Ultra-Trail Snowdonia: Race Strategy & Top Tips

We caught up with Harrier’s Technical Advisor, Dan Summers, to get his take on race strategy for Ultra-Trail Snowdonia.

Some of the courses may be different this year, but each UTS distance will still be an amazing experience in the beautiful setting that it always has been.

At this stage, the training you’ve done can’t be changed, and you should be recovering and resting as much as you can.  It’s good to still run but significantly reduce the volume and keep it all easy.  In the remaining days before the race you should be thinking about maximising your rest and making a plan for starting the race with a body full of stored carbs.  You can take a scientific approach to carbohydrate intake (calculating a certain number of grams per kg of body weight that you will eat - generally 8 to 12 grams per kg) or you can just emphasise lots of carb heavy foods.  Either way make sure you do this in 3 or 4 days leading up to the race and eat more normally in the final 24 hours – that way you should avoid starting the race feeling overfed/bloated.  It can be good to focus on easily digestible carbs such as white pasta and white bread, but you know your own body best, so don’t change too much from what you’re used to.

Aside from the final physical recovery and preparation, you also need to be putting the final touches to your race “plan” (for example: pace, nutrition and checkpoint strategy) and ensuring you have packed all the mandatory kit.  Take the stress out of everything by doing this as early as possible.

For the checkpoint strategy, you should plan to be as efficient as possible.  You need to make sure you do all the crucial things (eating, fixing problems, refilling drinks and food etc) but also you need to not waste time.   When you’re not moving you’re not making progress towards the end!   I often write a list of what I plan to do at each checkpoint as this takes all the thinking out of the process.  In the final 5 mins of running before each checkpoint I go through what I’m going to do.  If you have the option to use a drop bag, have a good think about what you plan to put in that as well - for me, I always try to include spares of anything that would be race-ending if it failed.

For your race plan, think about the distance between checkpoints and what food and water you’ll need to carry. Are there any natural water sources and do you plan to use them?  When are you planning to use your poles and how much will it have to rain for you to stop and put your waterproof on.  There are no right and wrong answers to these questions but you can do all this thinking and planning in advance so that you don’t have to use any mental energy on the day!

Finally, don’t worry if you feel a bit lethargic during this final week – that is completely normal.  Everyone feels differently during the taper and you know how much training you’ve done to get to the day.  The best thing you can do is try not to stress about this and focus on the things you can control of the day.

This week is really the final part of your preparation and then all that is left is to go out and enjoy the adventure!  Hope everyone taking part has a brilliant time.