Why training for an ultra-marathon is so unique

1

Volume through frequency

Let's use an example. Let's say you have signed up to a circa 100 km UTMB mountain race. With marathon training, there is an old-school general rule that you build your long run up to about 30 minutes short of your expected time. Following this practice with an ultra would see you then need about 6 weeks' recovery.

That is why the approach must be about building resilience and fatigue resistance, rather than simply aerobic endurance. In practice, this means high-frequency, low-intensity training. One way to achieve that is double-run days, that is a run in the morning and a run in the evening, with at least 6 hours of recovery between.

To be clear, do not do this every day, and ensure both sessions are low intensity. Your plan should include high-intensity work, but that should be separate to the double days. Otherwise it's super simple: a short session in the morning, and a shorter session in the evening. I'd suggest building to a maximum of 1 hour in a peak-volume week for the morning run.

Start off doing this just once a week and, over the coming months, look to introduce one or two additional double-run days spaced out across the week. The obvious way to introduce this is running to work, if practical.

The goal of the high frequency, but not necessarily long duration, training is to build experience running on tired legs in a way that is sustainable over the length of your training build.

I mentioned planning in key weeks. For me this exercise in organisation is essential for any type of training plan, but especially for an ultra plan. Key weeks are where you lock in specific weeks in your calendar where training takes precedence. It might be a week off work, or it could be a conversation with the family that you need to be a bit selfish that week. Because they are locked in, key weeks are amazing for building the confidence that you will be ready for an event.

In ultra terms, this means selecting 4 to 6 carefully selected and separate weeks over the course of your training build, where you will significantly increase the week's overall volume. Most of that comes from the back-to-back long runs at the weekend. These satisfy a similar purpose to the double-run days, but obviously on a grander scale.

The key weeks and big weekends are also an essential opportunity to test kit and your fuelling approach. Outside of those weeks you will still steadily build, but it is those breakthrough weeks where you begin to feel things coming together.

2

Strength, once you are past the trained distance

Strength isn't something you hear too much talk of in the ultra world, other than the general acceptance that strength training is important to ultra athletes. However, strength training, in my opinion, should be an obsession for ultra runners. This is for one key reason. In an event, when you go beyond any trained distance, other factors than fitness begin to play an increasingly significant part in your ability to finish. Primary among them is the strength you have built, and the elevated ability to stay in one piece it brings.

I had a classic example of this, in a positive sense, with one of our ultra runners. He received a late entry to Marathon des Sables after another athlete unfortunately had to drop out. Whilst he was, and is, an accomplished runner, the 4 months we then had to prepare him for the toughest race of his life were not ideal. Particularly when others had been preparing, in a certain sense, for years.

Whilst we obviously did everything we could to prepare him in an endurance sense, we really focused on his strength training. The clearest evidence to me that our approach was successful was not just the fantastic result he had, but in the debrief he said something that really stuck with me. Whilst everyone else in his tent was dreading the big middle day, he was looking forward to it.

He was looking forward to it because he could see others falling apart, whilst he was holding strong, and that gave him enormous confidence he would make the hallowed finish line. He noted it was in the steep scrambling climbs that he noticed it the most, how much more physical strength he had than others around him.

3

Fuelling

There is currently a lot of hype around fuelling endurance events, which is great, because it is an area that can have such a big impact on an athlete's health, not just their performance. In ultra running, though, particularly in unassisted or weight-limited events, fuelling plans become nearly as important as the running.

In a recent UTMB mountain ultra, it was estimated that one of our athletes expended over 10,000 kcal completing a 100 km event in just under 24 hours. A gel contains something around 120 kcal. Could you imagine consuming about 83 gels in 24 hours?

Fuelling an ultra-marathon is about understanding your needs, not just from a pure fuelling perspective, but also from the perspective of what you can actually carry and realistically keep down. Food choice and variety is paramount. In a 24-hour event you need more than just carbs, and avoiding taste fatigue from too much sugar isn't just an inconvenience. It could contribute to a DNF if it impacts your motivation to eat, or to keep the food down.

It becomes a balancing act. You need a lot of carbohydrate. 100 to 120 g per hour is the current golden standard for those that have trained their gut for a marathon or Ironman, but for an ultra-marathon it is more important you can truly continue eating for 24 hours. That is where the key weeks I have mentioned above become so important. Not only do they build confidence, but they are the opportunity to try new foods and see what keeps taste fatigue at bay whilst giving you enough to burn.

4

Know your kit

I cannot overstate how important it is that you know your race kit like a loved one. Things will go wrong. It is inevitable in such a long event, and when you are sleep deprived, any actions need to be automatic, because your problem-solving skills will be severely diminished.

For me, I think most athletes find it easy to accept the training methodology and the need for a practised fuel plan. However, I find the need to practise with their kit is the harder nut to crack. Or perhaps, to put it more accurately, the will is there but sometimes life gets in the way, and it gets left too close to an event for the athlete to really know if what they have works, or is comfortable after 12 hours or more.

Invest in whatever you need early on. Train with it. Then put it through its paces properly in key back-to-back long-run weekends. Unfortunately, I have seen failure to do so really wreck what would otherwise be an epic result.

One 100 km

10,000 kcal

Estimated expenditure for one of our athletes, in just under 24 hours. At about 120 kcal a gel, that is roughly 83 gels. You are not going to eat that.