Surviving a 100 km Run or Challenge Walk

You’ve decided to take on a 100 km run or challenge walk. It seemed like a good idea at the time but how should you train?

Below are some thoughts and ideas that should help you to prepare for your event, whether it’s a race or challenge walk.

Where do you start?

Mark Bullock, one of our running guides and also a rock climbing instructor was asked by a friend (James) to help him to train for an ultra marathon. Here is a link to James’s journey from occasional runner to ultra runner:

I don’t remember when I agreed to run across Dartmoor with Mark. I’m not even sure I did. I remember vaguely bouncing some ideas around about taking on some running challenges; something to motivate us to get out for some long runs through the winter months..

http://www.notinside.org/blogs/2016/4/8/honey-sandwiches

Mark’s side of the story can be found here:

The way I recall it is James saying, “Can you help me get fit for some Ultra’s I’m toying with? Maybe write me a training plan?” James’s version of events is more along the lines of “You’ve been bullying me for months now. Let’s just get this over and done with and move on. Hopefully with our friendship still intact.”

http://www.notinside.org/blogs/2016/4/7/blood-sweat-and-tors

Completing a 100 km run is difficult but walking 100 km is unlikely to be any easier. On our Dartmoor in a Day 50 km event, the fastest runners completed in 6 hours but many walkers took over 12. The runners had finished, eaten and put on fresh clothes, while most walkers were still out. Just walking 10 km can leave you feeling tired but many runners will cover this distance on their lunch break. Time spent on your legs will be an essential part of any training program.

There is some excellent advice on preparing for your first 100 km walk here on the Long Distance Walkers Association website:

https://www.ldwa.org.uk/library/trailwalkertraining/trailwalkertraining.php

My own perspective:

In 2013 I decided that needed a fresh challenge, having spent a few years “just being a dad”. Previously, as an occasional runner, I’d completed a few mountain marathons and challenges such as the Welsh 3000 in under 12 hours but never an ultra marathon.  I stumbled across an advert for The Classic Quarter, a 44 mile ultra, along the Cornish Coast from Lizard Point to Lands End. At least five times I went through to the “book now” page on the website before finally committing to entering this event. Could I actually run 44 miles?

Internet searches for training plans took me to this site, where I found some really helpful resources:

http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/training/

I also picked up a book, titled Ultramarathon Training by Wolfgang Olbrich.

In all of the advice given with regards to training, it became clear that I’d been making some mistakes. I understood that training needed to be progressive but hadn’t considered building in some easier or recovery weeks, that not all runs had to be hard and “doubling up” on long runs was more important than a single long run each week. This basically means running a slightly shorter “long run” and then heading out for another middle length run, the next day. In training I run my long run in the evening and then run again the following morning. This seems to help recovery far better than taking a day off and prepares you mentally for the fatigue you’ll feel later on in the race. The same would apply when training for a challenge walk.

Did this all work? Yes, training went well and I achieved silver at the Classic Quarter. I entered two other 45 mile coastal ultra marathons in the year that followed and achieved bronze and silver again but never a win!

These events laid the foundations for the Paddy Buckley Round, a 100 km run in Snowdonia National Park, linking 47 summits and a height gain of 8,500m and an attempt at the 110 km East Devon Round record.

If I was to offer one piece of advice it would be to divide your run or walk up into manageable chunks and to celebrate the completion of each section.