How to Train for an Ultra-Marathon for Beginners

So, you want to run an ultra-marathon? Brilliant! Whether it's your first time stepping beyond 42.2km or you're chasing a multi-day smashfest across the sand, learning how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners is as much about mindset as it is about mileage.

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Training for an 'ultra' isn't just about running further; it's about training smarter, building resilience, and preparing for the unknown. The jump from marathon to ultra brings unique challenges that require specific strategies. Let's dive into exactly how to get you there.

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Understanding Ultra Distances: Your First Step

Ultra-marathons vary dramatically depending on the race - a 50K trail ultra with 3,000 feet of elevation gain through technical terrain bears little resemblance to a flat, fast 50-mile road race. Terrain, elevation, weather, time on feet, fuelling requirements, and logistics create completely different challenges.

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For your first ultra, consider a 50K (31 miles) as a gateway distance. You get a taste of ultra running with less commitment. However, don't let the ‘only 5 extra miles’ mindset fool you – those few miles beyond marathon distance can humble even experienced runners if approached incorrectly. This is why you need to know exactly how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners.

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The key is matching your training to the specific event. Multi-day desert races like the 220km Ultra X Jordan require heat acclimatization and different fuelling strategies compared to mountain ultras in cooler climates. Each presents unique physical, mental and logistical challenges beyond simply running further.

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Build Your Base: Time on Feet Matters

Ultra training is all about endurance. Develop a solid base with consistent mileage before ramping up the distance. Unlike marathon training, ultra running relies more on time on feet than pace. This shift in approach separates successful ultra training from simply extending marathon preparation. This is why we are focusing on how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners – this subtle difference isn’t immediately obvious.

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Start with four to five runs per week, gradually increasing weekly mileage. Your base building phase should be at least a few months, focusing on aerobic development not speed - if you can't maintain a discussion while running, you're going too hard for base building.

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Long, slow runs are the backbone of your plan, gradually increasing in duration not intensity. Begin with your longest comfortable distance and time on feet, not speed. The physical adaptations –fat oxidation, capillary density, and mitochondrial function – occur during sustained aerobic effort, regardless of pace.

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Resist the urge to include significant speed work. Your body needs time to adapt without the additional stress of high-intensity sessions. Think of this as building the foundation for your ultra house – rushing this phase can lead to injury or burnout later. Learning how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners takes time, you can’t rush it.

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The Art of Back-to-Back Long Runs

Here's where ultra training diverges from marathon preparation: back-to-back long runs. Saturday-Sunday combinations simulate race fatigue, teaching your body to keep going even when fatigued. This training method is crucial when learning how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners, you need to be able to keep moving.

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Start implementing back-to-backs once you've established a solid base, and can comfortably handle single long runs of 1-2 hours. Begin with a longer effort on Saturday followed by a shorter run on Sunday – perhaps 2 hours followed by 1 hour. The Sunday run will feel significantly more challenging as you're training your body to perform with tired legs.

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The goal isn't to exhaust yourself but to practice form and focus with fatigue. Recovery between sessions means you need to eat well, hydrate, and get enough sleep, but expect Sunday to feel tough. The ability to keep going directly translates to race day strength when the going gets tough, which it will.

How to Avoid the Beginner Mistakes

When coaching first-time ultra runners, two mistakes stand out above all others: going out too fast and inadequate fuelling. These errors can derail months of preparation and turn what should be an incredible experience into a survival march. If you’re excited about ultras, and want to maximise your approach, consider an endurance coaching program for expert support aligned to your goals.

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Beware of the Pace Problem: Ultra running requires a massive shift in pacing philosophy. What feels ‘easy’ initially is unsustainable over ultra distances. Practice pace restraint during training. Back-to-back long runs teach you what sustainable pacing feels like on tired legs. Many runners use a run-walk strategy from the start, not as a fallback plan but as their primary approach.

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Your ultra pace should feel embarrassingly slow for the first third of the race. If you're not asking yourself ‘am I going too slowly?’ - you're probably going too fast. This is how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners who want to finish and not flake out– forget the look and focus on the fuel and the fatigue.

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Prevent a Fuelling Failure: Unlike shorter distance races, where you might get away with minimal fuelling during the event, ultras require consistent caloric intake. This isn't just about race day – you need to train your gut to process food while running.

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Start practicing nutrition strategies during your longer runs. Your body needs time to adapt to digesting food while exercising, and this adaptation can take months to develop fully. Begin with easily digestible options and gradually experiment with foods that you find at aid stations.

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Strength & Conditioning: Your Secret Weapon

Stronger muscles reduce injury risk and help you hold good form when fatigue sets in. Ultra runners need specific strength adaptations that differ from general fitness or even marathon training requirements.

