ULTRAS
NOW THAT 26.2 MILES IS MAINSTREAM, RUNNERS
ARE INCREASINGLY CONSIDERING ULTRA EVENTS.
SHOULD YOU BE PUTTING TRIPLE DIGITS ON YOUR
TO-DO LIST? AND JUST HOW DO YOU GO THE DISTANCE?
068 RUNNER’S WORLD 02/16
@runnersworlduk
runnersworld.co.uk
02/16 RUNNER’S WORLD 069
I
ULTRAS
n the film Run, Fat Boy, Run, Simon Pegg’s
character faces losing his former fiancée
to the dashing Whit. Among Whit’s
qualities, the fact ‘he runs marathons’ is
delivered as the final nail in Pegg’s coffin.
After all, how could a mere mortal
compete against such a superhuman?
In 2007, when the film was released, this notion would
have just about held up. For a long time – since, say,
the fifth century BC, when Pheidippides met his fate –
the marathon was seen as the ultimate endurance test.
Fast forward to 2016, however, and the response to
‘He runs marathons’ could just as easily be a muttered
‘So what?’ as wide-eyed awe. So many people are now
reaching the marathon finish line that what was once
a dazzling badge of honour has lost a little of its sheen.
And with 26.2 miles no longer constituting the edge
of the endurance horizon, many runners are entering
the world of ultra marathons and, ultimately, hearing
the call of the 100-miler. A huge yet tantalisingly
round number, it’s a monster beacon for anyone who
has ever wondered how far they can really go.
The number of people going longer
and longer is certainly rising, says
race organiser James Elson, whose
company, Centurion Running,
specialises in ‘hundreds’. ‘I started
putting 100-milers on in 2011
because there were only two in
the UK and I was having to fly to
the US to run them,’ says Elson.
‘Now the Americans have around
150 and we’ve got about 25 here.
I wouldn’t say 100-milers are
becoming more popular, I’d say
they’re exploding.’
That explosion may be controlled
somewhat by logistics. Just as
running a hundred poses serious
challenges, so does organising one,
increases exponentially when it
comes to finishing 100 miles.’
This doesn’t make hundreds the
exclusive preserve of elites. ‘If you
really want it, you can do it,’ says
Ian Torrence, a running coach who
has run 187 ultras. ‘Normal people
who have children and 40-hour-aThe boom in entries suggests
week jobs do it. You see people
ultras are becoming a more
running crazy 200-mile weeks
mainstream milestone, but when it
lining up next to people running
comes to actually running one, it
30-mile weeks.’
pays to remember that there are
Foote agrees: ‘I believe anyone
still massive differences between
can run 100 miles. It’s all a matter
trying your hand at a marathon
of desire and preparation.
and tackling a 100-miler. Both
However, in a hundred, no
require preparation before
matter how prepared
and determination
you are, you might
during, but the
just not have your
marathon offers a
IS 100 MILES
day. If that
bigger window of
HEALTHY?
happens in a
opportunity for
marathon, you
anyone
‘It causes damage, but it’s mostly
could
stubborn
temporary,’ says Dr Marty Hoffman,
walk the
enough to
research director at the Western States
Endurance Run. ‘Looking at immune,
last six miles;
wing it. That
cardiac or kidney function, evidence
walking the last
approach
suggests full recovery. The
60 miles isn’t an
simply won’t
exception is an increase in
option in a
work over 100
irregular heartbeats.’
100-miler. For me
miles.
that’s a big appeal of
‘One hundred miles
the distance, putting
isn’t something you can
yourself into the unknown
blag,’ says serial ultra runner
where failure is a very real option.’
and multiple 100-mile finisher
How real? London Marathon
Kirsty Reade. ‘You need months of
finish rates stand at around
training, you need to get your
98 per cent; the percentage in
nutrition right, have a decent
Centurion’s 100-milers hovers
strategy and much more. A lot
at about 65 per cent, while
has to go right to finish’.
fewer than 50 per cent of starters
Elite US ultra runner and regular
finish the UTMB. So while
100-mile podium finisher Mike
100-milers and marathons
Foote agrees: ‘There are so many
share some common threads,
more layers with a hundred in the
in reality, when it comes to the
way you need to take care of
challenges they pose and the
yourself, your nutrition, your
experience of taking part they’re
pacing. They all play a role in
very different beasts.
marathons, but their importance
SOMETHING FOR
EVERYONE?
