Everything I’ve learned the hard way, laid out in the order you’ll need it: from the training block to the dark bit after 60km.
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Training block · Start line · The long middle · The dark bit · Recovery
● Weeks out
Training block
What to sort long before the start line.
Don’t race injured
I started three races in a row already carrying an injury. Each finish was slower than the last, and I came away more hurt every time. If it isn’t healed, don’t start.
Build back gradually
Coming back from a break, I jumped my weekly volume by 47% in a single week, kept lifting heavy and turned my taper into another build week. The result was a badly pulled hamstring.
Lift for the descents
The descent off Pen-y-Ghent wrecked my quads. Before the Swiss Alps 100 I lifted heavy twice a week (squats, lunges, step-ups) and got through 6,300m of climbing.
Train at race time
I missed a half marathon PB because my legs wouldn’t wake up for a 9am start. I’d done every run of that training block in the afternoon.
Vary your sessions
My marathon block taught me that variety works. Every ultra block now gets one interval session, one race-pace session and one gym session alongside the back-to-back long days.
Make your own training gels
60g maltodextrin, 30g fructose, ¼ tsp pectin and 60g water costs about 56p a gel, against £4.99 for a 90g pouch. Homemade for training, shop-bought for race day.
● Race morning
Start line
The ten minutes that decide the next ten hours.
Retire dead shoes
I ran Race to the King in shoes with 1,200km on them. The skin on the soles of both feet separated and my joints took a beating. New shoes and an easier first half would have been the safer bet.
Tape, but not too tight
At Race to the King I taped my big toes so tightly that they swelled against the tape and blistered.
Go easy on the carb-load
Overeating the day before has given me gut pain in several races. Eat normally, and make sure you’ve been to the loo before the start.
Recce the course
I didn’t recce the Jurassic Coast 100k. Had I known about the steep, unrunnable climbs, I’d have packed my poles.
Take the kit list seriously
I turned up to the Yorkshire 3 Peaks kit check with a down jacket instead of a waterproof. That night my head torch died in thick fog on Great Shunner Fell. Now I understand why they check.
Ask for an early start
The 9am wave at the Isle of Wight meant a sluggish start and hours of overtaking on narrow paths. A 6 or 7am start suits me far better.
● KM 0–60
The long middle
Eat, drink, hold the number. Boring is winning.
Don’t go out too fast
Going out too hard has cost me a DNF at 50km on the SVP100, a bonk in the Brighton Marathon and an early rough patch on the Jurassic Coast. The early pace always feels easy.
Keep water and fuel apart
At Race to the Stones 2025 I filled both bottles with Tailwind, drank loads in the heat and wrecked my gut by 34km. DNF. Now it’s water in one bottle, electrolytes in the other, and carbs from gels.
Keep nutrition simple
One 90g gel an hour and water. From halfway, add around 300ml of Coke and an electrolyte tab. Minimal, predictable and easy on my gut.
Aid stations are pit stops
I skip the first one or two, then keep every stop under 3–4 minutes. Momentum is everything.
Carry a mantra
“Nothing faster than 6. Nothing greater than 135.” Two short lines kept my pacing in check through 30°C at Race to the Stones, with no plan to check.
Soak everything in the heat
On the exposed Ridgeway I dunked my cap and cooling scarf in a bucket at every aid station, and gratefully took every hosepipe and ice pop the locals offered.
● KM 60+
The dark bit
Where the race actually starts.
Sip when you can’t gulp
By 80km at Race to the Stones I had serious gel fatigue. Tiny sips, often, kept the carbs going when four or five gulps per pouch wouldn’t go down.
Switch to real food
When gels stop working late on, banana, hot chocolate, salty crisps, Coke and even a slice of pizza have kept me moving.
Caffeine after dark
Switching to caffeinated electrolytes in the evening at the Swiss Alps 100 meant I never really hit a wall across 24 hours.
The pain is temporary
At 70km on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks I’d talked myself into stopping. Experience said keep fuelling and keep moving. I went back out into the dark and finished the 100km.
Find a running buddy
Some of my best race memories are the people: Zee at the backyard ultra, American John at Race to the King, Pam Reed in the Alps. Conversation eats the miles.
Navigate for yourself
At the Brighton 50/50 I followed the leaders past a turn and added 7km and a second climb. Check the markers yourself, and carry GPS.
● Finish +
Recovery
The bit everyone skips.
One week isn’t enough
I ran the Isle of Wight a week after Brighton to London. No injury, but a deep exhaustion surfaced in the late stages that I put down to leftover fatigue.
Heal before the next one
Four weeks between Race to the King and Race to the Stones wasn’t enough for my knee to settle. I’ve learned to cancel and heal rather than hope.
Stretch it out
Evening yoga at the Marathon des Sables soothed my aching body and calmed my mind. I’d never done it before, and ended up looking forward to it every day.
Not coaching advice. Just what worked for me.