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Single-leg strength exercises (like lunges, step-ups, and Bulgarian split squats) mimic the demands of running and address the unilateral nature of varied terrains. These exercises prevent form degradation that can lead to compensation patterns and injury.

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Core stability work (like planks, dead bugs, and Russian twists) helps maintain good posture over long distances. When fatigue sets in during hour 8 of your ultra, a strong core prevents the forward lean and hip drop that can cause lower back pain and inefficiency. Posterior chain exercises (like deadlifts, glute bridges, and kettlebell swings) build power for steep climbs.

Ultra runners need eccentric strength for downhill running. Include exercises emphasizing ‘lowering’ (like slow squats, box step-downs, and eccentric hamstring curls). These prepare muscles for the demands of long descents that can destroy unprepared legs.

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Focus on functional movements rather than isolation exercises, and maintain consistency rather intensity. Look out for the warning signs of overtraining to ensure you learn how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners, not like you're training for the Olympics next week.

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Performance Nutrition: Refuelling while Running

Ultra marathons require constant nutrition. Spending hours, or days, on your feet means you need to learn to eat while running. This can be a big challenge for newcomers, but eating is an essential part of performance, not an afterthought.

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Train your gut with energy gels, real food, and electrolyte drinks. Your digestive system needs conditioning like your cardiovascular system. Aim for a few hundred calories per hour, and test what works for you.

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Nutrition is highly individual, and what performs perfectly for one runner, might cause gastric distress for another. Nutrition strategies can make or break your race (physically and mentally) - this is why investing in coaching will radically improve your odds of enjoying the ultra-experience.

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Dehydration can end your race prematurely. Plan your water and electrolyte intake based on race conditions. Practice drinking to a schedule not relying on thirst - sweat rates easily exceed your body's thirst response.

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Consider the practical aspects of nutrition. Will you carry your own food, rely on aid stations, or use a combination? Practice with the gear you'll use on race day, including hydration systems or storage solutions. What’s comfortable for 2 hours might be problematic after 6 hours of repetitive motion.

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Learning how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners includes test runs of everything – don’t leave anything to chance. The logistics, admin and practical preparation are critical, but often overlooked. For example, successfully running for 5-days across a desert needs significant planning!

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Master Your Mind: Train Your Brain

Ultra running is mental. You need strategies to keep going when everything in you says stop. The physical challenge is obvious, but the psychological demands can be surprising. Training in tough conditions, such as running in the rain, heat, or over rough terrain, prepares you for the unpredictable. But mental training goes beyond environmental exposure.

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Motivation becomes crucial during inevitable low points. Spend time before your race identifying your "why" and practice calling upon it during challenging training sessions.

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Break the race into sections to make it more manageable. Focus on reaching the next aid station or checkpoint. Practice this segmentation during long training runs - instead of thinking ‘I have 3 hours left,’ shift to ‘I will reach that landmark 30 minutes ahead’. 

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Mentally rehearse different scenarios. What will you do if you feel nauseous at mile 20? How will you handle unexpected weather? How will you motivate yourself when facing a long climb at sunset?

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Mental preparation through hard training builds the resilience you'll need during adversity. This mental strength is vital when learning how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners. We train the mind and body together with deliberately difficult sessions that simulate the discomfort you'll face on race day.

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Terrain & Specificity: Train for the Race You're Running

Your training should reflect the race conditions. If you're tackling a mountainous ultra, hills need to be your best mate. If it's a flat, runnable race, focus on maintaining steady pacing for long stretches. A flat desert ultra requires heat acclimatization and sand running practice, while a technical mountain ultra demands completely different skill sets.
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If your race includes elevation gain:

• Dedicate one session per week to hill-specific training. 
• This doesn't mean sprint intervals up hills.
• Focus on sustained climbs at race effort.
• Practicing hiking and power hiking.
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If your race is on rocky or uneven ground:

• Trail practice will teach you to move efficiently.
• Spend time on varied terrain, practicing foot placement.
• Develop proprioceptive skills for confident trail running.
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For those living in flat areas creativity becomes essential. Treadmill incline work, stadium stairs, or even stair climbing in malls can provide vertical training stimulus. While these aren't perfect substitutes for real mountains, they're infinitely better than ignoring elevation training. Urban runners preparing for mountain ultras need to seek out technical terrain for practice. We can teach you how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners, but you have to find the venues!

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If your event goes beyond daylight hours, night running with a head torch will build confidence and familiarity with low-light conditions. Practice with your race-day lighting setup, understanding that running in darkness presents unique challenges in depth perception and navigation.

