5 Tips to Help You Transition to ULTRAS!

by Coach Sandi & Coach Sage | May 9, 2023 | Uncategorized

So you’re trying to decide to take the leap from road running to trail running — that’s amazing! Moving up in distance can be an exciting and challenging experience, but transitioning from a half or full marathon on the road to a 50km or longer trail ultra-marathon requires additional preparation and considerations. Trail running offers unique challenges and rewards, from navigating uneven terrain to taking in breathtaking scenery.

In today’s article, Coach Sage Canaday will share his top 5 tips to help you prepare for your first ultra-marathon and make the transition as smooth as possible. Whether you’re a seasoned runner or new to the sport, these tips will help you stay focused, motivated, and confident as you tackle this new challenge:

“For a little background on myself, I raced 5k, 10K in track in college, and then eventually moved my way up. Maybe you’re in the same boat though. Maybe you’ve started running recently or you’ve gotten back into running and you’ve been doing 5K or 10K road races.

Maybe you’ve been doing dabbling in some half marathons, and now you’re looking to do a marathon and eventually an ultramarathon. The general trend is that you move up in distance as you gain more experience. This newsletter will specifically focus on transitioning from those road half marathons or road marathons.

I have five key tips, for making a successful transition to ultra-marathons, such as the 50K distance, 100k distance, even a hundred miles in the mountains and trails.

Tip Number One:

You have to have a consistent mileage base, which is essentially the aerobic base I frequently refer to. 🫁

For example, instead of running three days a week, you start running five days a week. Instead of running 30 miles a week or 50K a week, maybe you’ve started to average 50 miles a week or 80K a week. That kind of base generally really helps you in long distance racing! If you’ve got that consistency of just getting out the door, hitting those weekly mileage totals, spending time on your feet, training the aerobic system, even at relatively low intensity, it’s gonna set you up really well for doing an ultramarathon.

Now let’s briefly look at the physiology in terms of stressing your heart and lungs. A 50K is really just a minor extension off of a marathon, right? As long as it’s not a super high-altitude race or something really technical, it hopefully won’t feel too different than a regular marathon. A 50K should be very doable if you’ve gotten in consistent mileage base and experience in marathon training, so it probably best to start off with a 50K and see how your body responds.

Tip Number Two:

Add in hills or vertical. 📈

Not all ultra-marathons are going to be flat. In fact, most won’t be! Because there’s going to be a lot of vertical gain (at least more than what you’re used to in a regular road marathon), it’s critical to prepare your legs for that pounding of downhills and climbing strength for uphills.

To run strong uphill, it’s important to build overall strength and get that type of cardiovascular benefits for your heart and lungs. In a lot of our Higher Running Training Plans for Mountain Ultra training plans, we do have workouts like high intensity, short hill repeats, or have you do all uphill tempo runs or treadmill works where you’re adding in vertical gain and up relatively steep grades.

We’re talking 5% grade, 10% grade, even 20% grade. If you’re going to be training for a mountain race, you need to get used to that change in vertical. To take this one step further, add in hills and add in some long runs that are rolling that mimic the profile of the course. Your legs will get really strong doing this. Your heart and lungs get better with these specific types of aerobic adaptations.

Tip Number Three:

Throw your time and splits out the window. ⏱🚫

Unless you’re running a 50K on a track or you’re doing a really flat, non-technical ultramarathon race, you’re probably going to have no idea in your first ultra what kind of relative pace you might hold. For example, we have a lot of people that run sub-3-hour marathon in the roads. They run the Boston Marathon, and they’re fast on the roads. Then, all of a sudden, you throw them out on the trails and they’re splitting four or five hours for a 50K. Letting go of your expectations will help you enjoy the race more and get a better understanding of how you respond to longer races.

For me personally, I’m frequently slogging 10–15-minute miles. I’ve even done races where I’m power hiking up a mountain at 25-minute mile pace (18-minute km pace). It’s not like road running or flat, fast track running. Throw times out the window, you have to go by effort.

Tip Number Four:

Ultra-marathons require their own, specific long runs. 💪

Long runs are the bread and butter of a lot of our marathon and ultramarathon training plans at Higher Running. Try to build your long runs off what the actual course is going to be. Take the time to do your due diligence and research the types of trails it’s on, how much total vertical the race has, etc.

One you’ve done this, try to mimic that in some of your long runs. Now, obviously, you’re not going to go out and run a 50K ultra when training for a 50K. But you might be doing a 20-mile long run (32km) as part of your regular training, and it’s important you’re mimicking the terrain you’ll be racing on.

And like I said in the previous tip of throwing your time goes out the window, you might just be looking to spend time on your feet. Go out on the weekend (or whenever you have more time to actually train on trails) and you say, “okay, I’m going to do a four hour long run.” Or, “I’m going to spend half the afternoon out on the trails.”

