The Guide to Managing an UltraRunning and UltraTrail Race

Posted on June 1st, 2023

Words & Photos: Filippo Canetta

I've tried to condense 15 years and 9,500 km of racing into this short guide on how to approach ultra running and trail running races ranging from 4 to 36 hours, as always, trying to lay down a few fixed points worth remembering, between which you'll need to navigate on your own.

THE RACE BEGINS A WEEK BEFORE YOU PIN ON YOUR BIB

As we saw in Training Planning, you've put in the work, you're ready both physically and mentally, now it's time to rest, arrive fresh, full of energy, and with a healthy craving to suffer a bit!

Let's see how.

TAPERING

In the 3 weeks leading up to the competition, you'll have gradually tapered your training load, letting your body absorb the work and arrive fresh for race day. In the final week, it's time to loosen up your muscles with a couple of easy runs and mobility and stretching exercises. This is when stretching works best. Running less finally gives you time for all those exercises you never seem to get around to.

NUTRITION

In the final weeks, it's very important to pay extra attention to your diet, to avoid adding further inflammation and to prepare your stomach for the effort of race day. A good diet provides everything your body needs, no additional supplements are necessary.

The rules stay the same as always. Choose whole, minimally processed foods, ideally organic: whole wheat pasta and brown rice, or at least semi-whole grain, which cooks in a reasonable amount of time and is an excellent source of fiber. Favor light proteins (white meat, fish, eggs) and unsaturated fats (salmon, extra virgin olive oil, nuts). Drink water regularly. Avoid alcohol, and gradually cut back on coffee as the race approaches. In the week before the competition, it's also a good idea to reduce dairy, fruit and vegetables, especially in the two days beforehand.

REST

It's important to try to rest as much as possible. Your body regenerates while you sleep. Resting with your legs elevated helps circulation and reduces water retention.

Try to adjust your sleep schedule to match the race start time, especially if the starting location is in a different time zone from yours, or if the race starts at night. Try to sleep somewhere cool, and for as long as you can. Rest is an essential part of training.

Don't stress about it, whatever you were able to do, you did, and there's no point trying to make up for what you couldn't in this last week, when the guilt will just keep you up at night. Let those thoughts go, they won't help you now. Enjoy a relaxing week.

If you can, book a massage or a physiotherapy session a few days before the start.

WEATHER

Check the forecast for race day carefully. Temperature, humidity, rain and wind will hugely affect the competition.

Temperature determines your gear, and as a result, your backpack's weight, and it also affects your pace. Simply put, it's easier to run faster when it's cold than when it's very hot.

Air humidity affects hydration and nutrition, especially at night. When the air is cold and humid, it's best to reduce fluid intake to avoid stomach issues, when the air is hot and humid, you sweat more, and fluid intake needs to be carefully dosed. When the air is hot and dry, you need to drink as much as possible to avoid dehydration.

Rain drops the temperature by about 5°C and affects clothing choices and what you leave in any drop bags. When it's raining, or rain is expected during the race, this needs to factor into your gear choices.

Wind can drop the temperature by as much as 10°C.

Keep in mind that fatigue makes the body feel the cold more intensely.

GEAR

Check the rules and mandatory gear for your race carefully. Based on weather conditions, supplement it with whatever else you might need. There are two schools of thought here, in European races, gear is mandatory and set by the organizers, while in North American races, equipment is left to the competitor's discretion.

Mandatory gear for a trail race can be split into two categories.

Emergency gear, which typically includes:

• an emergency blanket (thermal survival blanket), minimum size 1.40 m x 2 m. In cold conditions, wear it with the gold side facing outward to capture the sun's heat, in hot conditions, with the silver side facing outward to reflect sunlight. In cold, rainy conditions, it can be worn directly against the skin, over wet clothes, to insulate the body from water.
• a whistle, for use if you get lost or caught in fog
• an elastic adhesive bandage, for emergency wrapping in case of sprains or twists

Race-specific gear, which depending on the situation may include:

• a backpack or hip pack suitable for carrying everything needed, ideally with front bottle holders on the shoulder straps
• a water reserve of 0.5 to 1.5 liters, depending on the distance between aid stations, the availability of water along the route, and the weather, evaluate this carefully
• energy reserves or food appropriate to the effort
• a personal cup and/or cutlery and plate, disposable tableware isn't used at aid stations
• a hat or bandana
• a waterproof jacket rated at least 10,000 Schmerber, breathable with a RET below 13, with an integrated hood and taped seams
• clothing suited to conditions
• footwear suited to the terrain
• a headlamp with spare batteries, or two headlamps, if hours of darkness are expected
• your bib
• a mobile phone, not on silent, not in airplane mode, with the race organization's emergency numbers saved
• cash and ID, if needed
• if you decide to bring poles, you must carry them for the entire race. You can't start without them and pick them up along the way. Poles aren't allowed in drop bags. Their use may be banned entirely, or in specific sections marked with signs, for safety and/or environmental reasons
• for very long races, a small power bank for emergencies can be useful, along with charging cables for your GPS and phone
• if available, load the course track onto your GPS device or phone app, for more on this topic, see our Fastpacking Guide

