Life is an ultramarathon

There was it, my third attempt to run the UTMB. This year the route was slightly longer, with 163.4km and 8900m of ascent.

The weather forecast was very good, and indeed, no one complained about that ! As a consequence I swapped my brand new running jacket for my old lighter one and left my new running fleece at the hostel. I had bought them, being afraid of this summer's weather. Because of the nice weather and maybe also because of the new qualification method, 1437 runners out of 2319 made it to Chamonix this year ! That's 62%, much more than the 45% last year.
As during the previous years, the supporters and volunteers were amazing all along the route, and it was annoying not to be able to reply more than "thank you" to all the "bravo" and "good luck". Many unofficial food and drink points appeared from nowhere, giving away everything edible from saucisson to mulled wine. Some children were so happy to give us some water that it was impossible to refuse and I felt a bit full sometimes...
I don't think removing a couple of food points or reducing them into drink stations changed much to the race to be honest. It's supposed to be a race in "semi self-sufficiency", but there's so much food everywhere, that I actually didn't eat so much of my own food.

Friday night

Most of the added ascent and distance was due to a change at the beginning: the ascent to La Charme (14km) after the Col de Voza and then the descent back down to Saint-Gervais (20km), under Les Contamines (30km). If the atmosphere in Saint-Gervais was worth the detour, the descent was truly awful: steep ski slope, then steep road. My quads wished they had a more gentle warm up.
Up to Les Contamines, I was constantly haunted by the idea of being forced to drop out because of my ankle. It was quite annoying.

In the ascent to the Col du Bonhomme (47km), another trouble took over my mind: I felt very tired in the ascent and my stomach wasn't at its best, probably because the water was very cold. At least I wasn't thinking about my ankle any more... The slow pace in the ascent made me feel sleepy, because there's not much to think about, you just follow the pair of shoes in front of you. The descent to Les Chapieux (49km) was quite good, although slippery. A bit of speed woke me up. But again in the ascent to the Col de la Seigne (59km), I started to dream very badly about a nice warm bed. My eyes were closed more and more often.
I had to take the decision to stop for a short rest at the Col, where the temperature was well negative. The volunteers had set up a large expedition tent for the purpose. There was sleeping Alexandra Rousset, a top female ultra-runner. So that can happen to anyone ... After 15 minutes I felt much better and left. I didn't dare to think about the second night, if the first was already that hard.

The rest of the night went on well, although not excessively fast. Sunrise just after the Arête du Mont Favre at Col Chécrouit - Maison Vieille (72km) where I had breakfast with a stunning view on the Mont-Blanc chain.


On the way down to Courmayeur

Saturday

I don't know objectively how well I managed the food point at Courmayeur (77km), as I only have my arrival time. I think I spent about an hour there. I needed a serious leg massage, as my quads were already very stiff. Indeed, for some unknown reason it seems I relied much less on the poles as I usually do in the descents. I think I was looking for more fluidity in the motion. Poles can give you an awkward gait in steep descents. Not good to try that sort of things during a race, though. My knees could have let me down.

The ascent to the Refuge Bertone (82km) went on well, and more importantly the short descent to Arnuva (94km). Indeed, last year I started to feel the pain there.


In the Val Ferret

The ascent to the Grand Col Ferret (98km) was very slow, I got overtaken a lot. It was quite a psychological challenge as I'm usually not too bad uphill. I just had no power left.
I took my MP3 player to boost me a bit in the descent, and I think it worked quite well. Thank you Mike ! The descent up to La Fouly (107km) and Praz-de-Fort was endless, but at least my joints didn't complain. I started to feel like it was possible to finish.

Again, the ascent to Champex (122km) was a bit slow. A peculiar couple made me smile, though. A guy in running outfit but no race number was walking up with a girl in trendy outfit and ... a high-tech Raidlight running bag ! Hey man, how cool are you ? Not only you're not ashamed to cheat in front of everyone, but you're also gallant enough to have your bag carried by your girlfriend... The funniest was how clumsy they were at hiding what they were doing. When they realised that many people gave them strange looks, they walked 10 meters away from each other. Ridiculous.
I eventually arrived in Champex in a good mood, now nearly assured to finish. What happened there, I don't know ! It was still the daylight, I don't think I was particularly sleepy nor slow, but I took 1h20 to move away from the food point. All I remember is coming in, getting changed, had food quickly, had a legs and back massage (that was maybe long), and left.

