Running thread

Any ultra marathon trail runners on here? What's the furthest you have run? How do you train for ultras? Is it mainly down to natural talent?

I ran the Montane howgills half marathon last Sunday, which over 3000 feet of climbing. Brutal with gale force winds and sub zero temps on the summits. There was a full marathon on too. I noticed Montane also organise the lakeland 50 and 100 and the spine race. All seem beyond me. There is a more do able 21 mile circuit of ulswater though which might be one for the future.
 
Tommy_Catons_Perm said:
Any ultra marathon trail runners on here? What's the furthest you have run? How do you train for ultras? Is it mainly down to natural talent?

I ran the Montane howgills half marathon last Sunday, which over 3000 feet of climbing. Brutal with gale force winds and sub zero temps on the summits. There was a full marathon on too. I noticed Montane also organise the lakeland 50 and 100 and the spine race. All seem beyond me. There is a more do able 21 mile circuit of ulswater though which might be one for the future.
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Not really in a great place to give you advice at the moment mate, but all I will say is if you really want it and have soul you will get there, I've ran one ultra and shed loads of marathons, if you had asked me this question 12 months ago I would have said hard training is all you need, right now after a shit year and having just got my first dnf in a marathon I can honestly say having the fire in your heart is all you need, if you really want it then you can do it.x
 
Tommy_Catons_Perm said:
Any ultra marathon trail runners on here? What's the furthest you have run? How do you train for ultras? Is it mainly down to natural talent?

I ran the Montane howgills half marathon last Sunday, which over 3000 feet of climbing. Brutal with gale force winds and sub zero temps on the summits. There was a full marathon on too. I noticed Montane also organise the lakeland 50 and 100 and the spine race. All seem beyond me. There is a more do able 21 mile circuit of ulswater though which might be one for the future.
Click to expand...
I'll let you know later this year! I've got a 90km trail race in Murcia in October. Just over 1000m elevation so a pretty flat one.

Not ran an ultra before but did hike 100km in the Peak District last year. Finished in just under 24h and I never want to be out on my feet that long ever again.
 
Gaz76 said:
Not really in a great place to give you advice at the moment mate, but all I will say is if you really want it and have soul you will get there, I've ran one ultra and shed loads of marathons, if you had asked me this question 12 months ago I would have said hard training is all you need, right now after a shit year and having just got my first dnf in a marathon I can honestly say having the fire in your heart is all you need, if you really want it then you can do it.x
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Thanks. Not sure I have heart for ultra really. Certainly have it for hilly trail races up to about 20 miles though.
 
feedmpenzaandhewillscore said:
Went to Budapest last weekend, went for a walk round Margaret Island which is a public park situated in the middle of the river Danube. They’ve created a runners paradise there with a 5km loop with the surface being what you would find on an athletics track. I bet you could smash some PBs on that. Was perfectly flat so no inclines could get you.
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I’ve done a few loops of that. What a great public facility that is..Even autocratic dictators know the value of a good running track.
 
Tommy_Catons_Perm said:
Any ultra marathon trail runners on here? What's the furthest you have run? How do you train for ultras? Is it mainly down to natural talent?

I ran the Montane howgills half marathon last Sunday, which over 3000 feet of climbing. Brutal with gale force winds and sub zero temps on the summits. There was a full marathon on too. I noticed Montane also organise the lakeland 50 and 100 and the spine race. All seem beyond me. There is a more do able 21 mile circuit of ulswater though which might be one for the future.
Click to expand...

I’ve ran a 42.5 mile Ultra and am running a 70 mile Ultra booked in for June (Wall Ultra).

I am probably not the best person to give advice, as I’ve never really followed a plan or researched one properly, but my week is typically a couple of 10ks, a threshold type session, and I’m just moving into two long runs (back to back) over the weekend. Last week I popped out a 26.5 miles and 30 miles but that will be the longest I will go. Moving forward it will be a Marathon most weekends and then back it up with a half, 15 miles the following day

One of my friends runs 100 milers and he runs no further than that in training but really focuses on the weight training.

