A Journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step
Ultra Distance Events
The Journey
HomeClimbing
Travel
Accident
Hospital
Recovery
Running
Headway
Fund Raising
3 Peaks, 2 Legs and a Bike
Recovery
Work AssistanceInitial Problems
Ongoing Problems
Recovery Diary
Fund Raising
Just GivingMedia and Press
Running
Event ResultsShort Events
Ultra Distance Events
Neolithic Marathon
High Peak Marathon
Pembroke Coast Path
Headway UK
Headway Swindon
Further Reading /
Inspirational books
Touching the Void
Joe Simpson
It's not about the Bike
Lance Armstrong
The Lore of Running
Tim Noakes
Since the Neolithic Marathon most of my running has been either training for or taking part in Ultra Distance events
As I was quite new to running, and now not a youth any more! I decided that I would not be able to run fast over any distance and I felt that 'the loneliness of the long distance runner' was something I would be able to cope with especially as I could not remember how hard it was each time!
I joined the Trail Runnning Association. Ultra distance is generally regarded as being over marathon distance, 26 miles and upwards. I've done some 30+ and a couple of 40 and attempted one of 86.
I have heard there are also catagories of Ultra distance, 'short' (over 26.2 miles) to 'ultra' ultra which is over 100 miles, a catagory that my Pembrokeshire Coast Path run falls into.
The training that I have done so far for Ultras has been fairly ad-hoc and mostly based on marathon plans, the exception to this is when I used modfied Comrades training plan for Pembroke.
I am of the opinion that if you believe that you can do something it gives you such a huge psychological boost that the actual training reduces in significance.
e.g. Very fit runner #1 has completed many marathons but does not think he/she can complete a 60 mile run and runner #2 who has completed one marathon believes that he/she can, then the chances are that runner #2 will succeed and runner #1 will not.