Looking for a bit of advice from anyone who has competed in long distance trail events.
My wife has run a few half marathons and a full marathon (comfortably under 4 hours) so she is super fit.
For some unknown reason which denies common sense, she began talking about an ultra marathon (56 km), and later found one which is a trail run/walk.
She has proposed we walk it together but I'm fairly hesitant. I have not done a half or full marathon (either walking or running), but have excellent walking fitness. Walking (not running) I comfortably go from Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty summit under 40 minutes, so I feel in quite fit.
Has anyone else on this forum competed in such an event?
Injury wise, I have a sore knee after extended walks >2 hours but it's ligament/tendon stiffness, not joint/bone pain. I think it would be wise to go to a sports physio clinic where they record your gait and replay it super slow-mo to make sure it's perfect, and see if I need to work on changing anything to avoid injury. I can't really afford to do a training or event injury, because I won't be able to work with any sort of leg/foot injury.
I can walk fast - well over 7km/hr comfortably, but don't think I could keep this up on a rough trail (with significant and continual up and down). My heart rate sits on about 120-130 when I walk really fast, is it acceptable to have my heart rate at that sort of level for 9-11 hours continually?
Has anyone else on bushwalk.com completed a big distance event like this for the first time, and how did it go?
I'm hesitant to say the least, but it's important to my other half and I'd like to do it with her if it would make her happy. The other issue will be time - with full time shift work (which involves a lot of travel) and two kids under four at home, I think we will struggle to manage the time for preparation.
Any advice/sharing of experiences would be appreciated.