Ultra Marathon....a distant dream?

That sounds great. Cheers folks

the vicar, all the foods mentioned before are great, i find if you take a mobile then wrapping in a little pockrt of bubblewrap in your backpack stops condensation from the heat of your body steaming up the screen or any leaks of drink ruining it also if you domt like having to stop to get drins out of your bag then getting a bottle holder which you can attach to a shoulder strap of pack  can help loads.

Never seen that before seems like a good idea! Yeah I thought that with the old mobile. Dont wanna knacker it out

that one is by raidlight and is £17.99. i have ordered one. although i have 2 back packs..a 3litre which does for runs of upto 30miles i have a 10litre   too. i cant really fit a large bottle into the 3litre when i have food and phone  etc oin and is tricky to get bottle out if your hands are freezing !!!! so im going to use a bottle holder on the smaller pack just for extra drink in case.

As you can see there are no hard and fast rules in any of this Ultra Running game. One thing I would say though is it really helps to know yourself. Sounds like long compression leggings work for you. Hydration is also a very personal issue (some like plain water and salty foods, some use hydration tabs such as NUUN tabs). Just to make things more confusing you may switch preference halfway into a run. As you start actually running over say 5 hrs you will start to learn for yourself. Stay flexible in your approach but keep in mind that Ultras are addictive! If choosing a pack, is it comfortable on you? A smaller pack will be a few grams lighter but may not be large enough for your second or third ultra which may have a minimum gear list. If your pack is not full it will wobble about and rub but bubble wrap will sort this out without adding weight. It may be worth choosing a 15 l pack that will give you more options.
Its also worth adding that most of the posts on the whole forum are from folks who have gravitated towards Ultras from a running /racing background.( the focusing on PB,s and minute miles is still important) The reality of running in ultras is that racing is not what it is about for most of the field. You need to find your comfortable sustainable pace rather than your fastest sustainable pace. This pace will also be effected by how you eat drink and in longer Ultras even sleep. Getting to the end of a race and the friends you will have made on the way will seem far more important than your time. This is especially true for fell/mountain ultras. If you do get hooked (as most do if they can spare the time) you may find yourself running along a mountain ridge as dawn breaks more tired in body than you could imagine but with your soul more alive and receptive to the wonder of the world than ever before. Perhaps its this that keeps me going and I hope that you will experience this running ultras.

Thanks for that Ian, very poetic. I think thats really good advice. It's kinda just going into the unknown and trying to be as prepared as I can. I think thats why the whole ultra thing appeals to me as I am not the fastest of runners but I'm rather quite good a t plodding along for decent distances without using too much energy up. I was chatting to a friend who has done many ultras and marathons etc and he says sometime running a marathon is harder than 100miles race he done not so long ago. Because the marathon you are trying to beat a time and run as quick as you feel possible, whereas the ultra you just gota stick one foot in front of the other. he said the ultra is 99% in your head!

i think ian pretty much summed it all up there Vicar. i think thats also why ultras and distance appeal to me. i can keep going a fair way without feeling the effects much because im fairly slow too. but as ian said it makes for a better experience as you meet and chat to people for hours rather thn minutes!! and make friends you will see time and time again. i ran my marathon fairly slow and with a backpack as i used it for ultra practise , finding out what food/drinks were working best and had great chats with runners whom i hope to meet at other events. and definatley a lot of it is in your head and a little  bit with your feet