Ultra intervals

One of the best ways to practise your skills as an ultrarunner, and to get very race specific ultrarunning training, is by running ultra intervals. But what is it? And how should you do this type of training?

What are ultra intervals?

What are Ultra Intervals? Imagine running 10 km and then taking a shower, eating and drinking something, sitting down on the couch for a bit and updating your social media with how incredibly good you have been for training — just to change into your running clothes again and get out there for your next interval. Repeat this eight times during 24 hours and you have a classic ultra interval event. If you run all of the intervals during the 24 hours, it equals 80 km or 10 km every third hour. That’s almost 50 miles; so about half of a 100 miles race.

So called ultra intervals are an amazing way of training if you want to get good at running for a long period of time. Ultra intervals train not only your muscles and heart, but is also a type of training to help you deal with the mental obstacles that often occur during different types of time-consuming challenges — for example ultra races, triathlons or other events where you need some extra endurance. Ultra intervals are also a good opportunity to try out an energy plan that can then be used later on when it really matters. Ultra intervals are about running several long intervals. But if you speak to a regular runner about long intervals, their version is usually 1000 meters while an ultra interval often is 10 km.

Ultra intervals can be executed in many different ways — and one way that we recommend if you are not used to ultra running, is to switch some of the running intervals to for example cycling or yoga. You can also try running shorter distances every interval or use time as a measurement instead of distance and train 60 minutes at each interval. Another smart way of making the challenge a bit more gentle if you’re not used to it, is to simply do fewer intervals. Four to five intervals is enough for most people to feel really challenged!

Why?

So why do ultra intervals? Other than that it’s fun to try something completely crazy and extraordinary during 24 hours, we feel that the biggest advantage with ultra intervals is that you get to practice all of those things that are difficult with ultra running, but with less strain on the body. In our opinion, ultra intervals isn’t something that you primarily do to become a better and stronger runner physically (there are better ways to plan your training that strengthen the body in a safer and smarter way). No, ultra intervals are mainly a really good opportunity to practice the mental aspectn of running as well as your energy plan. These two aspects are present in all endurance sports and can often cause big problems if you don’t know how to deal with them correctly.

Managing your Energy

The opportunities you have to find out what you like (and can manage) to eat after 15 hours of exertion aren’t that many, but ultra intervals help with just that — without you having to force your body to run 15 hours in one go. Since you’re resting for such a short amount of time between the intervals, your body doesn’t have time to recover and the stress becomes very similar to what you would experience in a long ultra race. To encounter problems with energy intake is common. After a couple of intervals your body will find it difficult to digest food in a regular way, even if you have time to sit down and eat (and maybe rest for an hour after) before heading out there again.

Sleep deprivation

The lack of sleep will be obvious even if you manage to nap an hour here and there during these 24 hours. The muscles will begin to ache and feel stiff even though you ”only” did four intervals. But after four intervals you’ve been active for 10 hours and that is starting to take it’s toll.

Mental training

Most of all, you will at some point likely feel like quitting. There are few other times when it becomes tempting to discontinue such a physically straining activity, as from the couch at home. It feels so good to not move. Especially if you already ran 60 km today and think that that should be enough. Maybe you have a beer in the fridge and perhaps your significant other is waiting for you to stop this madness and come to bed with him/her. To put on cold and damp running clothes, check if the headlamp is fully charged and get your reflective vest out to — once again — go out and run in the dark, isn’t really tempting. But this is such amazing mental training! The experience of being strong enough not to fall for the temptation of giving up, is something that will stay with you for a long time. To know that you actually managed to complete the challenge will be like a secret power that you can use in other areas of life. You have created an experience of managing to move for many hours on end. This will come in handy when you’re standing on the starting line of your next ultra race.

We arrange Ultra Interval Challenge on a regular basis! Check out upcoming events at www.ultraintervalchallenge.com

Training for ultrarunning

How do you train to get ready for a long ultra?
Can you do Ultra Intervals indoors? YES — check out our article on indoor training!
Runstreak — is this a good way to train for ultra?