Running 84Km? How do you train yourself?

On Sunday night, a friend called and told me he had an announcement to make. Announcement? He had set the goal of running the Sundown 84km Ultramarathon next year, end May. He had completed 2 Sundown full marathon over 3 years, a 3 times marathon finisher.

Looking at this year stats - There are 592 registered for the Sundown ultramarathon. 61 were non-starters, 381 finishers and 150 DNFs. So 64% will get to cross the finish line, as compared to the usual marathon between 70-80% finisher.

How do you carry on running/walking when you had just completed a full marathon?

I guess the most important factor will be the mental side, which will help one to pull through this distance. There are runners who gave up at the 70km mark this year, it is just too painful to carry on, and they came to realize that the pride of finishing is no longer important when they put their whole health at risk. A guy who quit at the 55km mark mentioned that he took 5 months to build up to the race, did a multiple runs of 40km and above. However on actual day, he experienced pain and was forced to give up.

To cover 84km is double the commitment of finishing a marathon in my opinion. Careful planning, diet, training and race day conditions are all factors needed to finish this distance.

On the race itself, runners usually has their team of helpers (friends), who will assist them in gels, drinks and snacks. They will usually change into a new pair of running shoes, fresh running attire after finishing the first round, 42km. Something like a refueling station.

This year a 60 years old Taiwanese man (with 20 years running experience) finished the 84km running backwards in less than 13 hrs. The winner was a Korean, Jae Duk Sim, 42 yrs old finishing in a record time of 6 hrs 18 mins. Average runner will probably take 11 hrs or more.

It take years to build up and maintain a certain fitness, as one became more experience in running. A distance runner usually reaches his peak after 30 years old.

Wish my friend the best of luck, may he achieve his dream & accomplish his goal.

DNF- Did not finish.