Training for a marathon is tough and time-consuming enough, but at least you're not short of advice on training schedules. But the increasingly popular ultra marathon is quite another matter, as one reader has found. If you've got experience

© Getty Images If 26.2 miles just isn't enough, an ultra could be the race for you. Races longer than a marathon, ultras range from 30 miles to hundreds of miles and take place in hundreds of beautiful locations from Sussex to the Sahara

Weight 415gEvaluation This is a good shoe from a non-running brand. The North Face has been building up a small collection of trail-running models, and the Ultra 100 is the most serious in the range. As its name suggests, it’s made for distance

Weight 393gEvaluation With the introduction of the Premier Ultra, Reebok has added the one type of shoe lacking from its Premier range – a straight cushioning model. In the past, the company relied on its DMX air pocket system for cushioning

A long-sleeved jacket could be the most expensive and under-utilised piece of kit in your running wardrobe. If it's fully waterproof, it doesn't breathe. If it really breathes, it isn't waterproof. Even if it does a good job of both, it's too warm for anything but the car journey...

www.andrewheadingphotography.comThere are plenty of fit, accomplished runners who think that ultra-marathons (races beyond marathon distance) are something ‘other people’ do. Thirty-nine-year-old Jane Riley was one such runner, until the beginning

Into the hills: leaving Malvern on Day OneIt was 6pm. The sun, relenting after a scorching assault upon the day, cast a benevolent glow upon the golden stone of a handsome Cotswold church – and, in its peaceful graveyard, upon a small, nervous group of ultrarunners. Rory Coleman,...

I actually remember filling out the entry form for the 50-Mile Challenge, thinking it was such a good idea. I'm in the second year of a four-year build-up to the 89km Comrades Marathon in South Africa in 2007. I thought that running the 50 would give me an idea of how my body cop...

Every marathon season, pasta sales go through the roof, with runners looking to maximise carbs before big races. Traditional pesto, made with basil and pine kernels, is delicious, but why not update it with walnuts and spinach and add that to your spaghetti instead? With its pepp...

an ultra-marathon?(Duncan Sadler)No! A marathon's far enough. It's the perfect distance for me, I wouldn't go further. Mind you, I said that before I moved up to marathons...Paula and friends limber up in Regent's ParkWhat cross training do you do