LONG RANGE
(clockwise from
top) A downhill
stretch on the
UTMB; ending
the Connemara
100 with a pint;
crawling over
the line at the
Endure24; and
fuelling up
for another
UTMB stage
as access and geography will
restrict numbers. While city
marathons pack runners shoulderto-shoulder on wide roads,
100-milers are likely to be off-road
on narrow trails, with runners
attracted to the ‘Man/Woman vs
The Wild’ element. Pack trails with
too many bodies and you get traffic
jams, damaged landscapes and
grumpy runners. Then there’s the
challenge of keeping competitors
fed, watered and medically covered
for 20+ hours over 100 miles,
often in remote areas.
To manage these potential
problems Centurion caps race
numbers, as do bigger events.
All this means that the growth
in race participation doesn’t tell
the full story of demand.
Take the 106-mile Ultra Trail
du Mont Blanc (UTMB). Despite
the immense difficulty involved in
the event – strict cut-off times,
tough mountain conditions,
400 summits and 10,000m of
climb – soaring demand has
led organisers to implement a
tough system of qualifying points
to join a starting field limited to
2,300. ‘We limit the numbers
to respect the runners,’ says
UTMB race director Catherine
Poletti. ‘They come to run, not
to be stuck in traffic.’
Despite the tough criteria, UTMB
entries now outstrip places by two
to one, reflecting the growth in the
pool of seasoned amateurs with
not just an appetite for, but also
the capability to tackle, such an
Words Warren Pole Photography Roy Belchamber, Getty, Ian Corless,
Iain Shaw, Kathi Harman
MANY MORE FOR
MANY MORE
event. ‘We have more runners
applying for the UTMB every
year,’ says Poletti.
Q
THE WORLD’S BEST 100-MILE RACES
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
EXCLUSIVITY
ULTRA TRAIL
DU MONT
BLANC, FRANCE/
ITALY/
SWITZERLAND
WESTERN
STATES 100, US
The UTMB is a
behemoth, at over
100 miles and 10,000m
of ascent.
ultratrailmb.com
070 RUNNER’S WORLD 02/16
This is a brutal
off-road 100-miler, and
with a field capped at
just 369 runners,
landing a place is like
finding one of Willy
Wonka’s golden tickets.
wser.org
ST FOR
BE
MANAGING LOGISTICS
ENDURE 24, UK
Running five-mile
loops over 24 hours is a
smart way to bag 100
miles, with kit, crew and
food all on hand every
lap. It’s never easy,
but this takes some of
the sting out.
endure24.co.uk
ST FOR
BE
KEEPING IT FLAT
THAMES PATH
100, UK
For your first foray
into 100s, a flat course
is a wise idea and
this one’s a gem –
pancake-flat miles
along the Thames Path.
centurionrunning.com/
thames-path-100-2016
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
ST FOR
BE
SPEED
LONG-HAUL HOLIDAYING
WILDLIFE SPOTTING
PAVEMENT POUNDERS
EFFORTLESS NAVIGATION
EASY-ACCESS WILDERNESS
ADDO
ELEPHANT
TRAIL RUN,
SOUTH AFRICA
CONNEMARA
100, IRELAND
ENDUROMAN
FESTIVAL, UK
ROCKY
RACCOON, US
Five 20-mile laps of a
flat and speedy course
in gorgeous Huntsville
State Park, Texas.
The course record
stands at 12:44.
tejastrails.com/
Rocky.html
@runnersworlduk
DIAGONALE
DES FOUS,
REUNION
ISLAND
The ‘crazy diagonal’
takes you across
mountainous, volcanic
Reunion Island, south
of Mauritius.
grandraid-reunion.com
runnersworld.co.uk
A stunning race
through a national park
that’s home to lions,
elephants and rhino.
trailadventures.co.za/
addo
Scything its way
across the beautiful
district of Connemara,
in the west of Ireland,
this is a pure road route
with jaw-dropping
scenery throughout.
connemara100.com
Logistics are easily
managed when you’re
running laps of a
1.1-mile course. You may
lose your mind, but you
won’t get lost.
enduroman.com/#/
festival-of-ultra-events
SW100, UK
This testing trail loop
threads around the
Brecon Beacons, Wales.
With over 6,000m of
climb, the 40-hour
cut-off doesn’t sound
so generous.
runwalkcrawl.co.uk/
events/sw100-sw50
02/16 RUNNER’S WORLD 071
ULTRAS
THE 100-MILE
EXPERIENCE
So aside from the fact that it’ll go
on a whole lot longer, just how
different is the experience?
‘A hundred miles isn’t the new
marathon, it’s a different sport,’
says Elson. ‘You’ll almost always
run through the night. It’s not just
sore feet and tired legs, it’s all that
times a hundred, and with a huge
amount of mental exhaustion.’