A few days ahead, prepare everything you'll need for the race, ideally gear you've already tested during your long training runs. Make sure your headlamp battery is charged, along with your spare battery, or that you have enough spare batteries on hand.

Fill and close your backpack to check that everything fits and that the weight is properly balanced front to back, without throwing you off. Memorize where everything is stored. Keep the things you expect to use most often within easy reach, and anything you probably won't need in the less accessible parts of the backpack. It's a good idea to keep your food as visible as possible, so you can track what you're actually eating. As the hours go by, it's easy to lose track of what you've eaten, check regularly what you have left and what you've eaten and drunk compared to what you'd planned.

If your race includes drop bags (bags left along the course at aid stations), you can split your food across the race sections covered by the service, and add extra gear for clothing changes, especially if weather conditions are expected to shift during the race.

Be cautious, since it's always hard to predict exactly when you'll reach the point where your extra bag becomes available. For instance, if you split up your food, always keep a safety reserve with you in case of delays.

This doesn't exempt you from carrying all mandatory gear at all times, since it's always subject to inspection by the organizers, and missing items can lead to penalties, ranging from a few minutes added to your time, to outright disqualification. This is especially true for races where your safety is genuinely at risk, as happened at the Marathon des Sables.

If you arrive at the race location a few days early, bring some extra gear in case of a sudden shift in weather, and decide what to actually carry with you at the last moment.

If you're superstitious, bring your favorite lucky charms along too. Do they ever actually work?

BIB PICKUP

Bring your backpack with you to bib pickup, there's often an initial check of your mandatory gear.

Ask locals about the expected weather and trail conditions, they'll often be able to give you extra insight beyond your own planning. Double-check the start location and time. Don't forget to prepare any drop bags and leave them in the designated area.

Attach your bib and race number to your drop bags and to the finish-line bag you'll be handing over to the organization. It can help to have a permanent marker and white adhesive labels handy to make your drop bags easier to spot.

THE START

Don't arrive too early, to avoid getting either too cold or too hot, depending on the conditions. If the race isn't too long, you can do a short warm-up, otherwise, save your energy and use the first few kilometers as your warm-up, without letting yourself get pulled along by other runners' pace, there'll be plenty of time to catch up later in the race.

Mentally, break the race down into shorter, more manageable segments: the first few kilometers, the halfway point, up to 90%, and the final 10%.

THE FIRST KILOMETERS

Start off calmly, it's easy to go hard in the first few kilometers, the hard part is doing it in the last ones.

Trail running is about consistency

the winner is whoever moves consistently, at the right pace for the incline and terrain.

In the first few kilometers, let your body settle into race conditions. Sometimes it takes a bit of time and patience to "get into it." Don't fall back on clichés like "my legs feel like lead today" or "it's just not my day", because you're ready, and today IS your day.

There's plenty of time to catch up with those who set off too fast.

Keep telling yourself: it's better to overtake than to be overtaken.

THINGS TO CHECK CONSTANTLY (3)

MUSCLES: they should always work in aerobic mode. Check that your breathing stays regular, never labored, if you have a heart rate monitor, keep your HR below your threshold, or at your endurance pace. Excessive muscular effort pulls blood away from other organs, including the stomach.

STOMACH: keep it active by drinking and eating roughly every 40 minutes, if it starts struggling, slow down until it's working properly again. Gels should always be taken with plain water. Too much sugar or salt is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal system failure. Early in the race, your stomach will be more efficient and better able to handle solid food, later on, it'll handle liquids better.

CLOTHING: don't be lazy, you need to adjust your clothing to match the conditions. If it's hot and you're sweating, strip down as much as you reasonably can, wet your Endurance Cap whenever possible. If it's cold, layer up. If it's raining, put your jacket over your backpack so its contents don't get soaked. The body burns a lot of energy (calories) fighting heat and cold, energy you need for running, so even when you're tired, don't push forward with your head down while sweating or shivering, because, especially in long races, you'll usually pay for these mistakes before the race is over.

Keeping your focus sharp on these things is a great way to send positive signals to your brain, which, as the hours go on, will try every trick to get you to stop.

