Lucy Bartholomew
Winner of Ultra trail Australia 100k - at 21 years old
$25/month - including coaching from vert.run
Become an Ultra runner
12 weeks I 84 workouts I Up to a 60k race
At just 19 years old, Lucy Bartholomew rocked the ultramarathon scene with stunning results–and turned pro. Now, Vert and Lucy bring you an Ultramarathon training experience like you’ve never seen before. In this 12 weeks training plan get ready to build an ultra foundation, agility, and power…and finish your first ultra (up to 60k!) like a literal pro.
'Become an Ultra runner'
12 weeks I 84 Workouts I train up to 60k
At just 21 years old, Lucy Bartholomew rocked the ultramarathon scene with stunning results–and turned pro. Now, Vert and Lucy bring you an Ultramarathon training experience like you’ve never seen before. In this 12 week training plan, get ready to build an ultra foundation, agility, and power…and finish your first ultra (up to 60k!) like a literal pro.
'RUn your first 50 Miler'
10 weeks I 68 Workouts I Train up to 80k
In this 10 week training plan for Ultrarunners, Lucy guides you with tough workouts–while also teaching you the importance of self-kindness as a pathway to success. Build ultra-endurance, powerful uphill skills and the mental grit needed to finish a serious ultramarathon.
1. Sign up and choose your training plan
You will immediately get the first version of your training plan.
2. Your Vert coach will reach out to you
Your Vert.run coach will reach out to you via your training dashboard and email to get to know more about you, your training background, goals, and training schedule.
3. We make your plan unique to you
With your feedback, your coach will adjust your training plan to fit you even better. Every runner is unique, and so is every Vert training plan.
4. Every week, your Vert coach will check in on your progress
Adjusting your plan as needed, leaving you feedback on your workouts, reading your comments and answering any questions you might have.
Vert.run gives you constant support and guidance throughout Lucy’s training program. We make sure you stay motivated and engaged with your goals, and that you’re not overtraining.
Meet Lucy:
“Hi, My name is Lucy Bartholomew. I am 24 years old now andI’m an Ultra trail runner from Melbourne, Australia.
I run to share and connect with nature and the community. Racing is fun and a reward for the hard work but more then anything I love the process and the rollercoaster of emotions that come with putting your heart and soul into something, daring to be uncomfortable. I hope I can share this journey with you.”
Serendipity led me into this sport. At the young age of 15 I ran my first 100km side by side with my Dad.”
It wasn’t about becoming an ultra runner, it was about sharing the journey to the start line and the celebration of race day with him. Being so young I was told I couldn’t do it, being a female I was told it was dangerous but I remember standing on the start line and my Dad saying to me:
‘There are many people out there that want to be right and pull you out because they think you can’t do it, so you need to smile your biggest smile for 100km and prove them all wrong.’
I finished that race in 12.5 hours and loved every good and hard moment.
I went back the following year and ran solo with a time of 9.5 hours. Since then I have travelled the world; running a 250 km stage race in the Simpson desert, the Alps of France, the coasts of South Africa, the vast terrain of the Gobi desert, the hills of the United Kingdom and the gnarly slopes of Norway. On my 21st birthday I won my local Ultra Trail Australia 100 km in record time and the next year ran my first 100 mile (160 km) event at the prestigious Western States 100 mile Endurance run in North America to lead for 100 km and finish 3rd with the best day of my life.
A few of Lucy’s great results:
- My first 100km at 15 years old (2012) side by side with my Dad
- The Skyrunning world Championships in 2014, my first big international race and winning the juniors- Marathon du Mont Blanc marathon.
- 1st Place in the Ultra Trail Australia 100 km on my 21st birthday 2017.
- 3rd place at the Western States 100 Mile 2018
Frequently Asked Questions
Most frequent questions and answers
Once you’ve received your training plan, you’ll be able to review your first week in detail. This will help you understand the general structure that we’ll follow in your training plan. Every week has the same structure (for example, all your long runs will be scheduled on Saturdays.) If the training structure doesn’t fit your schedule, no worries. Send us an email to explore@vert.run with a detailed description of the changes that you would like to make. Our coaches will review and implement those changes for you. Remember that this is a “one per month option” (meaning that you can request any number of changes at once, but you can only do so once a month) so be thoughtful about the changes you decide to make.
Sure you can. Just be sure that you still have the energy and motivation to complete your trail running workouts, too. A good rule of thumb is: add extra workouts when you find yourself having both extra time and energy. And remember to always focus on quality over quantity, no matter what type of workout you’re doing.
If you’re a monthly subscriber, yes! You can switch between training plans however you’d like. Just go to your dashboard and choose the “change or restart plan” option. This will take you to your training plan menu. Of course, we do recommend that you finish a training plan once you’ve started it (unless you find it to be way to difficult or easy), since they’re designed to build your fitness over weeks. When you leave a training plan in the middle, you’ll miss key workouts; and when you start a new plan, you’ll start it from the beginning. This is to make sure that you train safely and responsibly, and that the skills you develop are built to last. We encourage you to stick out each plan, challenge yourself in a race or other personal challenge, and then to start a new plan with fresh legs.
When you first pay for your subscription, you’ll receive an invoice to the email address that you provided during the sign-up process. At the bottom of that email, there’s a message that says: “view payments, update payments or manage your account in your customer portal. Log into your account now.” So just click there, and cancel your subscription. If it’s confusing or if you’d prefer we take care of it manually, please write us directly to team@vert.run and we’ll do it for you.
We always recommend that you stick pretty closely to the time, intensity and details of your training plan’s workouts. We strongly believe that “more does not equal better,” and that quality is definitely more important than quantity when it comes to trying to progress as a trail runner.
It’s important to create consistency in your everyday training. It’s way better to go for consistent, short runs over consecutive days than to have one big, long day and be tired the rest of the week. In any case, feel free to add some additional easy jogs throughout your weeks if you’d like to. If you do extend the duration of your runs, don’t go over 20% extra…and always make sure that you’re doing so for the right reasons, and not just to “do more.”
If you’re on our desktop site, you can find all your routines to the bottom right of your training plan (or in the top menu of your dashboard.) If you’re viewing from your phone, your routines are in the top right menu. Plus, here are the three routines just to make things a little easier: Core for trail running , Strength for trail running, Jumps for trail running.
We really want to hear from you, and are here to answer any questions you have. So feel free to write us to explore@vert.run, and one of our coaches will get back to you within 48 hours or fewer.
Your training plan has been designed by a team of coaches and professional trail runners with nearly a decade of experience competing in trail and ultra races. It’s important to be clear that not all of our coaches are certified as coaches or nutritionists, and that a big part of our knowledge comes from our own extensive experience as professional runners and workouts that we ourselves have tested and found useful.
We really want to hear from you, and are here to answer any questions you have. So feel free to write us to explore@vert.run, and one of our coaches will get back to you within 48 hours or fewer.
First of all, if this is the case, we’re so sorry to hear that you’re injured! We’ve been there too, and it’s not the most fun. Unfortunately, injury is a possibility due to the albeit small risk associated with trail running. The first step is to shoot us a message and let us know what your injury is so that we can: 1. make sure you’re seeing a professional if you’re able to, and 2. adjust your training plan accordingly. We can pause your training plan for up to one month in order to give you time to recover correctly. Then, when you’re ready to start training again, we’ll first assign you a “back to running” training block of four weeks. This block is designed to avoid overexerting yourself after an injury and to help make sure that it doesn’t return. Then, you’ll be ready to get back at it with a strong base.