Jim Walmsley Pre-2024 UTMB Interview

Megan Hicks of iRun far I'm with Jim Walmsley it's a couple days before the 2024 UTMB here we are again Jim yeah welcome back to France but uh I guess usually or the C past couple years it would be welcome but uh I just arrived about a month ago so uh yeah we're both back in France and uh doing it again it was just nine weeks ago that we saw you at the finish line of Western States talk us through the last n weeks you've had a lot going on you've came to Silverton you hung out in the San Juans in Colorado and then you came back and reassimilated to France yeah part of uh the idea was we wanted to step back go back to Flagstaff kind of reassess and absorb like France are our stay in France are living in Ares um just kind of analyze more and more what we want to do where we want to spend our time like kind of going forward and just be patient about an entire process and I think a lot of that goes to knowing we need to go back home to Flag Staff to kind of reflect and with that became well what's the Race season going to look like and then that went to well I'd like to do an early season race and then we we'll be at altitude we'll be back in flag um yeah the the opportunity to do Western States again came up like comes up with that and then uh obviously I guess last year um even foresight of all of this happening in September so having to qualify for Western States um and then talking Simone Goslin into qualifying as well and then like hey western states is a good idea come to Flagstaff uh and then uh just bringing your French friends to Flagstaff yeah exactly so we had little France in uh in Flag Staff for a while yeah really good um training process I'd say like caught a few months of being healthy consistent kind of vanilla boring rinse and repeat uh as you want yep just about perfect to I guess when you look at it that way where in years past maybe I looked at perfect training as like not only rinse and repeat and boring but also big fast testing yourself testing yourself with long runs testing yourself with short runs and testing yourself a lot yeah it just kind of goes to a bit tiring and um yeah but then uh Western States ended up going really well um things kind of checked out but I think uh I didn't end up racing earlier in the year um so in some ways I felt like a lot of rust was busted on that race and kind of the the recovery from Western States was not ideal and um had a few injuries like not injuries but like things like hurting from the race just days after and like oh well I want to pay attention to this and that but um more or less just kind of had lingering inflammation that became a problem just to get back into things and uh yeah so um it's been a big reminder in the last nine weeks of uh why Western States and UTMB the two of them have always been a challenge for me and why in 2021 I finally I mean essentially just mid race running out of energy being over it and saying screw it like I'm going to go Focus my time and energy at One race at a time and and step back from the race in 2021 and say all right I'm going to focus on this race in 2022 2023 and we'll see how that goes so now I guess I'm removed away from that enough to try it again and quickly reminded that it it's not easy it's not perfect and uh it is what it is and um it's interesting like it it kind of almost makes me sad in some ways of the number of times I put a foot forward uh coming right off a western states and and not having like just a reset build in a good foundation to to go into such a race like UTMB and against so many competitors and like this is your representation in Europe yeah is is this um whereas flip it the other way of like yeah we've seen lots of people uh struggle with uh coming right back from Western States and it's not uncommon and yeah I go through it too um it's interesting for me to hear you sort of reflect back to like in the past you tried to put two and two kind of opposites together Western States UTMB in one summer and then you said you know what I'm going to focus on one and then the other but now it's kind of coming full circle of like okay here's the next challenge of can I put these two kind of different h together in a short period of time yeah um well 2019 I didn't run I I took the opportunity instead to try Sears and Al and Ultra voson kind of back to back and that was its own interesting challenge but um that was one of the years that like uh France and Killian or zavier didn't win of like one of those rare moments and then uh you're like man that could have been like basically a missed opportunity of just not putting your name in the Hat and and then even um 2022 2023 I'm not at Western States and it's just yeah it's hard to choose one or the other um and then this year it was just like well let's let's do both like I miss not being on the line for both but then uh it's just interesting um trying the second one yeah and and just sequentially in the calendar uh UTM second depending how you look at it so connect the dots a little bit sort of recovery and training wise over over the last 9 weeks between Western States and UTMB a little bit of recovery you said there were a few niggles to monitor we know you were out training near where we live in the San Juan mountains of Colorado and then you've been here for a month or so yeah so I guess Western State's kind of presented uh and just being back in Flagstaff and then we've always gone out to Hard Rock to like people ask me about that race I'm like well I always have just been cheering here since 2015 and it's like I really enjoyed training here and cheering and why why do I want to change that routine but this year was an opportunity to go camping in the San wans and reflect again on like the things we're missing um of like our normal or what became our normal routine for quite a few years in the US um and I hadn't been back to Hard Rock the last two years being in France so it was interesting um it was nice good like I I mean I really like the disconnect going from Western States and then just out of selfservice in Colorado uh I I like that move um yeah so it was an opportunity just to kind of like get back into trying our routine that we used to do and and now I get to kind of come here at the race and reflect on how that process has been how it's set me up or even potentially like held me back this year or years past and and this or that and I think um just kind of goes was like uh it's probably not the ideal calendar of like schedule what you want to do in between the two races but it's your schedule right yeah yeah I'm in I'm in control of it this is your deal right but like I guess uh like many of us I'm a big fan and like I love this Sport and I love running in the mountain so um yeah there's the race side but there's also a human side where you need to fill up your own cup and uh exactly and like I take a lot away from from being out in the mountains and disconnected from celf service and discovering new trails and stuff so yeah I guess that's why what I meant about that was that like you it feels like watching you you have like several different Mountain Homes or like GE graphic hes at this point and it feels like you sort of have to check in with those just to like get get what you are needing out of your spaces yeah I mean we definitely missed the high altitude of Colorado uh and even in general like here in France we we missed the the lung burning climbs um instead you replace it with just a