Tips, Techniques and Training

Written by Neil Bryant

I have run a few races that I class as really long. These being single stage races, over 200 miles such as the Tor des Geants or the Spine. The main difference between these races and say a 100 miler, is that most people won't need to sleep during a 100, whereas the opposite is true for the 200+ miler. Other than the sleep, it is simply more time on your feet and generally higher fatigue rates. Oh, and let's not forget that isincredibly intimidating to stand on the start line of a 250-mile race. A 250-mile drive on a motorway is bad enough!

Tor4

So, how do you get through such a huge race? How do you train? What are the main difficulties you will face?

Mental strength and Self-belief

This,for me is the biggest strength you need for the longer races. The longer the race, the more of a mental strength is needed to tackle it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing the physical side of things, just trying to highlight the importance of a strong mental approach to these races.

How can this sort of strength be encouraged to grow? Well, you could work your way through races, getting slightly longer and/or harder over time. It works. The more you do, the more your comfort level grows. When you started running you may have been intimidated by a marathon, but now you are not as you have run a few 50 milers.

You could also do some challenges of your own, such as catching a train 50 miles away and running home or doing a two day run and bivvying overnight or running all through the night and anything else that your imagination can dream up. These sorts of personal challenges are great for confidence but are also incredibly fulfilling. They also teach you how you operate when heavily fatigued.

We are all different though. Some people can jump into a big challenge, whereas others prefer a longer, methodical build up. Experience is the key that will help everyone better understand the task ahead. For example, it wasn't till my third very long race where I felt that I had really optimised my sleep pattern.

Physical strength

I won't go into any specifics about exactly what you should be doing each day, more about what is actually needed to comfortably finish.

If you do, or have ever done some serious marathon training, then that would be adequate for a 100 miler, and if you are 100 mile fit, then you are 250 mile fit. It also is dependent on your mental outlook. Many people feel that you need to do mega mileage to prepare for a super long race, but I disagree. Yes, if you wanted to get a top 20 result, then some heavier mileage could well help, but heavy mileage is risky for injuries, and many of us just don't have the time in our lives to be out for a few hours a day.

This is where a few big days, or even back to back days can really help build the self-belief that you and your body can actually pull it off. See if you can book a training camp (or holiday to your partner) so you can get some bigger days in. Just a long weekend somewhere is all that's needed, but it can really help your mental and physical preparation.

Remember to train for what you are realistically going to be doing in the race. Running slowly, and plenty of walking! Practising a fast and efficient walk can help your overall speed a great deal, and many people will neglect this area in their preparation.

If it is a mountain race then practice walking uphill, and in equal measure, running downhill. Practice descending as smoothly as possible.The downhills are where a great deal of micro damage will occur in your muscles and if this can be minimised then it should be.

Finally, I would strongly advise poles, no matter how much you are against them. They can really be very useful, the more tired you get. Crossing rivers, stability in slippery conditions, uphill rhythm, and ideal if you get a minor injury that you can still run with but need the extra 'legs'. You must practice with them before the event as poorly used poles can be fairly useless.

Have a plan

Do you plan to the nth degree for every race, or are you super chilled and not even look at the route before race day? I would suggest that whichever camp you fall in, to have some planning. Due to the length of these races and the confusing, drunken levels of fatigue that you may well experience, some simple rules can really help out and save time.

Some things to consider:

Clothing – Think about all the weather you could experience over the week (which can be the full range!) Is that super light waterproof jacket going to be any use if it snows and you are struggling to keep warm? Maybe have spare shoes in your drop bag? If it gets really cold which is massively heightened when really tired, do you have enough layers? Do you have protection from the sun (hat, arms and neck)?
Pace - Decide how you would like to pace it. You will be walking a lot, but when and how much? I walked almost all the uphills in the Tor, Onlyrunning the gentlest of slopes. You have to always consider the whole race. Try not to get caught out in racing others in the first 100 miles or even more!

Drop bags – If you get the opportunity to use one, then use it! it can be a lifesaver during a longer event. A few changes of clothes, A few pairs of shoes, some food treats, and any other little luxury that you couldn't carry but may give a big boost.
Check point discipline - I like to have discipline with being as slick as possible at the check points, as it is so easy to sit, staring vacantly at the wall, in the warmth while the time just flies by. Before I arrive, I will mentally go through everything and work out the order to do it all in. Eating, drinking, picking up food supplies, changing clothes, filling up water bottles etc. It is all so simple, but so important too. It is so easy to forget one thing.
Route knowledge – it is an advantage to at least have a basic understanding of the course. Many runners will have been studying it for months and will know exactly what is around every corner. This all comes down to your personality. Do you like to know exactly what is happening or do you like things a little more casual. I fall a little more on the side of casual and would spend a minute studying the next section at each checkpoint before leaving. Knowing there is a climb that could take 3 hrs beforehand is much better than climbing for 3 hrs and not having a clue when the torture will end!
Knowledge database - There is a reason that when many hard races are born, they have a higher DNF rate than now, and that is because over time, the experience and knowledge that is gained over the years, trickles down to the new runners, and confidence grows, and the success rates grow.Many of us (all?) have a love hate relationship with the internet and in particular social media, but it does have its advantages. Joining the right groups and connecting with previous runners is one great way of picking up some valuable information. Also, just visit this site, and read others race reports which are a goldmine for nuggets of information that could help you finish, plus they can really get you very excited and motivated about the challenge ahead.

Sleep

Now this is where it can all go so badly wrong if you don't get it right. Believe me, I know! If you hallucinate then you should have slept earlier!

My simple rule is to sleep if youfeel tired and not push on to the next checkpoint. You see, when you get into such a poor, tired state, there is nothing positive about it. You move a lot slower, you feel colder and most dangerously, your judgement is clouded at the best. It suddenly becomes very difficult to look after yourself, especially when you are in the mountains in hostile conditions. Keeping yourself warm, dry, fed and watered suddenly become huge tasks and simple decision making goes to pot. Basically, if you get just a little more sleep, you will move faster, and be able to look after yourself much better. Don't wait till you are about to drop. Don't get caught up running with others as we all have different sleep demands at different times. Some people just power nap for 20 mins, but this is not enough for me I have learnt. 1.5hrs or 2hrs a day works well for me. But remember that you need to experiment to find your own optimum amount.

Coaching

If the preparation is all a bit too overwhelming, then maybe consider coaching. A good coach with relevant experience, will be able to help you structure your training, choose equipment and will be able to answer all your questions that will make things seem more manageable. Drop me a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

Do it!

These are just my simple observations about what works and what doesn't over the longer single stage ultras where sleep becomes essential. But you must remember that you need to get out there and try things out. I just want to take some of the fear away from these 200 plus mile events so that more of you try them. They are hard, mentally and physically, but the reward from finishing one of these monsters is huge. With the right mindset, and as long as the body still works, most people could finish one, so why not enter one? What could possibly go wrong!

Written by Chris Ellyatt for the URC

I’m sure that we have all seen a thousand articles on how important rest is to any athlete’s schedule. Indeed, it has often been described as the ‘low-hanging fruit of recovery’. To the ultrarunner, however, the idea of an extended rest period can be about as appealing as a post-100 foam rolling session. With that in mind, I would like to share an anecdote of my recent experiences and how they illustrate the importance of strategic rest periods.

So it’s now the end of September, and I have just come off the back of my best season so far as a runner. At 24 years old I am still very new to the running scene, even more so to ultras. With a concentrated effort I have managed to drop my 10k time by 3 minutes in one year, and completed my first 100k and 100 mile events in a single season.

Even with my supposed fountain of youth, these kind of gains in a single season are simply unsustainable for the majority of athletes. Undeniably, all one needs to do is take a look at the history of the Tour de France to see the lengths athletes have previously gone to in order to maintain season-long efforts.

As I write this piece, I am lying in bed with a serious case of man-flu. It is well-known that extended high-level training will almost certainly impair the immune system, and even being a 20-something year old offers only limited protection against it.

If you are running throughout the year with a particular race or set of races in mind, I highly advocate a reasonably lengthy rest period after the race season is over. Whilst I imagine one could run and stay fit the entire year round if done properly, the ravages of racing hard demand time for the body to fully recover.

I had noticed that after my 100k in June, aches had suddenly become twinges, and early morning sessions became immeasurably harder to get up and do. In fact, I think that one of the easiest signs to spot of over-exertion is how long you want to sleep for. An increased desire for sleep is the natural response to repair and growth of our bodies – just look at children. This anabolic activity is the only time our muscles, nervous system and immune systems can truly recuperate and potentially improve. You don’t get stronger during exercise – you get stronger during sleep.

article1

1^st place at the T60 Night Race and the start of recovery problems

I could see all these little signs increasing through the summer. Yet, of course, having already committed to my first 100 mile race, I moved towards the North Downs Way 100 in August with absolutely no intentions of a DNS. Aches, tweaks and general fatigue were easy to dismiss as I compartmentalised my thought process. I am sure this is easy for many ultrarunners to relate to.

