Free delivery on orders over £80How To Pack For Your First Ultramarathon
Words & Photos by Rob Martineau
Preparing for your first Ultra can be a little daunting, with not only a step up in training, but also the equipment you need to take with you on the run. Fortunately, we recently spoke with Rob Martineau - Ultra runner, author and founder of TRIBE - about his top tips on packing for your first ultramarathon.
The first “ultra” I ran was the Marathon des Sables ten years ago. I was 25 and had never run more than 10km when I signed up. The race involves 6 days running 250km in the Moroccan Sahara through a beautiful landscape of dunes and desert tracks. Runners carry everything they need for the week (except tent and water) in packs on their backs.
I remember being bewildered by all the new kit and nutrition. I spent hours reading blogs on different shoes, tips on how to shed weight and conflicting advice on everything from how to stop sand getting in your shoes to whether it was worth cutting the labels from your clothes to win a few extra grams.
I’ve since run lots of long-distance trails, from a 1000-mile run across Eastern Europe to glacier routes over the Alps. Everyone’s different, but these are my tips on packing for your first multi-day ultra:
1. Keep it tight: Get the smallest backpack you can get away with. More space means temptation to fill it, and you want to keep it as light as you can. Train with the pack filled with the kit you think you’ll need: it’ll help you bring the weight down. For Marathon des Sables I was shocked on the first day by how heavy my pack was.
2. Feet first: Carry basic stuff to sort your feet out in case you get a blister (tape, something to pop a blister, blister plaster). Hopefully you won’t need it, but blisters can end events if you don’t sort them soon after you begin to feel a heat spot.
3. Keep warm: In the mountain events I’ve run, the most common reason for runners dropping out is hypothermia. Exhausted, it’s easy not to have the energy to stop to put on an extra layer. Once cold, it’s often too late to warm up on the trail. If running in high mountains, have a lightweight warm top and beanie and keep it near the top of your pack.
4. Salt & calories: I always carry salt tablets in my side pocket, and take one every hour with an energy bar. It’s easy to forget to fuel and, like the cold, you shouldn’t wait until you’re hungry or thirsty. Keep topping up regularly. Salt is vital for endurance.
5. Take a treat: Have something small stored for when things get hard, to use as a psychological boost. I use music, but having your favourite chocolate bar and using the temptation of it as a reward for reaching a milestone can work wonders.
Rob Martineau is founder of TRIBE, a nutrition company, and TRIBE Freedom Foundation, a charity fighting human trafficking. TRIBE’s next ultra-run is Run for Love 4, a 6-day team running adventure in Croatia in May 2022.
Rob’s first book, Waypoints: a Journey on Foot, is the story of a 1,000 mile pilgrimage in West Africa, published by Jonathan Cape in April 2021.
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