Best UTMB training & racing advice (27 tips from Damian Hall, 5th in 2018)

Intro how do you successfully train for and race be a hundred and six mile ultra Tour du mont-blanc the UTMB UK journalist and hiker turned endurance runner Damien Hall came an incredible 5th place overall in the UTMB Europe's most famous endurance race in 2018 this was his fourth time running this high-altitude 106 mile race with a thigh busting 10,000 meters of ascent from Germany in France through the mountains of Italy and Switzerland Damien was hoping for a top ten finish but while the elite field crumbled overnight seeing dropouts from podium favorites like Jim Warmsley Kilian Jornet and Zack Miller Damien stayed strong inching his way up from 7th to 5th overall and the first British male I caught up with Damien after his talk at Kendall Mountain festival to steal no less than 27 of his inspiring normal person ultra running training and racing secrets which you can put into practice on any long distance trail race and of course Damien has since set a speed record on the Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland with UTMB fourth female finisher Beth Pascale which is covered in the film wrath by summit fever media links in the description below I'll be interviewing both of these astounding British runners on wild ginger running soon during a live broadcast so make sure you tune in at 8:30 p.m. every Wednesday for more tell me which is your favorite tip from Damien in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already and take a look at wild ginger running on patron for entry into my exclusive competitions every month and to get your questions to awesome athletes like Damien and Beth answered preferentially enjoy these utmb tips from Damien and I'll see you soon on the trails [Music] the first time I did you Tempe the first thing I realized was my legs just simply weren't strong enough for those down hills that really really smash you up make your quads sort of scream at you so I had to just get stronger legs of the Get strong legs obvious way is to run down run down mountains I suppose but there are other tricks hiking with the weight vest is quite a good way to gradually safely build strength strength work with with dumbbells squats and lunges it's a good way to get stronger but just like another year of good training as well is is you know you know that adds another layer on the on the lasagna of mountain running training so that was my first sort of take home was that my legs weren't strong enough also YouTube is not super technical but there are some technical bits of suppose so it's the best way to get better technical running Run on rocky ground of course is to run on technical terrain so for me that meant going to the Brecon Beacons more often also I mean over those few years I've built up my volume Build training volume gradually a bit more so more cardiovascular fitness i've also improved my speed simply only this year i went to join a Do speedwork! running club we went around a track like it's horrible but it works so you know that seems like the opposite type of running to UTMB but actually you know if you can just lift your speed just a little bit lift your forever pace so there are all those things and then and then uphill hiking as well you've got to Hike uphill with your poles think of it as a hiking race for a spell so you should practice you know with your poles hiking up hills in an efficient way you know there's no point in overdoing it for ten minutes and they're needing a rest you want to get a sustainable efficient pace hiking up the hill it's an eating competition as well so you practice eating which I'm good at Practice eating on the move but that means you know take different food stuffs on a long run you know try them out what works what doesn't work a UT embitters lot so if you have lots of cheese and soups and stuff so maybe practice with that beforehand to see if it's what might work and just find out you know the food what food works for you so there are there yeah that that's that's probably most of the things I've I think and just to drill down a little bit more deeply on the training so how many hours would you say per week and how many miles was it so this this year I did I did get up to 100 miles a week a few times which would be around 20 hours or just over 20 hours a few times but not a lot but a lot of weeks were over 80 miles but I think it's more important to think of quality you know you can run Quality mileage not quantity you can run on the flat and try and get your 80 miles in and that's not really going to help you better often in 50 or 60 miles on lumping lumpy terrain with long descents really so it's not so much about the miles but but yeah that building that cardiovascular fitness but that yeah but previous years I hadn't trained as hard as that but that's what I sort of did this year but also this I did go out and recce the course five Recce the course weeks out but that was more obviously I knew the course quite well by then but it was more just to condition my legs especially for the downhills again so that when it came to the race they wouldn't be shocked by it I suppose yeah so what I tried to do is sort of I'd have a block of volume when I was thinking of my miles and then the for maybe two weeks of tapering but the four weeks before that I think of the more as Plan in ascent/vert weeks vert weeks so I did get in some decent miles because because I was just out for a long time but I was thinking more of trying to get vert and and I'll try and get 20,000 foot a vert each week I got two weeks that were 35,000 foot of vert but you like your mileage and you've got to build that leg gradually or you will get a problem you know some physical problems but yeah I think it's clever to think of it that way and almost forget a mile target and think of how much vert you can get in a week or a lot in the long run that's a good way to Train I think some of its I mean it was if you know my trainings on Strava and and and you will probably see it gradually building throughout the year quite safely and that that classic thing of Track progress - easy, harder, harder, easy... doing maybe an easy week hard a week hard a week easy week again sort of three three gradual improvements and then an easier week is quite a good way to follow and you know that that rule that sort of 10% rule of only increasing around 10% I mean I don't I don't stick to that too much but like as a general guide and then also I think the additional strength work especially a lot of runners have weak glutes and they're not they're not firing up so doing that Focus on glute (bum) strength strength which should get them strong and activating good good technique as well I work with Shane Benzie from Improve your technique running reborn and he's really improved my technique on on the mountains but also just general technique I think ten techniques really underrated we can you know we a lot of us have bad technique oh I did everything wrong I suppose I was a big over Strider it's not so much about the hill strike it's more about your legs going out in front of you I still you know when I get really tired if you look at me my techniques still not it's not that fantastic but at least I know the theory now so you know try be upright as much as possible get the feet the legs turning over a higher cadence aim for sort of around 180 per minute and that I think that really improves especially especially on the downhills and flats yeah yeah yeah another thing to think about whatever egde you try and do to week also maybe a separate core strength Get a strong core session I don't do two a week all year round