How Did We Train for a 200 mile Ultra Run?

One of the questions we frequently get asked is how do we train for a 200 mile race? The short answer is hike up, run down - and do plenty of both. To answer the question in more detail - I first want to say that I honestly believe just about anyone with moderate fitness who is willing to dedicate the time on their feet is capable of running a race this distance. The term 'running' is used loosely - as in many 'ultra' races (which refers generally to races in excess of a standard 26.2 marathon) there is much more fast hiking and 'shuffling' being done than actual running - at least for the vast majority of competitors - including myself. Just look at the racers list - there are a lot of people in their late 40's to late 60's in these races and many finishing high in the rankings.

My wife and I ran our first 'ultra' 6 years ago - called the http://www.kneeknacker.com/  which is local 30 mile mountain run on the North Shore mountains near Vancouver with roughly 12,000 total vertical (6k up, 6k down). It took me close to 8 hours and I could barely walk for two days afterwards. I was amazed to see people walking around casually who had finished hours before and didn't appear even tired - some much older, some who didn't even look fit - it was very inspiring.

Since that race 6 years ago, we have been fairly consistent in our running - with usually 2 months of the year where we didn't do any running. We called a friend who is a personal trainer and they provided a rough training plan that we have used as a guideline the past few years. The training plan consisted of 2-3 easy runs during the week followed by back to back runs on the weekend. Throughout the year as the race date approached both the mid week and weekend runs increased in length and intensity - and the whole program 'cycled' between higher intensity and easier rest periods to allow for complete muscular recovery. We didn't follow it particularly carefully. We started out tracking our heart rate and graphing the results and within weeks abandoned that along with our ipods and any other distractions - including watches - and grew to crave the peace and solitude of being in the mountains. The running became secondary to simply being in nature and moving the body.

Our primary motivation to run our first race was to increase our fitness and endurance for our mountaineering and ski touring adventures, and to just have more energy to 'play' with. A natural progression was to begin eating more fresh, raw foods, organic meats and even organic wine and chocolate! We also take about 20 vitamins and minerals each day combined with several high potency, high quality anti-oxidants ( http://www.rayandterry.com/ ) to ensure we are feeding our cells everything they need to repair and function despite the plethora of toxins we are all exposed to on a daily basis.

Near the end of our past year of training we were going out for long runs on the weekend between 6 and 10 hours in length with lots of vertical and capped off our hardest training day with a run covering approximately 29 miles with 37,000 total vertical in a period of 16 1/2 hours.

I  have found that moderate exercise done consistently produces results far beyond what you would expect. Many people we meet start out running in a desperate attempt to 'speed' back into shape and end up injured - or hating running - or both. I read once that if the body came with an owners manual it would simply say 'MOVE ME OFTEN' and there is a lot of truth to that.

Our greatest fear is that we will not have the fitness and health to take part in adventure opportunities that arise with friends. That is great motivation.