UT4M

Situated in the French Alps, Grenoble is nestled in a valley with four stunning mountain regions surrounding it: Vercors, Oisans, Belledone and Chartreuse. The UT4M 170km, 11000m elevation loop goes up and down each range over ~ a marathon distance and 2800m of elevation gain and loss. YES, that is in total more than the height of Everest (8488m above sea level)!!!

This would be my first 100 miler. I have been running 50k and 80k for the last four years and wanted to move up to the big ultra. Why? I wanted to go in an event that I didn't know I could complete. Something that scared me ...

Why did I choose this one? I am not a heat lover, so a desert ultra was not my preference. There are fast 100 milers but flats are not my forte. I have always loved mountains so when Peter suggested UT4M in France it piqued my interest. UT4M starts at 300m of elevation so I wouldn't have to cope with the elevation of some ultras in the US. So, in December I registered and started my training ... There is a great community of ultra runners in Ottawa-Gatineau so I picked their brains and used their support to get ready. First 100 miler training progress report

We travelled over to Grenoble, France twelve days before the event and got settled in our place in paradise, my friends converted farmhouse, just outside the small village of Méaudre in the Vercors region of the French Alps. Of course, I had to go wander around on the mountains beforehand and had a blast doing so with my youngest son Leonard, and my girlfriend Patricia. Leonard and I even climbed Mont Aiguille, the birthplace of mountaineering with the help of a guide (see Flickr link at end of report for pics)

As we dropped down from Col de l'Arc (at the clouds below) it got dark quickly as the sun was setting behind us - headlamps turned on but I ran using the light of one in front and one behind. Once at the bottom looking back I could see lights from the top over a kilometer above us winding down the mountain - so cool!!! From there, there was "just" a 600m hill to climb and descent to the checkpoint in Vif.

I arrived in Vif in 7.5hours, in 185th place, just before midnight, averaging just over 5km/hr and feeling pretty solid.

From there it was 12km to Rioupéroux, with 500m up and 1500m down - the down in all one shot. I ran down as smoothly as I could to keep the load off the quads and on rocky terrain I sometimes had one pole out for balance. I was feeling tired by this time and wasn't feeling like eating very much, though I tried to continue to keep the calories coming.

[I only fell three times, once sliding onto my butt on a steep slippery section, once skinning my knee and a beautiful full shoulder roll after tripping]

In Rioupéroux, I took 50minutes to recuperate and get a leg massage (felt great!). At this point I had some chafing issues that I had been using cream on but took the opportunity to tape my neither regions up!!!

Then I headed up the beast to Croix de Chamrousse - the first part of the climb was over 1000m in less than 4km, a 25% grade!!! I don't have a lot of memory of this section, however, I just kept on putting one foot in front throughout that morning as I headed up the switchbacks. I do recall as I got closer to the top of the ski resort at Croix de Chamrousse that I was feeling pretty damn tuckered!!!

I got there at 1:45pm, almost 22 hours and 95km into the event in 79th position, my highest position during the race. The problem was that I had not taken enough food in and was completely out of energy. I lay down inside under blankets to rest and shivered, without feeling cold, and my finger tips had some lack of feeling. I stayed at that station for 1hr 45min, ate a bit and got maybe a few minutes of sleep.

Once I decided to head out again, I did so with warm clothes on and at a much reduced effort level. In the time that I rested the fog had come in heavy and you could barely see 50m ahead of you. I took it very easy, especially on the uphills, resting every 50m just to be on the safe side. Quitting didn't really enter my mind - just what did I have to do to keep going.

The descent down to the Saint-Nazaire region took a toll on my body as once I hit the flats in town and on the road I didn't have much gas for running. I also had changed socks at Croix de Chamrousse and wasn't liking the socks I was wearing, especially on the pavement. This was really the only time during the event where I didn't like the course and the long jog-walk to the checkpoint as darkness fell was made better with a few other runners nearby.

I stayed in Saint-Nazaire for close to two hours, eating, drinking, getting a massage and finally sleeping for ~20minutes. Not that I cared, but I only dropped back 11 places during that time! I left at 11:15pm and started the next climb of 1200m in the dark - that one was tough. It was difficult not to stop and look at my phone to see how much I had climbed and how much I had left. I turned on my music for a little while but turned it off again soon as it was annoying me lol. I took a few breaks while climbing for the next 2.5 hours up 1100m

At the top of Chamechaude the winds were high and I could almost see my breathe. I had a jacket on, a toque and light gloves which felt warm enough. It was a relief to finally hit the top and start jogging down an open field towards the sound of cowbells - hmmm! was that a bull - I wonder if I could sprint if I had to? The refuge around the corner was an oasis, 4 hours after the last one - the longest time between checkpoints - a small rustic wood cabin nestled into the hillside with a warm fire and food layed on the tables inside. I spent long enough there that the checker volunteer came inside to see if the "Canadian was still here". I was a tad tuckered after 35 hours on the trail and trying hard to get enough food into me. I drank coke and ate the bread and I can't remember what else from the table.

From Chamechaude it is basically downhill from there - except for all of those ups of 100-400m (of vertical). At the second to last checkpoint in Le Sappey I curled up on a bench and was twitching while sleeping for 15 glorious minutes.

That gave me some energy for the last very steep climb of 400m up to Saint-Eynard where I was rewarded with a view of Grenoble up close. Interestingly, it didn't enter my mind that I would be able to finish at this time - I was too task oriented to think beyond the next steps. The descent from Saint-Eynard of 700m descent seemed to go on forever, down long switchbacks with a few runners pulling ahead of me though some of them were running the 95km event.

There was one last climb up to the Bastille (last green ridge in the pic above) and then the stairs and trail descent into the city of Grenoble. I was feeling fairly good at this point and pushed the pace, however, that lead to my right quadricep seizing up completely just before the bottom of the hill. Therefore the last couple of kilometres through town I had to hobble my way to the finish in just over 42 hours.

It took a while to hit me that I had actually finished a 100 miler in the mountains and I am still processing it.

Will I run another? Given that I am analyzing what I did well and what I could improve on, undoubtedly, but I have nothing planned except to heal up to be able hike in the Adirondacks' with Leonard at the end of September.

Lessons Learned

• My training rocked for this ultra, especially considering how different Gatineau Park is from the French Alps
• I had a great attitude during the event, happy, staying in the moment and dealing with the issues when they came up.
• I need to figure out my stomach issues. I may have taken in too much electrolyte and/or too much water. I had significant foot, ankle and lower leg swelling for four days after. My stomach was a problem at Bear Mountain 50 miler this spring as well.
• Some more strength work on the quads to make it easier to run down so many hills.
• It is amazing what you can do when you push your limits - I had never run through the night before let alone two nights for 170km and 11000m of elevation!!!