Saturday night

The ascent to Bovine (131km) and down went alright, although quite slow because it's fairly technical.
On the ascent to Les Tseppes and Catogne (142km), I was feeling quite good again. I was in a group that lost its members little by little. Some stopped to take a breath, other litterally sat down on the side of the path in foetal position, trying to sleep a bit. In 2005 that's where I slept-ran.
At the top I had the urge to start running again, as I though I would feel asleep otherwise. I also wanted to enjoy a bit of the race alone. This was a very good decision, and I managed to give a lot of speed in the descent. It's surprising how the second night went actually much better than the first one ! No sleep-running, no hallucinations this time !
A great function of the Myo XP headtorch: the main beam blicks 3 times when the batteries are 70% discharged. That's really useful during an ultra when you may not realise very easily that your batteries are running out - this happened to me in 2005, I took far too much time before changing batteries. Although I changed my batteries beforehand at Champex, they indeed ran out in the middle of the night. Probably not correctly charged ... A picture of this moment is available on the Trient town website.

I still managed to run after Vallorcine (147km), which was quite good. Unfortunately, the little North Balcony after Argentière (153km) was a bit boring by night (you would get a nice scenery during the day). The MP3 didn't help this time, so I walked most of it. Arriving at Chamonix (163km) at 5:45am is again not the best for the number of supporters, but there were more than in 2005. And I was more lucid I think.

I was greeted in Chamonix by Catherine Poletti, after running 35h12m18s and ranking 339^th, which is alright but not great, as I expected to do (significantly) better than in 2005. I trained much more than last year ! I don't complain though, this is great to finish. Even during the race, I wasn't too bothered with my time not being the expected. I was too busy maximising the pleasure !

While writing this entry, I forgot a bit of the not-so-great post-UTMB moments - Selective memory.


Finish line

Conclusion

I'm happy the way I managed the down moments. I didn't panic while feeling exhausted at the Col de la Seigne, I simply took a nap. Same in the Grand Col Ferret, where I just slowed down and tried to be patient.
After all, even Scott Jurek didn't feel so great.
Why I was tired and relatively slow, I don't really know yet. Is it a matter of insufficient mental preparation ? Is it a nutrition problem ?

I'm now in the process of recovering. That was started the day after the race, as we went to the Aiguille du Midi (3842m) with the cable car. Not the kind of things I would do usually. It was quite fun to see the contrast between fully equipped mountaineers arriving there after their ascent and some Japanese tourists wearing suits...
The first couple of nights after the race were very agitated, as I expected. I even had a bit of fever and sore throat the first night. Everything seems to settle down now. My body remembered that there are two distinct states it can be in: awake or sleeping.

As I mentionned it earlier, I don't think I'll register again next year. Many reasons for that. I wanted to finish on a high, and I did it this year. I'd like to discover other races as well as leave some tickets for other to run the UTMB. Also, I think I felt during the race that 3 times is enough for now. The last thing I want to happen is to feel bored during an ultra !
If I'm able to go the Chamonix next year, I may actually volunteer. After all, the race is only possible because of the 800 volunteers. I could give back a bit of what I've been offered the last 3 years. It may actually be harder to wait all night virtually without moving at the top of a mountain exposed to the wind by -5°C rather than running... And I guess watching, encouraging and helping the runners may give a thrill as well, particularly when you've been there before.

Split times

This is an extended version of the split times you can find on the UTMB website. In brackets, the "motion" speeds, ie. without considering the time spent (wasted ?) in the bases at Courmayeur and Champex.

Checkpoint	Total dist.	Time	Total time	Inter. time	Inter. dist.	Speed	Pos.
	km		hms	hms	km	km/h
Chamonix - départ	0.0	Fri 18:30	0:00:00	0:00:00	0.0	-	-
La Charme	14.3	Fri 20:40	02:06:59	02:06:59	14.3	6.8	852
Saint-Gervais	20.1	Fri 21:24	02:50:52	00:43:53	5.8	7.9	736
Les Contamines	30	Fri 22:58	04:24:01	01:33:09	9.9	6.4	627
La Balme	38	Sat 00:18	05:44:39	01:20:38	8	6.0	515
R. Croix du Bonhomme	43.6	-	-	-	-	-	-
Les Chapieux CCAS	48.9	Sat 02:33	07:59:01	02:14:22	10.9	4.9	434
Col de la Seigne	59.2	Sat 05:07	10:33:06	02:34:05	10.3	4.0	378
Refuge Elisabetta	63.1	Sat 05:35	11:01:38	00:28:32	3.9	8.2	445
Col Chécrouit	72.2	Sat 07:24	12:50:39	01:49:01	9.1	5.0	427
Courmayeur - Dolonne	76.9	Sat 08:09	13:35:36	00:44:57	4.7	6.3	426
Refuge Bertone	81.8	Sat 10:14	15:40:36	02:05:00	4.9	2.4 (4.5)	406
Refuge Bonatti	89.3	Sat 11:42	17:08:30	01:27:54	7.5	5.1	400
Arnuva	93.6	Sat 12:44	18:10:19	01:01:49	4.3	4.2	397
Grand Col Ferret	98.2	Sat 14:24	19:50:13	01:39:54	4.6	2.8	406
La Fouly	107.1	Sat 15:57	21:23:05	01:32:52	8.9	5.8	397
Champex Lac	121.8	Sat 18:39	24:05:18	02:42:13	14.7	5.4	379
Bovine	131	Sat 22:16	27:42:22	03:37:04	9.2	2.6 (4.0)	398
Trient	137.2	Sat 23:42	29:08:20	01:25:58	6.2	4.3	394
Catogne	142	-	-	-	-	-	-
Vallorcine	146.7	Sun 02:41	32:07:12	02:58:52	9.5	3.2	361
Argentière	153.1	Sun 03:51	33:17:11	01:09:59	6.4	5.5	341
Chamonix - arrivée	163.4	Sun 05:46	35:12:18	01:55:07	10.3	5.4	339

