Tom Evans from the U.Okay. returns to the 2024 UTMB after a third-place end in 2022 and a disappointing DNF in 2023. On this interview, he talks about how he ready for the particular calls for of UTMB, how his winter cross-country operating season is translating into extremely racing, and what he hopes to realize this lap round Mont Blanc.
For extra on who’s racing, take a look at our in-depth males’s and ladies’s previews and comply with our dwell race protection beginning Friday.
Tom Evans Pre-2024 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Tom Evans. It’s a few days earlier than the 2024 UTMB. We discover ourselves right here once more in Chamonix. Hello, Tom.
Evans: Meghan, thanks a lot for having me. And yeah, you’ve chosen an exquisite spot and also you’ve introduced the good sunshine with you as properly.
iRunFar: Properly, you’re the native right here, so I really feel such as you’re the one who’s extra controlling the climate.
Evans: Oui, c’est vrai!
iRunFar: Okay, so that you have been right here on the beginning line final yr, you’ve been right here on the beginning line prior to now, however I believe it’s possibly a distinct Tom Evans right here this yr.
Evans: I raced right here for the primary time in, or for the primary UTMB, in 2022 and had…
iRunFar: A tremendous race.
Evans: Yeah. It’s very uncommon that issues don’t go incorrect in races, and sure, there have been some issues that didn’t go completely, however there was no second the place I assumed, “I’m having a extremely low second.” And I undoubtedly didn’t discover the race straightforward, however I didn’t actually wrestle at factors. I ran in addition to I may have performed, and I couldn’t have been happier. So I then got here right here in 2023, form of anticipating to have the identical factor.
iRunFar: A enjoyable little march via the mountains.
Evans: Yeah. By that time, I had performed Western States twice, and had two good outcomes. I’d performed UTMB as soon as and had outcome. So I simply thought, “Oh, 100 miles, that is straightforward.”
iRunFar: I discovered 100 mile operating.
Evans: Precisely. When are having dangerous days, I’m like, how is…
iRunFar: You simply haven’t cracked the nut but.
Evans: Yeah, precisely, that is… So yeah, I used to be undoubtedly introduced right down to earth and realized what a hundred-mile race within the mountains can do as a result of it would chew you up and spit you out. So a really, very completely different mentality and really completely different coaching, each when it comes to the whole lot, from areas to the velocity work to the periods that I’ve been doing. Every part this yr has been completely different, and I suppose in a approach seems just like my Western States construct up, however very completely different on the identical time. Very comparable construction, very comparable hours, however essentially completely different as a result of once we speak about coaching, we speak about you prepare for the calls for of the race.
And everybody can do that, so you may work out, okay, so as to do that race, what have I really bought to have the ability to do? And you then work backwards from that. Okay, properly what do my coaching periods appear like so as to take me one step nearer to what I have to do on this race? So yeah, this yr has been, what are the calls for of the race? Okay, cool. I do know that. I’ve run CCC twice, UTMB one and practically a half instances, and I really feel like I do know what I have to do so as to put myself able to have a extremely good day. However once more, it’s 100- mile racing and also you try to management what you may management, however typically it really works, typically it doesn’t. However yeah, undoubtedly completely different bodily and completely different mentally, coming into this yr.
iRunFar: Final summer time, you tried to attach the dots of the grey to Western States-UTMB double, which is only a… It is a difficult race, that’s a tough race, after which getting them each proper in a single summer time is, I don’t know, one of many hardest issues on this sport proper now. This yr you’re taking, from the surface trying in anyhow, a way more conventional 100-mile construct. You probably did begin off with a reasonably non-traditional winter in relation to lengthy distance operating. You began with a cross-country season, which is actually cool.
Evans: I did. Within the UK, and I believe in Europe particularly, cross nation is the basics of operating, it’s the place I began operating, it’s the place everybody, of their native operating golf equipment, it’s what you do in winter. And in a approach it’s like path operating as a result of splits don’t actually matter. I believe the cross nation racing within the US is actually cool, nevertheless it’s additionally actually quick as a result of quite a lot of it’s on golf programs, it’s not muddy, it’s usually not hilly. Whereas I’m doing my county championship, my state championships, was round 4 farmer’s fields, and in case you can say 4 farmer’s fields rapidly, you’re doing properly.
iRunFar: I’ll attempt however I’m happy with you for that.
