Ludovic Pommeret, 2024 Hardrock 100 Champion, Interview

Brian po of iron far here with Ludovic pom after his win at the 2024 Hard Rock 100 how are you Ludo I'm good I feel good it's okay you know you you are always feeling good when the race has been a it's a success that you are proud of the race and you always recover better yeah yeah um well you had an outstanding race uh from the beginning you were in the lead but for a while you were with uh Francois and uh Diego how was the start of the race for you yeah it was uh I was surprised to take the lead uh just in the first climb it's not my uh uh usually I'm not doing that uh but that's a different race and that was a dream to come on this race so and uh yeah the day start with the dream U just leading the race at the first clim so yeah it was good to share a bit uh yeah uh trails with with Fran Diego and Jon yeah and uh yeah it was nice and when did you go off on your own uh in downhill uh mainly but then Fran come back in the uphill um and then uh yeah really on the appeal to KR yeah then Fran could not reach me during the appeal and uh then I have never seen a game so so you're running a loan from from Kroger's um yeah from uh from in fact yeah um when did you pick up a Pacer uh in Europe okay so only one stretch that you were entirely alone yeah I told to my crew next time I see you we will uh play together on the on the trails yeah so you raise almost halfway through the race how are you feeling when you you come into the uray checkpoint uh I was not sure that I did the right pacing in downhill because I was pretty fast for me it's not a gym Pace but for me it was quite fast downhill so I say maybe I will pay that in the next H uh but uh yeah finally it was finally it was good everything good uh a lot of people talked about in the front of the race talked about heat even very early in the race uh was that a problem for you going up to to Grand Swan pass or Oscar's pass or no it was not the problem it was more that we have to adapt our nutrition plan uh or nutrition plan was more based on Powder you know in the water and um using that I was too thirsty so I have to change a bit and take water to not have this sugar always in in the mouth and uh that's a change that we have we have to perform that no it was hot but uh that's nothing compared to Western you've done that I think it was only only 30° in in Ur but at the high elevation and with the sun it can feel hotter than the 30 but then especially from Ur to engineer pass all the small river that you cross and just uh like on Western so you try to to stay wet all the time except when you reach yeah the close to the top that you don't yeah and this the the air hair is very dry it's not like d Fu the air is dry so if you get wet the evaporation is is quite nice and cooling yeah yeah yeah that's no no but temperature was perfect and weather was perfect I just have a small rain downhill to governor governor to Ure but it was a yeah just just a small one and you remove the dust from the from the road so not that was perfect so when you adjust your nutrition you you were having some water as well as I assume some sports drink um when you took away when you added the water I guess did you add other form of nutrition more gels more food what uh of course you have to replace what I was not eating or drinking uh so I replace with gels and puree I don't know pure pure yeah like apple or yeah apple and butter nut and that's a neck product so yeah of course I have to replace you yeah my goal for nutrition was to stay around 30 calor kilo calorie per hour 300 yeah 300 yes of course and uh so yeah I think we follow the plan and maybe even um more sometime yeah that's incredible uh and your stomach throughout throughout the race stomach was okay I have to stop uh yeah at the beginning of the race but not because of stomach issue and that's i''s say usual it's a good morning yes and uh no no everything uh yeah was good and um I I had a glycemic uh sensor oh yeah you had a GIC sensor you're chucking your blood sugar yeah that I analyze after the race if everything was good and uh yeah I stay in the the correct range so the nutrition is good that's incredible cuz that's a huge challenge like from the front to the back of the pack at Hard Rock being at high elevation for so long yeah yeah that was something that I didn't know if my body will support the nutrition because we have a plan but it's different and you react maybe different with elevation so that's something that you can not really plan and during the training um I have not the same nutrition I take of course less than in race so yeah that was unknown part of so you get over you make the climb out of uray to engineer pass you're all alone do you know how much of a gap you have on the on the next no because from ter ride I asked my my crew and my Pacers to not give me any race info on other Runners uh I want to I wanted to stay focused on my race on my fting and uh I asked them to shut up and uh they they didn't give me any info uh until King up and your climb over huning uh over Handy's Peak how is that yeah it's it's okay this this side I think I prefer than the