absolutely leg burning climbs and it's just a bit different sensation but um it's also interesting to reflect on like how it's affected racing and more or less um I mean when I was living full-time in Flagstaff I think I have lots of friends I would probably attest that no way I was going to sleep at sea level like no way I'm like I'll drive down to Phoenix and I'll drive back up in the same day like I yeah I'm not going to do it and uh now I've had to kind of accept uh not being like quote unquote the High Altitude athlete but it was also a big adjustment going back to Flagstaff and trying to sleep more normally back at home and Flag Staff and it being different and then um uh also seeing results like be pretty good and feel like I'm improving on climbing and steeper things while I'm here and I'm not at that like just yeah it it forces you to take a different perspective of like well why is it working then um is it needed is this that like what are the factors that are making for the improvements and probably those factors are shifting because like your career continues to evolve and you're putting more miles in the bank and more miles in all these different types of terrain and your body is yeah just uptaking all that stuff a little bit differently isn't it yeah yeah yeah I think uh for this double I've thought a lot about I guess obviously Courtney's done some good doubles but then even um I live very close to robc and Flagstaff and I've had a few conversations with him and uh him discussing the year he did western states Leadville Run Rabbit in like one of the best triples ever done and ooh good point and good memory there I like that but I remember discussing with him and just the lack of any anything he did in between the races and interesting and just kind of drawing on um it's okay to rest right now like in between the two races and although it's nine weeks so maybe it stretches like what either of them kind of did the the gap between the two I just know in years past I I've always done a little bit too much and felt fatigued so yeah if anything it it has been different each each Ultra ends up kind of being unique and so uh yeah the cards that I have in my hand this year different but also um I wouldn't be lining up if I didn't think I I had a chance to to compete up front and compete and even then now looking at things I've never done um I haven't finished both races so that that's like one of those like you can go down the checklist of what you want to do here and um it kind of Falls to that of like I've I've tried it many times and I still haven't done both so or finished both so uh even even that one still on the board to to get some positive points I feel like you know you've been at this race many times you've had various levels of success you had of course your best success last year winning setting a course record despite it being a very evolving course you must have a different perspective on your approach to it this year because you've met you've already met that like high level goal you had for yourself last year where has sort of your mindset been in like yeah like the mo motivation the drive to come and do this again well I think after last year there were a lot of questions of what do you do next and this and that and I think if you or when you have the opportunity to be on top of the sport for even a glimpse of a moment like the more I reflected on that of like well that doesn't last long you don't know how long and like it the reflection kind of went like well I got to try to compete to stay at the top and like so so then it turned into well yeah like when people are in a sport and they win a championship what do they want to do the next season like you finally won the championship like well was build to try to do it again and so that kind of became the theme and goal but at the same time now going through the process and doing the two races or not yet but uh doing Western States and coming off the recovery and like ups and downs with that um kind of goes to it's not the build from last year um I need to accept with like where I'm at uh I I don't have a fully focused training block towards UTMB this year so uh it it's yeah a different hand I have this year it's interesting to hear you say that because you said the same thing for western states that your build for that one was evolved compared to your prior westerns from just a few limitations going I mean even even lots of things popped up this winter and I think that kind of goes to um figuring out how you can train with with what's going on um little injuries little niggles uh where you are um whether you're taking vacation whether you're in San Juans whether you're at the beach uh making the most of like what you're you're able to train with and um just being effective with with that um scenario so um and then just listening to how to best set you up to try to show up healthy and give yourself a chance cuz uh if you're on the line um that's where it all starts so you got to get there first last question for you for me watching you be here over the years like people's relationship with you have evolved right like maybe there was this air of American skepticism but now I feel like there are multiple countries and multiple communities who sort of like claim you and get behind you and sort of boost you that that change like I see it I feel it do you feel it and what it what is it like for you yeah I don't know um I mean it's interesting I I I think UTMB at least like living in France um people here were absolutely stoked for me and and that means a lot and then I mean it was months before I went back to the US and then it was like I went back to the US and I just had people yeah yeah just like uh it is home in Flagstaff and like it is nice and um yeah it's it's interesting um I'm just really fortunate to like build communities and and have people cheer for me and uh yeah I feel like all I can do back is just give my best foot forward try my hardest and keep working hard and like people latch on to that and um we can all relate with hard work and that's kind of what we can control in some ways so um even just maybe that's just the American ethos in some ways of like ah we we have some power to try a little harder which it's sometimes good and bad um I think when I reflect on like being in Europe and then looking at more us stuff going on it's like well maybe it would be better to take a step back or to do a little different terrain or a different sport and this and that and like early in my career coming more from just a runner track background this and that and like it's like no like East Africans they run year round they they don't do skiing like no way and then like uh traditionally '90s running in the US this and that like speed workouts and then look at 70s volume based we're back to a little bit of volume base this is that and uh yeah I I don't know um it kind of just goes to there's many different ways to prepare and each way doesn't even have to be the same for one athlete year to year so I think I'm learning that and uh makes it more more interesting and stuff but yeah it's been interesting um well best of luck to you I think there is no doubt to any of us that you will be putting your best foot forward that's what Jim wisley does so best of luck to you in doing that this weekend thanks so much yeah good to see you here again and looking forward to everybody out on the course H yeah it'll be crazy just like every year it will be crazy yeah