Evans: And in locations, you’re knee-high in mud. So in case you really feel such as you’re operating three minutes per kilometer or 5’30” a mile, and really in actuality you’re operating seven minutes a mile, and it doesn’t matter as a result of it’s the trouble.
iRunFar: You’re making an attempt so onerous. Yeah.
Evans: So I suppose it’s just like operating within the mountains. Understanding, sure, it’s a brief race, it’s 10 kilometers so it’s simply over half-hour. However yeah, I suppose all of these, you don’t fear about these metrics, you simply run on really feel and it’s a race. It doesn’t matter who’s on the first nook first. Identical as right here. It doesn’t matter who will get to Les Houches first, it doesn’t matter who will get to Vallorcine first, the winner is the one who will get again to Chamonix first. And I believe it’s similar to cross nation. So I additionally bought to race, I’ve raced 13 instances this yr, that’s in all probability essentially the most out of anybody. So quite a lot of them have been shorter, 10 kilometers, eight kilometers.
iRunFar: Had been 9 of them, 10 of them, cross nation?
Evans: Yeah, I’ve performed three chair races this yr.
iRunFar: Okay, cool.
Evans: So it’s been a extremely cool approach. I’ve been in a position to observe race week. I’ve been in a position to observe different issues that you simply don’t wish to make these errors within the day. So yeah, I transitioned from cross nation, culminating in racing the cross-country world championships.
iRunFar: You guys did actually good there.
Evans: Yeah, we did actually good. I had a little bit of a niggle going into it, however managed to handled it and nonetheless managed to complete within the prime third, which was nice. And I used to be tremendous joyful and a very nice well-earned… Yeah, that was the purpose for the start a part of the yr. And I then transitioned from there and had 5 weeks till Transvulcania. So I recovered and did some coaching and was actually pleased with my race in Transvulcania, ending joint second. I used to be actually nervous, I’d not been on coaching camp, I’d not performed any climbing, I’d not performed any lengthy descents, however really the cross-country velocity and conditioning I suppose had performed enormous dividends and really then discovered it actually very simple to get again into doing lengthy runs.
iRunFar: That’s attention-grabbing.
Evans: It was actually attention-grabbing. After which-
iRunFar: I suppose it’s since you’ve opened up your excessive finish to this point that the center and the decrease finish just-
Evans: Comparatively straightforward.
iRunFar: Oh, that’s attention-grabbing.
Evans: Which is actually attention-grabbing. So I suppose we’ve tried to hold that throughout, and even now nonetheless maintaining a bit of little bit of that in. And I used to be presupposed to race at Zugspitze, however I didn’t due to this little niggle that was hanging round and at last bought that sorted to race Lavaredo. However once more, as a result of I had been coping with this, I hadn’t been on coaching camp, I’d been coaching at dwelling, and many time on the treadmill. So simply making an attempt to get issues dialed in. And once more, actually pleased with the efficiency at Lavaredo and simply over 12 minutes behind the King of Lavaredo, Hannes [Namberger], and you’ll’t, at that race, if anybody’s going to beat you, it’s-
iRunFar: It’s okay to be crushed by Hannes.
Evans: It’s okay to be crushed, you’re the subsequent greatest individual on that course. So yeah, I used to be actually pleased with that. After which I’ve gone straight from Lavaredo, I’ve solely been dwelling for six nights since Lavaredo, or spent a few weeks in Chamonix, and nearly two months in [Les] Tines. Yeah, the final 12 weeks has been extremely conventional ultrarunning, 100 miles, purpose being operating round Mont Blanc.
iRunFar: Final yr once we interviewed you earlier than the race, you talked so much about, you felt like one in every of your weaknesses was getting ready to run via the evening, and I believe that’s the place you had challenges finally. Wanting again, now that you’ve got the hindsight of 1 actually nice expertise at UTMB, a much less nice one, and likewise your CCC experiences, what kind of hindsight imaginative and prescient are you bringing ahead with you to Friday, Saturday?
Evans: I believe at evening, I suppose that’s being ticked off, that’s the explanation I raced Lavaredo.
iRunFar: Okay.
Evans: You get the perfect-
iRunFar: It’s an evening race.
