Planning and keeping your ultrarunning New Year's Resolutions - Anywhere, In the World

Have you thought about how to ensure you keep your ultrarunning resolutions for the year? The best training motivator in my experience is registering for an ultramarathon. An ultramarathon on the calendar provides the basis for your training plan, and the strongest reason for grinding out a workout when it’s the last thing you want to do on a random Wednesday. 

But you might ask, how do I find a good race? When searching for ultrarunning races, I primarily use runningintheusa.com and ahotu.com. Runningintheusa.com has very powerful search features enabling you to search by race type, geography, and dates. There is even an option to see the races on a map, which is really convenient when also thinking about the logistics around getting to the race. Ahotu.com from my experience has the most comprehensive listing of races outside of the US, and I use it frequently to research places to go since where there are ultramarathons, there is likely great nature too. Besides these sites, I also like to browse ultrasignup.com since the information is generally 100% up to date, since this website is also where you can sign up for your ultramarathon.

Google.com, of course, is another great way to find a race, especially since what you might find is a race report. Ultramarathon race reports are oddities since the more brutal the race is described, and even if it’s written by someone who did not finish (DNF’ed), the more interesting the race seems. One such race report I found was for the Quest for the Crest 50k. In the last paragraph the ultrarunner says, “I will go ahead and say this based on finishing times… this must be the hardest 50k in the US, maybe the world. It’s absolutely ridiculous.” That sold me to sign up for the race this year.

And if you are into exploring locations via a map, download GaiaGPS, the best app I’ve found for exploring new locations via trail, topographic, and satellite maps.

And finally, there is this website, Ultrarunningdestinations.com, the largest collection of first party accounts of ultrarunning destinations in the world, written by me. Whether it’s a solo run in Mallorca, Spain, an ultramarathon in Kansas, or the only off-road Ironman distance triathlon in the world, there are plenty of stories to get you excited about an ultrarunning destination or a specific ultramarathon. My blog has over 100 destinations, many of them I experienced while I was running an ultramarathon. 

What’s holding you back? Signing up is the easiest part, find a great ultramarathon locally, or pick one as an ultrarunning destination.  Researching what to ultrarun is a big part of the fun!

Happy New Year’s and whether you are here just getting inspiration for your ultrarunning resolutions, planning for a race, or have booked a trip to your own ultrarunning destination adventure, best of luck in keeping your ultrarunning New Year’s resolutions. Leave a comment and let us know what your ultrarunning New Year’s resolutions are.