Germain Grangier Pre-2024 UTMB Interview

Sarah Brady of our own far I'm here just a few days before the 2024 UTMB with jaman Granger Jam how are you doing I'm good thanks yeah great yeah fast year since we last seen you here uh sorry I didn't it was a very fast year since we last sen here yeah yeah yeah it was kind of one of my latest rest actually right latest race sorry yeah yeah um yeah I was going to get to that but um to did um diagonal defu shortly after last year and uh that was pretty soon after to do another HED 100 mile so how was that was it did you feel recovered yeah I think uh I took some time after 20 UTMB 2023 to to think about uh jagon defu and uh yeah actually pretty I recovered pretty well from UTMB so I think mid September I I took the decision to go to go on R Island again yeah okay and you had a good day yeah yeah that was a a tough race it was extremely hot but yeah as always it's like kind of a really vibrant race and uh yeah that's always a good experience after UTMB UTMB is like more and more Pro you know like things are more and more frame now and then Leu is kind of the the folklore of the the the end of the season so yeah it's more relaxed and the the atmosphere is more relaxed uh sometimes too too relaxed but it's what it's what we like there okay great um so you had a great run there you came second and then um after that do you had you had an injury did you break some ribs over the winter yeah that was uh recent I would say mid June I broke two rib as I was in CA training for lavaro oh no and uh yeah so I ended up not doing the race and uh take a little bit uh of time off not not that much honestly I would have I thought it would like stopped me for longer but I quickly biked and then I I stopped running two weeks more or less so y not too bad yeah yeah not a huge problem so then before that you um you took a longer break then from racing cuz you hadn't done much in the spring was that did you have other injuries or did you just intentionally take a little time out no yeah uh exactly uh in the winter recently I ski I ski montainer ring most of the time so from like depend when the snow lands but between end of November and U beginning of April I uh I don't don't run at all he tanked by a be oh no yeah I don't run for five months so okay I have actually something like 20 days of ski maintaining racing so we like sometimes like backto back racing days with like like the mountain races yeah so yeah I I raced quite a lot skimo so it's shorter version it's like 2 to 4 Hour very good and then uh yeah I did my transition and was targeting to run L but yeah that would be my first race of 2024 okay that's interesting yeah but I seen you did like I suppose it's was just a small tuneup race but you did win a trail marathon in France in May was it oh yeah yeah I did yeah exactly it's a yeah it's a small local race in a local valet where I live okay and yeah I kind of took the decision like the day before to to run like the 42k because a friend of mine was like texting me to go and I was like okay yeah yeah it was kind of like the first like small race of the Season yeah you're right I did race one one SE me yeah and did it feel fun to do something relatively short and fast like that compared to 100 milers yeah yeah I kind of like uh it's how I started try running with like really shorter verion um so yeah I still like it and I maybe want to do more okay in the near future yeah okay very good um and then you said here last year cuz like last year was your third UTMB and it was your best result and you said you changed up your training a little and got a bit more specific like more running and less cross training um so have you kind of continued with that in this buildup yeah yeah uh I would say I don't do cross training anymore I do parallel training I say I SK in the winter and I run in the summer okay uh still cross training but not really at the same time so okay yeah I kind of did the same as I did last year I felt like I train a little bit more because I raced less yeah and um yeah I had like uh increase a little bit my uh run running volume okay uh yeah so similar yeah similar a little bit more of everything and okay yeah we'll see what yeah very good um and then last year like it was such a strong result um but I'm sure you're probably hungry to keep improving but was there anything from last year that you think you can do better this year or anything in particular you're trying to work on yeah I think I can improve a little bit my uh last part of the race like from shampe to to shamon try to to be a bit more uh fast in that part so maybe it means saving a little bit more energy before or like okay or just be mentally a bit more engaged in the last part because last year I was just more like I feel like I was more protecting my pum spot because I never been on the podium yeah I was not ready to really like go all out and maybe blow up in the middle so fair maybe this year I will try to do that I think Runners who find themselves in third place often get a little bit conservative ative it's like just stay here yeah yeah it was kind of that like yeah since I was just like I was fifth the previous Edition so I was like it's better yeah keep it safe so see yeah well I suppose this year when you've already had the podium you can afford to be a little bit more aggressive at the end and yeah see what happens yeah it's often like that uh you're more like willing to take risk when you have already done yeah okay very good and will your nutrition plan be most the same as before uh yeah as I said yeah everything will be mostly the same and then I try to improve a little bit my gear like shave a little some GS there like have a little bit more nutrition there yeah everything be little bit more riment so okay then we see yeah just tiny improvements at this point yeah yeah this point you just like do your small kitchen and then see at the end of the day what what it brings yeah yeah okay great um and you've raced so many times here at UTMB so um this would be your fourth actual UTMB and then you've done well at CCC and OCC in the past as well so what is it about the UTMB Festival that you keep coming back from more yeah I think yeah my last three UTMB I was always doing a better time in the ended up being in a better position so yeah you still in the spiral of like uh you you're improving you you don't know like where you can end up okay so yeah I feel like I I had more to give so I came back yeah okay very good yeah um and then there's a lot of the same men on the start list this year that you raced against last year so who are you expecting to do well this year other than yourself yeah yeah I guess all the same guys as last year for sure and uh yeah there's a lot of guys that people don't talk a lot about like Spanish people like yeah like miguelo nobody really like talk about this guy and he super fast uh yeah it's it's a name I just thought about but yeah yeah definitely a lot of uh underdogs I would say were and there's some like first time 100 MERS as well that would be interesting yeah first time 100 mile that are super fast on the on on short like uh formats and yeah I feel like if they are smart enough they can do something good and yeah yeah it's a lot of yeah upcoming people I think we all like in a turn of like the whole generation and the new generation and we are like in in a conflictual point and yes it's kind interesting yeah yeah there's an interesting mix of Runners yeah okay very good um and have you thought past this race then um are you going to go back to reunion or have you anything else planned uh yeah I really like reion uh I don't as the race of super close I never do I never say I'm going to do both uh yeah it's going to depend like generally the last 50k or 40K of the race tells you like if you in a good overall State and if you recover well the day after to day after I think that the training was gone good and you you're in a global good State then yeah normally take 10 days or two weeks to see and and um yeah yeah I I would like to go see yeah okay great so it's still a possibility yeah okay great um well enjoy the next few days the last bit of your taper and yeah we look forward to seeing you out there thanks very much thank you thanks a lot