How to train for your first ultramarathon
Give yourself months rather than weeks, build consistent easy mileage before anything else, and make back-to-back weekend long runs the backbone of the block. Practise eating while moving and walking the climbs — first ultras are lost to stomachs, feet and pacing far more often than to fitness.
How long you need
If you already run regularly, a focused block of a few months is realistic. If you are starting from very little, spend the first two months simply running easily four or five times a week without missing sessions. I ran my first marathon off about three miles a week and got away with it; I would not repeat that, and an ultra is less forgiving.
The weekly shape
Four to five easy runs, one long one, and the long one lengthening every other week rather than every week. Once the distance is reasonable, split the weekend: a long run on Saturday and a second, shorter one on tired legs on Sunday teaches your body more about hour fifteen than one huge effort does.
Eating and drinking while moving
This is the skill that decides the day. Practise it on every long run, with the exact food you will use. My twenty-seven hours in Madeira came down to whether I could keep eating, not whether I could keep running.
Walk the climbs on purpose
Nearly everyone finishing an ultra walks. Practise walking fast uphill in training so it feels like a strategy rather than a failure on the day.
Kit, feet and the small things
Nothing new on race day. Test shoes, socks, pack, layers and headtorch in training. Treat a hotspot the moment you feel it — the ten minutes you spend on it are cheaper than the four hours it costs later.
Read next
Get my 21 SAS reserve selection prep guide
What the stages are, what I was training to before I applied, and how I'd build the twelve weeks before a selection weekend. Written from my own application, free, no pitch.