I completed the race and achieved my goal of sub 24hrs – just. Unfortunately my body was clearly not ready for the stresses I had imposed on it, and I spent the next 3 days in hospital recovering from rhabdomyolysis (severe muscle breakdown). I genuinely think that had I used ibroprufen during the race, it would have been the last straw for my kidneys in this situation.

article2

Not looking so great after the NDW100. This is when you have to listen to your body.

It took around 2-3 weeks before I could ditch the crutches. Although I was in quite severe pain from the scar tissue, it also became quite apparent to me that the huge amounts of opioid painkillers I had been prescribed had become a replacement for running. Luckily I managed to wean these down quite successfully and finally got off them.

What I should have done at this point was take 3-4 weeks off and completely rest my mind and body. But such is the mindset of sportspeople, I was back doing core sessions before I even had my broken foot out of its cast! It is amazing how you can justify these things to yourself once you start imagining all your fitness seeping away from you.

The reality is that your base fitness takes months, perhaps even years to be truly lost. A month or two after a hard race season will be far more beneficial than trying to maintain a training schedule. It is also an opportunity to relax and appreciate the other parts of life which we so often ignore. I often think that we can be somewhat blind to the obsession we have in this sport, and it’s not unfair to say that this can damage relationships with others. Maybe that’s me projecting!

So now, sitting here with a battered immune system and feeling pretty exhausted as we head to winter, I’ve come round the realisation that it’s not an ‘impressive’ feat to keep training regardless. It is simply unbeneficial and tactically poor.

I’m not entirely sure how useful this anecdote is, simply because if I had read it at the start of this season, I would have done exactly the same thing regardless. It takes a true hammering to actually realise that athletes go on about recovery for a reason! But if it helps just one person to reconsider their post-season recovery strategy than I will consider this as useful time spent.

Running in the mountains is hard. I’m certainly not going to say it’s harder than other running, but it needs to be treated differently. Many experienced runners get a sharp shock when they first race in the mountains.

Mountain

I was quite an experienced ultra runner myself before moving to Chamonix three years ago. It took quite a while for me to adjust my running to suit the mountains, and even now I won’t claim it is any where near perfect.

I have now gathered some great mountain experience and I would like to share some of the main points that need to be considered if you want to be prepared for your first mountain experience or you want to improve.

Walk up hills. Now this is one of the biggest sticking points for flatlanders. There is something in many of us runner's brains, that thinks that walking means we have failed. Some ascents will be runnable, but depending on your state, the gradient, and the length of the climb, many alpine ascents should be walked. Walking can be a lot more economical than a run, and when it is very steep and long it can actually be quicker. My fastest time up the Vertical KM here in Chamonix was done when I walked around 60% of the course. There is no shame in walking. The best in the world will walk when the going gets tough.

Practice power hiking! The first point will only be effective if you have a fast power hike. This is something that should be practised. Some people hike incredibly fast and will take so much time out of someone who labours away running every hill. Practise with short steps. This is when poles are at their most valuable if you use them. It’s all about getting a fast rhythm going which the tapping of the poles can certainly help. If you don’t use poles, then push your hands against your thighs on the steep sections to utilise you upper body power. Ideally if you have access to a steep hill of at least five minutes, then do hill reps, but hike the whole thing. Try to improve your times.

Experiment with poles. Poles, like walking are treated with disgust by many. I won’t get into that, but if used correctly they can really help some people. They can help set a rhythm, add stability, help utilise your upper body during ascents and even help you if you are injured (I may not have finished the Spine without mine!). The major downside for me personally, is that it creates extra faff as your hands are always full which is frustrating. It is a very personal thing. Just give them a go. If you’re not keen, then at least you know.

Do not compare speed in the mountains to flatter runs. This may sound really obvious and easy, but it isn’t always. Roughly speaking, my time spent running is the same, but the distance covered is at the best, around half what I used to cover. So, initially this was difficult to understand. I knew it was hilly, but to go so much slower! The best way to measure your training is by time not distance. Height gain also adds another useful dimension.

Run all the flatter more runnable sections. If you are trying to go as fast as you can, then whenever the gradients ease, run. Many times I have found myself walking along a very runnable section of trail wasting time, dreaming of some unobtainable food probably! Stay focused on economical pacing and adjust accordingly. For me, one of the great things of mountain running, is that there are lots of changes in style and speed. The variety keeps things interesting. From running ups to walking ups, to dancing down the descents to racing along the flats, things are constantly changing, and the skill is knowing when to do what.

Train for the descents. If you don’t have access to huge, steep descents, then you will probably want a new set of quads after your first big mountain run. When you descend for an hour, it can feel great, liberating and will take you back to your childhood, but the forces this is putting on your untrained quads is extreme and either later in the day or, disguised as DOMS, a few days later, you will be crippled with an intense soreness. If you don’t live in the mountains, then find you local biggest hill and do sprints repeats DOWN it. Stay in control though as you will be no use with a sprained ankle!

Practice technical running. You could be the fastest runner up and down mountains, but if you can’t effortlessly cruise over the difficult terrain the mountains throw at you, you will never win. When you have a decent level of confidence on the technical terrain, you will move faster, have more fun and will be less prone to injury. To improve you need to find a hill that you hate to run down. Tree roots, steep, rocks, loose rocks, wet, slippery and super twisty is all good. Again, take short, fast steps.

Altitude. Here is a difficult one if you live in the UK or are not to far from sea level with no real easy access to the higher altitudes. Of course, not all mountains are high enough to have any real impact on your performance, but as soon as courses climb above 2500 metres, many people will start feeling the effects. The interesting thing is that some people just seem to cope much better than others, and that is not fitness related! What can be done about this? Well, if you have no access to higher terrain, then just be aware of the higher parts of races, and when you get there don’t fight it. Your performance will drop and things will become much more laboured. It’s fine, just keep moving and when you descend you will recover. If you push harder then you might well get into trouble.

Moving fast through the mountains is an incredible experience, and like anything, the better you get the more fun! Most people are hooked once they begin.

Remember that the mountains are the boss, so always have a great respect and always be prepared as things can change very quickly.

Written by Neil Bryant who lives in Chamonix, France. Neil has much experience in big mountain races and anything else ultra. He also is a coach training clients online all over the world. To find out more click here

Written by Andy Mouncey for RunUltra

It is just weeks now till the glorious 1300+ will be heading off to Morocco to get their feet nice and hot on the sand for the Marathon Des Sables 2016. Andy Mouncey, coach, speaker and writer on all things running, has some excellent last minute advice for everyone preparing to run.
Minimize The Faff Factor

Your personal organization during race week may be the difference between screaming and crying and happy-smiley. Kit choices should be tried and tested by now all in a variety of conditions and by you in a variety of conditions.

    Can you reach your bottles?
    Which side are your snacks?
    Nothing chafes and rubs, right?
    No irritating little details either?
    If you need to do running repairs on your feet (a) do you know what you’re doing (b) is the kit to hand?

Practise, practise, practise.
What You Do Between Stages

In my opinion and experience, it’s the things you do – or don’t do – between the finish line and the start line of the next stage that makes the biggest difference to how you last the week. Will you maximize your recovery through deliberate choices or just tag along with the rest of the folks in your tent?

Have a post-finish line and a pre-start line routine written down and rehearsed and be ruthless in its application. There’s still time to come up with one. Think of the stage finish line as AFTER you finish your post-stage routine. Sure, you want to socialize at the end of stage – and you can do that after you sort you out: the next stage depends on it.
Stay Off The Forums

Everyone has an opinion – usually just based on their own experience - and social media has these available in abundance. This is the last place you want to be on the eve of your big adventure. If you have even a hint of nerves it can be spectacularly unhelpful to view the helpfully posted pictures of meticulously organized Gucci-kit by buffed and ripped MdS wannabes, or read how much mileage they’ve clocked up.

Now is the time to focus on you and your stuff because you know what they say: ‘When the flag drops, the bull**** stops.’
Feel The Heat

If you’re coming out of a northern hemisphere winter then April in the desert can be a big shock. Build confidence in your ability to handle the heat by allocating some of your runs: ‘Over-dressed.’

The budget version is to go all Rocky Balboa and head out with lots of layers to a point of being ridiculously overdressed. Build up duration and layers as you would with any progression. Or you can sit on a stationary cycle with the heat turned up. Or if you have time and money to burn you can put a treadmill into your spare room, close the windows, line the inside with plastic sheeting and turn on the free-standing burners. Bet there’s a YouTube for that…

Bikram yoga is also an option.
What If..?

