Strength Training For Cocodona 250 Ultra

Cocodona 250 update: Unfortunately Jack Scott withdrew from the 250-mile race at the 90-mile mark. He'd started the race strong, running inside the top-3 for much of it. Unfortunately Jack suffered a hamstring injury coming out of the Arrastra Creek aid station at mile 53. He painfully powered onto Kamp Kipa at 62 miles and regrouped. Determined not to beaten, Jack gave it another shot, and pushed on to the Iron King aid station at 90 miles, by which point he'd fallen to 15th place. He then made the difficult decision to withdraw from the race.

Jack said: "I tried to power on as much as I could but I couldn't run uphill - it had become impossible. I was in a lot of pain, especially the hamstring. Sometimes being ruthless means saying no."

Ultra runner Jack Scott has incorporated strategic strength training as a crucial part of his build up to Cocodona 250.

The UK-based Spine Race record holder will tackle the formidable 250-mile race in Arizona this May. In advance he has taken a sabbatical from work and activated 'full-time' runner mode.

As well as running quality miles of training both home and abroad, Jack has been partnering with sports performance experts at Leeds Beckett University and working harder than ever in his home gym.

We sat down with Jack and he talked us through his strategic strength training and detailed his favourite workout.

You spent a lot of time in the gym in the lead-up to the Spine Race, focusing on strategic strength. Have you used a similar approach in the build-up to Cocodona?

We moved house in January, and I knew Cocodona was happening. In December I had a couple of niggles — a few issues to deal with. I actually got frostnip while running on Cross Fell, which was interesting. So I decided to take three or four weeks to focus on gym work and get into a routine I could build on once I had my own setup — which I do now. I started that process in December — a mix of bike sessions and strength work — and got myself to a good place. Then I started running again, worked through the niggles and injuries, and had a solid base to build from.

So I started this block with a gym-first approach. I knew I’d get the mileage in, I’d do the work, and my last long run was in Spain. After that, in the final three weeks before the race, 90% of my training happened in the gym. That included fine-tuning, cross fitness, high-intensity interval sessions — really supercharging the system and the blood flow and building on the haemoglobin benefits from my heat and altitude training.

That was all about fine-tuning the fitness I already had. I know I can run a long way, and I know I’ll look after myself. It's kind of like cutting the head off the snake with the running — once the base is built, I just want to be fresh and ready to run. It's worked for me in the past. I think it’ll work for me again.