a clear warning that it would. So I slowed down. This is just for fun. I’m not trying to be the greatest ultramarathoner in the world… not yet. I switched to a heel strike to take my calf out of the equation and just jogged it out from there.
The last 10 miles were a lot of stopping to stretch my calves and my quads basically stopped working entirely. But I kept moving.
My dad ran the last stretch with me. I crossed the finish line and physically my legs were done. But mentally I was completely clear — which surprised me. No stomach issues. Fueling held up the whole time. And I just felt… grateful. Really genuinely grateful to have a body that can do stuff like this.
9 hours. 52 miles.
What I took away from it
I knew I could push through discomfort. I just didn’t know how durable I actually was. Now I have a much better picture of that — and I know the gaps. More strength work, more leg durability, and if I were doing a real focused ultra build I’d drop a ton of the bike volume.
The other thing that surprised me was how fast 9 hours went. A 2-hour long run on the weekend can feel like forever. But this felt like a time warp. Kind of meditative honestly. Hours of just moving at a pace you can sustain, staying in the moment, not really thinking about anything else.
I’ll definitely do more of these. And eventually we’re going to do a 100 miler. That’s the goal.
Do something that scares you.
Questions about training or race day? Drop them in the comments.
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