other one cuz you know it's it's split you have first appeal then a bit rest it's downhill and the second second step second climb so no it it was okay and um I was better better feeling than uh on the than on the soft truck so yeah and I was going to I was going to ask how the view was from the top of handies but you tell me at the Finish or on the course you weren't taking in the views cuz you did Toof Rock were you did you see the sunset at Handy Peak no because I was much more in advance for Sunset so that was the expectation to have sunset at hes uh but finally I had to switch on the light after Shaman so it no sunet but uh yeah it was a it was nice to do the downhill from Andy PE during the day it's much easier yeah it's easier so I know you said you weren't getting any race information from your crew but you're arriving at checkpoint or the top of Handy's Peak much earlier than you were planning so you're starting to think I'm running a very fast time yeah but I I stopped to to to watch my uh to uh read my watch also so I know that uh I I saw the sun it was not too low so I say for sure I'm in advance on my planet but I didn't know how how many and was that scary exciting how did you no exciting but I was just focus on my b and try to find yeah uh you know it's always difficult to find the right pace you you don't know if you are going too fast or if you can do better and uh so I just listening my body and try yeah so how are you how are you motivating yourself at this time again it's only you and your paac or you haven't seen another runner in 50 or 60 miles yeah what is the motivation just uh you know it's it's really difficult to get a BB here so motivation is first to finish the the loop kiss the RO I learned that you have to kiss the RO before you you stop the timing so yeah that's was the main motivation and uh yeah just to to listen your body and not the other one that's was enough for me and that's uh I I called my coach just before the race uh 6 minutes before the race I was still with my coach uh and uh yeah he told me yeah just try to do your race and don't take care about other and it's what I I have done and um even if I I knew that um there was nobody behind because when you are in the dark near cataract you know you do a bit run and you see that on all the valley there's no lights so I knew that uh yeah there there some margin from uh so now you're you're far into the race you're 120 km things are still going completely fine yeah yeah that's what surprising because I say the beginning of the race was a dream and I was always thinking when will be the nightmare when will start the nightmare but no no never no problems no problems when I wanted to run I I run I run and yeah it no and perfect day I don't know it has never happened to me before that this was your most perfect race yeah yeah everything all Planet align I was going to cuz you can't compare it to yes you want UTMB but that was not a perfect race no for sure that's a was a disaster yes that was a nightmare first and then the dream yes exactly uh so you said earlier uh and you you had no information about the other Racers about your time until Cunningham and what do you learn at Cunningham so just my wife say may I told you something say okay now I can so she told me you are on 20 minute ahead the course record um so now you have to push to to get this MH so we just stop at the station I doing some some soup there are some NE soup that are pretty good during the night yeah especially when it's cold and then uh okay I decid okay we'll try I knew that uh kilan uh push really hard at the end I was going to ask you that it's really important I say it will be really tough because I I remember because I have done that on the soft truck and I have done also training from Magis to Silverton in addition of the soft truck so I knew that the the upill from kilan was 46 minute I think I say I can never reach this timing so I will for sure lose some minutes in the upill and finally I did 52 I think so that was that was good so 14 minutes now so yeah and then D Neil it was much more difficult when U uh during the race because it was dark so you the light uh you know it's it's it's a road but uh it's Rocky Road and you have to find the right path every step you must be watching so it's quite difficult and it was also a risk to not be injur in the trying to go fast in the last descend so even the the 3 or 5 km on the flat Trail in town it's not flat at all not easy there's three three up that are really short but there's one that seems to be as long as a giant pass it might be one minute but it feels like 50 yes and and you're coming into the finish and you're just the whole way through town you're just pushing pushing pushing yeah pushing I arrive at the old rocks you know at the bottom of the the lift and I knew that it's around 1 km a bit more and I had eight 8 minutes more so say I I will do it but I will continue to to push and uh yeah it was a let's say Zack finish you know inspiration from Zach who was finishing as fast as possible and then you did and then you vomit yeah yeah the the Finish was not smooth so yeah no it's not smooth just