Having a response planned in advance usually makes dealing with a setback much easier. So it is here. One of the most valuable coaching tools I have – and most used with my clients – is the Scenario Plan that does exactly what it says on the tin. It prompts us to come up with possible and probable situations the client may encounter, and it provides a framework to write down and rehearse responses.

So I assume by now you know what you will do if:

    Your flight is delayed
    You struggle to sleep pre-race
    You start way too fast on the first stage and blow up
    You want to kill your tent buddies

If you don’t, there’s still time to plan your responses so that if/when they happen for real you have already chosen how to respond in a way that is consistent with your race goals.

Enjoy – and may the sand always be outside your shoes!
- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/February-2016/Marathon-Des-Sables-The-Final-Countdown-5-things-t#sthash.8VnA3SpO.dpuf

Minimize The Faff Factor

Can you reach your bottles?
Which side are your snacks?
Nothing chafes and rubs, right?
No irritating little details either?
If you need to do running repairs on your feet (a) do you know what you’re doing (b) is the kit to hand?

Practise, practise, practise.

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Now is the time to focus on you and your stuff because you know what they say: ‘When the flag drops, the bull**** stops.’

Feel The Heat

Bikram yoga is also an option.

What If..?

So I assume by now you know what you will do if:

Your flight is delayed
You struggle to sleep pre-race
You start way too fast on the first stage and blow up
You want to kill your tent buddies

If you don’t, there’s still time to plan your responses so that if/when they happen for real you have already chosen how to respond in a way that is consistent with your race goals.

Enjoy – and may the sand always be outside your shoes!

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/February-2016/Marathon-Des-Sables-The-Final-Countdown-5-things-t#sthash.8VnA3SpO.dpuf

Minimize The Faff Factor

Can you reach your bottles?
Which side are your snacks?
Nothing chafes and rubs, right?
No irritating little details either?
If you need to do running repairs on your feet (a) do you know what you’re doing (b) is the kit to hand?

Practise, practise, practise.

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Now is the time to focus on you and your stuff because you know what they say: ‘When the flag drops, the bull**** stops.’

Feel The Heat

Bikram yoga is also an option.

What If..?

So I assume by now you know what you will do if:

Your flight is delayed
You struggle to sleep pre-race
You start way too fast on the first stage and blow up
You want to kill your tent buddies

If you don’t, there’s still time to plan your responses so that if/when they happen for real you have already chosen how to respond in a way that is consistent with your race goals.

Enjoy – and may the sand always be outside your shoes!

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/February-2016/Marathon-Des-Sables-The-Final-Countdown-5-things-t#sthash.8VnA3SpO.dpuf

Minimize The Faff Factor

Can you reach your bottles?
Which side are your snacks?
Nothing chafes and rubs, right?
No irritating little details either?
If you need to do running repairs on your feet (a) do you know what you’re doing (b) is the kit to hand?

Practise, practise, practise.

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Now is the time to focus on you and your stuff because you know what they say: ‘When the flag drops, the bull**** stops.’

Feel The Heat

Bikram yoga is also an option.

What If..?

So I assume by now you know what you will do if:

Your flight is delayed
You struggle to sleep pre-race
You start way too fast on the first stage and blow up
You want to kill your tent buddies

If you don’t, there’s still time to plan your responses so that if/when they happen for real you have already chosen how to respond in a way that is consistent with your race goals.

Enjoy – and may the sand always be outside your shoes!

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/February-2016/Marathon-Des-Sables-The-Final-Countdown-5-things-t#sthash.8VnA3SpO.dpuf

Minimize The Faff Factor

Can you reach your bottles?
Which side are your snacks?
Nothing chafes and rubs, right?
No irritating little details either?
If you need to do running repairs on your feet (a) do you know what you’re doing (b) is the kit to hand?

Practise, practise, practise.

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Now is the time to focus on you and your stuff because you know what they say: ‘When the flag drops, the bull**** stops.’

Feel The Heat

Bikram yoga is also an option.

What If..?

So I assume by now you know what you will do if:

Your flight is delayed
You struggle to sleep pre-race
You start way too fast on the first stage and blow up
You want to kill your tent buddies

If you don’t, there’s still time to plan your responses so that if/when they happen for real you have already chosen how to respond in a way that is consistent with your race goals.

Enjoy – and may the sand always be outside your shoes!

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/February-2016/Marathon-Des-Sables-The-Final-Countdown-5-things-t#sthash.8VnA3SpO.dpuf

Written by Dave Stuart - http://76thmile.blogspot.co.uk

Or how to run a race and not get lapped by the sun

Things that are essential to do in the 6 months before you race

- You should be running at least 50 miles a week (lots of 200+ months)
- You need to a follow a training plan
- Pacers and a crew are essential. Use this time to get at least one pacer and ideally at least two crew members
- Don't even think about signing up for the race if you have never run more than 50 miles
- Back to back runs are essential. Ideally you should be aiming for a 50mile / 50 mile weekend and plenty of 35 / 15s if you want to finish, let alone break 24 hours.

I did none of these in the 6 months before the Centurion TP100

Things I did in the 6 months before

Started well with a 183 miles in December with bonus miles due to London Bridge being shut so lots of extra commuter running miles.
January - mile 123 of the month was when things went wrong. I slipped trying to turn and run up some steps next to Blackfriars station and fell. Nothing too serious but bent back fingers. I got to work, showered and carried on with my day. A couple of hours later it didn't seem right so went to Guy's hospital urgent care unit. Turns out I had broken my 4 and 5th metacarpal bones in my left hand and required surgery. 14 weeks to go until the start of the TP100.

If you can't run then walk

My normal day involves a lunchtime run so instead I headed out with my arm in a cast and speed walked up and down the Thames with my one arm in a cast and my Garmin on the other one. Two weeks later I was up to 15- 20 mile walking weeks and also the slowest person on Strava. Good miles were sub 14 or so even with tourists on the South bank to avoid. Now if could do another 99 of those I could do a sub 24 hours for 100 miles...

Back in training

After two weeks, I had the big cast taken off and a smaller one put on. I asked the physio about running and he said it would be fine as long as I didn't get the cast and scar wet. Running lunchtimes back on with hand in a cast and the cast in a plastic bag just in case it started to rain. Proper running resumes with a 21 mile week. 10 weeks to go now

Back in proper training

Next 8 weeks was steady training with the three longest runs being two 30 mile runs on the Thames to Richmond and back plus a 28 mile run on the NDW. Now time to taper

Start line - Zero days to go

So now I am on the start line Aaveraged 30 miles a week for the previous 6 months with a long of 30 miles. Longest run of my life was the Centurion NDW50 (9:58 - see report a bit further down). Surely this had DNF written all over it as I looked at everyone else with their Ultimate direction backpacks and purpose bought drop bags(some people have a strange idea of what "shoe box" size is) at registration. Everyone was talking through plans with their crew and arranging when to meet their pacers.

About 23 hours later

I was arriving across the finish line in 79th place with a shiny "100 miles in a day" Centurion buckle. Miracles do happen.

So what is my advice?

Clearly I'm not going to recommend breaking your hand in training but there are a few other things which helped me get into the 100 miles in a day club.

There is no shame in walking

There are over a 1,000 members of the Brotherhood of Centurions 1911 and the world record for walking 100 miles is 16:31:38 which would be a very competitive running time. I made sure I put lots of walking breaks in the first 50 miles and most of the last 50 miles was walking. The average pace for a sub 24 100 is about 14 min/mile after allowing for some quick aid station stops. It was very late in the race when my walking / running dropped below this pace despite a lot of walking

Get through aid stations quickly

A typical Centurion race will have to 12-15 aid stations with amazing food and even more amazing volunteers. If you spend 15 minutes in each having a lovely cup of tea while talking to the man dressed as a chicken, you have lost 3-4 hours which is a lot of running to make up. A quick bottle top up, grab some food, make sure you say thanks and be on your way. I always try to get moving quickly but at walking pace to allow my body to digest food. My first few ultras I used a camelbak style bladder but switched to bottles as it is much easier to refill at aid stations. People will also help fill bottles but less willing to do camelbaks. The screw top of the camelbak is easy to cross thread and a lot more complicated than a bottle.

Speak to other runners

It helps pass the time and it is great to find out what other people are up to. It takes your mind off the pain and reduces the risk of getting lost as you have an extra pair of eyes. You might find yourself talking to someone who answered you question about which watch / bag / jacket / shoes / socks / .. you should be using.

Mix up training

I had a January goal of a sub 20 minute 5k and sub 90 half marathon. This mixed things up and meant that I had a block of speed work and fitness before starting the slower ultra style high mileage slow weeks. Unfortunately my broken hand stopped things. The broken hand may have been a blessing in disguise as taking two weeks off helped me to recover (no harm having some time off)

Pick up a flattish race with good aid stations

Sub 24 will get you on the podium for Hardrock 100 so not all 100s are equal. The Centurion Thames Path 100 is a fast race on paper but being almost totally flat can lead to you going off too quickly whereas a few hills help to break things up. The T100 is a self supported race so will clearly be trickier as you have to carry you food with you. If you are going without a crew or pacers, I can highly recommend the Centurion races as they have the biggest fields so lots of company for the nighttime and lots of choice for food.

