Ultramarathon, Ironman, and Appalachian Trail Records: How 11 Athletes Actually Trained

Record-setting performances look sudden from the outside. The stories below show the build-up behind them — the years of training, the specific preparation, and the times and distances involved. A few of these athletes started from far behind: one couldn't run for two minutes, another trained for years through the Special Olympics.

Ultramarathon training: from ultrarunning to ultra-cycling

Nikki Kimball had never raced 100 miles before she entered the Western States 100 in 2004. She won the women's race on that first attempt, then won it again in 2006 and 2007. Psychologist Ian Walker took a different route: he switched from ultra-distance running to ultra-distance cycling in 2016, and three years later rode solo and unsupported from Norway's Nordkapp to Tarifa, Spain — over 6,300 km — in 16 days, 20 hours, and 59 minutes, a world record.

How long does it take to hike the Appalachian Trail?

For most thru-hikers it's a matter of months. For the record holders, it's weeks. Tara Dower covered the full 2,197-mile trail in 40 days, 18 hours, and 5 minutes in 2024, averaging about 60 miles a day and breaking the overall fastest known time by more than 13 hours. Jeff Garmire set the self-supported record — carrying his own food and gear, no crew — in 45 days, 8 hours, and 37 minutes.

How to train for an Ironman: two very different paths

Chris Nikic trained for years through the Special Olympics triathlon program before finishing Ironman Florida in 16:46:09 in 2020 — about 14 minutes before the cutoff — becoming the first person with Down syndrome to complete a full Ironman. Taeyoung Lee only started triathlon training in 2023, trained around 14 hours a week while studying computer science, and finished an Ironman on six continents by age 21. Both are useful reading for Ironman training for beginners: one shows patience, the other shows volume.

Boston Marathon qualifying: a real example

Boston Marathon qualifying times are set by age group and published by the Boston Athletic Association, so check their site for the current standards. For a sense of what qualifying looks like in practice: Andy Bell couldn't run for two minutes at a time and was facing blood pressure medication before 40. He lost 100 pounds in a year, then spent four more building up to 11 marathons and three ultramarathons, qualifying for Boston in 2018 by more than six minutes.

Jacky Hunt-Broersma pushed the idea of running a marathon every day to its limit: 104 marathons in 104 consecutive days on a running prosthesis, extending her original 100-day goal after another runner broke the record mid-attempt.

Free solo and strength world records

Alex Honnold's free solo of El Capitan in 2017 took 3 hours and 56 minutes — but it came after about 10 years and roughly 60 roped climbs of the same wall, plus six months of training specifically for the attempt. In strength sports, 20-year-old Hampton Morris set a clean and jerk world record of 388 lbs (176 kg) in the 61 kg class, the first weightlifting world record by an American man since 1969. And Phil Clapp broke the 1,000-meter indoor rowing world record in 2:38.2, his second world record in under a year.

These are elite and exceptional results, shared to show what the preparation behind them looked like — not as a training plan. If you're building up to a first marathon, ultra, or triathlon, a gradual plan and a check-up with a doctor are the sensible starting point.