August 23, 2023, edited by Francesco Rigodanza
How do you train for the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail, or rather the UTMB? How do you best prepare to run the 170 km and 10,000 meters of elevation gain that surround Mont Blanc?
By running a lot. Easy, right? In the end, the appeal of endurance sports, like ultratrailing, lies in the apparent meritocracy at the expense of talent. The more you train, the faster you'll go. The tougher your head and the more granite-like your willpower, the more you'll dominate competitions.
It sounds easy. It isn't. Because to be among the best in the world, you have to train 20-30 hours a week, especially in the months leading up to the big event. No, it's not easy. If you do it only for the result, your head will tire until you get sick of running. If you do it only for the endorphins of "giving it your all," soon injuries will set the limit that your heart doesn't want to respect. If you do it to be thin, you'll find yourself no longer having good muscles to withstand all those kilometers.
Roberto Mastrotto and Alessio Zambon will run the UTMB in just a few days. To do so, they ran a lot. And to run a lot, they used a strategy devised by Alessio, and already tested: make many of those kilometers fun.
In the first week of August, an apartment in Neustift in Stubai, in Tyrol, was stormed by seven men full of quadriceps and running shoes: Roberto, Alessio, and five of their friends. Technically, an intensive training period in preparation for the most important hundred-miler in the world, in practice, a vacation among friends where for a moment you return with the lightness and carefree attitude of a middle school field trip.
They ran a lot. Really a lot. Every day from four to nine hours. To new places, unknown places, taking snow, sunburns, and some scolding in German because they were going too fast. Hours tackled with the proper calm alternated with moments of remarkable competitive fervor, because if a friend is in trouble you always have to push them and make fun of them even worse. Then again, in all those hours you're not going to talk about everything, especially when you're too cooked to keep your thoughts inside. How are you? What do you feel? What makes you anxious? What can I learn?
If there is a typical imagery of athlete life, you might think that in the evening you should have a "healthy" dinner, stretch, and go to bed early. Instead, in Stubai they ate a lot of candy, played board games, and then off with beers and jokes until late at night.
That's also what you need to run many kilometers. You need to go to bed smiling, waiting for another day to roam around the Alps.
Roberto wanted to run a lot and do it calmly, confident. Alessio wanted to run a lot and do it feeling good. They ran 300 km and 15,000 meters of elevation gain in two weeks. They feel great.
Running a lot is difficult, making it fun is difficult, but if you succeed, then everything becomes too easy.
Roberto and Alessio will arrive at the Chamonix start line loaded with kilometers, dreams, and expectations. Those who have seen them up close swear they are the best version of themselves. Everything could go wrong, in fact, something will surely go wrong, that's the beauty of this sport. The hope is that in the moments when this happens, they think of some unpardonable mishap in the Tyrolean valleys, start laughing, and set off stronger than before.
© photo: Francesco Zigliotto