First Time Ultra Runners

The “24 Hours of Adrenalin” was a popular mountain bike race that consisted of riding a technical course all day and night until 24 hours had elapsed. I’ll never forget a biker grinding to a halt near the timing table in the middle of the night. He was splattered with mud and thoroughly beat from negotiating miles of rocky trail. He got off his bike, shook his head and said, “This ain’t bowlin’.”

Trail running, road running, and ultra running are all forms of running, but trying to understand the differences between each type can be confusing. The important thing to remember with trail running is that it generally takes place in nature and away from developed areas.

Don’t miss the opportunities that fall brings. Being free from a formal training structure can be very liberating and should be unique to each athlete’s needs. Address areas that need attention, take the opportunity to connect with nature in ways that will be novel and revitalizing. Appreciate what your body has allowed you to do during the racing season but take the break you need.

As welcoming as the ultrarunning community is, there can still be a lot of intimidation related to the unknown for new-to-the-sport athletes. The following are a few specific tips for negotiating aid stations and may help you develop a successful race strategy come race day.

There is a wealth of information on ultrarunning nutrition, what to eat in training and how to consume calories during your race. But not a lot is mentioned about how to practice eating in a way that simulates a race environment and introduces your body to the stresses you’ll be experiencing. Here are a few ways to practice nutrition during training to better prep your gut for race day.

As we start to ramp up to race season, most trail and ultrarunners are increasing their training volume. Warm weather and long days beg for more time on the trails. This increased training load, in turn, can pose an increased risk of injury. Here are some helpful hints to stay injury-free for those who are new to the sport of trail and ultrarunning.

As ultrarunning becomes more popular, it’s imperative that we learn, follow, and share Leave No Trace (LNT) principles with our running buddies. There’s never an excuse to litter and we must continue to hold each other to these standards whether we’re in an urban park, a remote wilderness or at mile 85 of a 100-miler. Here are the seven basic tenets.

Ultrarunning is not easy on the body, but if you give it enough time to gradually adapt to the stresses, both the body and mind will deliver. Once you finish your first ultra and decide to keep at it, start to think about longevity. That can mean running fast for years, slow for years or taking time off for family, but coming back when time allows.

While running far, climbing mountains and moving for hours on end are keys to success for ultramarathons, we should not overlook the benefits of running faster as we traipse over the trails. There are basic drills and tactics which all trail and ultrarunners can deploy, even in the depths of winter, that have considerable benefits.

In 2015, I had just read “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall, where I learned that people run 100 miles at a time. While eating pizza and calling each other names? Professional runners. Not everyday parents that have ordinary office jobs. I put the book away, but the thought lingered. I could never run 100 miles, obviously. Or could I?

With a wise approach to layering, it’s possible to stay warm and dry and avoid concern for hypothermia or frostbite. Empower yourself to be confident, comfortable and safe in a wide range of weather conditions. Fine-tune your system using these basic suggestions as a starting point and test your layering tactics against whatever the elements deliver and enjoy what winter running has to offer.

The holidays are here. Is your wish list complete? For those of you who may be new to ultrarunning or are transitioning from a road background to the off-road scene, there are a few items that can help make the shift easier.

Now that you’ve made the decision to do this ultra marathon thing, how do you go about choosing your first 50k ultra running event? I reached out to some of my good friends across North America who are coaches, race directors and ultra running legends for their personal recommendations.

Compared to shorter ultras you may have completed, the 100-mile race is a strange and formidable beast and nothing like bowling. It’ll be harder than anything you’ve done before, so here are some ways to prepare and ensure your first hundo is a success.

Each mistake I make in an ultra teaches me something new and brings me a little farther than the last race. Let me list my mistakes and what they taught me, in the hopes that you can avoid making the same ones.

When you first signed up to be an ultrarunner, you know, at your local ultrarunning recruitment center at the mall, I hope you paid attention to the fine print on the contract. It said in no uncertain terms, “You are now obligated to do a whole sh** load of training.”

The 2017 CamelBak Pursuit Series wrapped up its two-event debut in September at Sanborn County Park, nestled in the redwood trees approximately 50 miles south of San Francisco. We enjoyed an inside look at the event and spent time with Golden Harper, founder of Altra Running, a company that was a major event sponsor and conducted a series of trail running clinics throughout the weekend.

Running your first ultramarathon is a great commitment to make to yourself. It’ll hurt you in ways that you didn’t know running could hurt you and it will force mental fortitude that you didn’t know you possessed.

Urban running on asphalt and concrete can be a beautiful and joyous experience. You just have to be a little careful out there.

It’s our mental strength that tells us to push harder and go farther past anything that we ever conceived imaginable

A regular program of LSD will certainly make you into an ultrarunner and get you ready to run the 50k, 50-mile or 100k distance, but the problem is that for many ultra courses, it will not be enough.

It was fitting to run my first ultramarathon in my college hometown of Athens, Ohio. After rain every day the week before the race, I knew this would be a challenging way to gain entrance into the ultramarathoner club.

At 1:14 a.m. in the Cuyamaca Mountains just outside of San Diego, California, a small lone headlamp headed toward the finish line of the Cuyamaca 100K Endurance Run.

I am a member of a special club. You pay the membership dues with grit, tenacity, stubbornness and courage. The members of my club understand each other on an unspoken level. We feel each other’s pain. We relish each other’s accomplishments. We know each other’s struggles. This club is called the Back-of-the-Packers.

Timed runs are kind of awesome. If you have not tried it, I would suggest doing so. Maybe they aren’t for everyone, but you might just be surprised. My first experience at a timed event I was totally sure I would hate it, and ended up very surprised.

Fail or succeed. But for the love of all things ultra – STOP making excuses!

Back in my day, I had to thumb through printed magazines to locate obscure little ultras and go to register with pen and paper and pay by check that I mailed FROM A POST OFFICE! I didn’t get no fancy tri-blend shirt, elevation tattoo, battery powered finisher buckle, or handcrafted microbrew!

Just because I don’t have a snowball’s chance of hell of ever winning an ultramarathon doesn’t mean that I don’t set goals for myself. In fact, I might set multiple goals for a single race. Or I may a single goal for an entire year’s time period. The point is, goals help you keep motivated to improve and give you a benchmark to evaluate your progress.

I have always loved being a student of the sport—reading, asking questions, trying new things and learning what worked for me. I have been fortunate to have had several coaches who helped fill in gaps in the complex puzzle we call ultrarunning. Your question gets me thinking about the one who did the most to make me the runner and coach I am. Here are 17 lessons I learned from my favorite coach.