This week, I’m handing the mic over to one of our endurance coaches, Rick Canning. Rick has been a key part of our coaching team at Vital, and he’s our go-to to send ultra-distance athletes to. Case-in-point, he's currently training our client Mike for 10 marathons in 10 days in 10 provinces! He’s here to share why training for an ultra isn’t just about running more miles—and why the details matter more than you think.

Skimmable highlights in yellow below.

Did you know that only around 1% of non finishers of an ultra cite being inadequately trained as their reason for not finishing their event? And only 15% cite inadequate training as the main reason why they didn't perform as well as they thought they would? Well, I strongly disagree with them!

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Many of the listed reasons for dropping out can be drastically improved with better preparation. The key is training intentionally for the specific demands of your event.

Take nausea and vomiting (from the list above), for example... it’s not just bad luck. You can reduce your risk by:
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✔️ Training your stomach with race-day fuelling strategies​
✔️ Adding heat acclimation in your training if your race will be hot
✔️ Practicing with a variety of foods (sweet, salty, savoury)

Another major factor to having a solid race? Course terrain and elevation. Understanding your event’s elevation profile helps you tailor your hill training effectively.

For example, one of my planned spring adventures is Nova Scotia’s Seawall Trail—a route I’ve run before, giving me a clear understanding of its terrain and demands:

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The Seawall Trail packs over 3,000m of elevation gain into just 40K, with steep climbs and descents throughout. Ignoring this would be a mistake—elevation matters as much as distance in ultra training.

A good starting point? Calculate the average grade.

3,000m/40K = 75m/km—a steep average that should guide weekly training goals.

**If I’m running 80K per week, I aim for 6,000m of vertical gain to match the demands**

But averages don’t tell the full story. The steepest climb on this route gains 380m over 2K (a 190m/km grade—far steeper than the average). If I don’t train for these extremes, I’ll struggle on race day.

The best way to prepare? Compare to a known climb. I use a local ski hill (shown below) with a similar gradient to simulate the effort and adjust my pacing expectations.

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The second climb before 10K on my training hill gains 200m over 1K, closely matching the 190m/km grade of the toughest section of my planned adventure. This makes it a great simulation climb—and on race day, I know to expect it to take twice as long due to terrain differences.

Why does estimating time-on-feet matter, you ask?

Distance alone doesn’t determine your finish time—terrain changes everything. A 40K trail race could take 8 hours or 30 hours depending on technicality, elevation, and conditions.

The best way to estimate?

• Check past finishing times for races with similar terrain. If you're a mid-packer, compare your usual placement.
• Plan for contingencies. My first time on this route, I aimed for sub-24 hours but had to bivvy overnight due to poor timing. With better planning, I know I can go under 24 hours next time.

Bottom line: This 40K adventure is more like a 100-miler than a typical 40K race & ignoring that would be a huge problem leading to other race-day issues like potential muscle pain/injuries, nausea/vomitting, blisters, and the like.

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Want to Train Smarter?
🏃‍♂️ Custom Coaching – Get a tailored plan for your ultra. Learn more here​
📅 Pre-Made Training Plans – First 25K, 50K, and 100K plans available. Check them out here
​📘 Trail & Ultra E-Book – Covers these concepts in-depth, plus more strategies. Click the cover below:

Yours in ultra-running,
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Rick.

One last thing if you made it this far. Our company is growing! See recent updates HERE, HERE and HERE.

Got questions? I'll try to have the answers. I reply back 100% of the time.

Yours in physiology,

Carla.