UP TO THE HALFWAY POINT

Don't think about kilometers or the time passing, better to forget about the GPS altogether. Enjoy the race, the scenery, and the other competitors. Don't make the mistake of doing math and projections that could mess with your mood. Calculations are always tricky, and it's very easy to get them wrong. If you've followed our training planning advice, you'll have already run at least half the total distance in training. You're prepared, and you have nothing to worry about.

PAST THE HALFWAY POINT

The hard part's already behind you, keep your focus on the glass half full, always. Between 60% and 90% of the distance will be the toughest stretch, know that going in, and don't let it throw you off, hold steady and keep moving forward, patiently, without stopping. This is when your brain starts calculating what reserves you have left.

Aiming to reach 90% will help make the remaining distance feel shorter.

Think ahead to after the race, and that wonderful feeling of having done something special that you'll feel once you cross the finish line (picture it).

THE SIGNALS

Your brain, our most demanding organ in terms of resources, will try sending you a long stream of warning signals to get you to stop. You need to learn to decode them, understanding which ones to listen to and which to ignore.

Let's look at a few examples.

Gastrointestinal problems: for some of us (myself included), the stomach is the most sensitive organ, and the one that responds worst to the brain's warning signals. The most common symptoms are nausea, diarrhea, difficulty digesting solid food, and trouble absorbing fluids. You're probably going too fast, and your stomach is shutting down, or you've taken in too much of something, usually sugar, or you've drunk too much if the race is humid, or too little if it's dry. Unfortunately, there's no quick fix, you need to slow down, try to redirect blood you've sent to your legs back toward your stomach, and, with endless patience, try taking in water in small sips. If necessary, and it's unpleasant to say, but it's often better to try to vomit and start fresh from zero. Digestive issues are the leading cause of DNFs in Ultra Running and Ultra Trail races.

Sudden sleepiness: sometimes you might get hit with an irresistible urge to lie down and sleep on the side of the trail, even if it isn't your third sleepless night into PTL. When you're burning through most of the glycogen stored in your muscles and liver, your brain starts doing the math, and, to safeguard those reserves, it tries to stop you with an overwhelming desire to sleep. In these cases, you need to push through with sheer stubbornness, to signal that you have no intention of stopping until you've crossed the finish line. Magically, after a while, the brain gets the message, the crisis passes, and you can keep going.

Various aches and pains: during a race, it's normal for your muscles to hurt, isn't that partly why we're out there suffering in the first place? Among the thousand pains that'll assault you during an Ultra Trail race, though, we need to be able to tell the serious ones apart from the ones we can push through. Muscle soreness is part of the deal, and we have to endure it. All the training we've put in exists precisely to delay its onset and prepare us to tolerate it, especially on long descents.

Tendon pain, on the other hand, needs to be taken seriously, and it's important to carefully consider whether to keep going or not. Tendon inflammation is very painful and takes a long time to resolve. Sometimes it's better to stop, the race will always be there waiting for you next year too. We strongly advise against using anti-inflammatories, whether non-steroidal or steroidal. These drugs inhibit prostaglandin production, effectively masking the pain that's actually the warning signal of the inflammation. Without that pain, you risk seriously damaging your tendons.

Heat stroke: when your body temperature climbs too high, every warning light in the control room lights up red. Your head starts spinning, your legs stop cooperating, and your breathing becomes labored. You need to get to a cool spot, drink water (ideally cold), soak your clothing, especially your Endurance Cap, if ice is available, it's very helpful to put it under your hat, the way it's done at Western States 100, or the way I kept doing at Spartathlon, and wait for your temperature to drop.

My friend Roberto Beretta at kilometer 200 of the Eiger Ultra Trail, in the Principality of Andorra.

Cold-related crash: this usually hits the stomach, forcing us into several bathroom stops. Beyond bundling up with everything we've got, we need to try to stay as warm as possible during those breaks. If it's raining, it helps to open the thermal blanket and place it directly against the skin, under wet clothing. If possible, sip something warm in small amounts. Sooner or later it passes, and we can continue on, feeling lighter.

THE FINAL KILOMETERS

When you're under 10% left, it's just a matter of time now, physically, you can be sure you have what it takes to make it to the end, you need to know that, and mentally set those last kilometers apart from the total.

If you're going to take any risks regarding the things to keep an eye on, this is where you can afford to.

once you've built up the certainty that you can make it, and a strange euphoria takes hold of you, a goofy grin will spread across your face without you even realizing it.

Deep down, we're out there suffering only for that one moment, when we realize we've made it!

AFTER THE RACE

Enjoy the satisfaction of having made it, now, you can treat yourself to everything you dreamed about during the toughest hours of the race.

Good job!