5 Weekly Training Numbers for Ultras
The 5 Weekly Training Numbers Ultra Runners Should Check Every Monday¶
You finished your Sunday long run. You uploaded to Strava. You looked at the pace, thought "that was slow," and moved on with your week.
That's not a training review. That's a reflex.
Ultra training generates enormous amounts of data -- total miles, elevation, heart rate drift, pace per split, time on feet, perceived effort. Most runners either ignore it all or drown in it. Both approaches leave you guessing about the question that actually matters: is this training block moving me toward the start line healthy and ready, or am I quietly digging a hole?
The fix isn't more data. It's knowing which five numbers to check, in what order, every Monday morning. This takes about three minutes once you know what you're looking at. Here's the system.
Why Monday Morning Matters for Ultra Runners¶
The weekly review exists because ultra training operates on weekly cycles. Your long run, your back-to-back, your vert day, your recovery days -- they form a pattern that repeats and builds. But the feedback loop is slow. You don't feel overtraining on Wednesday; you feel it two or three weeks later when you can't recover between sessions.
Monday morning is the earliest point where the previous week's full picture is visible. All the data is in. Your body has had one sleep cycle since the last hard effort. You're close enough to feel the fatigue but far enough to see the pattern.
The ultra runners who stay healthy through 16- to 24-week training blocks aren't doing anything magical. They're checking a handful of numbers consistently and making small adjustments before small problems become big ones.
Number 1: Total Time on Feet (Not Just Miles)¶
Most running apps default to weekly mileage as the headline number. For ultra runners, this is the wrong metric to lead with.
A 30-mile week on roads at 9:00 pace is about 4.5 hours of running. A 30-mile week with 8,000 feet of climbing on technical trail might take 7 or 8 hours. Same mileage. Completely different training load.
Time on feet captures what mileage misses: the actual musculoskeletal and metabolic stress your body absorbed.
What to look for¶
- Compare to your 4-week rolling average. A jump of more than 15-20% in a single week is a spike, even if the mileage looks normal. Research on the acute-to-chronic workload ratio consistently shows that spikes -- not high volume -- are what drive injury risk.
- Track cumulative hours, not just run duration. If you hiked 3 hours on Saturday as cross-training, that's time on feet too. Your legs don't care that Strava categorized it as a hike.
- Watch for creep. Ultra runners tend to let easy runs stretch longer because "I felt good." A 60-minute recovery run that slowly becomes 80 minutes is adding hidden load.
The Monday question¶
Did my time on feet this week stay within 15% of my recent average? If not, why?
Number 2: Weekly Elevation Gain¶
Flat mileage and vertical mileage are different sports. If your target race has 10,000+ feet of climbing, weekly elevation gain is as important as weekly hours.
Jason Koop, one of the most respected ultramarathon coaches, recommends tracking vertical gain per mile across the training cycle and matching it to race demands. This isn't about hitting massive vert numbers every week. It's about building specificity gradually.
What to look for¶
- Vert-per-mile ratio. Divide total weekly elevation gain by total weekly miles. If your race has 200 feet of gain per mile and your training averages 80, you have a specificity gap that won't close in taper.
- Distribution across the week. One monster vert day followed by six flat days isn't the same adaptation as spreading climbing across four sessions. Your body needs repeated stimulus, not a single shock.
- Trend over 4-6 weeks. Vert should build gradually, just like volume. A week where you doubled your elevation gain is a spike, and your Achilles tendons will notice before you do.
The Monday question¶
Is my weekly vert trending toward race-specific demands? Is it building gradually or spiking?
Number 3: Long Run as a Percentage of Weekly Volume¶
This is the number most ultra runners never check -- and it's one of the best predictors of injury risk in high-volume training.
The classic marathon guideline says your long run shouldn't exceed 30% of weekly mileage. That's a road-running heuristic, and it doesn't translate cleanly to ultra training. Ultra-specific long runs (4-6+ hours) routinely hit 40-50% of weekly volume, and back-to-back weekend runs -- the backbone of 100-mile training -- can push 50-65%.
