Following a blog posting that I read by fellow Running Bug blogger, RunDeeMc (love the name!) I thought I would share some of what I have pieced together in terms of planning for an ultramarathon.
Other than a real inclination to get out there and test yourself there are 4 main elements that I have identified on a personal level that are crucial to getting to the ultra finish line.
Just by way of a disclaimer, all of the following is based entirely on my own personal experience, that of a ‘plodder’ whose main aim is to finish. What works for me may not work for anyone or everyone else but my 4 main elements are sufficiently broad that they should be applicable to all in some way.
My 4 elements are as follows:
PMA (Positive Mental Attitude)
It stands to reason that you need to put the miles in to be properly prepared for an ultramarathon. If you are anything like me then you will have had a less than athletic past and, as such, your ultra progress will be down to sheer hard work, stubbornness and, as some of my friends and family would say, stupidity! It’s something that you will likely experience as an ultra runner – people do tend to think you are nuts, especially when it comes down to discussions of mileage, time spent training and injuries and niggles.
As I have found to my cost, you will not perform to the best of your ability if you turn up to an event having only run a fraction of the overall completion distance. I found this out at the 2011 D33, a 33 mile ultra. Up until the 18 mile point I was doing great and was looking at taking an hour off of my PB time from the 2010 D33. At mile 18, as the temperature crept up, my race fell apart and I barely improved on my 2010 time (5 minutes off). Coincidentally, in the run up to the race I had managed only 1 long run... of 18 miles! Retrospectively, hardly surprising that things did not go to plan!
Where I live is remarkably flat. As a non driver (I really should learn to drive!) I am limited by what surrounds me when it comes to training (other than those times where my wife and/or friends drive me to hillier surrounds). Despite logging some serious mileage in the run up to the 2010 Montane Highland Fling (53 miles along the lower portion of the West Highland Way), I was not training specifically enough for the course. Not only was the terrain often a lot rougher underfoot than I had trained on. It was also considerably hillier. As a result, again with unseasonably high temperatures, I found myself near to meltdown by the time I came down off of the main climb in the run (Conic Hill, approx 1150 feet). By mile 28 I was a DNF (Did Not Finish) - My first and to date only DNF but one that haunted me regardless. My training for the 2011 Montane Highland Fling involved a lot more specific hill training and, despite even warmer conditions, I came off of Conic Hill in a far better state and went on to complete the race.
A final word about training: Once you have built up a good base and have got the legs used to running long distances, don’t let all the hard work go to waste. Don’t kid yourself that your fitness will last the winter without a good helping hand along the way and, perhaps worst of all, don’t kid yourself that your endurance fitness will continue to hang around just because you are ‘still putting the miles in’ when your mileage is in fact as a result of lots and lots of short runs. Regardless of the weather/work/family/any other constraints, you need to find the time to get out there and keep up the long run endurance.
How do I know this? After the long hard slog of the 2010 ultra season, I ran the Loch Ness Marathon in October as my last race of the year and then, in the absence of a goal, lost direction! I am determined that I will not repeat this as the feeling of starting over is not one that I intend to repeat.
This aspect was made all the more difficult for me because I hate eating and running. On the one hand you need to avoid the situation where your stomach is overly full or sloshing around from having taken on too much fluid. However, you also need to eat and drink enough to keep you healthy and moving.
My first ultramarathon was the 2010 D33. When I crossed the line I had the most unusual feeling. You may have seen one of those cartoons where the character gets shot with a cannonball and it goes right through them, leaving them staring down at this huge space with the background showing through. That is the only possible way that I can describe how I felt. All I could feel was this vast expanse where my stomach was.
Emptying my bag it was all too clear what had contributed to this. I had an array of nutrition, mostly gels and bars, all of which had gone untouched! The only thing worse than not taking enough food with you is surely carrying it all around with you!
Since then I have made a point of working out a nutrition strategy, working out approximately what I should have taken onboard in terms of food and drink and by what stage in the race. If you are fortunate enough to be in a race that makes use of drop bags, it is advisable to spend some time planning what you will put in to each one.
I would also suggest putting in a variety of things as you just never know what you will want to eat and/or drink. Ultra forums are full of all kinds of strange drop bag contents. You will likely have a lot of waste, especially until you work out what works for you, but it is better to have an element of wastage than to have too little food and/or drink. Most drop stations will add whatever you leave to the large pile of whatever everyone else has left which is then a free for all to anyone arriving at that aid station. Occasionally you may even get a chance to reclaim the contents of your bag after the race has finished though this is can be a nightmare for organisers to sort out and, thus, is less frequent.
One thing I would suggest you steer clear of is banana sandwiches and especially when you have to make them the day before. Back in the 2010 Fling these were a staple of my drop bags and, I have to say, there is nothing more unattractive than a day old, warm, banana sandwich, especially when the banana is far from yellow! I certainly couldn’t stomach it on the day.
I have seen myself eating everything from small portions of pasta to salted boiled potatoes, energy bars, gels, fruit and nut trail mix and bananas.
Note that some people take on very little at the aid stations whereas others will pack in quite a lot of food. I now fall in to the latter category as, being of a lager build, I do find that I need to ‘feed my body’ and, since I adopted this approach, my enjoyment of events has improved considerably.
In terms of what you drink, I would suggest that you separate your salt intake from your fluid intake. You need to avoid hyponatremia (an electrolyte disturbance in which the sodium concentration in the serum is lower than normal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia). Particularly on hotter days or when your exertion levels are considerably higher than normal, it may be difficult to keep your body’s sodium concentration at a good level using drinks alone.