Yet once you’ve come to terms
with its dimensions (20-40 hours
on your feet, three marathons,
with three 10Ks, to boot) and start
running the numbers, you’ll find
the pace required to finish seems
incredibly slow. ‘The cut-off for
our 100-mile races is 30 hours,’
says Elson. ‘If you can walk a good
pace for that time, you can finish.’
That ‘good pace’ would be 3.3mph,
or, to put it in marathon terms, an
eight-hour finish. People have run
faster 26.2s on crutches.
‘In many ways the sport has more
in common with long-distance
walking,’ says Reade. ‘If your
background is marathons or
shorter, your mindset is probably:
running is running, walking is
walking and runners don’t walk,’
says coach George Anderson
(runningbygeorge.com), a
marathon runner who ran his first
100-miler last summer. ‘But if you
step up to 100 everyone walks
some of it because you can go
further for longer simply by
slowing the pace.’
That doesn’t mean a 100-miler is
just a long walk, though. That slow
average speed can quickly become
a raging demon snapping at your
heels: eating, drinking, refilling
water bottles, changing kit as
conditions change – it all saps
precious time and affects your
average speed. So does the weight
of your pack and the rough ground
you’ll be covering. Throw in
head-torch batteries that need
changing during a 3am storm, a
wrong turn thanks to your
exhausted mind, plus the sheer
weight of compounded fatigue and
before you know it, ‘just’ 3.3mph
becomes a very tough prospect.
Walking is strategic, employed
instead of stopping, while you eat
or change clothing, for example.
Or to conserve energy on bigger
climbs, where a determined hike
allows you to maintain near
running pace using a fraction of
the energy. You need to change
gears like a 4x4 to survive 100
072 RUNNER’S WORLD 02/16
miles. As that climb levels out you
can shift up and run again.
Another mental shift needed is in
how you see ‘failure’. In 100-milers
a DNF (Did Not Finish) is part of
the process. ‘To drop out of a
marathon you need an injury,’ says
Elson, ‘but dropping out of a
100-miler is par for the course.’
The biggest factor in avoiding
DNFs is often desire. ‘Most people
who stop in a 100-miler have
simply lost the will to continue,’
says Elson. The overnight factor
can’t be underestimated, with the
period between midnight and 5am
often when you feel at your worst,
with your body screaming at you to
sleep. You need the will to keep
putting one foot in front of the
other until daybreak, when your
body will naturally start waking up
and (hopefully) complaining less.
Most ultra veterans agree that
the biggest difference between the
marathon and 100 miles is the
suffering. The tone grows darker as
the distance grows longer. ‘In a
shorter race, there are high points
and low points, but they’re pretty
short-lived,’ says 2014 50K world
champion Emily Harrison. ‘You
learn how to push through it. But
NEW LIMITS
(Clockwise from top) Costa Rica’s
stunning Coastal Challenge; feeling the
pain on the Badwater Ultra Marathon,
US; and jubilation at the end of the UTMB
100 MILES IN 10 STEPS
Running coach and veteran ultra runner Ian Torrence insists a 100-mile
finish is within reach for anybody who’s serious about preparation and
genuinely loves to run. Here are 10 tips to help you get there:
1
FIND A TRAIL
Many 100-mile races are on trails,
so get used to them. ‘A lot of
components of trail running are different
to road running; the terrain, ascent/
descent, and tempering your legs
to take that kind of abuse,’ says
Torrence. ‘It’s also accepting your
8min/mile pace will drop to 14.’
2
STAY ON YOUR FEET
The race could take more than
24 hours, so ‘you need to know
what it’s like to be on your feet for
four to five hours in training’, says
ultra runner Sage Canaday.
3
PROGRESS
Work up through 50K, 50-mile
and 100K races. ‘There’s a lot to
learn, such as the nutritional and
hydration components, that you can’t
quite get in a marathon,’ says Torrence.
4
DON’T OVERDO IT
A misconception is the amount
of mileage it takes to prepare.
‘The most important thing is being healthy
and getting to the start line refreshed and
not burnt out,’ says Emily Harrison.
5
GET A CREW
It’s essential to have a team to
provide aid and encouragement.
Tim Schaum, winner of Florida’s Skydive
Ultra 100-miler, says his crew kept his
mind off the pain and discomfort. ‘To have
my closest friends join me on the final
lap… I will never forget it,’ he says.
6
BREAK IT UP
The 100-mile figure is daunting.
In his first, Torrence was going
to quit at 50 but was encouraged to
make it to the next aid station, and the
next, until he finished. Find a way to chop
up the distance into manageable chunks.
@runnersworlduk
7
TOUGH IT OUT
Everybody goes into unknown
territory in their first 100-miler.
