Private coaching
Private ultra running coaching
ULTRALABS is private ultra running coaching for runners aged 40 and over. Darren Ware coaches every athlete himself, remotely, from the UK. The running plan is one part of the preparation. He manages the rest with it: strength, long-run durability, fuelling practice, recovery, heat and race preparation.
Coached by Darren Ware · Remote, UK based · Runners 40+
Each week I read what you completed, how you responded and what your race demands, and I decide what changes. You get the decision and the reason for it.
Durability, the system I built for this, collects your training data and your feedback and puts them in front of me in one place. It does not coach you. I do.
Who I coach
- Runners training for ultras, long trail races, stage races or a major endurance challenge.
- Runners whose legs fade before their cardiovascular system does.
- Runners 40+ who want structure without being chained to a generic plan.
- Runners who want strength, fuelling and race preparation integrated into the running.
- Runners who want to understand why they're doing the training.
- And runners prepared to train consistently rather than chase shortcuts.
Who I don't coach
- Anyone looking only for a standalone training plan.
- Anyone who wants a training file and no conversation.
- Anyone currently injured and not yet assessed. Get it looked at, then come back.
- Anyone chasing a result in eight weeks. Six months is the shortest honest answer.
What the coaching covers
Not every athlete needs every part every week. A road hundred needs less descent work than a mountain race, and a runner two years into consistent training needs less base than a returner. This is the full list; your preparation draws from it.
- Running
- Individually prescribed sessions, built around your days, your long-run history and your race. Easy running kept easy, one session a week that counts.
- Strength
- Two sessions a week most of the year, placed next to the harder running days so the easy days stay easy.
- Long-run durability
- How your pace and heart rate move together late in a long run, when that changes, and what we do about it. The long run grows from what you have run, not from a template.
- Fuelling practice
- Carbohydrate per hour, fluid and sodium rehearsed on training runs until your gut copes on race day.
- Recovery
- Resting heart rate, HRV, sleep and how you say you feel, read against your own baseline. Progression is earned, not scheduled.
- Heat and terrain
- Heat blocks, climbing, descending, a loaded pack and the ground you will race on, where your race asks for them.
- Race preparation
- A written execution plan for pacing, fuelling, kit and the low points, then a post-race review.
- Direct contact
- A written assessment every completed week, a call at least every fortnight, and messages answered within one working day.
What private coaching includes
- A 90-minute onboarding and complete review of training, racing, injury history, available time and target event
- A race-specific preparation strategy
- Individually prescribed running and strength training
- A written coach assessment every week
- Training adjusted whenever the evidence or your response warrants it
- A scheduled coach call at least every fortnight
- Direct messaging with responses within one working day
- Long-run progression and durability review
- Fuelling, hydration and gut-training strategy
- Terrain, climbing, descending, pack and heat preparation
- A complete pre-race execution plan
- Post-race analysis
- Referral when an injury or medical concern falls outside coaching
I review every completed week. Your next two weeks remain visible, but I adjust the training whenever your response, recovery, schedule or race preparation requires it.
Remote, from the UK
I coach remotely. You need a Garmin or Coros watch synced through Intervals.icu, or the patience to add runs by hand, and a phone for the check-in. Most of my athletes are in the UK. The time zone matters less than the honesty of the check-in.
Where Durability fits
Durability is the system I use to collect and organise what your training is telling me: completed sessions, heart-rate response, training load, late-run efficiency, recovery trends and your own feedback.
I look for repeated patterns across sessions and read them alongside terrain, conditions, pacing, fuelling, sleep, pain and life load. No score writes your plan, diagnoses an injury or decides whether you are ready. Software does not change your training on its own. Every change is mine, and you see my reasons.
Built around your race
Different races break runners in different ways, so the preparation differs. The race guides set out what each one demands, starting with the Marathon des Sables and the hundreds: Arc of Attrition, Lakeland 100, South Downs Way 100. For the training that changes after 40, read ultra running after 40.
Coaching
£750/ month
Six-month programme · Four athletes in the first intake
Four places in the first intake, at the founding rate, held at that rate for your whole six months.
The first 30 days are a mutual-fit period. If either of us decides it isn't working, you walk away with nothing left to pay.
Questions people ask before applying
- Who is ULTRALABS for?
- Runners aged 40 and over preparing for an ultra, a long trail race, a stage race or a major endurance challenge, who want the running, strength, fuelling and race preparation handled as one job by one coach. It suits runners whose legs fade before their heart and lungs do, and runners who want to understand why they are doing the training.
- Who is the ULTRALABS coach?
- Darren Ware. He founded ULTRALABS and coaches every athlete himself. He competed as a county sprinter as a teenager, came back to running through the New York and London marathons, moved into ultras, and finished the Marathon des Sables in 2003. He returns to it in April 2027 aged 52, prepared on the same principles he coaches.
- Do you coach ultra runners remotely?
- Yes. All coaching is remote. Your watch syncs through Intervals.icu, you check in from your phone, and we talk on a call at least every fortnight. I am based in the UK and most of my athletes are too.
- Do you coach runners over 40?
- That is who I coach. The programme assumes a body that recovers more slowly than it did at 30, keeps strength work in the week all year, and progresses the long run from what you have run in the last 30 days rather than from a percentage rule.
- Do you coach Marathon des Sables athletes?
- Yes. I finished it in 2003 and I am preparing for the 2027 edition. The MdS build adds heat preparation, loaded walking, gut training on a deficit and foot care to the normal work. The race guide sets out what it demands.
- Do you coach 100-mile races?
- Yes. Trail hundreds, road hundreds and mountain hundreds ask different things of your legs, your fuelling and your night running, and the preparation differs for each. The race guides cover Lakeland 100, Arc of Attrition, South Downs Way 100 and UTMB so far.
- Is ULTRALABS only for the Marathon des Sables?
- No. The MdS is my own proving ground, not the programme. Athletes prepare for mountain ultras, trail and road hundreds, desert and multi-day stage races and long endurance challenges. The preparation is built around the demands of your race.
- What does private coaching include?
- A 90-minute onboarding and full review of your training, racing, injury history, time and target event; a race-specific preparation strategy; individually prescribed running and strength; a written assessment every completed week; a call at least every fortnight; direct messaging answered within one working day; long-run progression and durability review; fuelling, hydration and gut-training strategy; terrain, climbing, descending, pack and heat preparation; a complete pre-race execution plan; post-race analysis; and referral when something falls outside coaching.
- What is Durability?
- The system I use to collect and organise your training information: completed sessions, heart-rate response, training load, late-run efficiency, recovery trends and your own check-in answers. It shows me how you are responding so I can make better-informed decisions. It does not replace me.
- Does AI or software write my training plan?
- No. Fixed rules protect the week when you report an injury, and the platform organises the evidence and can propose options, but I write and approve every change before you see it. Nothing changes in your training without my decision.
- How do I apply?
- Use the application form on the home page. Tell me the race, the date, your current weekly running, your longest recent run and what goes wrong late in your races. I read every application myself and reply within two working days. The founding intake is four athletes at £750 a month for six months, with a 30-day mutual-fit period.
Apply for private coaching
Tell me the race and the date. I reply within two working days.