Tip Number Five:

Ultra-marathons require specific nutrition and gear. 🍌

This is something you’re going have to figure that out, because everyone is different!

However, I can briefly address the basics:

Nutrition: You need to have probably more calories on you. Some people use hydration packs, whereas others rely on aid stations. Research what’s at the aid stations, practice your fueling strategy, and dial in what works best for you.

Gear: You’re spending more time out in the elements. You’ll have to have all types of jackets, extra shoes, extra socks, etc. You could get more extreme temperature changes as well. But it depends on where your ultramarathon race is and how long it will take you.

Moving up in distance from a road marathon to a trail ultra-marathon can be a daunting task, but with the right preparation and mindset, it can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Remember to focus on your training, stay motivated, and be patient with yourself as you adjust to the unique challenges of trail running. With these tips and your own determination, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your trail ultra-marathon goals.

Find the PERFECT Workout Pace Every Time

by Coach Sandi & Coach Sage | Apr 10, 2023 | Uncategorized

Here are five strategies  to use when faced with a problem like the following: “HELP! What’s the best way to adapt my workouts when [theoretically] I should be getting faster over time?” We hear this every so often with some of our Higher Running athletes using one of our training plans. For today’s newsletter, Coach Sandi Nypaver thought it would be helpful to explain what to do in instances where you’re not sure about a workout pace. Or even knowing when to run faster paces for workouts because you’re improving over the course of your training cycle:

“It’s important to understand that fitness is a moving target. If you haven’t had a recent race performance to gauge what you should be running your workouts at, then yes, it will be a bit difficult for you to fully know what paces are achievable for you. But all hope is not lost! There are a couple of strategies for working around that. Strategy #1: Keep a meticulous training log. Keeping a meticulous training log will enable you to look back at your training and understand what kind of paces you were once at, how you felt at the time, and what kind of event you were training for at the time. If you’ve never kept a training log to track all of these types of things, there’s never a bad time to start! Some people like to use online fitness apps like Strava, Garmin Connect, and Training Peaks. Any of these work great, but it’s most important for you to be able to use something that can be referred to years down the road. If you are someone that’s kept a training log for a long time, look to see how you’ve improved over time. Is there heart rate data for you to compare with a 7:15 mile pace at week 2 versus a 7:15 mile pace at week 10? (Note: we definitely understand there’s a lot of variability and factors that go into heart rate, but this can still be used as a “general” guide). Did you training log note how you felt at certain paces? Again, these are all good things to start doing if you aren’t, and great things to refer back to if you’re someone who does have these data available. Higher Running Training Plans also come with an Intensity Spectrum Pace Chart that you can use to see approximately how you should be feeling for different types of efforts. By the way – you can also get this for FREE by clicking THIS.We give this to athletes to help them understand how paces should feel, especially if they don’t have an extensive training log or racing history. Strategy #2: Use a heart rate monitor I already kind of touched on this above, but I wanted to dive deeper into how you can use heart rate when training to your benefit. Again, we don’t want heart rate monitors to be the thing you swear by, because there is a lot of “fickleness” (is that even a word???) when using one during training (read more about that HERE). You can compare your “feel” or “perceived exertion” with your respective heart rate values. Over time, your fitness will improve and you’ll notice that your paces will get faster even at the same heart rate value. Strategy #3: Start off easy and increase the pace if you’re feeling good. If you’re just totally unsure where to start with regards to a “marathon type effort” or “10km type effort” for an interval, I would always caution my athletes to start off easy and then try to pick up the pace if it still feels too easy after the first couple of intervals. On the flip side, if you start to fall off the pace for the given rep, then you know you started off too hard. This may take a bit of trial and error, but over time, I’m confident that you’ll be able to find your flow at the correct paces. Strategy #4: Be real with yourself when it comes to your goal finishing time.  I’m all about setting huge goals and doing everything in your power to make them happen. However, it’s also important to be realistic with our desired finishing times in races to ensure your workouts help set you up for success. In all of our Higher Running Training Plans, we prescribe some workouts that are based off of your goal race pace. This “goal race pace” of yours may have been based off of a previous race finish time, or it may be what you feel like you can do in several months’ time. If it’s the latter, there are warning signs to know if you’ve chosen a goal race time that is too fast (or too slow). Let’s say you’re at week 12 in your marathon training plan (and approaching taper time), and your workout of the day was 2 mile repeats, if you’re not hitting under race pace for these two mile repeats, your race pace is probably too fast. This same mentality can be applied towards any race distance. To reiterate, it’s best to be on the more conservative side because you can always get in the duration of the workout and increase the intensity later. Strategy #5: Know when it’s time to increase your paces, and more importantly, when NOT to increase your paces. If you’re 2-3 weeks out from the race and you think you can run faster than what you’ve been doing, it’s best just to keep that in the bank. You don’t want to overdo it before a race, and the best course of action is for you to hit the paces you know you can. This still allows for a good training stimulus while saving yourself for race day. Knowing race paces and when to increase paces can be confusing. We hope this provides a few suggestions that will help you better understand the best way to approach these unknowns. It may take some time for you to really feel in tune with your body and be able to feel these things out, but we’re confident that you can succeed in doing so over time.”

