Trail & Ultra Running 101: How to Choose your first 50k, Community, Mud, and Why Nobody Asks Your Finish Time

Episode: S6E19 | Guest: Justin Andreas, Rising Mountains Coaching | Aired June 11, 2026 | 1 hr 9 min

Author: Nick Klastava

Podcast Hosts: Nick Klastava & Amanda Katz

Listen: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

Trail and ultra running can feel like a completely different sport from road racing, and in a lot of ways, it is. Coach Amanda and I sat down with ultra coach and Air Force veteran Justin Andreas to talk about what road runners consistently get wrong about the trail world, how to pick your first 50K, and what the two cultures could stand to learn from each other.

Key Takeaways

•             Trail and ultra culture celebrates finishing, not finish time, with back-of-pack runners often getting the loudest cheers at the finish line.

•             Efficient walking on climbs is a trained skill in ultrarunning, not a sign of weakness or giving up.

•             Choosing your first 50K should depend on your background: road-style courses suit runners coming from marathons, while low-vert trail courses suit hikers and newer runners.

•             Real-food fueling and gut training matter even more in ultras, where you may be eating for 6, 10, or 20+ hours.

•             Balancing serious ultra training with parenting often means splitting weekends into one long effort day and one lower-key family-friendly run.

•             Letting go of pace as the primary metric of a good run is one of the biggest mindset shifts road runners can borrow from trail culture.

From Bodybuilding to Falling in Love with Trails

Justin’s path into running started in 2017 while stationed in Guam with the Air Force, using running as a way to stay in shape outside the gym. His first marathon left him unimpressed with road racing, but a 2019 trip to South Dakota introduced him to trail running, and something clicked immediately. Since then he’s completed 19 ultramarathons and now coaches trail and ultra athletes full time through Rising Mountains Coaching, alongside co-hosting the Golden Hour Adventures podcast.

What Road Runners Get Wrong About Ultrarunning

The biggest misconception Justin hears constantly: that ultrarunning is just “more of the same, but longer and slower.” In reality, the culture around the sport is fundamentally different. Finish times matter far less than the fact that you finished at all, and some of the most celebrated moments at ultra finish lines happen well after the winners have already gone home, when back-of-pack runners cross right at the cutoff, often called the “golden hour.” That celebration of showing up and finishing, regardless of place, is baked into the sport in a way road racing rarely matches.

Walking Isn’t Quitting, It’s a Skill

One of the most practical lessons for anyone new to trails: efficient uphill walking is a trained technique, not a fallback for people who can’t run the hill. Elite ultrarunners walk significant portions of steep climbs deliberately, because it’s more metabolically efficient than trying to run everything. Learning to walk with purpose, and to transition smoothly between running and walking based on terrain, is a real skill that takes practice, not an admission of weakness.

How to Choose Your First 50K

Justin’s advice for picking a first ultra depends heavily on your background. Runners coming from a marathon or road racing background often do better starting with a road-style or rail-trail 50K with minimal elevation change, since the distance itself is already a big jump. Runners who come from a hiking background, or who are drawn to technical terrain, might actually be better served by a more vert-heavy trail course, since the hiking-running hybrid effort can feel more natural than trying to run a flat 31 miles outright. The honest answer: there’s no single right first ultra, just the one that matches your strengths.

Real Food and Gut Training Matter More at Ultra Distance

Fueling strategy shifts significantly once you’re out on course for 6, 10, or 20-plus hours. Justin trains his athletes to tolerate real food, not just gels and chews, aiming for roughly 60 grams of carbs per hour as a baseline, similar to marathon fueling guidance, but sustained over a much longer window and often including savory, solid food options that are easier to keep eating late into a race when sweet gels start to feel unbearable.

Balancing Ultra Training with Fatherhood

As a girl dad, Justin has restructured his training to fit family life rather than the other way around. His current approach: one weekend day for a bigger trail effort, and the other for a lower-mileage run with a jogging stroller, so his daughter is part of the routine rather than an obstacle to it. He’s also intentionally capped himself at roughly one hundred-mile race per year now, a deliberate trade-off between ambition and the demands of parenting a young child.

What Road Runners Can Learn from Trail Culture

Beyond the walking and fueling lessons, Justin’s biggest pitch to road runners is a mindset shift: letting go of pace as the default measure of whether a run was good. Trail running forces this by nature, since pace varies wildly with terrain, but the underlying lesson applies everywhere. A run measured only by effort, environment, and how you felt, rather than a number on your watch, tends to be a more sustainable and enjoyable relationship with the sport long term.

Guest Bio

Justin Andreas is an Air Force veteran, ultra and trail running coach at Rising Mountains Coaching, and co-host of the Golden Hour Adventures podcast. He has completed 19 ultramarathons and is based with his family, balancing serious mountain and trail goals with life as a girl dad.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose my first 50K trail race? Base your choice on your athletic background. Runners coming from road marathons often do better on a flatter, road-style or rail-trail 50K, since the distance jump is already significant. Runners with a hiking background or comfort on technical terrain may prefer a more vert-heavy trail course, since the run-hike hybrid effort can feel more natural than a flat ultra distance.

Is walking during a trail race a sign you’re not fit enough? No. Efficient uphill walking is a deliberate, trained technique used by elite ultrarunners because it’s often more metabolically efficient than running steep climbs. Learning when and how to walk purposefully is considered a real skill in trail and ultra running, not a fallback.

How is fueling different for ultramarathons compared to marathons? The core guidance (roughly 60 grams of carbs per hour) is similar, but ultras require sustaining that intake over much longer periods, sometimes 6 to 20-plus hours. This makes tolerating real, savory food increasingly important, since sweet gels and chews often become unappealing over long durations.

How can I train for ultras while balancing family responsibilities? Many ultra athletes restructure their weekends to include one longer, higher-effort training day and one lower-key, family-inclusive run, such as a jogging stroller session. Setting intentional limits on how many big races (like hundred-milers) you take on per year is also a common way to balance ambition with family life.