Hello and welcome to the Run to the top podcast.

This is Coach Claire Bartholic

and today I'm reading

How to Train for an Ultra,

written by Sarah Russell.

With the growing population of ultra runners and questions that come into us about ultra running, it's clear

that many runners are becoming curious about ultramarathons.

However, like most things in running,

although we want a clear-cut answer,

one does not exist, but that does not mean we cannot give you advice on how to prepare.

A few weeks ago we covered why you should not be scared of running an ultra

and today we're going to explain how to take that next step to start training.

Training for an ultra is a far more intuitive and organic process than training for

any other distance. There really are not any set rules when it comes to mileage, pace,

or distance, and you need to find out what works for you on a very individual level and figure it out as you go along. How you approach it will

depend on many factors and your own personal response to training as well as

the distance of the race you've chosen.

To be a good ultra-runner, you must become an expert in listening to your own body

and respond accordingly, whether that's in training or in the race itself.

One thing is for certain, you need to get used to running for a very, very long time.

How you do this will depend on your training background, injury

susceptibility, fitness level, and ability to adapt to increasing training loads.

...