That's not automatically a problem. But it means the rest of your week needs to support that ratio, and you should treat your back-to-back block as a single training unit when doing this calculation.
What to look for¶
- If your long run is 40%+ of weekly volume, the remaining days need to be genuinely easy. No tempo work, no hard intervals, no second long run the same week unless you've built to that level over multiple cycles.
- If your long run percentage is climbing week over week, you're likely cutting mid-week runs to save energy for the weekend. That's a sign your total volume is too high for your current fitness, not that you need more long runs.
- Back-to-back weekends change the math. If you ran 20 miles Saturday and 15 Sunday, that's 35 miles in two days. If your weekly total is 55, that's 64% of your volume in two sessions. The concentration of stress matters. For ultra runners doing regular back-to-backs, track the combined weekend block as your "long run" number -- it better reflects the actual recovery demand on your body.
The Monday question¶
What percentage of this week's volume came from my longest run (or back-to-back)? Was the rest of the week easy enough to absorb it?
Number 4: Acute-to-Chronic Workload Ratio¶
This is the number that tells you whether you're building fitness or building an injury.
The acute-to-chronic workload ratio (ACWR) compares your training load from the last 7 days (acute) to your rolling average over the last 28 days (chronic). It's the single best evidence-based metric for predicting injury risk in endurance athletes.
- 0.8 to 1.3: The safe zone. You're building progressively.
- Below 0.8: You've dropped volume significantly. If you ramp back up quickly, you're at risk.
- Above 1.3: You've spiked. Injury risk rises steeply.
- Above 1.5: Danger zone. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows injury risk rises sharply at this level.
A caveat: recent sports science has debated how reliable ACWR is as a standalone predictor, especially for ultra distances where individual sessions are so long. It's not a perfect crystal ball. But as one signal among five, checked consistently, it catches load spikes that gut feel alone misses.
Why ultra runners spike¶
- Adding a second back-to-back long run when the first month of training had none
- Jumping to race-specific vert without a base of climbing
- Returning from a down week and immediately hitting peak volume
- "Making up" for a missed week by cramming the miles into the next one
What to look for¶
Calculate ACWR using time on feet (not just miles) for the most accurate picture. If you're using a tool that computes this for you -- NavRun's analytics dashboard tracks training load trends automatically -- check it first thing Monday. If you're doing it manually, compare this week's hours to the average of the last four weeks.
The Monday question¶
Is my ACWR between 0.8 and 1.3? If it's above 1.3, what caused the spike, and does next week's plan need to come down?
Number 5: Subjective Effort vs. Objective Output¶
This is the number your watch can't give you. And according to Jason Koop's coaching framework, it might be the most important data point an ultra runner can track.
Subjective effort is how hard training felt relative to what the numbers say it was. When your easy pace starts feeling moderate, or your standard trail loop leaves you more tired than usual, that's a signal. It often shows up days or weeks before any metric turns red.
What to look for¶
- Pace drift at constant effort. If your easy runs are getting slower at the same perceived effort, that's fatigue accumulation. This is normal during a build block but should reverse during recovery weeks.
- RPE creep. Rate your effort on a 1-10 scale after every run. If a run you'd normally call a 4 starts consistently feeling like a 6, something is off -- even if the pace and heart rate look normal.
- The Monday morning gut check. Before you look at any data, ask yourself: "How do I feel about last week?" If the honest answer is "tired but good," you're probably fine. If it's "tired and dreading this week," that's data too.
The Monday question¶
Are my easy runs feeling easy? Is my perceived effort matching my actual output, or is the gap widening?
Putting It Together: The 3-Minute Monday Review¶
Here's the exact sequence. Do this before you plan your week.
- Time on feet -- Pull up total hours. Compare to your 4-week average. Flag any spike above 15%.
- Elevation gain -- Check weekly vert. Calculate vert-per-mile. Compare to race demands.
- Long run percentage -- Divide your longest session by total weekly volume. Note if it's above 40%.
- ACWR -- Compare this week's load to your 4-week rolling average. You want 0.8-1.3.
- Subjective check -- Review your post-run notes or gut feeling. Any effort-output mismatch?
