UTMB Nice 2024 recap
Race report
Let’s get the important piece out of the way if you’re doing this event. The start logistics add an element to plan for.
In short, you get a bus from Nice at 2:30am to the start line. The bus takes 2 hours (roughly) and then the runners start learning in waves from 6am until 7:15am. That means potentially standing around for 2 hours. The start line is at 1300m and it’s October - we got 3-5 degrees.
The positive is you bring your drop bag to the start line and it’s - literally - 50 metres from the actual start - so pack an extra thermal top or jacket and then dump it into the drop bag. You won’t need it later in the day, but you’ll be glad of it at the start before you’re moving.
As for the early bus, it meant I was up at 1am to get kit on, and stroll 2km to the bus collection point. My usual bed time in 10/10:30 and attempting to go to bed at 8:30 didn’t work out - I’m just not used to sleeping at that time (Even when tired). So, what I’d try next time is finish work at lunch and go to bed for an 1-1.5 hour snooze, then try go to bed at normal hour of 10pm. It’s still not a full nights sleep but probably the only chance of getting more rest for msyelf at least.
On the day, I followed Zone 2 on my Coros watch (with heart rate monitor) trying to push as much as I could into Zone 2 on the downhills, and keeping to the top-end of Zone 2 on the uphills. It worked, although I definitely feel like I left time on the table on the day by being conservative in this approach also - i.e. I didn’t do it always and there was room there, as well as dipping into Zone 3 at times also. A lesson learned for when I race an event like this next time…..
Nutrition
Lets get this out of the way…
I had been listening to quite a few podcasts and learned the concept of getting a decent quantity of carbs per hour, ideally a minimum of 60 grams of carbohydrates, pushing up into the (Crazy mid-140’s). So, I’d gone with a strategy of aiming to hit 60m minimum per hour, but aiming to push up to 90grams.
The approach was a mix of Maurten gels and Tailwind mixed into drinks which I’d tested before on both short runs and recent 55km event.
How did it go?
In short, it was all going well -for the most part - until around half way through. The lesson learned was that at the speeds I’m going, I don’t need to hit 90g every hour, however, I should hit it as a minimum every 2-3 hours and even go well above that. The other learning was that Tailwind every hour does not go very well for myself, especially when the doses aren’t perfectly accurate with some being too dense (i.e. over 2 scoops) which starts to have issues on my stomach. What wasn’t clear after that was why the Maurten gels were not a favour either - my feeling is I hadn’t trained it enough to run when the body/mind is getting fatigued and that tastes may start to do interesting things…
12 hours in and it all started to fall apart and in the final 7 hours, I managed to take on about….150g (optimistically) in total. Oops. I dropped the ball here. What was interesting was that because I’d kept up good intake for the first 50+% of the event, my speed didn’t drop off, however, when I finished I had a major crash with severe shaking/rattles.
On top of all this, I learned that - in particular when it’s warm - I need to improve my salt/electrolyte intake with either salt tablets or an electrolyte mixed into water.
What will I do next? Likely lean into some more solid/plain food, reduce the hourly Tailwind intake, and increase my ‘training’ with gels (pushing harder than I’d even do in an event).
Gear
Runners: North Face Summit Vectiv Pro 2
Worked out brilliantly - super cushioned, felt like I was floating on the downhills, zero blisters/pain-points. Probably a bit overkill for my speed but genuinely felt great when I opened up.
Poles: Leki UltraTrail FX.One SuperLite
Very much a race-day pole - I wouldn’t use them daily as they seem to fragile, especially in boggy Ireland
Jacket: Patagonia Storm Racer
Purchased due to Patagonia’s incredible repair program. Trying to do a small bit of sustainability.
Rain leggings: OMM Halo pants
Ridiculously light, and tiny to pack, and probably ridiculously fragile for the same reason.