The Role of Strength and Conditioning for Mountain Runners

By Andrew Pye

It’s 9 am on Saturday, 2^nd July, Snowdonia has seen its worst weather in a good few months, but that doesn’t deter a group of individuals at the start line of the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 50.  

Ahead of them is 50km of rugged mountain terrain and 10900ft of climb, working out at an average of 200ft per kilometre.  Of course, many months of running, hiking, hill reps and course recce’s have taken place, but what role has strength and conditioning taken to get Jola Zwaizek in tip-top condition and ready to face this challenge which is now the only UK entry race for the UTMB.

I am a Trail Running Coach based near Birmingham; I am a UKA fell running coach, UESCA Ultra running coach and L4 S&C coach. In my spare time, I coach runners to help them gain confidence off-road and realise their potential, using strength and conditioning as an important focal point and I have coached Jola for approximately 4 years. 

Typically, Ultra runners will run, run more, hike, and run some more. Mileage is important, but with this amount of repetition, the risk of injury is very high.