Training for your Ultra in 2025

For us, 2025 is shaping up to be our biggest year yet. For many of you, it will be the same thing. Whether tackling your biggest challenge yet, or your first ultra, this blog will point you in the right direction to have success. Success begins long before the starting gun goes. In this blog, here are our tips to guide your training, nutrition, gear selection and mental preparation. Ensuring you are race ready when the time comes.

Whislt there isn’t a way to cover every aspect of preparing for an ultra, hopefully this will guide you on your way.

Establish a solid training plan

Regardless of the goal, it’s essential to have progressive steps to get there.

Whilst it might seem like an obvious statement, I have seen many people say ‘ I want to do X’ but they’ve not set themselves a path to get there. Below is just the tip of the iceberg, but will help you start to lay that pathway down.

Build your Base:

Start with a solid foundation of running. Seems obvious right? Our bodies don’t like quick changes. Aim for consistency in your weekly mileage, with gradual increases in your time on feet. For most distances, a reliable base of 20-30 miles is crucial. Depending on if finishing is the goal or performance this number will change drastically.

Long Runs & Back-to-backs:

To properly prepare for an ultra-distance race, doing long runs is a key element. Back-to-back long runs have become a staple of the ultra runner’s diet. This gives your body the opportunity to spend plenty of time on your feet, along with a recovery period between, but not too long that it means you are running on heavy legs.

Intensity & Recovery:

Mix in speed work, hill training & recovery runs to enhance your endurance/ strength. Interval sessions and tempo runs will help raise your lactate threshold, allowing you to maintain a strong pace over longer distances. Remember, recovery is key—pay attention to your body and incorporate rest days into your plan.

Master your nutrition

Practice what works, learn what doesn’t.

Daily Habits:

A well-rounded diet is essential for fueling your training. Focus on nutrient-dense foods rich in carbohydrates, healthy fats, and proteins to support muscle recovery. Stay hydrated and include electrolytes, especially on longer training runs.

Race-day nutrition

Experiment with your nutrition strategy during training. Practice consuming gels, bars, and real foods to see what sits well with your stomach. Determine the timing and quantity of what you plan to consume during the ultra, adjusting based on your energy needs and personal preferences.

Pre-Race Meal

Develop your pre-race meal plan well ahead of time. On race day, aim for a meal that’s high in carbohydrates and low in fat. This will give your body the best shot at starting strong and maintaining energy levels throughout the event.

Equipment & Footcare

Having the wrong kit, can make it harder than neccacary.

Equipment

Part of having the most appropriate kit, is doing your own research, whilst having a budget in mind. It’s easy to get caught up in all the latest tech and fancy jargon brands use. Bring it back to basics and look at what your objective is and what you need to kit to do.

A great place to start is the mandatory kit list for the race. Sometimes these can be minimal and you might find you need more anyway. Once you have a clear idea of what you will be carrying on the race, do it in training. The last thing you want is come race day to be lacking confidence because your shoes are about to fall apart, or your waterproofs arent up to standard.

I see that lots of people still don’t practice with their emergency kit. Being in Mountain Resuce I can see both sides. People just think it won’t happen to them. Most of the times I have had to use my kit is from where other members of the public have been unprepared.

I have worked in the outdoor industry since I left college and have seen many times over the value of buying quality kit, that is correct for your needs. I’m not saying you need to go out there and get the latest £800 Arcteryx jacket. Most people don’t need that. but DO invest in your equipment. In the mountains, it could be the difference you need. I work for Ellis Brigham looking after their events and athlete team. If you want any advice on equipment pop into any of our stores or speak to me.

Footcare

Footcare, or at least, lack of footcare is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t finish. To start with, look after your feet like a normal human, cut your toe nails. Learn how to tape your feet or fix blisters. A great book, Fixing your Feet is definetly worth a read.

Mental Preperation

Running an ultra is a huge metal strain, learn your montivations

Motivation

Learn what motivates you. If you want the kudos of saying you’ve done 50km or 100 miles, I’m afraid you're going to have to dig a little deeper than that.
Whilst thats a great surface-level motivation, it won’t get you to the finish line alone.
What really motivates you? Why? Why are you committed to putting your body through such a high level of stress? Sounds a bit blunt but if you can really dial in why, hold onto that through training, and race day, it will make all those hours just a little bit easier.

Having a Mantra

When you are really fatigued, or the training block you are in is a bit rough, then having some 1 liners you can repeat to yourself is really powerful. Whislt there are endless motivational quotes out there something I lean on a lot is:
‘I didn’t come this far to only come this far’.

I could be doing hill reps in the rain, or at a checkpoint where I am thinking out quitting, saying this a few times can get a broken soul back out the chair .

Summary

On the whole educating yourself on all the elements that are involved with an endurance challenge will get you to a better place, with less physical work than you might expect. You can gain advantages on the person next to you, just by being more informed, rather than having more training miles in your legs.

That is one of the services I offer as a coach. I am not just about giving you a training program and leaving you out to dry. Beyond Ultra is beyond just a training program. If you managed to get this far, quote I can read, and get 15% off any coaching package!

See you on the trails!