We're devoted to individualized training and rehabilitation, offering a detailed & measured approach to athletic performance. We've honed our expertise with elite competitors and Olympians in triathlon, bobsleigh, and track, and now bring the same methods to the everyday athlete eager to improve their health and minimize injuries. Access evidence-supported tips delivered through true tales, jaw-dropping examples, and clear exercise videos that make them easy to grasp and apply.
Ultras: Not Just Longer Marathons
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This week, I’m handing the mic over to one of our endurance coaches, Rick Canning. Rick has been a key part of our coaching team at Vital, and he’s our go-to to send ultra-distance athletes to. Case-in-point, he's currently training our client Mike for 10 marathons in 10 days in 10 provinces! He’s here to share why training for an ultra isn’t just about running more miles—and why the details matter more than you think. Skimmable highlights in yellow below. Did you know that only around 1% of non finishers of an ultra cite being inadequately trained as their reason for not finishing their event? And only 15% cite inadequate training as the main reason why they didn't perform as well as they thought they would? Well, I strongly disagree with them! Many of the listed reasons for dropping out can be drastically improved with better preparation. The key is training intentionally for the specific demands of your event. Take nausea and vomiting (from the list above), for example... it’s not just bad luck. You can reduce your risk by: Another major factor to having a solid race? Course terrain and elevation. Understanding your event’s elevation profile helps you tailor your hill training effectively. For example, one of my planned spring adventures is Nova Scotia’s Seawall Trail—a route I’ve run before, giving me a clear understanding of its terrain and demands: The Seawall Trail packs over 3,000m of elevation gain into just 40K, with steep climbs and descents throughout. Ignoring this would be a mistake—elevation matters as much as distance in ultra training. A good starting point? Calculate the average grade. 3,000m/40K = 75m/km—a steep average that should guide weekly training goals. **If I’m running 80K per week, I aim for 6,000m of vertical gain to match the demands** But averages don’t tell the full story. The steepest climb on this route gains 380m over 2K (a 190m/km grade—far steeper than the average). If I don’t train for these extremes, I’ll struggle on race day. The best way to prepare? Compare to a known climb. I use a local ski hill (shown below) with a similar gradient to simulate the effort and adjust my pacing expectations. The second climb before 10K on my training hill gains 200m over 1K, closely matching the 190m/km grade of the toughest section of my planned adventure. This makes it a great simulation climb—and on race day, I know to expect it to take twice as long due to terrain differences. Why does estimating time-on-feet matter, you ask? Distance alone doesn’t determine your finish time—terrain changes everything. A 40K trail race could take 8 hours or 30 hours depending on technicality, elevation, and conditions. The best way to estimate?
Bottom line: This 40K adventure is more like a 100-miler than a typical 40K race & ignoring that would be a huge problem leading to other race-day issues like potential muscle pain/injuries, nausea/vomitting, blisters, and the like. Want to Train Smarter? Yours in ultra-running, One last thing if you made it this far. Our company is growing! See recent updates HERE, HERE and HERE. Got questions? I'll try to have the answers. I reply back 100% of the time. Yours in physiology, Carla. |
Physiology Toolkit
We're devoted to individualized training and rehabilitation, offering a detailed & measured approach to athletic performance. We've honed our expertise with elite competitors and Olympians in triathlon, bobsleigh, and track, and now bring the same methods to the everyday athlete eager to improve their health and minimize injuries. Access evidence-supported tips delivered through true tales, jaw-dropping examples, and clear exercise videos that make them easy to grasp and apply.
I never planned to be a business owner. I was good at school, worked hard, and believed that if I just kept checking the right boxes, I’d land a great job with great people, decent pay, and room to grow. That was the plan. But back in 2011 when I graduated with my undergrad in Kinesiology, the roles I wanted didn’t exist - not in the form I believed people deserved. So I built one. Vital started as a Plan B… and now, more than a decade later, it’s becoming something bigger than I imagined....
Three stories *from the field* in my world this week with the TLDR highlights included for your scanning pleasure: 1. A Cut That Doesn’t Land This morning I was on the field with a pro athlete and another coach, troubleshooting mechanics for an athlete coming back from a brutal double injury: both his ACL and patellar tendon were ruptured last June. He’s only a few sessions into cutting and sprint drills but we’re already noticing red flags we want to fix. Today’s standout issue: his torso...
Something a little different this week — we’re handing the reins to James LeBaigue, a UK-based Registered Sports Nutritionist who helps triathletes take the guesswork out of fuelling. James works with athletes at all levels — from first-timers to those racing in the Ironman Pro Series — and today he’s sharing three practical nutrition tweaks that can make a real difference to how you train, race, and recover. A triathlete I was working with once blurted out mid-coaching session: “I finally...