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 at the UTMB World Series Finals.

Kim Loane has just finished his 5th 100km trail event in the last 10 months. They include:

  • CCC Mont Blanc – Sept 2022
  • Ultra-Trail Australia – Oct 2022
  • Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko – Dec 2022
  • Ultra-Trail Tarawera – Feb 2023
  • Ultra-Trail Australia – May 2023

Racing this often is not something I would recommend to people, but you have to take your hat off to Kim and appreciate the fact that he has managed to get to the start line of each of these events in good shape, and gone on to finish all of them well up the field.

He has had a few niggles along the way, but his racing consistency is a testament to his careful and considered approach to training, diligence with stretching, rolling and strength workouts, a solid race nutrition strategy, and a good understanding of what his body is capable of.

His ability to race this far and this often didn’t happen overnight. He has been building up to it for more than a decade. He started his long distance running escapades with the aim of completing the 6 world major marathons – which he has done. That morphed into trail running, which then eventually escalated into 100 mile events.

This reminds me of a great quote.

“Most runners overestimate what they can do in the next 6 months, but underestimate what they can achieve in the next 10 years”

Kim has entered the flagship UTMB 171km event at the world series finals in 2023, so I spent some time talking with him about his CCC preparation and how that has influenced the training he will do for UTMB.

In this interview with Kim, he helps us to gain an insight into everything you need to know to help put together a successful CCC or UTMB training campaign.

We discuss:

  • Terrain
  • Nutrition
  • Strength and Stability Training
  • Stretching and Rolling
  • Training on Hills and Stairs
  • 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. You are bound to learn some fascinating and beneficial insights into what you can do to maximise your training time.

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