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How do you train for an ultra marathon?
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Good luck running rodent and Mike. I'm so nervous. x
Hi Kathy123! Good advice so far and I'd agree with Ben and say the nutrition part is crucial. Practice eating real food while doing your LSRs. At first I had trouble even with gels, but now I can happily munch away on just about anything while running along. Good thing about ultras is you're going slower so your body finds digesting easier than it would be on faster runs, but you still have to practice to get used to it. I got funny looks yesterday on the Lakeland Trails marathon for tearing ravenously into a huge messy triple decker jam sandwich while everybody else was sucking on gels.
Training-wise I don't really have a sensible structured plan. I just enter loads of marathons and treat them as training runs. Also I practice running when tired, which could mean running the 12 miles home from work after a 10 hour nightshift, or doing hard interval sessions the day after a long run. Later on in the year I'm doing a marathon and a half marathon on consecutive days, that sort of thing.
I think when you start to build up for ultras it's important to have a fairly easy week every 3rd or 4th week. A guy I know who does 100+ mile ultras does one super-long training run a month then takes the week after really easy.
RWD...i agree with you. Ruth, for ultras you need to learn to eat 'real' food to sustain you over the miles. gels are ok in between other things but after 30 or so miles you really start to get sick of them
..peanut butter sandwiches, fudge,pretzels are all good things to try. choc always works for me but that couldnt happen on my ultra last month as it was 28 degrees-would have been a tad messy!
i wouldnt say i stick to a training plan either ,just do runs when i want and make sure it includes some long ones especially in lead up to an event an use mara or HMs as training runs. and also find out what drinks are being used at your event beforehand. nothingworse than getting to checkpoints and finding its a drink you cant tolerate.
In terms of food.. as a bit of an experiment I ran 55 miles this weekend fuelled on beef jerky. It pretty much worked although I did sneak a couple of jelly babies (27 miles) and a half a mars bar (50 Miles).
I took a pork pie out on a long run a couple of weeks ago, it was genius and will become a regular fixture!
Loulabell... I think you need to embrace your inner ultra runner and start taking different foods out on your runs
you mean...like marmite sarnies?
and soup?
Marmite?!?!... lets not be silly Loulabell this is a serious discussion!
yes sir, sorry sir
....and im getting confused with all these ultra threads
im going home to our wannabe one.....*waits for bus back to Wannbe Road*
a guy i got chatting to at the compton 20/40 who was an experianced ultra runner said he always had ham sandwiches and those pots of rice pudding on his long runs , he said he,d had so many gels over the years he couldn,t stomach them anymore
i like rice pudding for breakfast before runs..i got ed up with porridge, and toast isnt enough. agree on gels, one is enough for me
Hi there
I am (with 4 friends) planning to do a sponsored run In march next year 80k over two days In malawi so it will be hot. I am looking for some training ideas and pre advice. the longest race I have done todate is 21k half marathons and the last was late last year. I have 8 weeks in the uk starting in a week and hope to use this to try and get my distance in prep for the vic falls half in august and then I wanted to continue training in prep for the 80k. There will be a few of us attempting this and we will have a back up car to follow and supply drinks enroute. I have been running for a couple of years but 10k is normally my prefered distance so this really is a step up.
we are planning to run early am around 40k on each day. I am totally clueless as to were to start so any help would be good...
Thanks in advance
Tina
I was manning a checkpoint on the West Highland Way race last weekend and I've never seen so many pots of rice pudding in my life! Also loads of cheese and pickle sandwiches, but most of those seemed to have been packed but left uneaten. My dogs had a feast of drop-bag leftovers that night!
A good thick honey and chunky peanut butter on wholmeal toast for a pre run brekkie ....YUM
Nak'd bars work for me, they are also called Trek bars.
http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/
They offer lots different flavours and ranges from protein flapjacks to cola flavoured raisins. They even do a gluten free variety. Far too many to list here.
Good solid bars for when you need something chunky and different size bars too. Work for me anyway
I'm old-fashioned: malt loaf, fig rolls, pretzels, Kendal mint cake. meant to take a vegetartian hotdog sausage wrapped in bread with me yesterday on my long run, but forgot - must try that during the next week as I think it would be a good savory option during NDW50 if my system likes it!
Loath rice pudding.
Peanut-butter-and-honey sandwich was my recovery food today!
rice pudding
yummmmyyyyyyy i want some at NDW
Yesterday I totally forewent gels, and only had one bottle of SIS PSP22 energy drink. My bladder was full of water, and I ate much more frequently than I have in the past - but all the food was natural (not necessarily healthy LOL) - the list was : dates, choc espresso beans, Loula's homemade flapjack, chocolate coated pretzels (amazing!!!) and a Jaffa cake...
The result was a lot better balance of energy, and only starting to feel hungry with about 2 miles to go (mostly because I had stopped eating quite so much over the last 4 or 5 miles as we were pacing it out a bit). I felt a lot better during the run, and a lot better after.
I've come to the conclusion that gels are definitely not for me - I seem to crash more after them, than the lift they give me... so, natural food it is from now on!