In preparing for an ultra, we generally focus on becoming a better runner. We train speed and power and economy, hunting performance gains, tolerance to intensity and volume to go faster, longer.
But fine-tuned physiology does not guarantee success in ultras. If it did, then elite marathoners entering the sport would rapidly rise through the ranks. And that has yet to be seen.
A fast marathoner can endure great pain, but in vitro, on the road for 2 hours and change. The variables impacting performance are, in the eyes of trail runners, minuscule—a slight headwind, balmy temps, some rain.
Of course, I am not belittling the marathon, these athletes are at the peak of human performance. But the distinction between the marathon and ultra-marathon goes well beyond a prefix.
Running 100 miles involves not just physical pain but sleep-deprivation, dehydration, radical and prolonged departures from homeostasis.
This brush with absurdity, “I can barely walk,” destruction of body and ego, that comes after 10, 20, 40 hours of grinding in hostile environments, embodies the specificity of ultra.
First Principles
Despite arriving at a race in what we believe to be ‘good shape’, we have only a vague notion of how we will feel after 80km.
What makes an ultra, ultra is this promise of uncertainty. Nothing in training will come close to how we feel late in a race. So how really are we suppose to prepare for that?
Is it enough to focus on running shape and just go with an openness to suffering? Can you be in poor form but will or wise yourself to a desired result?
In addition to improving as runners, we might ask, what qualities do we want to cultivate to weather a storm?
Durability
Grit
Equanimity in the face of chaos
Autonomy
Fearlessness
In reality these character traits are often developed outside of sport. But we become the things we do, and consistent training and goal setting is a valid way to build character.
Applying repeated stress on the body with adequate recovery creates adaption. In the same way we tax the aerobic system by running uphill we might also challenge the mind. Force a situation in which it must figure a way out.
Sequentially
“After my long run yesterday and a poor nights sleep, I am tired and sore and worried about my recovery run today.”
As an example, logging an easy run under a heavy load of fatigue, generated from a difficult session the day prior or accumulated over several days, simulates sensations akin to how it feels deep in a race.
Yes, there is a time to put the legs up and chill. And also a time to accept this morbid state of affairs as challenge, opportunity.
Be strong in the face of fatigue. Positive. Resilient. No moping, no dread. When it hurts it’s time to practice good running technique (particularly downhill) and not succumb to the mental charge of discomfort.
Continuing to trace these kinds of neural patterns will make them increasingly available down the line.
Obviously getting the dose right is important. Too often and you simply won’t recover and risk injury. But after building a good base and entering the final block before a race (6-2 weeks), intentionally accumulating fatigue through session sequencing is specific and will encourage the body and mind to handle fatigue/discomfort better.
Intra-session
To push under duress, you must be tough. Sure you can dial up some VO2 intervals and suffer the question, can I survive another?
But in ultra running, the most specific thing we do is the long run. My favorite way to end a long run is with a hard climb. Something anxiety-inducing.
The climb is a prompt, an interrogation. Will you crack? What are you made of?
Fatigued after several hours of movement, your interior character surfaces. It’s not so much the time to the top that counts, but the quality of the meditations that ripple through your mind.
How you respond and focus when your hamstrings cramp-up, when everything is telling you to let off the gas, when excuses pour like rain.
At so many levels, we are fortunate to experience such tests of difficulty, resistance, weakness. Deep down as ultra-runners, this is what we hunger for.
However we invite uncertainty and adventure into our lives, the simple task of regularly getting out of our comfort zone serves to improve how we respond when the going gets tough.
This is the place where life-lessons and those we gather as runners blend and solidify. A monument to our efforts. Beautiful and even better, potentially useful.