‘Just stay calm,’ says Harrison. Ask
yourself, ‘Is it a serious situation, or
something you keep going through?’
8
GO AGAIN
Most vets say the huge distance
means an equally large learning
curve. ‘The respect for the distance does
not change, it matures,’ says Schaum.
After first completing a 100, you can
correct mistakes for the second.
9
KNOW WHEN
YOU’RE READY
‘Being humble about the distance
is one of the best ways to leverage
confidence,’ says Hal Koerner, a winner of
the US Hardrock 100. ‘You’ll know you’re
ready when you can visualise success.’
10
LEARN FROM OTHERS
Find a group who can share
wisdom. Try this, from an ultra
runners’ Facebook page: ‘No matter how
bad things get, keep moving,’ and ‘It’s not
just a race, it’s a life-altering experience.’
runnersworld.co.uk
in a longer race, learning how to
suffer is very different, especially
for people used to being able to run
fast and push hard the whole time.’
The thinking paid off with a great
experience. ‘All I had to do was
keep doing five-mile laps and after
each I could refuel, change my kit
and see my crew. I almost felt like I
was cheating being able to look
after myself so well.’
Anderson hit his hundred in just
over 23 hours, but he knows things
beyond his control could have
made for a very different race. ‘It
wasn’t easy, but I know it was
easier than it could have been. I
didn’t get any blisters, I only fell
over once and it was dry – the year
before the course was thick mud.’
PREPARATION
MADE PERFECT
Before you consider your potential
reservoir of 4am desire to run,
however, your practical side may
be wondering whether running
almost four times marathon
distance requires almost four
times the training miles.
Thankfully, no. ‘Before my first
100-miler my longest run was 41
miles,’ says Anderson. ‘I thought
I’d have to go much longer, but the
more seasoned ultra runners I
spoke to, the more I learned it
Whether or not your sights have
wasn’t the case. Just as you don’t
shifted from 26.2 to 100, rest
run a marathon in marathon
assured that ‘the marathon isn’t
training, nor do you run a hundred
over’, says Martin Yelling, elite
in 100-mile training.’
runner-turned-coach and host of
It’s a view Elson shares.
the Marathon Talk podcast
‘In 100-mile training
(marathontalk.com).
people spend a lot of
He has some food
their long runs
for thought for
WILL MY
doing three or
anyone thinking
KNEES SURVIVE
four hours,’ he
the marathon is
THE ORDEAL ?
says. ‘Training
too ‘easy’:
much more in a
‘While you can
‘Cartilage receives its nutrition
session can
survive a
from joint compression, so activity
is good for joints,’ says Hoffman.
quickly become
marathon on
‘With normal biomechanics,
unproductive.’
less than perfect
one shouldn’t worry about
Elson also
training, if your
developing arthritis.’
cautions that it’s
goal is to finish to
not just fitness that
the best of your
will boost your
ability, that’s very
chances of getting
different. Running your
through your first hundred. ‘It
best marathon is incredibly hard
won’t prepare you for still being on
because it rarely goes right when
your feet at hour 20 in the middle
you’re pushing boundaries to this
of the night, during a freezing
degree. You’re right on the edge.’
downpour.’ Which is why when it
In fact, against the sort of pain
comes to choosing your first
required to take yourself to the
hundred, Dr Marty Hoffman,
limits of your marathon ability,
Director of Research for the
there’s even an argument that a
Western States Endurance Run,
steady 100-miler could be easier.
US, and multiple 100-mile finisher,
And perhaps that’s the key point,
recommends that you make it as
that badges of honour aren’t all
manageable as possible. ‘I suggest
about distance, they’re about
people do their first 100-miler on a
achieving your best over whatever
relatively easy course. Don’t pick a
distance you may be running.
gnarly mountain event.’
Is 100 miles the new marathon,
George Anderson followed that
then? ‘They’re very different
advice when he tackled his first
beasts and to underestimate either
100 – the Endure 24, where
is a big mistake,’ says Yelling. There
runners clock laps of a five-mile
is so much potential challenge in
loop over 24 hours. ‘I love the
pushing yourself over 26.2 that
idea of the wild mountain ultras,’
you shouldn’t feel compelled to go
says Anderson, ‘but a key driver
further, but if you’re taken with the
for me was keeping it local so it
idea of testing yourself mentally
would be logistically possible for
and physically in a very different
me to do the race, and to train
event, then the good news is that
on similar terrain. Balancing
with the right preparation and
family, work, training and the
sufficient desire, anyone can join
event itself was essential.’
the exclusive 100-Mile High Club.
THE YEARNING
QUESTION
Q
02/16 RUNNER’S WORLD 073