Read blogs and books

It helps to read about running. Puts running 100 miles into context.

- Blogs about the race and similar races
Good to know what to expect. Many Centurion blogs out there plus others on Ultrarunning community. I will put a list of my favourites on here shortly.
- Training books
Helps you avoid stupid mistakes. Hal Koerner's one is good.
- Crazy people books
It helps to normalise running 100 miles if you read about someone running across America (James Adams /Marshall Ullrich), Marshall Ullrich's Badwater Quad, Scott Jurek winning WSER on a diet of mung beans and carrots etc. Also worth watching the "fruitarian" run the WSER only eating raw fruit and veg (lesson - don't eat avocado and dates while running)

And finally...

The 76th mile is the hardest. Staying up all night watching a boxset or playing poker gets tiring so trying to stay up all night having run 50+ miles is always going to be tricky. Be prepared for lots of walking and a bit of questioning you sanity but soon enough the sun will come up, your pace will improve and a shiny buckle will be waiting for you shortly.

* I am a pretty good but not amazing runner so a lot of these things will apply if you are chasing a sub 20 finish or 29:59:59. However the sub 24 title sounds better...

Written by Andy Mouncey - http://www.bigandscaryrunning.com

Many people gear up to start a new year full of good intentions. Add some reality with these top five tips so you can avoid coming to an abrupt halt in February.

Don’t Join A Gym

In January. Do it in December or wait until February – ‘cos if you’re still motivated and have control (mostly) over the calories in and calories out part of your life by then the chances are you’ll be on your way to making those new habits stick without the leverage of a new monthly direct debit. Use a gym membership or classes as a reward. By Feb-Mar the gym will be quieter anyway as the initial surge through the doors will have abated. How do I know this? I used to manage one…

Don’t Be Lonely

Especially when the days are short. It’s much harder to make some new habits stick trying to do it all on your ownsome when the sun doesn’t shine much. Contract with friends, share your intentions with your significant others – and give them permission to poke you with a stick to keep you on track. Make it sociable as well as effective and it’s more likely to stick because first and foremost we humans are social animals – even though we all know those who prefer a cave...

Don’t Start With The Big Stuff

Big scary sudden change is a real challenge whether it’s in life, business, sport or everyday life. Start where you can make the most difference for the least amount of effort in the shortest possible time. Once the boulder is moving you’ll be more motivated to tackle the biggies. Pace yourself – you don’t have to solve it all in January.

Don’t Do Stuff You Don’t Like

Swimming is a great full-body exercise – but that’s no good if you don’t like swimming. An exercise class can be a great way to workout at a higher level than you would on your own – but that’s no good if you don’t do classes.

Start with stuff you like to do; stuff that’s fun and has at least a bit of a challenge.

Upping the ante once you have momentum means you are more likely to persevere as the challenge ramps up.

Don’t Compare Yourself To Others

At least to start with. What you’re actually doing is comparing their outside to your inside: They may look fantastic – but you have no way of knowing what’s going on inside their head or the price they are paying for that look. Put your focus on stuff you can control - your choices, your progress, your thoughts, your behavior. While it can be helpful to use role models and targets, in the final analysis the only comparisons that matter are self to self – a mindset that puts you in a position of personal powerfulness as opposed to the horrible fretting other stuff.

Written by Andy Mouncey - http://www.bigandscaryrunning.com

At least, that’s what all the lead characters in the great movies/TV thrillers have. In fact, they go further than that because they give at least one entire wall of their house/office over to The Plan which is then peppered with pictures, photos, lines, notes and pins.

Claire Danes as the CIA operative in C4s USA TV series Homeland

Russell Crowe’s police officer in American Gangster

John Malcovich as the creepy assassin in Line Of Fire

Robert Downey Jnr as Sherlock Holmes in The Game Of Shadows

Heck, any police/crime/CSI drama worth it’s salt knows full well that you have to have at least a large wall-mounted pin board or three and periodic shots of people moving pins and paper around while stroking their chin thoughtfully under furrowed brows.

Even Tom Cruise in his Mission Impossible office knows you gotta have a plan – it’s just that he’s pimped his to be all virtual and whizzy so that it does really cool things as he waves his arms about.

A Big Wall Plan means you can:

Have an excuse for standing around looking as though you are daydreaming when in actual fact you are just ‘working your plan’

Move stuff around to create something different if you want to change the view

Physically rip stuff off/screw stuff up and throw it away which always feels very theraputic

Truly, in TV-land at least, The Plan is central to your storyline.

We (that’s me and friend Speedy Paul) were therefore very impressed when other running friend Andy B announced the other day as we were all halfway up an early morning ascent of our local mountain Ingleborough in the Yorkshire Dales that he had drawn up A Plan:

‘Ooooo! That means you’re all focused and structured and motivated and everything, then!’ we sneered, secretly jealous of his new-found dedication to The Search For (Sustained) Speed, and starting to remember the times when we too had A Plan and how that plan had actually really helped.

‘When I had A Plan before,’ said Andy, ‘It really helped…’ and he then proceeded to sell the benefits to an audience who were actually already converted – it’s just that we’d been doing the Spontaneity v Obligation bit for a while, and were actually quite comfortable with that, thankyou.

Too late: Andy had sprinkled and the Seeds Of Doubt had been sown.

Time to turn the tables and put the focus back on him.

‘Well it’s all well and good having A Plan,‘ we said, ‘That’s the easy bit. And now you’ve gone and Shared The Plan – which is a considerably more scary proposition especially for a repressed bloke, so well done – which means all that remains is the really hard bit: Working The Plan.’

We paused for dramatic effect – and to concentrate on our breathing as the slope kicked up viciously.

‘But don’t worry: now that you’ve told us we can be really helpful by asking you all about it every time we see you. We could ring you up and remind you. Send helpful and motivating messages. Give you an opportunity to report on how well you’ve been doing your homework - and belittle you and make you feel like a worthless worm if you miss a session.’

We grinned across at him with adoration shining in our eyes: ’We can be your special support team!’

And so it went on.

But however much we sought to have a little boyish fun at his expense the fact remained that Andy B had A Plan and was therefore clearly about to Go Places: We didn’t and by implication we weren’t. And that sucked.

By the time I got home the cogs were still churning: I wanted to Go Places – heck, I always want to go places - I had an office wall (which was blank) so what was I waiting for?

‘I know what the problem is’ I said to my wife Charlotte - we’d been worrying away at the business recently looking for ways to get to where we wanted to be faster – ‘I don’t have A Big Plan up on my wall. I used to have one, but…’

So that afternoon The Plan went up on the wall: business, family, running – it all went up there – and I spent many happy and smug minutes standing staring and stroking my chin thoughtfully.

Later that day I spoke to Andy B on the phone.

‘So that run this morning, then’ I asked. ‘Were we on or off Plan?’

‘Nah, don’t worry,’ came the reply ‘I haven’t started yet.’

Written by Andy Mouncey for http://www.runultra.co.uk

Andy Mouncey had thirty years of sport under his belt – thirteen of which were in ultra trail running. Then, disaster struck and he got an injury that just would not heal. Running is his business as well as his pleasure and his life is inextricably linked with the sport. So, what did he do to mend and how has he coped? He took the time out to talk Alice Morrison through it, and share his advice on what to do if you are unlucky enough to suffer a similar fate.

Q. Andy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

A. I am married, with two small boys, and live in the north of England. I have run my own business for the last 15 years: www.bigandscaryrunning.com. Triathlon was my sport for 17 years till 2003 since then it’s been trail ultras.

Q. How did your injury first manifest itself and what did you do about it?

A. I got a pain in the ball of my left foot after a run that I thought was just bruising. I’d bashed it on a rock or something. RICE didn’t fix it after a couple of weeks so it was off to X-ray.

Q. What happened after the realisation that this was going to take a long time? How did you cope mentally? What process did you go through with your doctors?

A. That first X-ray (May 2014) was inconclusive though the symptoms pointed towards a stress or partial fracture of the foot even though I wasn’t completely convinced. Not least because I’ve got about 30 years of training history in me, so this big running lark is hardly new. I’d not changed shoes or racked up my mileage and I’d not had a fall. Your typical NHS GP and consultant is a tad sketchy on runners and running and my first contacts didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. Waiting 10 weeks for results doesn’t exactly help either.

