Last Updated on 18 August 2026:
Ultra Endurance Training
Ben Smith, 39, came into coaching with an extraordinary endurance background. In 2015–2016 he completed 401 marathons in 401 days, so he was no stranger to huge physical and mental challenges. His next project, however, required a completely different approach to ultra endurance training.
Ben’s goal was to cycle and run 14,000 miles across all 50 US states in just 104 days, while aiming to raise £500,000 for the mental health charity The 401 Foundation. Preparing for something of that scale meant building the fitness to handle enormous daily workloads while also managing the cumulative fatigue that comes from performing day after day.
Challenges
The physical challenge was only part of the picture. Ben was working three jobs, helping run a foundation and organising a world-record attempt. He also recognised that he had a tendency to take on too much, become overworked and sometimes have a difficult relationship with food. The training therefore needed to support the challenge without simply adding more pressure to an already demanding life.
That was where flexibility became especially important. Ben valued having a genuinely dynamic plan that could change as circumstances changed, constant access to support and the ability to balance training without feeling pressure when something needed to move. For a challenge this unpredictable, coaching couldn’t just be a calendar of workouts written months in advance.
For Ben, ultra endurance training was about more than developing the ability to keep moving for an enormous number of miles. It meant balancing physical preparation, recovery, nutrition and mental load so that training contributed to the bigger goal rather than becoming another demand competing for his energy.
The original testimonial was published while Ben was still preparing for the challenge, so rather than rewriting history with results that weren’t recorded on the page, this story reflects the preparation and process behind an exceptionally ambitious project.
Taking on an ultra-endurance challenge where simply doing more miles isn’t enough? I can help you build the fitness, recovery, nutrition and structure you need around the demands of the event — and the rest of your life.