you you push it the whole way um and that was the first time you were sick the entire race yes yeah yeah yeah yeah of course yeah yeah only at the finish when you stop and then your body yeah and so what are your thoughts on that accomplishment is it is it your best your best race ever or yeah I think yeah the best uh yeah everything run fine so yeah for sure it's the best race yeah yeah do you think you'd come back here you know you take a long time to uh to get a bib here so I don't know if you can refuse a bib but uh yeah we'll see we have to discuss with it's not no it's not no I'm sensing a maybe po probably so is it true that to be a real hard rocker you have to do to do b side yeah you want to be a hard rocker we'll see we'll see yeah so I mean it's been discussed a lot you're you're 48th you're going to turn 49 this week in the yeah in eight days yeah in eight days okay eight days uh I want to say it's an inspiration but it also like tells me I have no excuses I'm 46 I want to run I still want to run Hard Rock again and like thinking as many people do in they're mid 40s like I'm never going to be able to run as fast as I I did before I got to lower my expectations and that's that's probably true on short distance y but that's different on long distance I think yeah you you hold all of us in our 40s accountable it's it's good that experience is also something that yeah serve you for the race so yeah I talked to to Jason schar a little bit after the race about how you know he's 46 you're 48 uh the level in the last 10 years has in the all of ultra running has gone up not just a little a lot there's a lot of younger people being competitive people in their 20s there 30s and especially the density on the on the race are really increasing we have seen on West also that three are under 14 he 143 so but especially at a they're all hard but the harder more mountainous races with a lot of other factors you can still win you can still set course records like it seems yeah uh has your you've been doing this for a very long time is it 20 years since your first UTMB yeah this year 20 years what has changed with your body have you found some things have improved and like is recovery as easy what's changed for your for you I think the body change for sure when I start running I think my body was not ready uh you know you have yeah the body has to learn also and uh keep only the right fiber you say the leg so I think for especially for Ultra you yeah your your body is adapting and the yeah the experience and the past race uh the Western set experience it was great also for me yeah because I learned that you could run quite fast and still uh could hike or and and you can run for a long time and that's was not uh what I I prefer I prefer to hike in fact I'm not a real Runner I never learn how to run so yeah so what is your Marathon PR uh your best before Western I did uh 231 yeah which is which is good but it's also yeah um so that's just so cool uh that and the the you know you you learn your body improves like the muscle fiber so you can maybe train more or train longer and not have injury um do you think your your energy like systems have adapted like your ability to to continue to eat and to continue to process fuel uh um this I'm not sure but I try to continue experience on my body how I should train because you know I think that we don't have the perfect training for the for the long distance so I'm still experiencing on on myself to you know the the ey volume usually I do it a bit earlier uh now I finish my volume only two weeks before the start that's a change yeah I did a quite strong training just oh it was short it was climbing to the Island Lake and we finished quite fast with with my Pacers when Full Speed 3 days before and uh yeah we were really exhausted at the at the top what was the inspiration for that cuz that's that's not that would not have been the norm like 10 years ago three weeks ago you give three weeks taper or something yes I was playing with my P and that's that's it we start you know it's a not a strategy that was that was the coach is like no no no no the coach was okay I did two hours it was 1 hour and 15 but but no there was no nothing plann for for this training so just yeah you have to continue and see what is working for you and there's no Universal training so and you learn how what's better for you over time each year maybe maybe but uh what work one day could not work the day after so and mentally I'm sure you've grown a ton over 20 years yeah yes yes for sure but not I think I have not learned so much on this race because it was so smooth that uh yeah that's not something as I said to cour I have no pain cave on this on this race so I been in L but I I learn a lot on other races so so it's the problems and the challenges when you learn it's not when when everything goes well yeah yeah of course we say often that you learn more more when you lose than when when you win but yeah I prefer win and win you did uh congratulations on your win Ludo and and good luck at UTMB yeah maybe go for another win uh no this I'm not expecting that but uh give your best yeah yeah thanks congratulations