In the end, I went through two cycles of misdiagnosis and erroneous treatment. This added six months to the process. Worse, the knock-on effects from THIS – my foot was immobilized which in effect turned it into a block of wood – added about the same again. I had to both undo the cumulative dysfunction that had set in and start a treatment consistent with the actual problem, which had changed and become chronic. The first breakthrough came when I swallowed hard and went private for consultations and MRI and bone scans. The second breakthrough came when I ignored key parts of that advice, followed my intuition and effectively did the opposite, and worked with a local practitioner who knew me and my body.

What I eventually established was that the original problem was in one of the seasmoid bones in my foot. These are tiny pea-shaped bones under the ball of the foot. One of mine was in two parts – not a problem in itself apparently and likely to have been that way since birth – held together by strong fibres. In May last year, they decided to part company. Errors in diagnosis and delays in results meant that secondary and tertiary symptoms set in complicating and exacerbating the problem. What should have been fairly simple to treat, turned into a many-headed monstrous nightmare that I allowed to affect much of my personal, work and family life.

Q. What did you learn from this process, what tips can you pass on to other runners?

A. The scan is not the territory – just because it ain’t on the scan doesn’t mean it don’t exist. If you feel it, then it’s there alright.

    Consultants are not God. They are not the expert on you, and they can put too much faith in reports and scans.
    You are the expert on you. Especially so if you have a ton of self knowledge and emotional intelligence honed in part by decades of training.
    Pay attention to your intuition. If your little voice keeps pulling you back to something then odds are it’s worth being pulled back to.
    Be prepared to kiss a few frogs. Sorry!
    We are designed to move. So, unless something is physically broken, then immobilization should NOT be part of treatment.
    Keep a diary. I have done since I was a teenager and it’s a godsend for revealing patterns, trends and linking cause and effect over time.
    Unless you are very lucky, odds are you will have to look outside the NHS to get a breakthrough if you’re stuck. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fast and that may make a difference between sorting the original problem, or a whole set of new ones.
    If it’s complicated, then you need someone who knows the sport and has decades of experience working and treating healthy and broken people, and someone who will get their hands on your injury. Decades of experience mean they can piece together the ‘possible’ from the likely and unlikely patterns. The good ones are open minded enough to know what they don’t know and are honest enough to tell you so.
    Keep looking. There are people who care in this world and there IS a solution out there. If it’s soft tissue, it WILL heal.
    Change one thing at a time so you can monitor cause and effect.
    That change might have to be 180 degrees, but if you are going round in circles then being brave enough to do the opposite of well-meaning advice COULD be the pattern-breaker. It sure was for me.
    Of course it’s important and it is only running. Get perspective: No-one’s trying to shoot you for what you believe and odds are you know where your next meal is coming from.

Q. Where are you now. What is the prognosis going forward?

A. I recently completed a 50 minute jog pain free on road and have just started to include very short relaxed sprint uphill efforts as a way of putting more force through the structure while minimizing impact. The foot can be sore for a while afterwards, but so far it’s holding up. It’s taken two months to build to this and I started with 5 x 200 paces jog/100 paces walk. So this is monumental progress.

I started swimming again over the summer, after 12 years out of the water. I am also building my biking back up. While the prognosis is good, the timescale is uncertain. I’m pretty much working week by week, and I can see my future training being much more of a mix of running, cycling and swimming. Just to make sure that sticks, I’ve entered an Ironman race next July. As you do…

Q. Andy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Q. How did your injury first manifest itself and what did you do about it?

A. I got a pain in the ball of my left foot after a run that I thought was just bruising. I’d bashed it on a rock or something. RICE didn’t fix it after a couple of weeks so it was off to X-ray.

Q. What happened after the realisation that this was going to take a long time? How did you cope mentally? What process did you go through with your doctors?

Q. What did you learn from this process, what tips can you pass on to other runners?

A. The scan is not the territory – just because it ain’t on the scan doesn’t mean it don’t exist. If you feel it, then it’s there alright.

Consultants are not God. They are not the expert on you, and they can put too much faith in reports and scans.
You are the expert on you. Especially so if you have a ton of self knowledge and emotional intelligence honed in part by decades of training.
Pay attention to your intuition. If your little voice keeps pulling you back to something then odds are it’s worth being pulled back to.
Be prepared to kiss a few frogs. Sorry!
We are designed to move. So, unless something is physically broken, then immobilization should NOT be part of treatment.
Keep a diary. I have done since I was a teenager and it’s a godsend for revealing patterns, trends and linking cause and effect over time.
Unless you are very lucky, odds are you will have to look outside the NHS to get a breakthrough if you’re stuck. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fast and that may make a difference between sorting the original problem, or a whole set of new ones.
If it’s complicated, then you need someone who knows the sport and has decades of experience working and treating healthy and broken people, and someone who will get their hands on your injury. Decades of experience mean they can piece together the ‘possible’ from the likely and unlikely patterns. The good ones are open minded enough to know what they don’t know and are honest enough to tell you so.
Keep looking. There are people who care in this world and there IS a solution out there. If it’s soft tissue, it WILL heal.
Change one thing at a time so you can monitor cause and effect.
That change might have to be 180 degrees, but if you are going round in circles then being brave enough to do the opposite of well-meaning advice COULD be the pattern-breaker. It sure was for me.
Of course it’s important and it is only running. Get perspective: No-one’s trying to shoot you for what you believe and odds are you know where your next meal is coming from.

Q. Where are you now. What is the prognosis going forward?

If you want to keep up with Andy’s progress, his blog is here. Or follow him on Twitter (@AndyMouncey).

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/November-2015/Recovering-from-injury-Q-A-with-Andy-Mouncey#sthash.WNoajGlB.dpuf

Q. Andy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Q. How did your injury first manifest itself and what did you do about it?

A. I got a pain in the ball of my left foot after a run that I thought was just bruising. I’d bashed it on a rock or something. RICE didn’t fix it after a couple of weeks so it was off to X-ray.

Q. What happened after the realisation that this was going to take a long time? How did you cope mentally? What process did you go through with your doctors?

Q. What did you learn from this process, what tips can you pass on to other runners?

A. The scan is not the territory – just because it ain’t on the scan doesn’t mean it don’t exist. If you feel it, then it’s there alright.

Consultants are not God. They are not the expert on you, and they can put too much faith in reports and scans.
You are the expert on you. Especially so if you have a ton of self knowledge and emotional intelligence honed in part by decades of training.
Pay attention to your intuition. If your little voice keeps pulling you back to something then odds are it’s worth being pulled back to.
Be prepared to kiss a few frogs. Sorry!
We are designed to move. So, unless something is physically broken, then immobilization should NOT be part of treatment.
Keep a diary. I have done since I was a teenager and it’s a godsend for revealing patterns, trends and linking cause and effect over time.
Unless you are very lucky, odds are you will have to look outside the NHS to get a breakthrough if you’re stuck. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fast and that may make a difference between sorting the original problem, or a whole set of new ones.
If it’s complicated, then you need someone who knows the sport and has decades of experience working and treating healthy and broken people, and someone who will get their hands on your injury. Decades of experience mean they can piece together the ‘possible’ from the likely and unlikely patterns. The good ones are open minded enough to know what they don’t know and are honest enough to tell you so.
Keep looking. There are people who care in this world and there IS a solution out there. If it’s soft tissue, it WILL heal.
Change one thing at a time so you can monitor cause and effect.
That change might have to be 180 degrees, but if you are going round in circles then being brave enough to do the opposite of well-meaning advice COULD be the pattern-breaker. It sure was for me.
Of course it’s important and it is only running. Get perspective: No-one’s trying to shoot you for what you believe and odds are you know where your next meal is coming from.

Q. Where are you now. What is the prognosis going forward?

If you want to keep up with Andy’s progress, his blog is here. Or follow him on Twitter (@AndyMouncey).

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/November-2015/Recovering-from-injury-Q-A-with-Andy-Mouncey#sthash.WNoajGlB.dpuf

Q. Andy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Q. How did your injury first manifest itself and what did you do about it?

A. I got a pain in the ball of my left foot after a run that I thought was just bruising. I’d bashed it on a rock or something. RICE didn’t fix it after a couple of weeks so it was off to X-ray.

Q. What happened after the realisation that this was going to take a long time? How did you cope mentally? What process did you go through with your doctors?

Q. What did you learn from this process, what tips can you pass on to other runners?

A. The scan is not the territory – just because it ain’t on the scan doesn’t mean it don’t exist. If you feel it, then it’s there alright.

