How do you train for 250 miles?
Reflections on my Cocodona build
Training for an ultra can take many paths – rooted in specificity, volume, vibes, or simply logging whatever miles you can between work and other life obligations.
As participation in trail running grows and the sport becomes more professionalized, so too does the pool of research and evidence we have to draw from when crafting a training plan which fits our unique needs and limitations. Compared to a typical ultra (i.e. 50k to 100 miles) the historic evidence for a competitive multi-day race like Cocodona is relatively small. On top of that, the nature of the race is evolving too quickly for anyone to confidently claim they know what the best approach is when crafting a podium-level training plan.
That’s what has made the last six months so simultaneously fun, and frightening.
Before we get to the good stuff…
A few updates:
Big Alta Race Video is up on my YouTube channel (has great shots of the course)
I went on my first podcast representing Open Fuel, thanks to Corinne and Russell for having me on Ultra Uncovered: Listen Here
Our Gel Mix and Naked Drink Mix production went great, you can get them in the Open Fuel shop (still waiting for our gel-mix custom flasks to get through customs, it sucks)
We released some fun “Bonk Monster” shirts ahead of Cocodona
The Foundation
When I shared I was on the Cocodona startlist with my coach Ben, he seemed authentically excited to help. The polished professional trail athlete he is today is the result of nearly a decade of dirtbagging and throughhiking around the world. Naturally, a point-to-point adventure like this creates a bit of nostalgia for the good old dirtbag days.
The main challenge with working with Ben is there are probably only 10 people on the planet who can train like he does. (seriously, see for yourself)
This is also shows up as a benefit. He knows what he’s doing and can set the bar quite high. For an athlete like me, hitting 80-90% of what he prescribes puts me in a very good place.
When we first discussed his thoughts on Cocodona training, it was centered on quality aerobic work and reasonable volume, starting broad and ending in specificity to build the durability that 250 miles with 35k ft of climbing and descending requires. This would initially look like a mix of hours running, biking, and skiing. Eventually shedding the cross-training in favor of bigger days on foot with the heavier race pack, often back-to-back.
I enjoy racing and planned to line-up at the Black Canyon 50k and Big Alta 100k leading up to Cocodona, which created well-spaced milestones to form training cycles around. This ended up being a fairly unique tactic, I haven’t seen too many other top-ranked men race anything too competitive. Those who have raced did it at lower key “training” races. Rachel Entrekin and Courtney Dauwalter did race the Chianti 100k the same weekend as Big Alta though, and they are pretty good athletes to take inspiration from.
Last part of the equation was strength training. The guys who have made a name for themselves by being early adopters of 200s really seem to like weight lifting, more inline with a hybrid style of athlete. My personal opinion is this can take away from the pure running ability needed at Cocodona. As a result, my intention was to focus on maintenance, stability, and core-centric workouts.
It’s Not Just Physical
Training 15-22 hours per week, not including commuting to trails or time spent in the gym, takes significant mental and emotional energy. Then add in caring for a pregnant wife on top of shipping orders and working to grow a brand…your nervous system will be maxed out.
My experience of this was high stress before a run, the stress generally leaving as the run progressed, and then coming back as soon as I hopped back in the car. I observed myself gravitating more towards mindless scrolling and cheap dopamine hits when feeling tired at home too. Sometimes I’d pull up into our carport and sit in the car for 10 minutes before heading inside. Even typing all of this out I can feel anxiety starting to flood my system.
To balance the more challenging aspects of regulating my emotions and energy during the last few months, I leaned into good old gratitude. Appreciating the beauty of how simple this all made life. After all, I chose this. Meditation, therapy, keeping the phone in a drawer, walks with the dogs, running with friends, reading on the couch with my wife, all helped as well.
The ironic part is I am feeling very little anxiety about the actual race itself. It’s everything else which carries more weight. Over the next week or so I am excited to prioritize all the to-do list items that were neglected during training, and show up to the start line with a lightness. Getting to focus on one-thing for three days might even feel like an oddly masochistic vacation.
The Training Block
Year to date, I have trained for 180 hours, averaging around 12 hours a week. My lowest week was 8 hours (thanks to a post-Guatemala stomach bug) and my highest was 22 hours. This considers all activity types.
Looking specifically at my running, I have clocked 99 runs for 1,222 miles with 168k feet of elevation gain. This averages out to 6 runs a week with 12 miles and 1.6k feet of gain per run. My longest run was the Big Alta 100k at 62 miles, and I hit 16 runs of 20 miles or more with 5 of those being 30 milers. My peak running week was 105 miles with 17k feet of gain.
My training has not been world beating, but it has been high quality and consistent. There are others who have regularly clocked 120+ mile weeks with 20+ hours of time on feet. What I have going for me is the relative pace I was able to get my miles in at without over-straining myself, and keeping to very Cocodona-specific types of trails in the Colorado front range.
I wish I would have gotten in more days on the skis, but the historically dry winter had other plans. More days in the saddle would have been nice too, but life wasn’t always friendly to the additional time commitment.
Of course, my strength training and sauna regularity could have been better as well, but my goodness have expectations for everything one needs to do gotten out of control.
Looking Ahead To Race Day
I cannot wait to see how my legs absorb this volume. Prior to this year I had never done a hundred mile training week, and I’ve clocked four in the last six weeks.
My crew is dialed, my pacers will get the most out of me, I’ll feel so happy every time I see my wife and dogs out there.
Success at this year’s Cocodona will require multi-faceted execution and extreme mental resiliency. My training has set me up to be one of the most prepared runners on the start line, now it’s time to shore up everything else and get ready to let it rip.
At the forefront keep the Delusional Self Belief thing in your cognition intact, not let this thing waver brother. It can do more wonders than you can imagine, you would surely know this thing but in the midst of turmoil and the pain & fatigue peaking, we doubt ourselves a lot of times especially this is a long road of 250 miles.
There is no one way to train for anything. The foremost thing is years of build up also helps a lot any athlete not just the recent couple of months of training block. It matters a lot when you want to run a Sub 2:05 marathon or 2:10 but in the long ultras I think there is no one way to train.
You got this Zach brother, rooting for you and all the best. <3 Hay is in the barn and now is the time to be BOLD and not TIMID. Remember you got this, LMFG. :)
Thanks for sharing this.
I'm intrigued about your observation that the early adopters of 200s are fans of strength training. I wonder if that's because there's a perception that they need strength training to deal with the load? Or is it because 200s attract a maximal training personality type likely to want to add hard strength training on to hard running?