In the modern-day era of fast food binge-eating and broadening waistlines, completing a marathon is pretty much an accomplishment. In fact, the capacity of striving through 26 miles or so without passing out short of the finish line is pretty much amazing, right? But there are actually some people who think this is just a small thing since they do Ultramarathon.
Ultrarunning is the long distance running sport that has taken shape around ultra-distance races. Any race beyond 26.2 miles is considered to be an Ultra Marathon race. The distance travelled by ultramarathon runners can begin at 31 miles and end at 100 miles. It is mostly done on highway roads, trail tracks, and country places. Due to its rising popularity, more than 70,000 athletes compete annually. Most ultrarunners generally agree that the tile of hardest ultrarunning race belongs to the Badwater Ultramarathon where participants climb 19,000 feet through 135 miles of desert. This race takes place in a part of the Sahara desert, the contestants contend with heat and sand while carrying their own camping gear and food stocks.
If you want to enter the ultra marathon races, then you have to give yourself at least three months to prepare. The first thing you need to do is to lose weight. You still have to carry you own gear so it is best to lose some extra pounds to make way for that. If you discard those extra pounds, then you may find yourself more up for the hard and rigorous training.
Have at least one back-to-back long run in a week. Estimate your time for finishing the ultra and build up to running those total hours over two days. You should run at least four times of the full distance before partaking on the marathon.
There are quite a number of programs in different sports academies or online schools that offer proper training for ultra marathons. You can browse through sites that offer Online Running Coaching so you can be monitored by somebody else.
Try to find out which eating habits and nutritional foods work best for your training. Before you get thirsty, try to start consuming some liquids.
It is vital that you learn to run efficiently without having to waste a lot of other unnecessary motion. It is a good tip to keep your head as still as possible so you don’t exert a lot of effort. To conserve energy, raise your feet as little as necessary.
Also, don’t forget to choose proper training outfits that will make you feel comfortable. Don’t forget to have backups too.
Try to be familiar with the type of terrain you will be racing on. It is also a nice tip to run hills once in a while to increase your endurance.
If you need it, have some recovery days.