Consultants are not God. They are not the expert on you, and they can put too much faith in reports and scans.
You are the expert on you. Especially so if you have a ton of self knowledge and emotional intelligence honed in part by decades of training.
Pay attention to your intuition. If your little voice keeps pulling you back to something then odds are it’s worth being pulled back to.
Be prepared to kiss a few frogs. Sorry!
We are designed to move. So, unless something is physically broken, then immobilization should NOT be part of treatment.
Keep a diary. I have done since I was a teenager and it’s a godsend for revealing patterns, trends and linking cause and effect over time.
Unless you are very lucky, odds are you will have to look outside the NHS to get a breakthrough if you’re stuck. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fast and that may make a difference between sorting the original problem, or a whole set of new ones.
If it’s complicated, then you need someone who knows the sport and has decades of experience working and treating healthy and broken people, and someone who will get their hands on your injury. Decades of experience mean they can piece together the ‘possible’ from the likely and unlikely patterns. The good ones are open minded enough to know what they don’t know and are honest enough to tell you so.
Keep looking. There are people who care in this world and there IS a solution out there. If it’s soft tissue, it WILL heal.
Change one thing at a time so you can monitor cause and effect.
That change might have to be 180 degrees, but if you are going round in circles then being brave enough to do the opposite of well-meaning advice COULD be the pattern-breaker. It sure was for me.
Of course it’s important and it is only running. Get perspective: No-one’s trying to shoot you for what you believe and odds are you know where your next meal is coming from.

Q. Where are you now. What is the prognosis going forward?

If you want to keep up with Andy’s progress, his blog is here. Or follow him on Twitter (@AndyMouncey).

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/November-2015/Recovering-from-injury-Q-A-with-Andy-Mouncey#sthash.WNoajGlB.dpuf

Q. Andy, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Q. How did your injury first manifest itself and what did you do about it?

A. I got a pain in the ball of my left foot after a run that I thought was just bruising. I’d bashed it on a rock or something. RICE didn’t fix it after a couple of weeks so it was off to X-ray.

Q. What happened after the realisation that this was going to take a long time? How did you cope mentally? What process did you go through with your doctors?

Q. What did you learn from this process, what tips can you pass on to other runners?

A. The scan is not the territory – just because it ain’t on the scan doesn’t mean it don’t exist. If you feel it, then it’s there alright.

Consultants are not God. They are not the expert on you, and they can put too much faith in reports and scans.
You are the expert on you. Especially so if you have a ton of self knowledge and emotional intelligence honed in part by decades of training.
Pay attention to your intuition. If your little voice keeps pulling you back to something then odds are it’s worth being pulled back to.
Be prepared to kiss a few frogs. Sorry!
We are designed to move. So, unless something is physically broken, then immobilization should NOT be part of treatment.
Keep a diary. I have done since I was a teenager and it’s a godsend for revealing patterns, trends and linking cause and effect over time.
Unless you are very lucky, odds are you will have to look outside the NHS to get a breakthrough if you’re stuck. It won’t be cheap, but it will be fast and that may make a difference between sorting the original problem, or a whole set of new ones.
If it’s complicated, then you need someone who knows the sport and has decades of experience working and treating healthy and broken people, and someone who will get their hands on your injury. Decades of experience mean they can piece together the ‘possible’ from the likely and unlikely patterns. The good ones are open minded enough to know what they don’t know and are honest enough to tell you so.
Keep looking. There are people who care in this world and there IS a solution out there. If it’s soft tissue, it WILL heal.
Change one thing at a time so you can monitor cause and effect.
That change might have to be 180 degrees, but if you are going round in circles then being brave enough to do the opposite of well-meaning advice COULD be the pattern-breaker. It sure was for me.
Of course it’s important and it is only running. Get perspective: No-one’s trying to shoot you for what you believe and odds are you know where your next meal is coming from.

Q. Where are you now. What is the prognosis going forward?

If you want to keep up with Andy’s progress, his blog is here. Or follow him on Twitter (@AndyMouncey).

- See more at: http://www.runultra.co.uk/Articles/November-2015/Recovering-from-injury-Q-A-with-Andy-Mouncey#sthash.WNoajGlB.dpuf

Written by Mark Woolley - http://markstevenwoolley.blogspot.com.es

Never has a topic, not just in ultramarathon running but in the nutritional world in general been subjected to a generalised pseudoscientific analysis as that of diet.

It is of course very natural for every athlete to contemplate and analyse every aspect of their training in order to improve performance and that includes diet. The chemicals that you put into your mouth ultimately translate into performance and it is natural to analyse what is the optimum combination of these chemicals that lead to a best performance in an event. But diet is not just about optimum performance; it is about generalised optimum health as well. The two are closely related as without optimised health there can of course not be optimised performance.

I will argue a case that a diet for optimised health is indeed a diet for optimised performance but that the diet during that optimised performance is actually radically different from the diet that lead to that optimised performance.

In the introductory sentence I mentioned that the subject of diet is one that has been subjected to more pseudoscientific (bad science) analysis than any other, not just in the world of ultra-running but in the dietary world in general. Body biochemistry is hideously complex with interplay of literally thousands of biochemical pathways, a symbiosis of which is a long way from being fully understood. It would be fair to say that at best we only partially understand these mechanisms and at worst completely misunderstanding them leading to practices that not only do not lead to optimum performance but that actually harm it and our general health in the process. I am not saying that these authors set out deliberately to mislead but when there is such a large interplay of a ridiculous number of parameters it is frighteningly easy to arrive at incorrect conclusions.

Bad Science

In writing this piece I will draw attention to the fact that I have a Ph. D. in science (Physical Chemistry). I do so, not to boast about my academic credentials but to draw attention to the fact that I am trained in the scientific method and more importantly I am trained in spotting bad science. Diet is certainly not my academic specialism but as an ultra-endurance athlete it is one that I have a great deal of interest in and one that I have studied extensively. Perhaps the most important thing I have discovered from my research on the topic is in spite of huge amounts of data that actually exist there is a huge lack of what I would describe as hard understanding on the topic and the subsequent substitution with what is otherwise known as bad science. And for those of you that prefer a bit of straight talking; that’s “Bullshit” in American English or “Bollocks” in British English by the way.

The term “Bad science” which has been popularised in Ben Goldacre’s excellent book with just that name “Bad Science”. (http://www.badscience.net) It does not mean for one minute that these conclusions are actually wrong. What it means is that the conclusions have been derived on incomplete data. But before analysing what we mean by bad science, let’s look at some “good, hard science” and then make a candid comparison. Newton’s laws on motion can be described as good, hard science. Newton, about 300 years ago formulated a set of very simple equations that were able to describe the whole of the then known physical word. These laws and his equations, whilst not only being very simple were extremely powerful. They had a predictive nature about them that is fundamental to the concept of good science.

Describing what we know about diet and ultra-running performance can indeed be described as bad science. This is not at all surprising as it is a hideously complex topic and isolating parameters that can be studied in order to determine their precise effect on performance to the degree of accuracy that Newton was able to describe the effect that mass has on acceleration and on the applied force when he formulated his second law is close to near impossible. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to describe a sports diet in such a way as to say that increasing your intake of x% of y ingredient will lead to a z% increase in performance; Alas it is not so. Not only does the diet effect performance but also a host of other environmental factors that over a prolonged period of time simply cannot be controlled. In studies of this nature there is a generalised absence of what would be the control group, for no other reason than nobody really knows what the control group should actually be. At best we have “best attempts” to isolate factors and study them but in spite of tremendous efforts on the part of the researchers they remain in the realm of bad science simply because of the impossible nature of isolating the parameter that is being studied or of simply establishing a valid control group, exempt from being corrupted by other factors. This doesn’t mean their findings are incorrect, only that they are flawed as a scientific endeavour. It also doesn’t mean that we haven’t discovered anything; on the contrary, there has been a major advancement in our knowledge on the topic. But wading our way through the myriad of scientific complexity is a daunting task, especially when so much research tends to be contradictory. Translating all of this science into a practical diet, that is easy to follow and that leads to a genuine optimum performance for a particular individual is near impossible, especially when we include the different genotypes of all of the athletes that may be interested in this material.

What we are left with is a philosophy, a set of general rules that certainly have a lot of valid use, but are by no means a detailed recipe for success. Many authors have tried to do just this and as would be very natural for a topic of this nature they have evoked the theory of evolution and justified diets on what our bodies had adapted over millions of years of evolution to eat. Whilst I believe that this approach can successfully lead to identifying the major trends in an optimum diet, I do not believe that it can lead to optimum performance in a race. Our ancestors generally had access to poor quality foods and developed highly efficient systems for extracting energy from these foods. By injecting high quality, energy rich foods into this system we can give it an extra boost leading to even greater performance.

So then, on to the bad science. It is unfortunate, especially after the introductory paragraphs but the nature of the topic is such that it is all we have. What I will express is of course is simply an opinion. I consider it to be a valid opinion though as it is at least coherent with what I know intellectually and what has worked well for me in running ultra-marathons. I will argue a case, based on evidence but much in the way that a lawyer would argue a case in court. I will be coherent in what I say and I will back up with as much data as I have available. However, it will remain an opinion albeit an informed one; based on my own academic research as well as my own experience in running ultramarathons. Ultimately it will be another piece of bad science, although I will argue there is a lot of truth in what I am offering.

