The stars aligned for ultrarunning legend Kilian Jornet to book his spot at Western States – and things also look to be coming together nicely for the race itself on 28th June.
The Catalan superstar needed a ‘Golden Ticket’ if he was to line up in the iconic American race 15 years on from his unforgettable debut in 2010, which was etched into trail running folklore by the film ‘Unbreakable’.
Jornet’s one real chance to bag that ticket was by virtue of a top-three finish at Chianti Ultra-Trail by UTMB in March, but he was a big doubt to start that as the birth of his third child was imminent.
But he and wife Emelie Forsberg celebrated the arrival of a third daughter in time for Jornet to be able to travel from Norway to Italy to compete in the 120km race in the famous Tuscan wine region.
And he treated everyone to a thrilling spectacle as the last three winners of UTMB went head to head – American Jim Walmsley coming out on top this time while Jornet and Frenchman Vincent Bouillard had a brilliant battle for second, in which Jornet just prevailed.
But what was noticeable – especially on the flat and going downhill – was that Kilian was limping at times.
Training smarter
And in a new film called ‘A Different Athlete Now’, which is embedded below, Jornet reveals he’s had to tread carefully to manage the issue in his knee which he says has been TFL [Tensor Fascia Latae].
Looking back first to that 2010 debut, he says: “I think now I’m a much better athlete. I can run faster and am performing much better than at that time. But I’m much older, I’m 37 now. Recovery takes longer. I know that my recovery is not as good as before.
“You need to train smarter than at that time when I was just going up to the mountains and I didn’t really think about training, I was just spending hours outside.
“And now I’m trying to train very specifically because I need to do that at my age, at this time of my career.
“Performance is only the maximum expression of health. So you need to think health first. And if you are healthy then you can train more, you can make better adaptions.
“To perform we need to be very, very healthy so the two go together.”
‘Running Chianti didn’t really help’
The film provides fascinating insights into his prolonged work on heat adaptation and sodium absorption which he says he’s been doing “a few times every week for a few months.”
That’s some challenge anyway but all the more so at home in Norway when the temperature is five degrees Celsius as opposed to the searing heat of the Californian desert, which temporarily halted him back in 2010.
All the while though he has been managing the TFL issue, explaining: “I have been with knee pain for some months now – and running Chianti didn’t really help with that.
“So now I’m mostly trying to keep the running to the minimum and it’s working well. The pain is disappearing so I think I will keep doing only the specific training on running and the rest with the bike until the pain really disappears.”
And as the film goes on he’s able to start re-introducing more and more running, suggesting he should be in prime form at the end of June.
His last appearance at Western States was just 12 months after his debut as he returned to California and won in a course record time.
And with an incredibly stacked field lining up this year, there’s every chance Walmsley’s record mark of 14:09:28 from 2019 could be under threat later this month.