but I think earlier in the season it's more important because you want to get your body strong robust to take on the high training volume so earlier in the year it's more important but maybe later in the app just at one it might only be twenty minutes you know not because it you know ultimately most runners don't want to do the stuff that's not running because it's not nearly as fun so you know you want to try and do an amount that's going to be realistic I suppose but I think to me yeah it does help me how do you keep motivated so either How do you keep motivated? their strengths actually in the winter um I guess for me when I was going back to a race like I've had a taste of how good it can be I suppose and I want that again but better Focus on your own personal reasons and then also you think if you've had to make sacrifices time away from family you want that to count for something in the race and you also think all the people who helped you and maybe wished you well or even just said I'll follow online even just a comment on social media you think well those people are willing me on you know I'm going to try and do it for them so when you feel a bit lazy or even like you might want to give up you can't remember that actually a lot of people wanting you to do well and that's so lovely you know really lovely feeling and you want to do something for them I suppose [Music] How do you fit training in? I guess the obvious thing is yeah you've got to be not not be to a frightened of a 4:00 a.m. alarm that wasn't that common but you know four or five maybe five more frequently yeah I guess you've got a set you can make some sacrifices but only so much like I want to see my Consider what you can sacrifice kids grow up but I could my work is a bit flexible I can you know I do lot my long runs in the week actually I might take half a day off I might go to Brecon Beacons I might get up early drive hour and a half there do a long run drive home work in the afternoon then probably working the night as well but then I would know I may be in a sleep deficit so over the next couple nights I'll try and make that backup but I suppose yeah and I had no social life so but that makes it easier kind of yeah yeah I mean I was yeah I mean I was obsessed with the race that was all I was really thinking about so I either had work family time or training basically you know that was it for a few months pretty How was it to finish 5th?! good yeah it felt as good as I hoped it would be and it was much better than I imagined I only really imagined finishing sort of tenth ninth or maybe eighth so the race went better better than I imagined I mean it was partly because some of these guys dropped out and that bumblebee stilling is stinging Killian but yeah it felt amazing I it's difficult to describe it really it did yeah yeah it was a good feeling [Music] thank you and and then can we just talk a little bit about during the race like a hundred miles well yeah I think there are some clever little mantras that they're quite helpful like you know it's them usually the person that slows the least does the best it's not how fast you'll you know it's not the fastest person wins it's usually person who slows at least so it's about finding your sort of natural Find your natural 'forever pace' forever pace and and not getting carried away early on some people will say you Don't start too fast or finish too slow! know don't be an idiot early on and don't be a wimp in the second half and it's kind of yeah you're thinking of the tour Toys beats the hare you know so it's trying not to get carried away early on and then later on when you feel tired and you don't really want to work all that well it's it's the psychological stuff of thinking while you're doing it and and and you know in yeah forcing yourself on in that way I suppose yeah I think little and often Refuel little and often you know drip-feed in I try and tell myself to eat something every half hour so that might not be a full bar might be half a barn and maybe a jail or half a jail in the other half hour but I try and mix my foods up as well and later in the race often I don't want to eat too much so I think of liquid calories that could be chocolate milk or some melted fuel or smoothie or soup and they're all great ways to get you know some calories in and you're hydrating and get insults in as well so there's a really effective way to stay fueled very important yeah I How important is your support team? was very lucky to have Mickey on my side for last two years and she's you know it's twofold because she takes the job very seriously so she's got everything prepared for you she she sets out you know the carbs separate to the to the less sugary stuff Enlist experienced runners she loves some of our own ideas as well some rice puddings and baked beans but also it's Nikki Sphinx so you you know you come to the aid station and you've got you know a sorter or something you think okay you know I can hardly whinge about that - Nikki so you know I'm wanted in the nicest you know I wanted to impress her is what I wanted to do well for her so to have someone that saw your side isn't doesn't really feel fair on everyone else to be honest and you talked a bit about polls in the Opinions on running poles? talk as well and did you use them a lot yeah yeah for the climbs I think they're I think people are you know if you don't Definitely use running poles use them you're possibly a bit foolish they're that effective for climbs but what I try and do is I try and put them away for the descents and the flats because what I've working with Shane Stow poles on descents and flats I've worked out that out you can sort of slow yourself down because your legs tend to follow your arms so if your arms are polling you your legs could be going slower than they might normally be or they should be going so I try and put them away when I can so that's sort of my tactic with polls well I guess I've How do you keep going through pain? I've never really had a reason like I've always thought right if I feel a bit fed up well it's usually it's self pity you know and then and then you go well actually you wanted to do this race and you want people to think you're good at this so this is where it you know it's tough it is tough these races but that's what you know that's what makes them worthwhile to an extent but I've Don't quit unless you're dead! personally never had good enough reason to stop so yeah that's why I haven't I suppose [Music] they're really excited and what's the Best ever piece of newbie UTMB-er advice? best piece of advice you could give them on the start line oh I think try and relax and enjoy it Relax and enjoy the race like it it is gonna hurt a bit but it doesn't have to be hellish just try and relax and enjoy it and yeah don't go out too hard early on especially the first downhill especially for Brits they found the long the long some of the down hills are a kilometer of down so just take that first one easy ease into the race and Take the first downhill easy just relax and enjoy it and it's beautiful mountains incredible crowds you know you know I think just one other thing that helps me round is I I've got some friends who maybe can't run anymore Put pain into perspective or or have you know health problems and and when you're hurting think there's always people far worse off than you and you volunteered for this you know so I try and think they would be loved to be running this race and I'm here I'm feeling a bit self self pitying but they can't run the race and and so they you know that that's what gives me inspiration I supposed to push on [Music] Exclusive competitions and perks on [Music]