Preparing to Run an Ultramarathon - Tips

There are lots of tips that can be found today on how to prepare for an ultramarathon.  I'll be sharing my experiences on how I prepared for an ultramarathon.  I'm not a fast ultramarathoner and I'm not into the "racing mode".  Just to be able to finish it at the prescribed time is all I wanted.  Here's how I did it:

1.  Have time for TRAINING.  If you don't have time to train then please don't go for it. If you're not trained you'll just be risking too much injury.  Even the highly trained runners are getting injured sometimes.

2.  If this will be your first time to run an ultra, try to look for an ultra event that has "friendly" route.  Even if the route is not that hard, at least you will have an experience in finishing ultra run events.  Try to ask for some comments about the race, especially about the organizer(s).

3. Use a running training plan tool, it can help you on your training. It has helped me especially I don't have a running coach.  It can help you how many kilometers or miles that you need to run on specific days; although you can't follow it thoroughly because of other aspects in your busy life, at least it can guide you.

4. If you used a running training plan tool and missed some days on it, don't be frustrated and don't run the kilometers/miles for the "missed" days or you will just get probably injured. Stay calm.

5. Include WALKING in your training.  Ultramarathons are run+walk, so include walks in your training.  Fast walks, eating while walking, drinking while walking, anything that you can do while walking FAST.

6. If you are a low-lander like me, look for some roads that are steep.  I don't have a budget just to go to the mountains or hills then run there so what I did was I tried to look for some steep roads, calculate on how long is the road using google (it's free) and then ran back and forth in it (e.g. 1KM one way X 10 back and forth = 10km). It has helped me alot, it will help your running muscles and your speed.

7. Choose what you eat.  I went to veggies as much as possible, without meat. It's proven to me that it has helped my body to recover faster.

8. Try to run some other shorter running events as part of your training (e.g. 50kms) if you have a budget. But don't treat it as a competition, just treat it as a part of your training.

9. Have a plan on what you will do during the race day. What you will wear. Are you going to change socks? Band-aids. Are you going to change shoes? For me I don't have a "support vehicle" so I carried an extra socks, power gels, some money so that I can buy some items along the route (if that is a road event), using ultimate directions running gear (Anton Kuprichka's Model).

10. Use in your training what you will use on the race day itself. This includes the clothes that you will wear, gels, foods, socks, shoes, etc. etc. As much as possible don't try anything new especially foods during race day unless you don't have other choice.

11. Don't forget to train for the forecasted temperature during the race day itself. Example is heat training, this is common here in our country, it's hot here as in HOT, roads where the sun-dried fish are being placed.

12. Enjoy the run/walk, talk to other runners, if that is a road event don't use earphones with phones, it is dangerous.  Instead, include "imagination while walking in your training" (but walk fast).

13. If it is hot, try not to drink too much cold water, it will just make you more thirsty.

14. Don't forget to pray before running.

15. Always remember, you are running your own race. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the scenery. It will be a LONG RUN.