How to Train for a Multi-Stage Ultra Marathon: A 16–24 Week Training Plan

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To train for a multi-stage ultra marathon, allow 16 weeks for a two-day race or 20 to 24 weeks for a week-long race. Build the plan around back-to-back long runs, train with your race pack, practise hiking hills and eating on the move, and add two short strength sessions a week.

Training for a multi-stage ultra is not the same as training for a single long race and adding a bit. The race asks a different question. Not how far can you go, but how well can you go again tomorrow.

I have run stage races, including Marathon des Sables, and I have watched several thousand people train for ours. The ones who get it right do a small number of things consistently. Here they are.

How is multi-stage training different from training for a single ultra?

In a single stage ultra you build one big effort. In a stage race you are building the ability to run a long day, recover overnight in a tent, and do it again, three to six times.

That means the things that matter most are:

• durability, so your legs still work on day three
• the habit of walking hills early and well
• being able to eat on the move and in camp when you do not feel like it
• feet that cope with repeated long days
• a routine for the afternoon that you have practised

Speed is low on the list. A stage race is won and lost at 5 to 7km per hour.

How long should you train for a multi-stage ultra?

Off a marathon base, allow 16 weeks for a two-day 110km race and 20 to 24 weeks (around five to six months) for a week-long race. If you are coming from shorter distances, add a block of base building before that.

The weekly volume most of our finishers run is between 50 and 80km, with the long sessions doing most of the work. Elites run more. You do not need to.

Back-to-back long runs: the core session

This is the one thing that separates stage race training from everything else. Once every two or three weeks, run long on Saturday and long again on Sunday.

Start around 20km and 15km. Build towards 35km and 25km over the training block, with your biggest weekend four to five weeks out. The Sunday run is the important one. It teaches you what tired legs feel like at the start of a run and that they loosen up after 5km. Most people only learn that during the race, which is a bad time.

For a week-long race, do one weekend of three days in a row.

Walk the hills on purpose

Everyone hikes in a stage race. The people who do it well have practised it. Hiking fast with a pack on a 15% gradient is a skill, and if you have only ever run uphill you will find out how different it is on day one.

Include hill hiking in your long runs from the start. Push off with your hands on your knees on steep ground, keep a short stride, and aim to arrive at the top able to run straight away rather than needing a minute to recover.

How to train with the pack you will race in

For a supported race, your running pack is 3 to 5kg with water. For a self-sufficient race it is 8 to 10kg on day one. Either way, do your long runs in it from at least halfway through the block.

The pack changes your gait, your shoulders and where you chafe. You want to find all of that out in training, not on the start line.

Strength work

Two sessions a week, 30 to 40 minutes, is enough. Single-leg work (step-ups, split squats, lunges), calf raises, glute bridges and some trunk work. Nothing clever.

The reason is quads and calves on day three. Repeated long days break the muscles down faster than they rebuild, and runners who have done strength work hold up noticeably better in the second half of the week.

Stage race nutrition: practise eating in training

Most stage race DNFs come down to not eating enough, either on the course or in camp. Appetite drops after a long day, especially in the heat, and the deficit builds.

Eat on every long run, from the first hour, at 200 to 300 calories an hour. Use the foods you plan to race with. Practise eating a proper meal within an hour of finishing a long run, even when you do not fancy it. If you are doing a self-sufficient race, do at least two training weekends on the exact race food so you know you can stomach it.

Foot care for stage races

Feet end more stage races than fitness does. In training, find out whether your feet swell on long days, where you get hot spots and which socks cause them. Learn to tape before a problem appears, not after.

Go up half a shoe size for a week-long race. Practise a foot care routine after each back-to-back weekend so it becomes automatic.

Practise the camp routine

This sounds odd but it works. After your long Saturday run, do what you will do in camp: eat within an hour, sort your feet, put dry clothes on, lay out tomorrow’s kit, go to bed early. Then run again on Sunday.

If you are racing abroad, add the environment. Heat sessions for a desert race, see our guide to running in the heat. Cold and wet long days for a mountain race.

Training for Marathon des Sables or a desert stage race

The same principles apply to Marathon des Sables and other desert stage races, with three additions. Train with your full race pack (8 to 10kg on day one for a self-sufficient race) from halfway through the block, add heat sessions in the final weeks, and do at least two training weekends on your exact race food. Allow 20 to 24 weeks, as for any week-long race.

A sample week from a multi-stage training plan

This is a mid-block week for a two-day 110km race, around 75km total. Adjust up for a week-long race.

• Monday: rest or 30 minutes easy
• Tuesday: 10km easy with strides, strength session
• Wednesday: 12km with hills, hike the climbs hard
• Thursday: 8km easy, strength session
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: 28km on trail with pack, eating from the first hour
• Sunday: 18km on trail with pack, start within 24 hours of finishing Saturday

Every third week, cut the volume by a third and skip the back-to-back.

How to taper for a stage race

Three weeks out, your longest weekend is done. Two weeks out, cut volume by around 30%. Race week, short easy runs, nothing new, and sort the kit in good time so it is not on your mind.

Most people arrive at a stage race slightly overtrained rather than under. If in doubt, rest.

Mistakes I see most

• Never running on consecutive days before the race
• Running every hill in training and then having to walk them in the race
• Doing all the long runs without a pack
• Not eating on training runs because they are “only” three hours
• No strength work
• Buying new shoes in race week
• Running the long stage like a single-day race

How to train for a multi-stage ultra: the short version

Train for the second day, not the first. Back-to-back long runs, hiking practice, a pack on your back, food in your hand and a camp routine you have rehearsed. Do that for four months and the race itself is the easy part.

Multi-stage races and training plans at Ultra X

The two-day 110km multi-stage at Ultra X England, Wales and Scotland is where most people start, and the Training Xone has a free 16-week ultra marathon training plan designed for multi-stage races, plus example frameworks for each distance. From there the week-long races in Jordan, Kenya and South Africa are the next step.

Frequently asked questions

How long should you train for a multi-stage ultra?

Around 16 weeks for a two-day race off a marathon base, and 20 to 24 weeks for a week-long race.

How many miles a week do you need to run?

Most finishers at our stage races train on 50 to 80km (roughly 30 to 50 miles) a week, with back-to-back long runs at the weekend doing most of the work.

Should you train with a pack?

Yes, from at least halfway through the block, at the weight you will race with.

How far should your long runs be for a stage race?

Build to back-to-back runs of around 35km on Saturday and 25km on Sunday, with your biggest weekend four to five weeks before the race.

Do you need to run every day in training?

No. Three to five runs a week is enough. The important thing is running on consecutive days at the weekend.

What should you eat during a stage race?

Aim for 200 to 300 calories an hour on the course, using foods you have tested in training, and eat a proper meal within an hour of finishing each stage. Most stage race DNFs come down to not eating enough.

How do you train for Marathon des Sables?

The same principles apply, with more pack weight, heat training in the final weeks and training weekends on your race food. See our desert ultra guide.

What is the hardest part of a stage race?

Day three or four, when the cumulative fatigue arrives and appetite drops. Back-to-back training weekends are there to prepare you for exactly that.