This lack of hard data has been summarised in Mark Hine’s excellent book “Our natural diet” (http://www.markhines.org/Our-Natural-Diet(2857229).htm) where Hines draws attention to these very problems and offers an interesting synopsis of what may well indeed be our natural diet. But is our natural diet the same as an optimised diet for ultra-endurance running. It is an interesting question.

The diet for an ultra-endurance athlete has to allow the athlete to achieve the following goals. First and foremost has to be the ability to maintain a prolonged effort over a prolonged period of time. Following that the diet has to provide enough energy for adequate training, allowing the athlete to achieve his or her goals. Coupled in has to be the aspect of good health. A sudden burst of energy for training purposed does not necessarily constitute optimum diet if we are considering our long term health.

Back to the bad science then. In the void of any hard reliable data upon which to make any hard scientific conclusions the developed world in general came to the conclusion in the 1980s (http://understandnutrition.com/2013/05/08/the-low-fat-diet-why-it-was-so-popular-and-where-it-stands-today) that fat was bad. As athletes, weight is one of the most important aspects that have an effect on performance. Carrying a couple of extra kilos has a huge effect and slows you down so there is immense interest in keeping that weight off, or losing it if we carry too much of it. So when the general opinion in the field was that eating fat made you fat, we all diligently followed our low fat diets, convinced that this was the only way forwards to optimum performance. The problem is that this mind set has recently been shown to be complete nonsense. (http://realmealrevolution.com/) Noakes is in my opinion one of the very best sport’s scientist ever in the field. Not only because he has written a host of literature based on actual research but because he is willing to change his opinion and recognise that he was wrong with previous conclusions that he had made. His book “The Lore of running” is the staple reference point for any runner that is seriously considering a fuller understanding of the science behind the sport.

So then, back to the fat. Our bodies are tremendously adaptable and we are capable of adaptations in our diet that allows us to extract the necessary nutrients from our food so that we may go about our business. When we reduce or even eliminate fat in our diets, in an attempt to lose weight our bodies adapt to this regime. If the major source of calories is then carbohydrates our bodies become adapted to processing carbohydrates, and that includes converting the carbohydrate into fat to make up for the very lack of fat. The very biochemistry of our bodies changes in order to extract what is needed. And fat is needed. It is not only needed for fuel but also it plays an important role in cell protection and hence reduction in the risk for cancer. (http://www.thenaturalvet.net/Fats-and-Their-Relationship-to-Cell-Membrane-Function_ep_61.html)

A host of studies analysing glycogen (Carbohydrate) stores and performance arrived at the conclusion that at least up until the marathon distance that the primary fuel for performance was glycogen. In other words stored carbohydrate and athletes went to great ends to optimise these stores. These included the low fat high carb diets as well as the famed carbo loading regimes that athletes undertook the days previous to a race. Carbo stores in the body can typically last for 2-3 hours which is just the right amount for a marathon. When the carbs run out, the athletes experience the wall effect with the subsequent dramatic decrease in work rate.

Studies on triathletes, particularly for the Iron man distance (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4445872/) clearly demonstrated that the top athletes could not be burning carbohydrates as the major energy source for the duration of the event. They were winning races in about 8 hours, a supposed full 5 hours over the point when their bodies ran out of glycogen. Not only that, but at the work rates involved, whatever mechanism was producing the energy it was just as efficient as the carbohydrate burning mechanism of the marathon runners and lasted a lot, lot longer. It is this precisely this latter mechanism that we are interested in in ultra-running if we are to truly unleash our potential.

So, in the low fat, high carb diet the body is being constantly trained for precisely that combination and never really learns to burn fat. The body becomes adapted to carbs as the primary fuel source, so when the carbs run out, the body subsequently crashes. But it doesn’t crash because it has run out of fuel, it actually crashes because it doesn’t know how to burn the huge reserves of fat fuel that it still has. It is little wonder that whilst on this diet, study after study has demonstrated that it was the amount of stored glycogen that affected endurance performance and every possible trick was used to get more carbs into the body. (http://musclesound.com/glycogen-role-in-sports-performance) Once the carbs ran out, the athlete hit the wall. The problem was though, that this still didn’t explain the top performances of the top triathletes as they were able to keep up work rates comparable to the top marathon runners but clearly they were not hitting the wall at 3 hours. They weren’t even hitting it 3 hours later. What was happening? And then came the revelation that shocked the sports science community: These athletes were not actually following a low fat diet after all and they were compensating with significant calories from fat. Not only that but the athletes actually confessed to “cheating” on their trainers prescribed diet and were eating considerable fat as well. The conclusion being of course that these athletes were fat adapted. They were not actually using carbs as their major energy supply but fats; stored body fats. Their bodies were so efficient at burning fats that they were capable of comparable work rates to the top marathoners of the day who were burning carbs. So instead of focusing on improving our ability to store glycogen we should be training our bodies to burn fats.

So the low fat diet recommended by so many sports nutritionists would not only appear to be highly mistaken for an ultra-runner but it would also appear to be a major hindrance in achieving optimum performance. By eating a low fat, high carb diet, the body becomes adapted to metabolising carbs, and more importantly it becomes very poor at metabolising fats. What we need to do is move to a high fat low carb diet in order to train our bodies to burn fat. When all we have is fat to burn, the body adapts to burning fat, and when the body is properly fat adapted it can run and run and run for a very long time. And this is precisely what we are trying to achieve in our ultra-running.

So the high fat diet has suddenly become fashionable and there is a growing trend in the sport towards it. With the same mistaken evangelism that promoted the low fat diet, we now seem to be becoming obsessed with the low carb diet. Carbs, at least to some extent have become demonised and a dietary backlash against carbs is now being observed. But going completely the other way isn’t the answer either. Those elite triathletes that were sneaking fats into their diets and doing the top times in Ironmans weren’t just only eating fats. They were eating considerable carbohydrates too. More specifically; carbohydrates were the official staple of their diets but, and it is an important but; they were eating considerable fat too. In other words, and this is where we come full circle; they were eating a balanced diet! This of course actually makes good common sense. Extremes in general are bad and often the best way is somewhere in the middle.

The “high fat - low carb” paradigm is equally misleading as the “low fat - high carb” one. Both terms are inherently mistaken and both lead to considerable imbalances for what can be considered as being optimum performance in ultra-endurance athletics. What we should be talking about is simple shifts in the percentages of these nutrients, and subtle shifts at that. Barry Spears “The zone diet” (https://en.wikipidia.org/wiki/Zone_diet) does just this and whilst anyone trying to follow this diet will require a degree in biochemistry to understand what he is going on about, the message can be neatly summarised as eating a bit more proteins and fats and a bit less carbs. Instead of eating 60% carbs, Spears recommends approximately 40% carbs with 30% fat and 30% protein. This can hardly be called a low carb diet as carbs still make up the greatest proportion of the macro nutrients but it is never the less an important shift from the more established traditional marathon runners diet. More to the point, the USA national swimming team that Spears coached whilst on his diet ran riot in the in 1980s and took pretty much all the medals that were worth having in the USA. Clearly he was on to something.

Training the fat metabolism.

The first stage in training our bodies to metabolise fat is clearly to increase the fat in our diet. (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-eating-more-fat-helps-you-lose-more-weight.html) This doesn’t mean eating massive amounts of fat like the famed Atkins diet but simply shifting the emphasis of the diet towards fats. Remember, we are adjusting the percentages without making major jumps. 30% of total calories from fat, on a day to day basis can be considered as a healthy “high fat” diet. (http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/nutrition/why-experts-now-think-you-should-eat-more-fat-20141020) But also an important aspect of training fat metabolism is to train when the body is depleted in carbs. This can best be achieved first thing in the morning and training before having anything to eat. Whilst the body will not be completely depleted as the glycogen reserves will not be empty, they will be significantly depleted and as all food from the previous evening will be digested it will at least force the body to access the reserves and this includes the fat reserves. It is important not to force the body too hard straight after waking up, especially as we get older and lose the elasticity in our arteries but by all accounts, a lower work rate leads to a higher percentage fat consumption, although total amount of fat burned increases with exercise intensity. (http://fitnesshealth.co/blogs/fitness/14112669-best-heart-rate-to-burn-fat).

Personally I train religiously every day before work for about an hour. I take a coffee to get me going and then hit the road no matter what. Consistency and the formation of the habit are absolutely crucial in provoking the fat adaptation to take place. It is a slow process and not something that happens quickly. If you chose this route to ultramarathon success you have to be prepared to forsake short term gains for the long term ones. Training for ultra-marathons is even more arduous than the races themselves.

