For the Ultra-Curious
What to do next?
So you want to run an ultra-marathon.
You listen to a podcast and the stories that those ultra-runners tell are great adventures. These are worthy things that can be attempted. And they assure you that all this ultra-stuff is really no big deal. Anybody can do it. And you start to think… “Maybe…I could do that…”
It’s a slippery slope cowgirls and cowboys. You’d best think about what your about to step into.
On the one hand you’ve got your grand adventure that will push you to your edge. You’ll discover things about yourself that you never knew. You’ll be stripped clean and reborn through the process.
On the other hand there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears involved. And most probably some diarrhea and vomiting as well.
What are some of the things you need to think about as you peer longingly down the ultra rabbit hole?
First, is probably distance. Which sounds like it should be obvious, but technically anything longer than a marathon is an ultra-marathon. But, there is a big difference between a 50K and a 100 miler. A 50K is really just a long marathon. You’ll be done in a few hours. A 100 miler may require seeing a second sunrise. The commitment involved is considerably different in terms of both training and execution.
Some of the more cantankerous of the ultra-running populace will only consider 100 miles or better an ultra distance. But that’s their own lack of self awareness. It seems a bit ironic that those who spend so many lonely hours in athletic introspection would denigrate others who are trying to get into the distance.
It’s an individual thing. Ultra-distance is really about going beyond. Going to your edge and then stepping over that edge and keeping on. Your edge is specific to you.
We can fall into the trap of incremental thinking in these things. Like going from 5K to 10K to ½ to full. We might think the path continues as 50K, 50 Miles, 100K and then 100 Miles. There are no such rules. This is an artifact of cultural programming. You could jump right into a hundo. Nothing says you can’t.
There is a slower, perhaps more gentle learning curve by going incrementally. You’ll learn a lot of what you need to know about running 100 Miles by running a 50 mile race. You’re still going beyond the edge in most cases. You’ll still be pushing your time-on-feet. You’ll still be pushing your calories and your strength.
For me 50 Miles was a good starting point. At the time I was a middle of the pack 3-hour marathoner, so the effort and time wasn’t outrageous. I had a good race and was out on the course for around 9 hours. I was home before the sun set. I still felt physically hammered but not totally destroyed.
When I finally got around to trying a 100, at least I had a taste of what I was up against. I just had to load in more miles and learn how to run all night long.
Second thing you’ll need to figure out is roads or trails? Most of the modern ultras are run on trails, but you can still find road or track ultras or rail trail ultras. The trail ultras tend to also be varying degrees of technical. By that we mean surface conditions and elevation. I happen to like that kind of terrain. I find it very comforting. You may not.
The dirty little secret of these trail ultras is that they have a surprisingly large amount of road sections in them. Typically these are dirt roads, fire roads or country roads but they are still very runnable. The mix of road and trail keeps it interesting.
As you are considering which event, check the course and see what you’re comfortable with. Read the reviews. Ask the people who have run or crewed. Is it as difficult as people say? Get specific. A hundred mile race with 5,000 feet of elevation gain could be a flat course with one mountain, or a rolling course with a bunch of little hills.
When I was looking for a 100 mile course for my first try I chose something easy and point to point. My coach recommended point to point because there is less opportunity to quit on a point to point. Many of these races are loop course varying from a ¼ mile track loop to a 10 or 20k trail loop. It’s up to you on how you think your brain and body is going to respond to stepping back out onto that loop for the 10th time at 3:00 in the morning.
A third thing you might want to think about is weather. Rightly or wrongly many of the traditional ultras are run in late summer. This is hot weather. If you’re not a heat runner you might want to look for something later or earlier in the season.
The fact is that if you’re out on the course for 24+ hours you can see many different weathers. In the technical trail races you can climb in and out of different climate zones. That’s the fun of it. Hot in the day in the valley, the freezing at night on the top of a mountain.
In general western and southwestern races tend to be low humidity and northern and eastern tend to be high humidity. Higher humidity for many of us means more skin loss to chaffing. Consider what you’re signing up for. Train appropriately.
A fourth thing you might want to think about is how much time you have to train. Similar to triathlon training, ultra training takes over your weekends for 4-6 months. There are no short cuts to the miles. You’re knocking out 40 miles on a Saturday followed by 20 miles on a Sunday. It chews up your life. Unless you have that kind of wiggle room don’t bite off more than you can chew.
One thing you really don’t have to worry about is spending a ton of money. You just need to put in the miles. Maybe some functional items of clothing but nothing extravagant. A new pair of shoes. A tub of lube and your good to go. In that sense it’s very much a poor-man’s, (or woman’s) sport.
Another thing to consider is how much you like spending time alone with yourself. With all the miles, you are going to spend a lot of time alone with yourself. Your normal running friends aren’t going to join you for a 50-mile overnight training run. Honestly, I didn’t mind it. Once I got into the groove it was very meditative.
As with everything in our world there is a community around ultra runners. You can find people to share your journey with. You can go as deeply down the community rabbit hole as you are comfortable with. Or not. Each event will have it’s own crew of hard core groupies that will hang out with you online even when all your normal friends have given up on you.
Beware that there are some interesting characters. The ultra world is filled with interesting characters. Many of them are minorly crazy. And I say that in a positive way, because minorly crazy people can be entertaining and inspiring. It takes a bit of a broken or different person to gravitate to these distances.
Hopefully I have neither encouraged or discouraged you from chasing your personal white rabbit down that hole. If anything, I would encourage you to do the homework and see if this ultra-running is a vehicle for you to find your edge.