Ready for France and UTMB!
August 8th, 2007 by ScottWhile congratulating my toughest competitor, Karl Meltzer, within minutes after he finished Hardrock, I tell him there will definitely be a rematch. I’m thinking next year back here, although I know we’ll be head to head again before then. He replies, “Six weeks, Mont-Blanc!” It’s as if he’s ready to go immediately.
I’m excited to line up with Karl, Hal Koerner, who won Western States this year, and some strong Euros including all past winners of the Ultra-Trail Tour du Mont-Blanc (UTMB).
My ankle is ready to go again. After a short recovery to rest my body following Hardrock, I’ve been rehabbing and training as normal with speed work and trail running. No limitations from the ankle, I’m happy to report. However there is some minor swelling following a run, par for the course of this type of injury.
Can’t wait to be on the starting line with 2500 runners!
There will be a live web-cast. I’ll link to it and post my race number before taking off, if possible.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Woot for you guys in Europe! Please do post a link, it’s like living it right there:)
August 8th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
that mont-blanc run should be an exciting one. i know i’m excited just to follow it live online. sure is quite the talented field that’s going to be toeing the line. good luck.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Scott. will you or any of the other top US runners get to scout out the course ahead of time? The one concern I have is the course knowledge the Euros may have. How tough is course compared to HR?
August 9th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Found you through Olga’s blog. I’ve enjoyed reading this post and previous ones. I’ll stop by again soon.
August 9th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Chris, you are right on, I can assure you the “Euros” have a real advantage with training on this course, all year around.
Scott, I very much hope you read the tips I gleaned last month and compiled in my blog:
http://fartherfaster.blogspot.com/2007/08/utmb-training-camp-trail-review-for.html while training with Karine.
And I had of course talked about your exciting Scott/Karl rematch already!
Go for it, Scott, your win is much expected overthere, as long as you don’t get surprised by the differences with the US ultras. But Hardrock seems to have some common features with UTMB, this will certainly help. I’ll check your progress online before and after our short 50K USATF championship. The suspense will make us run faster!
Good luck!
Jean.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
This year’s UTMB will be amazing with so many very good runners. I am really looking forward to follow you, Scott, and see what you’ll be able to do. Good luck and take care.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Geesh what a great race & lineup of ultra runners….Best Wishes Scott.
GO USA!!
August 14th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Sure the locals have a terrible advantage with the altitude, the incredible uneven, the soil, but Marco Olmo, 57 years old, won last year ahead of more than 2000 runners ! I don’t know if Scott already met him, but it will certainly be a great, a wonderful meeting, from a human and sportive point of view.
As a french, I entirely support Scott! and my best best wishes
August 14th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Your recovery to race-ready condition is remarkably quick!
Have a great time!
August 21st, 2007 at 5:07 pm
I think I saw you running today on the trail towards Les Houches from Chamonix when I was out walking my dogs this AM - not what I expected to see so thought I’d check out your blog
Good luck in your race and hope you can pull off a victory! We Americans living in Cham were very excited to see so many big name ultra runners from the US showing up this year! I will be at the finish line of the UTMB cheering for you (after I finish running the smaller race).
The few course notes I can add to anyone interested in addition to the observations on http://fartherfaster.blogspot.com/2007/08/utmb-training-camp-trail-review-for.html (which I thought was a good review) are from training for the CCC last year and this year on the course.
For that section of the course, I think the best/fastest downhill is from the top of Grand Col Ferret (which last week had snow on it btw due to cold/rainy/snowy weather recently) to La Fouly - you can really fly on a lot of that section as the trail is not rocky and widens out a bit.
The climb to Bovine requires a lot of concentration (esp if you hit it in the dark) as there are some big boulders and unavoidable very high steps through tree roots required when it gets steep, but a nice traverse and good downhill through the woods to the Col de la Forclaz above Trient follow just after.
From the Col de la Forclaz to Trient is a short downhill, but wooded sections of the trail there are very very steep and muddy/slippery/ treacherous to descend in wet weather. They have thrown some wood chips on it to try to help.
Also just past Les Tseppes, from the top of that climb, coming down into Vallorcine it can become a big mud pit in rain (and we’ve had rain here for many days now) and there are some steep drop offs, so watch your footing as you get into the descent where you hit tall weeds in the marshy section if it’s raining. Also on this section, the road book is wrong. It’s following the 2006 course. I ran the trail 2 weeks ago and they had posted signs already with corrections to the road book - apparently the building of a new MTB course is requiring the course to follow last year’s descent route into Vallorcine rather than what the course planners had hoped (ie you will take the ski run (dirt road) earlier and cross the border into France at a different point than indicated in the road book that was mailed out.
After Vallorcine, all the tough bits are truly over.
You can listen to live coverage of the race in the internet radio station Radio Mont Blanc: http://www.radiomontblanc.fr Of course it will mostly be in French but if they interview anyone who speaks English you’ll hear them speak, and a translator.
To follow runners on line, you need to look up the the dossard number by runner’s name. Scott’s number is 3612 and you can follow by SMS messages or online on the home page on the day of the race - SMS’s are 5 euros and can be pre-registered at http://www.ultratrailmb.com/sms.php?page=sms
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:01 am
karlinskorner…
Thank you for your post!…