Coach Ray shares her tips on how to improve yourself as a runner

by Coach Sandi & Coach Sage | Mar 20, 2023 | Uncategorized

First, here’s a little bit more about who Coach Ray is: Coach Ray is a Lydiard II certified coach who has been part of the Higher Running team for 6 years. She has competed in numerous trail races, from 5 miles to 100 miles. Most notably, she came in 2nd at Burning River 100 in 2011, 1st place at Virgil Crest 100 in 2012, 1st place at Forget the Pr 50k in 2014, and 1st place at Leatherwood Ultra 50 Miler in 2015. In August of 2015, Ray thru-hiked the 500 mile Colorado Trail with her pup and adventure partner, Pacer (aka. Supergirl). In 2019, the pair completed their goal of summiting 40 of Colorado’s 14ers. At Higher Running, she enjoys coaching runners embarking on new adventures and who use running as a modality to discover more about themselves. Ray’s hobbies include reading, volunteering, Yoga, snowshoeing, rollerblading, and exploring new places with her daughter(dog).

Okay, let’s jump right in: “In my coaching experience, there are a few things that runners can do that almost always yield positive results for them and their running. First, I should explain that my passion for coaching falls in line with my mission of helping others reach their full potential in all aspects of life, and therefore, I carry a strong mind/body/spirit focus in my coaching. Of course, I know the importance of using the science when designing any of my athletes’ training plans. But when I’m coaching my athletes, I also have them focus on the following: Mindset I look at mindset as “everything.” Mindset is what informs us of what we can and can’t do as athletes. In terms of creativity, I recognize that my athletes are all dynamic and unique individuals. They all have different things going on in their life, their bodies adapt differently, they respond uniquely to various stimuli, so I’m constantly trying to figure out what’s the best thing for them at that specific time. What this means for other people reading this is that you have to recognize that mindset will be the determining factor of how you approach a certain training situation. What do you need in this current situation you’re in? Your mindset will help determine this. Listening to your body This is something I think a lot of people underestimate when trying to improve themselves as runners. If they notice a niggle (or some type of minor twitch), many people tend to ignore it because they treat it as something they can work through. I’m sure many of us have heard the quote that “pain is weakness leaving the body.” While there definitely is good pain to fight through, all-too-often people try to train through injuries. Our bodies hold so much wisdom and gifts for us, and they’re designed to heal. However, we have to listen to the messages our body is giving us in order to heal. Listening to yourself To tag along on my previous point, we must be willing to listen to ourselves. A lot of the time, people know what they’re supposed to do and how they should respond if they take a moment to think about it. But the problem is, is that most people don’t take time to listen to their inner voice guiding them to do what’s best for their body. This is something I still work on myself! Just the other day, I took two days off of running, and I was so proud of myself because I knew that my achilles heel needed it. Listening to yourself can be so difficult because we live in a culture that doesn’t necessarily value our intuition or what our body is saying to us. As a result, our logical, rational mind overrides what our intuition and body is telling us. The point here is to lean into our body’s own natural wisdom. Dealing with Bad Races / Performances I think it’s fair to say we’ve all had bad races. Or, even if you don’t like to race, we’ve gone out on a run and felt terrible because nothing went the way we planned for it to go. I remember one time when I was racing “Forget the PR 50km” in Mohican, OH, and I totally underperformed from what I thought I was capable of doing. I wanted at least top three, and I didn’t get it. At the end, I was sulking, didn’t talk to anybody, and crying at the end. To be clear, I think it’s totally okay to cry at the end of a race / performance that didn’t go accordingly to plan. However, because I sulked and shied away from people, that didn’t feel good. I had two people come up to me after the race and let me know that, “hey, it’s okay! It’s just a race, and this doesn’t define you.” This eventually helped me to realize what’s important to me in life. So even after a bad races, now I still like to hangout with people and connect with them. At the end of the day, that’s really what it’s all about. I guess all this to say, is that after a “bad” (however you define that) performance, it’s okay to feel sad because I know you worked so hard for it. However, the flip side of that is there is still an opportunity to connect with the amazing humans around you. Don’t define yourself only as a runner, but I encourage my athletes to strive to be good athletes and good people to everybody at the end of the day. That’s all that I had for this week! There are so many more things that one can do to yield positive results in their running, but these were just a few things that first came to mind.”