Most people are always fascinated by the event day and they total distance I go in ultra challenges but they would be more impressed if they knew what it takes to train for ultra endurance event. So I thought I give you a little glimpse behind the scenes to see what it takes to prepare for a 100 km ultra trail run. You’ll quickly notice that this is not just a ‘training phase’ or ‘training plan’, this is my lifestyle!

Before we get started, I want to make one thing clear: This is not a training plan example for you! This is my personal training plan tailored to my needs, goals, current fitness level making sure it’s embedded into my lifestyle in a sustainable, healthy and joyful way. Do not use this plan for your own!

Here’s a bit of context and a few explanations on some of the terms you’ll see in the plan.

• When you look at the weekly milage or the distance of my weekly long runs, keep in mind that I’ve been training consistently since 2020. Against popular believes, I didn’t wake up like this ;)

• I do have a full-time job and building my own coaching business at the same time and still I make the time to train like an athlete because I love it and prioritize it - Go check out my website MindFuelBody if you’re interested in my coaching business.

• Yes, I do all of my training in the early mornings because that’s what I love and that’s how I make my whole day working without a hassle.

• Yes, I do have a social life and love spending time with my friends.

• This is how I planned my training block from Jan - May 2023, however, one thing is for sure: Life happens so there’ll be certainly differences in what I’ve planned and what I’ll actually do. It won’t be 100% as depicted in the image below and that’s totally ok because I listen to my body. Also, if the weather allows, I hope to throw in some more back-to-back fast-packing trail runs (find out more about fast-packing in this article).
  It took me years to get to this stage where I truly can listen to my body and understand what I need and make the required changes in my training plan. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to have a qualified and experienced coach by your side if you want to pursue such a feat! Again, if that’s something that interests you, go check out my website MindFuelBody and get in touch.

• Also, I’m just coming out of a 3 months off-season which I used as my aerobic base and building strength phase. So I’m going to start this training block fresh and strong.

• My training block is based on periodization which means that I structure my plan into cycles and phases to help improve the effectiveness of my program. This deliberate manipulation of training variables allows me to optimize my performance for my challenges and prevent overtraining. I will write a separate article about periodization because there’s a lot to explain and consider. I love this topic :)

• The blue lines are my deload weeks. The training volume and intensity reduces a lot in these weeks so my body can properly recover before I go into the next three weeks. You can see that I increase volume and intensity week by week for three consecutive weeks before I go into a deload week. Usually I’d progress a max. of 10% to the previous week but I’m at a good place physically and mentally at the moment and I’ve been building up my aerobic base over years which allows me to progress more than the 10%. Also, I’ve been running these distances in the past.

• If you’re wondering what “Z 2” stands for, it means “zone 2” and is referring to a steady, slow run where I keep my heart rate in my zone 2 to build my aerobic base. This is the zone you should spend ~80-90% of your training in order to build the aerobic capacity to go ultra distances - regardless of the type of sport.

• The hill reps sessions are my “hard seshs” where I train at zone 4 to improve my threshold (going harder/faster for longer) and sometimes I dip into zone 5 where I use my anaerobic energy system to improve my pace.

• Last but not least, you’ll see at the bottom of the image what I do daily or on a weekly basis in addition to the training plan. You might be wondering why I added swimming, cycling and brick session to it. This is already part of my training for my upcoming full IronMan in 2024.

Hopefully you understand now why I said in the beginning that people would be even more impressed if they would know what it takes to run 100 km. If you’re interested to know how I make it all work alongside my work, go check out the articles about ‘A day in my life on a weekday (off-season)’ and ‘A day in my life on a weekend (off-season)’.

The last thing I want to say is that I AM SO EXCITED when I look at my plan! :D I can’t wait to get started next week. It’s going to be an amazing journey and I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences with you. Thanks for following and supporting me.