UKC

Less than two weeks to go before the start of the UTMB. Of course now I'm picking up all sorts of niggles! Sore lumps in my achilles tendons, tendonitis and after the weekend a good old flare up of IT band pain.

I'm sure it'll be alright on the day....

Anyone else out there for any of the races?

In reply to Wonrek:

Yea I'm heading over to give the TDS another crack this year after having a disaster of a race last year and pulling the plug at Fort de la Plate around 58k in.
I can't wait for this years race as I have put in a lot more training and a lot more long races.
But as you and lots of other runners have said and I have experienced it myself, loads of niggles and aches the you didn't have seem to appear just before a big race. Maybe it's our subconscious doing a full body check as it knows it going to be put through a fair bit of punishment!
At least I have only 119k to get through and not 169k....next year hopefully....

In reply to cham4807:

I've heard the TDs is techniclly harder terrain than the UTMB? I'm a complete newbie out there so no idea at all what the frick I've let myself in for......

Any suggestions gratefully received!

In reply to Wonrek and cham4807 :

Good luck to both of you - hope you got the races you wanted.

I wasn't running myself but have a friend who finished the UTMB (his second attempt after a DNF) in 39 hours. My in-laws are visiting and since the weather was good we decided to drive up and show them Chamonix, and spent some of the time in town cheering in the runners - a few on Saturday night, including the first women over the line, and this morning before breakfast when the broken people were coming in.

Its quite emotional seeing these runners come in after so much effort - I did an hours run around the Bossons glacier on Saturday evening and it was really hot, so it must have been tough out on the course. According to iRunFar on Twitter there was a record number of abandons this year and most people blamed the heat.

Anyway, its rekindled my interest in the event - I know it can be a circus but there's no getting away from the fact that it's a hell of an event - this year I've just been racing often on shorter courses but think I'm going to look to get back into the long stuff next year

In reply to Wonrek:

Am in Chamonix with the family and saw some of the finish today. It s so flipping hot, you guys are all superhuman for entering this, leave alone racing!!

Hope you ran as you hoped.

Well done however it went!!

In reply to yorkshireman:

It is a superb event. I dont get people doing it every year but as a one off for sure..

Was it that hot? It showed 28 on the weather reports which would be fairly hot. the winning time was a tad slower but not a huge amount.

In reply to Roadrunner5:

It was getting into the 30s. Easily 32° in the afternoon. My car read 37° leaving the Aiguille du Midi car park this afternoon. Definitely enough to make it a challenge.

In reply to Roadrunner5:

On the ladders down to the Mer De Glacé the sun was scorching bouncing off the rock. Only slightly cooler on the glacier. Down in Chamonix just boiling. Running in that...well done!!!

In reply to yorkshireman:

AH Ok, its been strange reading all the reports, some say the heat wasn't too bad, others found it awful. for the quicker ones they only have 1 day out which makes a big difference.

In reply to Wonrek:

The heat was extreme to say the least! The course although brutal was manageable (for me anyway) but the heat just melted me! I know it added a significant whack of time onto my race.

That being said, I finished and still felt strong at the finish so very happy overall. I've already got enough points to enter next years UTMB ballot, unless anyone fancies a PTL team???!!!