I ran Coniston Marathon last year. That was particularly tough, so a great race if you want to push your boundaries and the race is incredibly beautiful.
 
franksinatra said:
I’ve ran a 42.5 mile Ultra and am running a 70 mile Ultra booked in for June (Wall Ultra).

I am probably not the best person to give advice, as I’ve never really followed a plan or researched one properly, but my week is typically a couple of 10ks, a threshold type session, and I’m just moving into two long runs (back to back) over the weekend. Last week I popped out a 26.5 miles and 30 miles but that will be the longest I will go. Moving forward it will be a Marathon most weekends and then back it up with a half, 15 miles the following day

One of my friends runs 100 milers and he runs no further than that in training but really focuses on the weight training.

I ran Coniston Marathon last year. That was particularly tough, so a great race if you want to push your boundaries and the race is incredibly beautiful.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Thanks for the insight. It sounds logical. It's too many miles and time training for me though.
 
Tommy_Catons_Perm said:
Any ultra marathon trail runners on here? What's the furthest you have run? How do you train for ultras? Is it mainly down to natural talent?

I ran the Montane howgills half marathon last Sunday, which over 3000 feet of climbing. Brutal with gale force winds and sub zero temps on the summits. There was a full marathon on too. I noticed Montane also organise the lakeland 50 and 100 and the spine race. All seem beyond me. There is a more do able 21 mile circuit of ulswater though which might be one for the future.
Click to expand...
I'm sort of seeing this as my next thing, once I've got a couple of marathons under my belt.

I've signed up for a 100km (over 2 days) ultra in the Sahara Desert but they've postponed it due to Middle East goings-on. I'd like to do The Wall (most of the Hadrian's Wall route) but not this year as it's in June. It's very local to me (I literally live on Hadrian's Wall and my house is built from stone from the Wall), as are the Lakeland races as well so I'm definitely eyeing them up.

From the limited knowledge I have, ultras are a different beast with a different approach. Firstly, almost nobody runs ultras in their entirety; they tend to involve sections walking (e.g. walking up the hills or something like 'run for 6 mins; walk for 2').

Training would involve a similar approach as well, but often with back-to-back long runs on subsequent days.

I know quite a few very ordinary recreational runners who have done long ultras so I would suggest looking into it - you might be surprised.

I like the sound of the Ullswater event. My wife is from Penrith so we know the area pretty well.
 
franksinatra said:
I’ve ran a 42.5 mile Ultra and am running a 70 mile Ultra booked in for June (Wall Ultra).

I am probably not the best person to give advice, as I’ve never really followed a plan or researched one properly, but my week is typically a couple of 10ks, a threshold type session, and I’m just moving into two long runs (back to back) over the weekend. Last week I popped out a 26.5 miles and 30 miles but that will be the longest I will go. Moving forward it will be a Marathon most weekends and then back it up with a half, 15 miles the following day

One of my friends runs 100 milers and he runs no further than that in training but really focuses on the weight training.

I ran Coniston Marathon last year. That was particularly tough, so a great race if you want to push your boundaries and the race is incredibly beautiful.
Click to expand...
Just seen this after my last reply. Just wondering: are you running the whole way on your very long runs?
 
Stuuuuuu said:
Just seen this after my last reply. Just wondering: are you running the whole way on your very long runs?
Click to expand...

Well the long runs so far only total 2, so a very small sample size.

So far they have looked like this.

1 26.5 miles, ran 18 miles and then stopped for food (recreating an aid station) and then another 8.5 miles all running.

2) 30 miles (South West coast path 1000m of ascent). Ran throughout besides the steepest of hills but added 3 breaks totalling 40 mins.

All other long runs have been circa 16 miles which have been continuous.

Moving forward, next 5 weeks, will keep adding food stops to train the gut and testing what sits well.

Edit - The two runs were not back to back, might not have been clear from my initial post.
 
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