There is something mildly bonkers about preparing for mountainous ultras while living in Norfolk.
You lace up your trail shoes, step outside, and are greeted not by towering ridge lines or endless climbs, but by sugar beet fields, quiet lanes, and horizons so flat they seem drawn with a ruler. The highest point of your run might genuinely be a railway bridge.
Yet every year, large numbers of us runners from flat counties across the UK stand on start lines in the Lake District, Snowdonia, the Alps, or the Highlands — and finish strong (Check out Marcus Jolly’s recent result at the Skye Trail Ultra).
Training for mountainous ultras in Norfolk is undeniably difficult. But it is far from impossible.
The Biggest Challenge: Vertical Gain
Mountain races are rarely about pure distance. The real challenge is elevation.
A 50km ultra in the mountains can feel harder than a flat 100km race because climbing destroys your legs, descending punishes your muscles in entirely different ways, and uneven terrain drains energy far faster than road or gravel running.
In Norfolk, what we lack most is sustained climbing.
You cannot casually head out for a three-hour ascent like someone living near the Peaks or the Highlands. There are no mountain passes to grind up. No technical descents to hammer. No thin air. No weather systems rolling in unexpectedly.
This creates three key problems:
- Lack of climbing strength
- Lack of downhill conditioning
- Lack of terrain specificity
Mountain ultras demand all three.
The Mental Difficulty Nobody Talks About
There is also a psychological challenge.
When your local long run involves endless flat roads and open farmland, it can be hard to believe you are truly preparing for races featuring thousands of metres of elevation.
Social media does not help. Your feed becomes filled with runners casually posting sunrise summit shots from the Lakes while you are dodging cyclists on Marriott’s Way.
It can make you feel at a disadvantage before you even begin.
But ultra running has always rewarded consistency and resilience more than geography.
And flatland runners often become exceptionally resourceful.
Learning To See Hills Where Others Don’t
In Norfolk, we stop looking for mountains and start looking for opportunity.
A bridge becomes a hill repeat session.
A multi-storey car park becomes stair climbing.
Creativity becomes our greatest training tool.
Hill Repeats: Norfolk Style
If you cannot access long climbs, repetition becomes the answer.
Hill repeats are brutally effective because they isolate climbing strength without requiring actual mountains.
A short incline repeated relentlessly can build:
- Climbing power
- Cardiovascular strength
- Mental toughness
- Efficient hiking technique
The Missing Piece: Descending
Descending is often the hardest thing to train in Norfolk.
Mountain races are won and lost on descents. Long downhill sections destroy unprepared quads.
This is where us flatland runners can struggle most.
Without sustained downhills, the body never fully adapts to eccentric muscle loading — the braking force that comes from descending steep terrain.
Although not perfect there are some things that will help:
- Treadmills with decline settings
- Short downhill repeats wherever possible
- Strength training focused on quads and glutes
- Plyometrics and eccentric loading exercises
- Strategic training weekends in hillier regions
For a lot of us Norfolk runners, occasional trips become essential. A weekend in the Peak District or Lake District can provide more meaningful downhill practice than months of flat running. And who needs an extra excuse to visit the mountains.
Strength Training Becomes Non-Negotiable
Exercises like:
- Step-ups
- Walking lunges
- Bulgarian split squats
- Deadlifts
- Weighted stair climbs
can help bridge the gap between Norfolk trails and mountain trails.
Developing a Secret Strength
There is a toughness that develops when training conditions are imperfect.
When every metre of elevation must be earned artificially, you stop taking progress for granted.
You become adaptable.
And adaptability matters enormously in ultras.
Because ultra marathons rarely unfold perfectly.
Weather changes.
Nutrition fails.
Legs cramp.
Plans collapse.
Runners who are used to improvisation often respond better when races don’t go completely to plan.
You Don’t Need Mountains to Become a Mountain Runner
Living in Norfolk may not be ideal preparation for mountainous ultra marathons.
But ideal is overrated.
Ultra running has always belonged to stubborn people willing to solve difficult problems creatively.
And perhaps that is why so many flatland runners eventually thrive in the mountains.
