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Party at the finish at the UTMB: the ultra elite
Photo: Jeff Pachoud / AFP
Half marathon, marathon – and then? If you don't have enough time or simply have a lot of time, you have the choice: add swimming and cycling to running and become a triathlete? Swap the asphalt for narrow forest and mountain paths while trail running? Or everything on ultra, super long distances?
Admittedly a niche problem, but there is room in this newsletter for satisfied hobby runners and proud midlife exaggerators. That's where I come in: I covered more than 400 kilometers again for the January Battle, and I'm supposed to set best times in Berlin this year - what else can I do to impress myself (and my Strava friends)?
Anything longer than 50 kilometers or at least the marathon distance counts as an ultra run. I've done a few of them, in Hamburg, the Harburg mountains and in the Harz Mountains. I trudged for hours on drizzly roads, through northern German terminal moraines or broken forests. I secretly dreamed of the picturesque backdrop of famous runs that combine ultra and trail: further, higher, faster.
UTMB and Western States
Two events are considered the ultimate: the 171 kilometer long circular route around the highest peak in the Alps, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, in North America a race called Western States, 161 kilometers through California. As an amateur, I am about as far away from these races as a novice driver is from the starting grid in Formula 1.
You have to qualify for both races and then win a lottery. Last year, 2,814 runners were allowed to start at the UTMB, and only 365 at Western States. Ultra elite. I've seen quite a few YouTube videos about these races.
Chris Zehetleitner knows exactly what awaits you there. The Munich native qualified at Mont Blanc, was thrown into the lottery drum for Western States - and got a starting place at the first attempt. He wrote a book about it. It's called "Runhundred" and is in English, a German version is in the works.
Normally, writes Chris, you wait years for a starting place. Lots of time in which you can train for the extreme event. You
have to train
if you want to complete the brutal effort in under 30 hours. Only then will the run count as passed.
Abandoning in the wilderness
Chris describes his months of preparation, including in Greece in great heat. How he, his coach and his friends approach the race and plan the necessary support - and how much of it collapses in quick succession. How finally, in the middle of the wilderness, completely alone, at the end of his strength, all he can think about is giving up.
The book has no net and no false bottom. It's the brutal, chronological account of a strong runner who's been torn apart by the California grind. And then what happens next. After reading the book, I waver between: "That's great, let's go" and "Totally crazy, never."
And how do you feel about it, whether you feel like it or not? Feel free to write to me.
In any case, the torture report didn't dampen my fascination. An article on “Zeit Online” in which the partners of passionate runners unpack makes me more thoughtful. They warn: If you don't run together, you'll quickly become lonely.
It actually occurs to me, shouldn't I start with regular stability exercises first? Before I make myself unhappy? “You don’t necessarily have to invest a lot of time to achieve a positive effect,” says sports physiologist Vegard Moe Iversen in our interview and gives training tips for stressed people.
I can still keep dreaming. Stay healthy, have a good run!
Yours, Ole Reissmann