Race report: UTMB Mont Blanc 2024
After years of trying my luck at the lottery for OCC and CCC, I managed to collect 18 running stones and decided to use these to get straight into the longest distance: the UTMB Mont Blanc. It was a dream come true, not because I’m such a UTMB fanboy, but simply because it is the biggest trail run get-together in Europe and I wanted a taste of its vibe.
Let me tell you: the vibe of this event is unreal. The whole week the town is bursting with trail runners and brand representatives, and the first 35km had crowds like I’ve never experienced. I especially remember coming off the mountain overlooking Saint Gervais (21km) and hearing the whole town buzzing with excitement.
After I sprained my ankle badly three weeks prior to the race, I had a hard time visualising myself actually finishing, so I wasn’t as excited about the race start as I would’ve been otherwise. I just wanted to not have any regret about not giving it a try. Luckily, the pain in my ankle didn’t worsen during the race but it actually got a hard reset.
Earlier this year, my goal wasn’t just to finish, but also to get close to a 30 hour time. Because of my injury, my goals evolved to just finishing, and I now think that should’ve been my initial goal anyway. It’s hard to run a 110 miles for the first time and also focus on being fast.
After arriving two hours before the start, I found myself a nice spot on the first row, with good visibility on the elite athletes. The first kilometers I really soaked in the energy from the crowds, smiling like an idiot, trying to spot Fien and some fellow Running Junkies. I tried to start conservative, but it’s hard getting your heart rate down low enough with all that adrenaline and the warm afternoon weather. In the first 35km I often felt like I was running the Tour de France; people dressed up, shouting, lighting fireworks, handing out beers to runners.
Le Contamines (31km) was the first aid station were Fien was allowed as support crew. I decided to really take my time at the aid stations, hoping that I would make up for some of that time later on. Fien helped with washing, fresh clothing, sunscreen and refilling my food reserves. She would then do the same at Courmayeur (83km), Champex-Lac (130km), Trient (146km), and Vallorcine (158km).
The section from Saint Gervais to Courmayeur (21-83km) was in the night. Both nights where super clear, starry, and warm. The coolness of the first night made me feel good and fast. I ran into two Dutch guys on separate occasions, chatting away and making us the only ones making any verbal sound in our progression of silent headlamps, sometimes visible for kilometers. I didn’t have trouble staying awake during that first night, but there were already flocks of people sleeping randomly at the side of the trail. I was then rewarded with a really scenic sunrise at Lake Combal.
Coming down into Courmayeur I had my first trouble: a knee that wasn’t playing nicely. This would then become a recurring issue, causing me to be stiff and slow on all the downhills. At Courmayeur, Fiens bus was delayed, but I really wanted access to her bag to do a shoe swap, so I decided to take my first nap.
After the climb to Refuge Bertone, the heat got to me and I felt like doing another ten minute rest. In those ten minutes I did three naps and after I got up my knee issue was gone (and stayed gone for almost an hour); talk about power naps! I would then keep doing 7 minute naps whenever I felt like the sleep deficit was standing in the way of my performance. One time I napped for a few minutes on a dead tree trunk and then I woke up to a mini aid station being just 20 meters away, that I completely missed before settling down.
The section from Grand Col Ferret was relatively boring in the sense that my knee wouldn’t let me enjoy the super long descent and after that it was a lot of flat miles. Starting to hike up to Champex-Lac (130km) I knew I would see Fien again and the saying goes that if you get to Champex-Lac you will finish the race.
After Champex-Lac it got dark again and then the real ‘fun’ started. The first climb was fine and I actually overtook around 30 people, as my climbing was still really fast. But then things got awry quickly. My sleep deficit made it so that I would doze off while walking, and the power naps didn’t do as much good anymore. On the downhills, the only way to stay awake I found out was to ‘run’ them (sorry knee!).
Towards the end of the race I got so tired while hiking up the many technical climbs, that every few minutes I forgot what I was going and felt like I was doing it all wrong. Every time I would tell myself “you only have to hike up, put one step in front of the other”, but I got super confused each time, thinking I was doing it wrong. In the end I squeezed myself between two other runners and repeated the mantra in my mind “just copy what the guy before you is doing, and don’t think”. On the downhills I found two guys I could keep up with, probably because there legs were as trashed as mine, but the whole time it felt like I was playing a game with them to ‘move over stones in the most complicated pattern possible’, losing any sense of that I was in a race.
These sleep deficit-related issues kept happening until sunrise, going up the last climb towards La Flegere, after which I awakened to the last long downhill into Chamonix. I forced my locked up knees to run down, as I didn’t want to dip into a 700s ranking. Running into Chamonix I saw Fien, and then some other running friends that also came out to cheer. I finished just under 39 hours at a 697 ranking.
Learnings
I have a lovely girlfriend that does an amazing job at being support crew.
My self-mixed 2.0 sports drink works marvels. I finished 2,5kg (10.000 kcals) of that stuff. Zero stomach issues or nausea. I’ve taken 1 stick of powder in my drink for every hour, timing it with my watch. Palate fatigue wasn’t really an issue for me.
My feet care strategy worked, as I had no noticeable blisters, thanks to getting rid of any excess calluses, wearing toe socks, and applying preventive vaseline.
Raw avocados with salt are a really nice aid station food.
I didn’t know my body could nap the way it did now. I could lie down for 7 minutes in some random patch of grass, doze off, and feel like another person. I would then overtake some people that kept walking during my nap.
I need to start doing strength training, to be able to go longer and faster on downhills. Being able to run down in the later stages of a race also helps with staying awake.
I need to investigate strategies to stay awake, other than napping.
I want to optimize aid station efficiency for my next 100 miler. This time around I was happy taking long breaks, but I had a total of around 3,5 hours of aid station time.
Even though it wasn’t my fastest performance, I’m really proud of my finish, as there were 1000 DNFers (40% Did Not Finish).