This happened to me at the 2010 Highland Fling. Conscious that I was sweating buckets because of exertion and heat, I was drinking more and more to stay hydrated. However, large amounts of water and/or sports drink will often not provide enough sodium to replace what has been lost through sweating. As I found that day, the huge fluid intake simply left me with a stomach that was sloshing around as I ran. After my D.N.F. I did some more research and, at this point, discovered Succeed S!Caps to help restore my body to balance. (http://www.succeedscaps.com/main_scaps.html) Using S!Caps, taking 1 S!Cap approximately every hour, let me focus on drinking an amount that felt comfortable for the conditions.
At this point I realise that the above has turned into something of an ultra read and, as such, I will save points 3 and 4 for my next posting.
Feel free to comment on everything and anything contained in this post. All comments and/or feedback welcome.
yeahhh! amazing! I was hoping you'd do this! looking forward to the second part!
Thanks. Had some random post planned but after reading your blog post this made far more sense. Hope some of it helps and if you have any questions just shout. If I don't know the answer I will ask one of my running friends :o)
really quick question- i'm planning to do the london ultra which is a 50km (31miles) run - thought i'd start low! what's the furthest i should run in training?
Wow, now that's a loaded question and one, that I am sure, will get a whole lot of different answers from different people... not much use as an answer I know! I will try my best to answer this and just say as I have said previously that what works for me might not work for others.
The first thing that I would suggest would be to consider having a look online for 50km training plans. This is a really popular distance, especially, it would seem, in the US & Canada. I get Trail Runner Magazine www.trailrunnermag.com/index.php sent over and it always seems to have a lot of 50k races in it.
That might be the best approach for a first ultra. However, if you are anything like me, training plans don't always appeal and/or might not fit in with your daily life. I would suggest that, even if you don't stick to one rigidly, it can at least give an idea of expected mileage and/or pacing.
I discussed the following with a couple of ultra running friends just to make sure that I didn't lead you totally astray on this one. I aim for completion rather than to win so therefore my training suggestions might differ considerably from someone who is looking to get a podium place!
I personally think that it is good to get some familiarity in the legs with the kind of distance that you are looking to achieve. This familiarity should, on the day, mean that it is not such a big ask of your body as you are not asking something entirely new of your body.
Whilst this is simply not possible for longer ultras, you may have the time required to run close to 50km. However, running 50km might still take the best part out of a day and, as such, is a huge ask.
Therefore, I would suggest that you take your overall weekly mileage into consideration. If you have a fairly high mileage Mon - Fri (assuming your long runs will be at the weekends), then you could get away with shorter long runs. If you only run 2-3 times Mon - Fri then I would suggest that you aim to up the mileage at the weekend with a sizeable long run.
All of this is of course time dependent. I tend to get up really early and hit the trail so that I am returning to 'normality' once everyone has been up for an hour or two, thereby reducing the time when I am M.I.A.
Another thing to consider is where you are at right now. If you have kept up the training between races then you might well find that aiming to cover something close to the distance is not that big an ask of your body and, as such, you might want to think about setting a time based goal instead of just aiming to complete. If you have, on the other hand, been running a bit less of late, then you should aim to build up the base level that you would have attained in the run up to your marathon.
Back to back runs are worth considering, running on a Saturday and then running a similar distance on the Sunday. As tough as these can be, they help to build up the mileage and can help to replicate the feeling of running the second half of a race, when the body and especially the legs are tired. I tend to start with back to back runs of 10 to 15 miles and to then up the distance to 20 miles over the space of a few weeks.
In doing this, I get used to running on tired legs and also get a decent overall weekly mileage without it taking over my week.
You should also consider what kind of a taper you are going to do. I find personally that the recommended 3 week taper doesn't work too well for me so finding out what does work for you is key to winding down your efforts just in time.
In all of this running, you should be practicing your hydration and nutrition, making sure that you eat and drink enough to keep you happy, health and moving forward. I found this aspect particularly tough, and found it to be quite different to running a marathon. I found that most people start snacking very early on (as early as 30 mins) and keep snacking very regularly, taking on board small amounts of food continually. As I found out to my cost, you don't want to leave this aspect too late as, by the time you do go to eat, your stomach has past being able to cope well with it and it makes the whole thing that bit more difficult.
Overall, just be careful not to overdo it and burn yourself out. This is the last thing that you want. Judge your performance and how you feel and, if necessary, adjust your expectations and training.
As lacking as this is in a single answer, I hope that it has provided some food for thought and helps in some way. Please let me know if this was any use and if it has raised any other questions.
J :o)
I will bite the bullet so to speak and just add what I would personally aim for if I was looking to run a 30 mile race. I would aim for a long run of around 25 miles, ideally 3 weeks prior to the date of the race. This may be supplemented by back to back 20 mile runs to get the legs used to the hammering they will get on the day :o)
thanks so much Jon! yes, i think to start with my aim will be to just finish the thing rather than go for times. I'm doing two long runs a week already so i will make those longer and carry on with my speed training, shorter runs and hill runs! thanks again for the comprehensive answer-it has really helped!
Hello. That's great, thanks for getting back to me. Best of luck for the run. Hopefully you will have a great day and will get the ultra bug. Just shout if there's anything else :o)
This might be of use to anyone considering a 50k race
www.trailrunevents.com/.../schedule-50k.asp
Hi Jonathan. I found your article very interesting. I'm a bit of a plodder runner myself. My best time for a HM is 2hrs 9mins. Would love to break the 2hr barrier but don't know if I ever will. I'm not really built for speed with short stubby legs. I've done a few HM's and am doing my first marathon in October. If that doesn't go too bad then I would like to consider doing an ultra. There is so much information out there though about training and nutrition its hard to know which is best.