The three main "bad" moments are noticeable by a drop in position (in red).

Many thanks to those who sponsored me (again, it's not too late).

More pictures

Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc - the return.

Here we go again, my last blog entry before the big day ! I'm leaving for Chamonix tomorrow. Many thanks to all of you that contributed to my fundraise (it's not too late) !

On forums and blogs the tension is quite obvious: anxiety, stress, impatience, excitement, last minute wonders, ...

The weather has been very unstable lately, and the forecast for the week-end changes every hour. It seems like it may be OK for the week-end: Meteo France - weather.com - webcams.

The last couple of days I've completely stopped running. I've also started to eat quite a lot, including a home-made rice pudding that gives me an extra 1,300Kcal per day (ie. a 4th meal).

As for the race, not much changes in the strategy/gear compared to last year. I've got a lighter waterproof jacket. I won't use the shoulder strap bottle. I'll take the same kind of food (gels, bars, chestnut spread, Tuc biscuits, energy drink) for a total of about 7,000Kcal. A few food points have been removed this year, but I don't think it'll make much difference. I'll try to drink more this time, in order to avoid tendenitis-like problems.

Ultra impatient.

Update 21/09: pictures and a bit of text.

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel, Bastien and I went to to the Vanoise National Parc for a bit of a hike. The Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise is a classic in the region, we doubled it, as shown on the map below. The "outward" journey followed the virtually mythic GR5 from Modane to Val-Claret whilst the "return" used the GR 55 "alpine" variation in its full length. Unfortunately Rachel's knee was not so keen on the descents so she had to come back down with the ski lift just after one taster day.


A rough idea of the route we followed - click to enlarge.

The landscape was fairly varied, featuring 4 main types:

• Villages, towns and ski resorts (1,000 to 1,700m)
• Forests (1,000 to 2,000m)
• Alpine pastures (1,500m to 2,500m)
• Semi-desertic high moutains (above 2,300m)

I've quickly put together a GoogleEarth route (*) of this hike showing the stages and the major cols. Some parts are not very precise, but it gives a good idea of the relief, as demonstrated on the following image.


A 3D view of the Col de Chavière from the South, with the Mont-Blanc in the background - click to enlarge.

Follows a brief outline of each hiking day.

Day 1: Modane - Refuge de la Fournache
After some storms during the first night, the weather was alright during the day with sunny intervals, a bit cold and windy though. After a 2-hour ascent in the forest we then arrived on the "balcony" at Polset.
First contact with the marmots and the Patous (or Pastous) dogs. These dogs are specifically grown to protect the sheep against the predators (wolves in the Alps, bears in the Pyrénées). At the difference of the shepherd dogs, they are part of the herd and the sheep are not afraid of them (they're actually taken away from their mother as they are puppies to achieve that). They're fairly big and a bit scary as they try to defend the sheep if they believe they're endangered (if you're too close, have sticks, run, take pictures, ...). But otherwise they're actually quite kind.
At the Refuge de la Fournache, we got the biggest meal ever in a refuge, nearly impossible to finish. Fortunately, the Génépi offered at the end helped digesting...
Rain in the evening that cleared during the night, beautiful morning.