The major component of any ultra-distance athlete’s training programme has to be the weekly long run. Out of racing season this will typically be anything between 4 to 6 hours with the occasional 10 hour run for me. On these runs you have to eat whilst you run and although I have no scientific evidence or research to back up some of the following statements, I can say that my own personal experience more than justifies what I am recommending. We are interested in burning fats, but to burn fats we also need to burn carbohydrates (http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/energysystems.html). A useful analogy is that of the pilot light and the major flame in a furnace. Without the pilot light of the carb flame burning, it is impossible to ignite the major fat flame. To this end it is important to consume carbohydrate during the long runs as without them, the fat flame does not burn. But the trick and it is a difficult trick to master is to consume just enough to keep the pilot burning, thus forcing the major fat flame to keep burning. Too little carbs and the flame goes out, too much carbs and the body takes the easy way out and burns them, at the expense of the fat flame.

So just how much carbs should you eat on you long training runs? There really is only one answer to that as far as fat adaption goes and that is as little as possible. When you feel your energy beginning to dip then that is definitely NOT the moment to take the carbs. This of course flies directly in the face of traditional advice which recommends taking carbs on a regular basis precisely to avoid this dip. Only when you are starting to feel light headed and that there is a considerable loss in performance should you eat them. And they should be relatively difficult carbs to extract as well such as fruit. Personally I go for the dried fruit as it is energy dense relative to the weight you have to carry. Gels are absolute no no’s as far as training runs are concerned. You will take just enough to lift you out of the downer, and absolutely no more if you are genuinely interested in adapting your body for fat burning. I am a great fan of dried fruit and nuts. The dried fruit contains the carbs and the nuts contain lots of fat and proteins. At this point I need to point out that this is what seems to work for me. This is definitely not a statement based on a literature research.

In taking this strategy it is very easy to get it wrong. In a carbohydrate depleted environment you are essentially starving yourself. We have seen that carbs are important in the fat metabolising process and the complete absence of them in the body can be catastrophic. Indeed, the body will simply not allow a complete absence of them in the body and it has been show (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis) that in the absence of glucose in the blood, the body manufactures glucose by catabolising proteins. The brain mostly functions on glucose so the very survival of the organism depends on carbs being present in the system and will not allow zero point to be reached and starts to manufacture them internally. In lay terms that is tantamount to the body eating its own muscles and that is clearly counterproductive to any sports performance.

Clearly though, the purpose of all this is to promote fat adaptation and must not be confused with other aspects of training. This requires some considerable discipline and self-knowledge as this will almost certainly equate to slower times in the training runs compared to fuelling them with a carbohydrate rich foods. Indeed, on a typical 50 km training run that I often do, I will deliberately set out without eating breakfast. On a day with breakfast this will often take me 4:40 at a reasonable training pace. Without breakfast it always takes more than 5 hours, sometimes even longer. A casual observer will immediately point out that you can’t train properly without having eaten breakfast as you are clearly not working as hard and that the difference in times proves the point. However, the whole point of training whilst in a fasted state is not speed per se but is all about developing the fat adaption. Continuous races that take place over several days are not won on speed. They are won on endurance, and endurance is all about development of the fat metabolism mechanism in ultra events.

Other legitimate aims of any training session such as increasing your aerobic capacity and the development of speed clearly cannot be achieved by taking this strategy and more carbs should be consumed. Indeed, when I want to practice race pace, or develop speed I will always eat breakfast. For speed the body needs to be well fuelled. However, I would argue that the major purpose of the weekly long run for an ultra-distance athlete is to promote endurance and fat adaptation. Improvements in aerobic capacity and pace are the realm of shorter distance higher intensity workouts. The fact that the training run takes longer should not be the issue here, you are training for performance on race day and that will require shorter term sacrifices. But little by little, especially if you start to keep accurate records of your own training you will notice improvements in speed and endurance as the fat metabolism starts to become more efficient in your body.

Race day.

On race day we are all looking for a maximum performance. An ultra-marathon race for me can be easily divided into two sub categories as far as nutrition is concerned. The first are the 100 k races on tarmac or good trails. They are fast races and typically take less than 12 hours. My last 100 k clocked in at 8:49 which is not too shoddy a performance for a 51 year old. More importantly, my pace was extremely uniform and at no time during the race did I run out of energy or hit the wall. In this last race I didn’t eat breakfast. Not because it was part of the race plan but because I simply wasn’t hungry. Hunger is a good indicator to if we actually need food or not and for an ultra-run, I am not in favour of forcing the issue. I had a good fatty meal of sausages, ham and eggs the night before with just a few chips so I knew my reserves were full. I was also less worried about the absence of breakfast as I know that my fat burning metabolism is good. During the race, as soon as I noticed even a slight drop in speed I would drink an energy drink, or take a gel. The purpose of race day is to perform. Race day is when you get back what you put in and then, and only then is when you fuel your body for maximum performance and that means carbs. The train low, compete high strategy has indeed gainded popularity amongst many elite athletes. (http://awordonnutrition.com/sepost/train-low-compete-high-a-quick-summary/?type=article)

When you have trained properly in a carb depleted environment you have developed your fat metabolism to the full and when you finally inject considerable carbs into your body whilst running it is like igniting it with rocket fuel. The high consumption of carbs during the race not only keeps the pilot light burning brighter but also allows this very pilot light to ignite even more fats as though they were being burned in a blast furnace. What you are doing on race day by taking in high quantities of concentrated carbohydrate is actually providing an optimised environment for the burning of fats. And that leads to optimum performance. It is easy to understand the origins of the mistaken carbohydrate paradigm for optimum sports performance in ultra-distance athletics; the true function being that carbs facilitate fat burning. However, the underlying point, and it is one that cannot be stressed with sufficient force is that this only works in fat adapted athletes. During training it is a low carb diet; in a race it is high carbs still.

For any race that takes over 12 hours we require a different strategy. My own experience on relying on carbs and my internal fat store alone simply does not seem to cut it. Races over the 100k distance can take anything between 24 and 72 hours; at least for the kind of races that I like to do and the fuelling strategy returns to what could only be described as a typical balanced diet, at least in terms of the macronutrients. I will go for concentrated foods as in fibre depleted but certainly the combination of macronutrients resembles a typical food pyramid. After 12 hours I can only imagine that my fat reserves start to fail too. I clearly have much more fat to metabolise, I can see it; but after 12 hours it certainly appears that all of the readily available fat seems to have been burned and that accessing that second store of fat requires a bit more work.

The pace that the longer runs are run at is quite a bit slower than a typical 100k and that means that eating solid food is not only feasible but is actually quite pleasant as well. The intake of solid food early on in the race, and by that I mean a good combination of carbs, fats and proteins seems to keep me going for a very long time indeed.

A particular revelation in my own experience took place when I was running the Badwater ultra marathon in the States. About the half way point I switched to eating sandwiches that were soaked in olive oil and that seemed to pick me up and give me a massive boost of sustainable energy, far above the energy levels that I was experiencing by eating carbs alone. The combination of the carbs, and I strongly suspect the oil, provided a huge amount of fuel that went straight into the furnace. So, is it possible that we run out of available fat reserves too? And by replenishing these with readily digestible fats like olive oil we substitute the readily available fats in our bodies? The fat burning mechanisms in our body are already fully activated and all they need are the fats to burn. This would indeed be a great topic for a scientific study but in the absence of which I will simply try to perfect the method empirically on my own experience. Eating fats after 12 hours into the race it would certainly appear; equates to optimum endurance performance in the longer events.

Summary.

Summarising then, fat is the major energy provider during an ultra-endurance event and as such athletes should be training in such a way as to promote this biochemical pathway in the body and this means training in a carb depleted state, typically fasted and before breakfast.

As a general rule, an ultra-endurance athlete should be eating a balanced healthy diet but one that is subtly shifted towards fats, with no radical exclusion of carbs. Carbs are still very important.

During a race the athlete needs to consume more carbohydrates than in training in order to reach optimum performance and the longer the race, the more important are the fats and these have to be consumed to maintain performance.

And finally, before I get slated for the “bad science” this is just a synopsis of my experience and stuff I have read. I’ll leave it up to the actual sports scientists to collect the data and verify the hypothesis.

Latest Race Reports

Latest Gear Review

Latest Articles

Minimize The Faff Factor

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Feel The Heat

What If..?

Minimize The Faff Factor

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Feel The Heat

What If..?

Minimize The Faff Factor

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Feel The Heat

What If..?

Minimize The Faff Factor

What You Do Between Stages

Stay Off The Forums

Feel The Heat

What If..?

Things that are essential to do in the 6 months before you race

Things I did in the 6 months before

So what is my advice?

There is no shame in walking

Get through aid stations quickly

Speak to other runners

Mix up training

Pick up a flattish race with good aid stations

Read blogs and books

And finally...

Support the URC

URC Strava Club