07. Planning vs. Training: The Unexpected Ultra
I thought the toughest part would be training for a multi-day ultra event. I knew it would be hard; long hours on my feet, sore muscles and mental fatigue. Then there is planning your own multi-day ultra event. I knew it would be complex; 15 individual routes, 5 locations, 3 disciplines of different kit, travel, accommodation, hydration, food and more. BUT, then there is training and planning your own multi-day ultra event simultaneously…. this is when I remembered that planning is its own endurance sport!
“I am not just training for an ultra; but building it from scratch. That’s a double ultra-effort—physically and logistically… no wonder I’m tired!
Training is mostly physically demanding (mental plays a part and will be huge during the challenge), but for the most it’s a simple and straightforward physical challenge. You swim or bike or run or brick them. You rest. You recover. There’s a rhythm to it. Progress is visible in recovery, in pace, in performance. The discomfort, or lets be honest - sometimes pain, has a clear purpose… driven by love to make a difference.
But planning? That’s a whole different beast. Every detail matters: route viability, transport and sleep logistics, transition zones, safety, kit maintenance, emergency contacts. It’s like juggling while running a marathon. I cannot juggle and I have never run a marathon. However, I do have over 12 years experience of working in the events industry as an Events Producer. This is not my job now and I have not done this for over 10 years but I am still an organised planner (just ask the groomsmen of my wedding… not sure they’ll ever stop commenting on my spreadsheet).
The challenge is that all of the planning, blogging, attempts at PR/social media (I need to up this for sure to raise awareness and sponsorship) actually pulls me away from my training. Suddenly, I haven’t swam twice in the week, brick training was minimal and I haven’t cycled at least 100km across the week… things start to ‘slip’. The negative voice appears in my head “you’re not doing all you need to do, you’ll let people down, you’re not trying hard enough”.
There’s no finisher medal for planning. No adrenaline rush. No crowd cheering. No sponsorship donations for the charities. Just to-do lists, moving parts, and the judging voice creeping in to give me a hard time.
I think the routes and their viability have so far been my biggest challenge but lets see what happens over the final planning stages. I started by trying to find existing triathlons in the areas I’d selected. Like The Hathersage Hilly (Peaks day 1) and The Geordieman (Northumberland day 4) but neither were the right distance and one was an open-water swim. I couldn’t bring in the added complexity of open water swimming (water cleanliness, water safety, wetsuits etc etc) and if I’m honest, I’m a pool swimmer. In other locations I looked for cycle routes and park runs that I could use. I gave it a go and came up with an initial route in each location. Eventually the pools were all booked and locked in so the rides and runs were now to revolve around these 5 swimming pools. Its been the constant refinement to bike and run sections that has scrambled my head;
Are the roads safe - how can we stay off busy A roads but also not on single winding country roads with no clear line of sight?
What is the road surface like - which bikes or tyres do we need?
Do all sections need to connect -if they do connect the route may not be the safest option, if they don’t what logistics complexities does it bring?
How many different variations of a route can you plot to try and avoid multiple CAT 3 hills (the joys of Peaks and Dales) before your head explodes!
Learning how to use Garmin and plotaroute - the frustration of not be able to make the changes you want and having to start from scratch
I have spent many a night in bed until the early hours trying to work it out. I think I am now there with 3 out of the 5 thanks to advice from Geoff (an avid cyclist and friend of my mum’s). Just 2 more routes to refine a little more… Peaks and Dales. I am aiming to share final routes by the end of July so that anyone joining me and Claudette for a day or a leg can get familiar with the routes. Also, anyone wanting to come and cheer can see where we will be.
“I’m just trying to avoid CAT 3 and CAT 4 hills - I guess the sooner I come to terms with that not being a reality the better”!
I recently had a dream about my planning going wrong - not in a major way but in a silly way. I dreamt that on last day of the challenge, day 5 in Newcastle, my running bag went missing. We’d managed to completed 5 swims, 5 rides and 4 runs with no problems and now getting changed for my last run, my bag was not there… I ended up running my last 10km around the Quayside of Newcastle barefoot and in my knickers!
My planning and training are not done yet but in the end, I think…
Training for an ultra tests your body. Planning an ultra tests you mind. Doing both together tests EVERYTHING!