Day 2: Refuge de la Fournache - Refuge de l'Arpont
After taking Rachel back down to Modane we came back up on the pastures. Very nice day, lots of marmots, views on the Ecrins (Pelvoux, Barre des Ecrins, Rateau). The GR 5 follows quite a lot this sort of balcony, avoiding to go down the valleys and up the Cols all the time.
At the Refuge de l'Arpont, we unsuccessfully tried to get a Mont-Blanc with génépi beer. As this refuge is inside the Park, it's only permitted to pitch the tent between 7pm and 7am. The area designated for the bivouac is actually quite small, many hikers unfold their tent on the ground to "book" their spot. At about 6pm, an helicopter from the gendarmerie (a sort of mix between police and army that is also doing rescue in the mountains) started to turn around the refuge. We were told to move everything away from the bivouac spot as quickly as possible, as it was the only place where the helicopter could land on. It was a bit messy to move everything quickly. Everyone expected a rescue. A guy came out of the helicopter, walked in the refuge, came out about one minute later and the helicopter left. We're not sure what was all that about ... Maybe they wanted to tell us off for unfolding the tents before 7pm. Or more likely, they wanted to get some Mont-Blanc/génépi beers, but the refuge has ran out, so they left ...
We saw a young ibex around, maybe the only one during the trip.


Marmot - click to enlarge

Day 3: Refuge de l'Arpont - Chalets de la Turra de Termignon
This was again a nice day, flirting with the high mountains, just under the glaciers. We went down to Entre-deux-Eaux, where we left the Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise on the left. Then we climbed up again on a balcony, from where we got great views on the Dent Parachée and the Arpont.
We spent the night in the wild, outside the Park.

Day 4: Chalets de la Turra de Termignon - Bessans
The route on this day was not quite as great as the previous (and the following). We went back down to the forest and then to the villages in the Arc valley. The final 5km were quite boring and on top of that we had to doubled back once we learnt that the campsite was 2.5km backwards ...
At least we could have a shower and buy some food as we didn't get any opportunity so far.

Day 5: Bessans - Val d'Isère
The big day ! We climb up 1,500m to Col de l'Iseran and back down to Val d'Isère. This Col marked the passage to another valley, and the beginning of a series of ascent and descents. No flat balconies any more !
Rain was expected in the afternoon, and we planned to walk as long as it was dry. It was very windy and fairly cold approching the Col, but it didn't rain in the end, so we end up walking down to Val d'Isère, under the ski lifts. That was the second proper campsite in a row ! It eventually rained over night.


Col de la Liesse - click to enlarge

Day 6: Val d'Isère - Refuge de la Liesse
Sunny intervals in the morning, but windy and cold. We missed a view on the Mont-Blanc. Again, the path was following ski lifts most of the time.
After Val-Claret, we left the GR 5 for its so-called Alpine variation GR 55. Indeed it looked generally more remote from this point. The Col de la Liesse looks like a desert, with only stones and snow. Nice views !
Live accordeon music in the refuge. We met people that were walking part of the Via Alpina, that gave me some ideas for a (very) long-distance hike...

Day 7: Refuge de la Liesse - La Motte
Very cold morning, the tent was well frozen.
We walked down nearby to Entre-deux-Eaux where we caught up with the Tour des Glaciers de la Vanoise, then climbed up to the Col de la Vanoise. Great views on a couple of lakes.
Once we passed on the other side of the Col, the path was crowed with people, visibly going for a day hike from Pralognan-la-Vanoise. We walked down to Pralognan, made a bit of shopping and left following a very badly sign-posted path. For a GR, it was quite surprising. We went up a bit again towards the Col de Chavière, from where lots of hikers were going down after their day out. It was a tiring day, quite hard towards the end, as we didn't really know where to camp.


Under the col de Chavière - click to enlarge

Day 8: La Motte - Modane
We finished the ascent to the Col de Chavière in the morning, early enough not to get too busy. A couple of marmots on the way were quite happy to be approached and photographed (see above). The final bit was quite desertic again, and a bit steep too. Part of the path were still on the snow. From there, their were amazing views towards the South (again: Pelvoux, Barre and Dome des Ecrins, Meije) as well as North (Mont-Blanc mountain chain). We then walked back down Polset (lots of exploded shells remaining under the Col). Then down through the forest to Modane - a nice 1,700m descent in total.


Col de Chavière - click to enlarge

Needless to say that we were extremely lucky with the weather. It rained the day before we arrived and it was raining in the morning we took the train back. It may well have been the only 9 consecutive days of sun in this part of the Alps for the whole summer, given the crap summer it's been over Europe this year.
Thanks to Bastien for those pictures. To get more, have a look at Bastien's album.

Ultra beautiful hike.

(*) You need to install GoogleEarth to read this file. GoogleEarth can be downloaded free of charge for Microsoft Windows (2000,XP,Vista), Mac OSX (10.4.0+) and GNU/Linux (i386) at this address: download GoogleEarth.

This will be my UTMB race number. Live text messages service is available again this year.

Thanks to those who sponsored me already !

Ultra number.