Does ultra running take the speed out of your legs?

Yes. If you have a race distance that you are trying to prioritize, then training for longer distance is misdirected for the mix of aerobic and anaerobic training for the race distance that you are trying to prioritize.

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Carl Spackler wrote:

Yes. If you have a race distance that you are trying to prioritize, then training for longer distance is misdirected for the mix of aerobic and anaerobic training for the race distance that you are trying to prioritize.

Is it true that after long durations of slow twitch running that eventually your fast twitch fibers will be recruited during the ultra marathon to keep you going?

This is a controversial topic and not too many people even think about it.

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I wanted to say something, but I didn't see a box below your post. I'm commenting to make you aware of this.

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And render the site almost unbearable to navigate? No thanks.

Mark Miwurtz wrote:

Does ultra running take the speed out of your legs?

No, as long as you keep training speed on the flat (see Camille Herron).

Ultra runners don't have any to start with

No. If you're in a life threatening situation you will get the hell outa there.

It depends on how you prepare for ultra races.

I personally improved personal bests at distances from four miles on up after adjusting to Ultra training.

Mark Miwurtz wrote:

Does ultra running take the speed out of your legs?

What if you ran 10k pace once or every other week and also did hill sprints and strides weekly?

Have a conversation about it in the box below.

Ultras will 100% zap your max speed. You can still be a good runner at marathon distance and below if ultras are your main thing, but you will not reach your full potential in those distances.

Scott Jurek, who is an absolute legend and one of the best ultra runners in history, only had a marathon PB of 2:38.

Mark Miwurtz wrote:

Does ultra running take the speed out of your legs?

What if you ran 10k pace once or every other week and also did hill sprints and strides weekly?

Have a conversation about it in the box below.

Yes, it’s going to affect it, because of specificity of training. 10k pace every other week with weekly hill sprints and strides wouldn’t be sufficient to achieve maximum potential if you were training for those shorter events, so of course you won’t maintain maximum potential by doing them whilst training for an ultra.

A trail ultra with significant vertical gain, especially on technical terrain, requires a different skill set and stride to a flat road or track race. You could remain somewhat competitive but the phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” springs to mind. They’re no bad thing to do when training for an ultra though, as they’ll help your performance there.

Maybe Sage will find this thread and comment on his experience of going to ultras and then getting back to the roads.

My anecdotal opinion is that doing lots of vert climb runs and just long long runs will convert Type II to Type I fibers. But I am also inclined to think that if you do weekly hill sprints this could be enough to maintain Type IIs.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Ultra runners don't have any to start with

Q: How can you tell when an ultra runner is sprinting?

A: You can't.

Crazey Bones wrote:

Carl Spackler wrote:

Yes. If you have a race distance that you are trying to prioritize, then training for longer distance is misdirected for the mix of aerobic and anaerobic training for the race distance that you are trying to prioritize.

Is it true that after long durations of slow twitch running that eventually your fast twitch fibers will be recruited during the ultra marathon to keep you going?

This is a controversial topic and not too many people even think about it.

You may need to pay a tad more attention in your exercise physiology class to better/much more accurately describe how it works.

ultra running itself doesn't do anything to your legs. training to compete well in ultras does have an effect.

but to be clear, there are many varieties of ultras. a road 50k is a lot different than UTMB, a 170k mountain trail race.

some people train for ultras like they would for a marathon, and it works very well. That type of training is not going to "ruin your speed" any more than marathon training does.

also, we need to define "speed". do you mean 5k speed? 100m speed? 30k speed? Be specific.

reed wrote:

ultra running itself doesn't do anything to your legs. training to compete well in ultras does have an effect.

but to be clear, there are many varieties of ultras. a road 50k is a lot different than UTMB, a 170k mountain trail race.

some people train for ultras like they would for a marathon, and it works very well. That type of training is not going to "ruin your speed" any more than marathon training does.

also, we need to define "speed". do you mean 5k speed? 100m speed? 30k speed? Be specific.

800/1500 speed

Slow as moleasses wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Ultra runners don't have any to start with

Q: How can you tell when an ultra runner is sprinting?

A: You can't.

I thought it was when they went from wogging to jogging.

short term, yes. After running 31 miles it will be difficult to run at a faster speed.

long term, no. With enough time and training you can get the speed back in your legs.