What can ultra runners learn from mountaineers?

 “Big lungs and strong legs”, “80% is in the head”, “be bothered”.  These were a few of the tips for what makes a good high altitude mountaineer from Jon Gupta, Montane Athlete (https://www.montane.com/jon-gupta-i17), one of the UK’s leading mountaineers and also the owner of a successful guiding business (https://mountain-expeditions.co.uk/).  Jon took advantage of lockdown and ran two online talks on high altitude mountaineering – an introductory one for 5-6,000m peaks and an advanced one for 7-8,000m peaks.  I joined the introductory talk.  This was partly because I like to dream of being a mountaineer one day, partly just for fun and partly because I was interested in the approach Jon was going to discuss and the points I could take into my own running, teaching and leading. 

The three sound bites above were just the start of the crossover in approach and skills between ultrarunners and high altitude mountaineers.  When you think about it, this makes perfect sense.  At the most basic level both sports are about moving over terrain in the easiest and most efficient way. Both disciplines demand a combination of physical endurance, skill and ability to suffer (mentality).  The mix of these differs depending on your chosen event or challenge but all three are always required.  Jon’s approach has also already been tried and tested in ultrarunning as he is a member of the Bob Graham Club in 2017 and has completed the Yukon Artic Ultra.

Learning some mountaineering skills first hand...

So, what can ultrarunners learn?  During the talk Jon expanded on the three points I listed at the beginning of this article:

•           Big lungs and strong legs: training is a long-term process.  Take time to get strong with lots     of low intensity work but you need to keep it fun!  On expeditions you’ll go slower than you are used to and can dehydrate quickly – practice these things in training.
•          80% is in the head: giving up is usually in the mind rather than because of your body’s limitations.  It’s usually “because it’s hard”.
•          Be bothered:  take time to sort things out early. Don’t leave things and let small problems turn into big problems. Even when you’re not feeling great make sure you address the things that need doing.  Always have an open mind to improving and learning from mistakes.  Keep on top of things, think about what’s coming next and be efficient.

Sometimes the conditions make you feel like you're actually mountaineering!

I’ve cut a great and informative hour and a half talk down into three take home messages.  However, for me, these were the key things to take away.   They were conceived for high altitude mountaineering but equally apply to ultrarunning.  

I apply Jon’s three key messages to my running in the following ways:

•          Training is a process you have to love and meeting your training goals gives you the mental confidence to take into big challenges. 
•          You have to know why you want to do these things and what your aims are.  For me, being excited and inspired by a route, race or challenge goes a long way to providing my “why”. 
•          I believe you should have a strategy for every situation you can envisage, this should also be backed up by (b) and (c) strategies as things rarely work out how you hope.  It’s all very well having these strategies but you need to be able and bothered to implement them when you’re knackered, are chasing cut offs or are chasing down someone in front of you.  This boils down to doing everything you can to put stuff in your favour and when things don’t go quite right, not letting small problems become big ones!

Unfortunately, the talks by Jon are now over but I suspect they may be back at some point in the future.  However, you can get a great insight into how mountaineers operate from mountaineering literature, films and magazines – the stories are also often great to read and the suffering that some of these people go through makes ultrarunning look like a walk in the park!

End of the Arc of Attrition (100 miler) in Feb 2019 - I achieved my objective but that wasn't without using lots of back up strategies and plans along the way!

Next time you’re preparing for a run, take time to think about these three points and don’t forget to tell yourself to “be bothered” when you’re out on the trail and you know you really should stop to check the map/get some food out your bag/sort that blister out….