Evans: It’s an evening race. You get to run. It was a 12-hour race, I began at 11:00 p.m.
iRunFar: You have been destined to do this one, your physique simply determined that for you.
Evans: The race that I pulled out of, it was additionally an evening race. There was logic in choosing a race that began at evening as a result of I needed an entire run via the evening as a result of I’m usually not that comfy operating at evening. So there’s methodology, once more, we work again, what are the calls for of the race? Working at evening.
iRunFar: I bought to determine nighttime.
Evans: How do I determine that out? What’s the most effective lamp for me to make use of? Is the most effective lamp for me the most effective lamp for everybody else? Possibly, possibly not. And so yeah, I believe that’s modified. And I believe the large factor for me is persistence. I’ve all the time preferred speeding issues, whether or not it’s in school or racing. I like entrance operating. I believe these days it’s, I couldn’t let you know the final time a person entrance run in any main race from the very, very starting.
iRunFar: Who sticks it then?
Evans: Who sticks it? And I believe particularly a race like right here, the final time right here would’ve been Pau Capell, and that was an unimaginable race, and I believe left everybody pretty speechless. And I’m not saying that I don’t suppose that may occur. I can’t do this. That’s not my fashion of racing. My fashion of racing is that if I can management the primary half, I’m then in a position to race the second half, relatively than making an attempt to race the second half, then I’m not in a position to management something within the second half. Like I discovered final yr, and the tempo was approach too sizzling final yr, and each Jim [Walmsley] and Zach [Miller] had actually, actually low moments. They managed to tug it collectively, they managed to get via it, and ended up having unimaginable runs. However you evaluate, from final yr, Germain [Grangier]’s run in comparison with Jim and Zach’s and-
iRunFar: Two completely different animals, wasn’t it?
Evans: Two fully completely different types of racing. And so yeah, undoubtedly the extra conservative strategy at first, making an attempt to be affected person. And I believe it’s going to be a reasonably difficult yr this yr as a result of it’s going to be sizzling, however I don’t suppose it’s going to be loopy sizzling, nevertheless it’s nonetheless going to be sizzling. It’s like a Western States and folks say, “Oh, it’s not a sizzling yr.” Yeah, it’s still-
iRunFar: 90 one thing levels. Yeah.
Evans: It’s nonetheless going to be sizzling and it feels approach hotter right here. And particularly the climb popping out of Courmayeur, it’s actually sizzling, it’s actually humid, it’s actually sticky. And I believe that will likely be a serious a part of the race, and someplace the place we’ve recognized the place it’s, yeah, have just a few methods for getting via that half. And yeah, I believe simply approaching it at far more of a, taking a step again and the whole lot from a hundred-mile perspective relatively than it as a, that is simply an extension from a Western States.
iRunFar: Properly, you nailed it if you stated a couple of minutes in the past that the race shouldn’t be received in Vallorcine, the race is received on the end line. And the persistence factor is the reward, if you are able to do that.
Evans: For positive. However regardless whether or not it’s profitable a race, the race finishes right here, it’s not a 100k race, it’s not a hundred-mile race, it’s 107-mile race. You need to get right here. And so, one in every of my large targets this yr is ending.
iRunFar: To get right here.
Evans: To race sensibly. And if I actually wrestle and I find yourself climbing the final 15 hours, which I actually hope I don’t, it’s my fault, and now you’ve bought to dwell with the results. It’s really easy to tug out of races, and the extra you pull out of races, the better it then turns into. And I so practically pulled out at Lavaredo as a result of I’d gone via the evening, that was the principle, it was proper, we predict we’ve sorted out your nighttime, let’s undergo it. So when it bought to sunlight, I used to be like, “Oh, I simply pull out, it’ll be straightforward.”
iRunFar: Apply what I have to observe.
Evans: Yeah, precisely. I practiced what I have to observe and now it’s very easy. So yeah, the extra you pull out, the better it turns into. So I believe for me, sticking in when it bought actually powerful at Lavaredo, which it did, as a result of I wasn’t ready, this has now been a very nice full circle second that now I really feel extremely calm and able to give it a extremely good shot on Friday evening.
iRunFar: Superb. We sit up for seeing you do the complete hundred miles, or 109 miles or no matter that is, and seeing you again in Chamonix.
Evans: Hopefully have a post-race interview.
iRunFar: There we go.
Evans: Thanks very a lot.