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Recovery and Adaptation Strategies

Recovery becomes even more important when you run further. The fundamentals – sleep, fuel, hydrate – are non-negotiable, not nice-to-have elements of your training plan. Learn to distinguish between normal training fatigue and the warning signs of overtraining. Persistent fatigue, declining performance and sleep disturbances can mean you're pushing too hard. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is take an extra rest day or reduce training intensity for a week.

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Sleep impacts adaptation. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep nightly, with particular attention to sleep hygiene during heavy training blocks. Your body performs most of its repairs during deep sleep phases.

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Focus on recovery nutrition. You need fuel and protein within 30 minutes of completing longer runs. This window is your best opportunity to kickstart the recovery process and prepare for your next training session.

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‍Active recovery is essential. Gentle, enjoyable, movement (like swimming, cycling, or walking) promotes blood flow without adding significant training stress. The key is keeping these activities genuinely easy – if you're breathing hard, it's not recovery.

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Progression Timeline: How Long to Prepare

If you're currently running 20-30 miles per week consistently, a 20-week buildup to your first 50K should provide adequate time for adaptation. Runners with higher starting volumes might successfully prepare in 16 weeks, while those new to distance running benefit from even longer preparation periods.

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Follow a structured, but personalised approach, something like: 

• Base building (6-8 weeks)
• Build phase with back-to-backs (6-8 weeks)
• Peak training (2-3 weeks)
• Taper (2-3 weeks).
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Each phase trains your physical and mental endurance. When figuring out how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners, you need to be realistic and very honest with yourself. Avoid the temptation to compress the training timeline. Rushing the process leads to injury or poor race performance, building endurance takes time.

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Taper & Recovery: Trust the Process

Two to three weeks before your race, reduce your training volume. Let your body absorb the hard work while maintaining some intensity. This taper period can create anxiety for first-time ultra runners who fear losing fitness - trust that your body needs this recovery time to perform optimally.

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Cut back on mileage but keep a few shorter sessions. The goal is maintaining neuromuscular coordination, and keeping your legs responsive, while allowing accumulated fatigue to dissipate. Your longest run during taper should occur 2-3 weeks before race day, not the week before.

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Prioritise sleep, hydration, nutrition and mobility work to ensure you're fully recovered. Use this time for logistics, review your race plan and equipment. Mental preparation becomes particularly important during taper as you shift from physical training to race readiness. Avoid cramming in last-minute miles, potential fitness gains in the final weeks are minimal compared to the risks of injury or accumulated fatigue.

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Race Day Demands: Discipline and Flexibility

The hard work is done, now it's time to execute. Stick to the pacing, nutrition, and mindset strategies you've practised. Ultra running is an adventure – expect the unexpected, embrace the highs and lows, to enjoy the journey.

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Start conservatively and save your energy for the final third of the race when experience and preparation matter most. Execute your nutrition plan, even when you don't feel like eating. Consume calories and fluids on schedule during the early miles when everything feels easy. This disciplined approach pays dividends later when natural hunger and thirst signals become unreliable.

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Stay flexible within your overall plan. Weather changes, trail conditions, or how you're feeling might require adjustments to your strategy. The ability to adapt while maintaining your core approach shapes your ultra success.

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Level Up Your Training

InnerFight provides ultra training camps designed around major ultra events. Camps prepare runners for Ultra X Jordan in August, while our French camp in July focuses on alpine ultra preparation. These intensive experiences provide race-specific training that's difficult to replicate individually.

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Consider participating in shorter events that simulate aspects of your target race. A trail marathon with similar terrain or climate conditions provides valuable experience. These ‘dress rehearsal’ events let you test gear, nutrition and pacing in race conditions.

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InnerFight offers world-class endurance coaching tailored to your ultra goals. We combine proven training methodologies and personalised support within a supportive community, to help you conquer any ultra distance. We will actively show you how to train for an ultra-marathon for beginners, or experienced ultra-runners who want to gather new skills and experiences.

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Join Our Upcoming Ultra Training Camps:

• Ultra X Jordan Preparation Camp (UK) - August 2025
• Chamonix Alpine Ultra Camp (France) - July 2025
• More camps coming soon - Stay tuned for additional locations and events
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My inbox is open, and my diary will always have space to talk about your ultra goals. How can we support your journey? From 50K first-timers to multi-day desert crossings, we will help you smash your biggest challenges in life.

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About InnerFight

InnerFight is a premier fitness and endurance coaching company. Whether you're a busy professional seeking peak performance or an athlete achieving your dreams. InnerFight offers a supportive community where hard work, honesty, and simplicity drive extraordinary results.

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• The InnerFight Podcast features fitness, mindset, and personal stories
• The Endurance Podcast covers running, cycling, and triathlon training. 
• The InnerFight Blog delivers expert articles from certified coaches.
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