03/08/2024
I am often asked “How do you train for Ultra Marathon?”. As you can imagine, the answer to this is quite long winded, but the essence of what is required compared to shorter distance events such as Marathons remains the same. It all starts with overload to stress the body and elicit adaptations to cope with what is presented on race day. However, that’s where the similarity ends really. The main difference then comes from the vast amount of variability associated with hours/days in the wilderness, often in extreme temperature variations and at altitude.
So where do we start? We start with your goal race and work backwards to present day with a plan to train aerobic and lactate energy systems, moving toward the more specific training on volume, technical aspects such as climbing, descending, nutrition, poles, mental strength etc.
To give you an idea of volume (time) per week required to achieve a goal, 6hrs+ per week is required for a 50mile/100k Ultra and 9hrs+ is required for a 100mile Ultra.
It’s really not about the “longest run” but more about the cumulative time spent at the prescribed intensity. I use time as it is a much more useful metric for monitoring volume than distance due to the typical nature of the terrain and conditions associated with off road ultra marathons.
The training plans are specific to each athlete and my aim is to keep them as simple as possible and align with your life commitments.
All you need are the clothes you run in, a watch and a desire to succeed. I will do the rest.
If you feel you may like help to reach your goals I would be more than happy to speak to you. Please get in touch and we can have an initial consultation over the phone.
Andy
