The UTMB Mont-Blanc is the world’s leading trail running event! Every year, the best trail running athletes in the world meet in Chamonix, a small village in the French Alps, and more than 10,000 runners participate in one of the event’s 8 races, including the UTMB World Series Finals.

Trail running guru Scotty Hawker finished 3rd in UTMB in 2019 in a time of 21:48:04. He finished 2nd in CCC in 2021 in a tine of 10:47:52. He knows what to do when it comes to training for, and racing at, the UTMB trail running festival.

For the uninitiated, the UTMB event is 171km with 10,000m of vertical elevation. The CCC event is 100km with just over 6,000m of elevation.

These are big mountain races. The training and preparation needed to go into one of these events in top shape, is very specific.

You obviously have to be good at climbing, but more importantly, you have to be good at descending. It is the descending in these big-mountain events that causes most of the problems. You need strong quad muscles, strong knees, good technique, and most importantly you need to train your legs properly to cope with the descending.

In this interview with Scotty, we take a deep dive into learning everything you need to know about how to train for the UTMB and CCC events.

We discuss:

  • Terrain
  • Nutrition
  • Mid-race problem solving
  • Strength and Stability Training
  • Stretching and Rolling
  • Speedwork
  • Cross Training
  • Sleep
  • When to Travel
  • Support Crew Logistics
  • and more . . .

If you will be running at the UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix, this is a great conversation for you to hear. It is fascinating picking Scotty’s brain on everything UTMB related.

For anyone wanting to find out more about Scotty Hawker, or to discuss the potential to be coached by Scotty, he can be found on Instagram and Facebook

We have a 16-week training plan specifically designed for both UTMB and CCC. To find out more click HERE