If all five numbers look normal, your training is on track. Plan the next week as scheduled.
If one or two numbers are elevated, make a small adjustment: cut mid-week volume, swap a hard session for easy, or add an extra rest day.
If three or more numbers are red, you need a recovery week now, not at the next scheduled deload. The cost of one easy week is far lower than the cost of a stress fracture eight weeks from your race.
NavRun generates a weekly training report with these metrics automatically from your Strava data ->
What Most Runners Get Wrong About Weekly Reviews¶
Mistake 1: Obsessing over pace¶
Pace is the least useful weekly metric for ultra runners. Terrain, weather, fatigue, and elevation make weekly average pace meaningless. A "slow" week on mountain trails might represent better training than a "fast" week on flat roads. Lead with time and vert, not pace.
Mistake 2: Only reviewing when something feels wrong¶
The whole point of a Monday review is to catch problems before they feel wrong. If you only check your numbers after a bad run, you're using the data as a post-mortem instead of a prevention tool.
Mistake 3: Comparing to other runners¶
Your weekly numbers are meaningful only in comparison to your own recent training. A 50-mile week that represents a 10% increase for you is smart training. The same 50-mile week that represents a 40% jump is a spike. Context is everything.
Mistake 4: Ignoring down weeks¶
A recovery week where your ACWR drops below 0.8 isn't a problem -- unless you ramp back to peak volume the following week. Track what happened during and after your down weeks, not just your big weeks.
Common Questions About Weekly Training Reports¶
Q: Should I track weekly mileage at all if I'm tracking time on feet?¶
Yes, but as a secondary metric. Mileage is still useful for planning -- most training plans are written in miles -- and for long-term trend tracking. Just don't let it be your only volume metric. Time on feet tells the fuller story for ultra distances.
Q: How do I calculate ACWR if I don't have a tool that does it automatically?¶
Take your total training load for the last 7 days (hours, miles, or TSS -- pick one and be consistent) and divide it by the average of your last four 7-day totals. If this week you ran 12 hours and your 4-week average is 10 hours, your ACWR is 1.2 -- safe zone. A spreadsheet works, or NavRun computes this for you if you prefer not to do the math.
Q: What if my long run has to be a high percentage of weekly volume because I can only run on weekends?¶
This is common for time-crunched ultra runners. If your long run consistently makes up 45-50% of weekly volume, make sure: (1) you build to that ratio gradually over several weeks, (2) your mid-week runs are truly easy, and (3) you're monitoring fatigue closely. The ratio itself isn't dangerous if you've adapted to it -- sudden changes in the ratio are what cause problems.
Q: How many weeks should I track before the ACWR data is useful?¶
You need at least 4 weeks of consistent tracking before the chronic component is meaningful. Start tracking from the first week of your training block, and trust the numbers from week 5 onward. Before that, use subjective feel and the 10% rule as your primary guardrails.
Q: Is there a different set of numbers for taper weeks?¶
During taper, total volume and ACWR will drop -- that's the point. The numbers to watch shift to: (1) ACWR staying above 0.6 (you don't want to detrain), (2) subjective effort feeling easier at the same pace (that's fitness expressing itself), and (3) any new aches or pains that emerge when fatigue lifts (these were masked by training load). The Monday review still applies; you're just looking for different signals.
Q: What's the best way to track subjective effort?¶
Keep it simple. After every run, rate effort 1-10 and add one sentence about how you felt. Monday morning, scan the week's notes. You're looking for patterns -- one bad day is noise, three bad days in a row is signal. If you use NavRun, the weekly training report integrates both objective data and AI-generated coaching insights so you're not interpreting the numbers alone.
Start Running Smarter¶
A weekly training review doesn't need to be complicated. Five numbers checked every Monday morning gives you more actionable insight than an hour spent scrolling through Strava stats.
NavRun's weekly training report pulls your Strava data and highlights exactly these metrics -- time on feet, elevation trends, load ratios, and AI-generated coaching notes that flag what needs your attention. No spreadsheets. No manual calculations.
Free forever for core features. Connect your Strava and see your first report.