Training for ultrarunning

When you start training for ultrarunning, there’s more to consider than just bumping up your training volume. There are some general advice that can be applied to anyone training for ultrarunning, or to anyone trying to become a better ultrarunner. It doesn’t matter if you’re an experienced endurance athlete or a beginner runner, you need to learn some basics.

General advice when training for ultrarunning

RUN SLOW

An important change in comparison with how you’ve been training earlier is to make sure that your tempo is slow enough. Running shouldn’t hurt nor be particularly exhausting, perhaps a 10-12 (very easy to easy) on a 20-step scale. This means that you are holding an easy “talking tempo” (i.e. you are able to talk whilst running), but still breathing somewhat faster in contrast to when you are walking or sitting still.

If you would like to train using a pulse watch (heartrate monitor), this can be of great help to find a low intensity level of training.

RUN ON TRAILS & SOFT SURFACES

We recommend that as many of your running sessions as possible are done on uneven surfaces, preferably in a terrain setting. This applies to long runs, short runs and tempo runs. Everything that is not asphalt is okay - the best would be trails, or why not entirely trail-free in the middle of the forest? Beware - the running tempo per minute will be much lower here than it would have been if you were running on asphalt, but that is how it should be. It is the level of effort that is the important thing here, not how many kilometers you are able to run on a certain time.

ALTERNATE BETWEEN RUNNING AND WALKING

To alternate between running and walking practically gives you the same endurance effect as just running. When training for ultra, it is the level of effort and the time you are out and moving that counts, and alternating between walking/running is much kinder to your body and even helps you to recover quicker.

During each session it’s a great idea to alternate between running and walking. In reality, there are actually not many people who are able to run 100 k in a row without having to walk a single time. The reality is that most of us have to walk from time to time (e.g. to be the most energy efficient in an uphill, to be able to eat and to get a mental break). So you might as well incorporate walking breaks into your training plan already from the start!

REGISTER YOUR TRAINING

If you are not already doing so, it is also important that you start registering your training.

Another good idea is to get yourself a physical notebook or diary where you can write down important reflections and ideas that you come up with during your training. We know that thoughts around goals and visualization techniques tend to appear when you’re least expecting it, and that’s why there needs to be a place where you can collect this invaluable material. Training for ultra is much more than just time on feet!

Training for ultra — FOCUS ON TIME

Try to view your training in terms of time spent and level of effort, rather than maintaining a certain average tempo. For example, if you’re running on an uphill, you will not be logging that many kilometers on your watch, and the average tempo will be quite low. Looking at it from this perspective, an uphill session like this one might not look like a lot of fun on paper when you see that you’ve only run 2 km in 40 minutes - even if the level of effort was quite high. The same goes for running in tough terrain with a lot of jumping over roots and rocks - the average tempo will be low, but the level of effort will be just enough. These are two examples of really good and efficient training that will give you a higher effect and better result than if you would have used the same time to run a session on roads.

For many of us, this means a huge change in the way we perceive what constitutes a good training and what doesn’t – so be prepared that it will take some time to adjust to this type of thinking.

Recovery is essential

Recovery is important both in training and after an ultramarathon. We’ve written an article on how to recover faster after an ultramarathon. This is essential — recover fast and you can train more!

STOP PAUSING YOUR WATCH

If you are used to training with a sports watch or an app on your smartphone, you might also be used to pausing your watch every now and then. We’re specifically referring to those times when you stop at a red light, stop to answer the phone or to tie your shoe laces. This is a habit you need to stop with immediately! This has a lot to do with how we think when it comes to level of effort and time - and it is important for mainly one reason.

Hear this – your training sessions will be very misleading if you are constantly pausing your watch. No matter if you’re training heart rate based or not, nothing will be correct if you’ve added a couple of “resting minutes” of standing still without registering these. You will have a lower average heart rate for the session, and it will feel a lot easier since you’ve added pauses every now and then without registering them. And later, looking back at these sessions you might have forgotten about all the breaks you took, and you think that for coming sessions you are automatically supposed to be able to maintain the same level of effort even without the breaks (which, naturally, will be misleading).

So for this very reason, you need to start telling yourself that it’s okay that your typical 10 k run may take 1 hours and 15 minutes instead of 55 minutes. It’s good that you are out for a longer time (in the same way that it’s good that you are alternating between running and walking), because now we are training for being able to be out for a very long time. We do not even recommend that you pause your watch while taking a longer snack break during a long run, because this is also time that counts as training. As long as the break isn’t longer than ~30 minutes, the body will not go into rest mode. In this sense, we are firm in our belief that even the break is included in the concept of “training.”

You will discover that training for ultrarunning is much more fun when you stop focusing on counting miles or kilometers and always trying to better your splits. Running, whether it’s ultrarunning or regular long-distance running, is a way of life and a philosophy, rather than just another way to get fit! Let’s start training together!