The 7-Day Ultra Race Systems Check
By race week the fitness is already in the bank. The last seven days cannot add to it, but they can quietly give it away, one unchecked detail at a time. This sheet is how you hold on to it.
An ultra rarely comes apart over one large thing. It comes apart over a row of small ones nobody closed. A battery left flat. A shoe never run on the descent. A fueling plan that lived in your head and never on paper.
This week is not for adding work. It is for closing loops. Run the full sheet seven days out, while there is still time to act on what it turns up. Run it again, fast, the night before the race. Whatever is still open on that second pass gets fixed now or gets left alone. Nothing new comes in inside the last two days.
A checked box does not mean the item is fine. It means the loop is shut. You have either sorted it or you have looked at it, judged it, and built it into the plan. Checking “localised pain” makes no claim that you are pain free. It says you have stopped pretending it is not there.
Body Check
read the signals, do not chase fitnessThese are signals to read, not jobs to finish. Look at each one, decide whether it changes how you race, then check it. A checked box means you looked honestly, not that the news was good.
One bad night is not a trend. Three in a row is information. A steady ache and a rising ache are two different problems, so treat them that way.
Gear Check
this week confirms, it never introducesIf anything on this list is new, it does not race. New kit is a risk you take in training, never on the start line.
Fueling Check
a plan by the hour, not by the raceFood that is good and food that works while you move are not the same thing. Build the plan around what your stomach has already accepted in training.
Course Check
find where the race is actually decidedPick the two or three places on the profile where a bad decision costs the most. Decide now how you run them.
Decision Check
settle the hard calls now, while you are still calmA call made in advance is a call your tired self never has to make. Write the trigger and the action. “Rain above 1500m, the jacket goes on.” Not “I will see how I feel.”
This week will not make you fitter. It can only show the fitness you built, or quietly waste it. Close the loops, then trust the work.
Questions about race week
- When should I run this checklist?
- Do the full pass seven days out, while there is still time to act on what it turns up. Run it again, fast, the night before the race. The last two days are for confirming, not for adding anything new.
- How is this different from a training plan?
- It is not training. By race week the fitness is already built. This sheet protects it by catching the small, avoidable mistakes: a flat battery, an untested shoe, a fueling plan that never left your head.
- Do I have to print it?
- No. It works on your phone and saves your progress in the browser. Printing helps if you want the decision rules on paper for race morning, when you would rather not be reading a screen.
- Which races is it for?
- Any ultra or long trail race. It is deliberately race-agnostic. If you are running the Zugspitz Ultratrail, pair it with the race-specific countdown and resources.
Field notes for the long game.
Training, racing, and the parts of mountain running that never make the finish-line photo. Roughly twice a month. No filler.
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