Time… wouldn’t we all love to have more of it? This can be particularly true when we have a full-time job, family and social commitments and we decide to sign up for an ultra. We can start questioning whether signing up was such a smart idea after all, as it can seem nearly impossible to fit in the necessary training.
Before you even start training, it’s important to figure out a plan that will work for you and your busy life schedule. It might take some juggling and it might be demanding, but if your goal race means enough to you, you are best off committing to a plan.
The first things to note are the time frame you have to prepare for a race, and then any non-running commitments within that time frame. For example, if you know you have a work conference or a family wedding to attend, black out those dates right away. Then you need to factor in regular commitments, like taking your kids to their activities. Once again, black out those dates.
Once you have put those initial building blocks into your plan, then you are left with a clear picture of the time you have available to run. Whilst it can be tempting to start penciling in long runs and hill sessions, you should first step back and think what will be an enjoyable and sustainable amount to train. You will see far better results if you can consistently train three days a week rather than starting by running five days a week and soon dropping down to just once a week because you’ve crammed your schedule too full.
At this point, you may be panicking more than ever and questioning why you decided to do that ultra, but there is no need to worry. Now you can start getting creative with how you are going to find time to train. Maybe you typically drive the six miles to and from work every day—if you can run there and back even just one day a week, you have suddenly got 12 miles in without taking up too much extra time. If you can’t run both ways, maybe you can get a ride one way and run the other direction.
Equally, you might find small gaps, such as when your kids are at soccer practice, when you can squeeze in a short run around a nearby park, or jump on a treadmill for a few hill repeats. If you’ve fallen into an ultrarunner’s mindset, you might dismiss the idea of going for a 30-minute run, but if it’s that or nothing at all, then the training effect of those accumulated 30-minute runs will add up.
The busier your schedule is, the more important it is to include some quality sessions in your weekly training routine. With a busy schedule, you simply don’t have the room for junk miles and need to make the most of the distance you are able to run. After a long day at work, it might be tempting to just run easy for one hour, but to achieve your race goal, you might be better served to use that hour to do a 40-minute moderate-intensity hilly run, with a 10-minute warm up and cool down. It takes the same amount of time, but you will see bigger fitness gains with the more intense sessions rather than just easy miles.
Even if your only aim is to get to the finish line of your ultra, getting in some long runs (which are of course time-consuming) is essential, because they will build your endurance base. It is ideal if you can schedule those long runs into your diary weeks ahead of time. Once they are in your schedule, you will work harder to fit your other commitments around them.
Lastly, in training for an ultra when you have a busy schedule, it is vital that you have chosen a race that has meaning to you, so you will be prepared to dedicate yourself to training for it. Set yourself a countdown clock to remind yourself of the looming goal and post an inspirational photo from the race course on your fridge, so every day you are reminded why you are squeezing in those runs and working hard. You might ‘only’ get a finisher’s medal at the end, but it will have real meaning to you if you have trained in a smart and dedicated way around a busy schedule.