France’s Ludovic Pommeret comes to the 2024 UTMB after winning the 2024 Hardrock 100 just seven weeks ago. In the following interview, Ludovic talks about his two-week family vacation in the U.S. after that race, including wildlife encounters, the two laps of the UTMB course that he’s done as part of his training since then, and what it’s like to come back to a race that he first lined up for 20 years ago.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage starting Friday.
Ludovic Pommeret Pre-2024 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar, I’m here with Ludo Pommeret. It’s a couple of days before the 2024 UTMB. Last time we met was in my country at Hardrock and now I’m meeting in yours at UTMB. Hi, Ludo.
Ludovic Pommeret: Hi, Meghan.
iRunFar: How are you doing?
Pommeret: Not so bad, you know? It’s nice also. It’s not the same country, but yeah, it’s a nice mountain also. More snow.
iRunFar: A little bit more snow.
Pommeret: And the race will be lower than in Silverton.
iRunFar: The same amount of altitude change, but lower altitude overall.
Pommeret: Average is, I don’t know what is the average in fact here, but I think the highest point is something around 2,500 meters. I don’t know in feet.
iRunFar: The lowest point of Hardrock.
Pommeret: Yeah. That’s your racing. That’s your level.
iRunFar: That’s right. Exactly. Let’s talk about the last seven weeks. It’s seven weeks between Hardrock and UTMB. What has that looked like for you? That’s not that much time to put between two very big hundred-mile races.
Pommeret: Yeah, it seems quite a long time ago, so-
iRunFar: Okay. It does. That’s good.
Pommeret: Yeah, I spend two weeks more in U.S.A.
iRunFar: Okay.
Pommeret: And yeah, we were hiking Yellowstone and Grand Teton, so that was nice to visit first the country and to start again training by this kind of hiking. So hiking in Grand Teton is really tricky. We tried to reach Grand Teton, but the last part is a really tricky one.
iRunFar: Very technical, right?
Pommeret: Yeah.
iRunFar: Yeah. And you had said at Hardrock that you really wanted to see a bear in America. You did not see it while you were at Hardrock, but did you see a bear?
Pommeret: We saw a black bear at Yellowstone.
iRunFar: Very good.
Pommeret: And it was quite close, so it was nice.
iRunFar: You feel you had your wildlife experience?
Pommeret: Yeah, yeah. We see a lot of animals in Yellowstone. We see two wolves also.
iRunFar: Oh. Actually, that’s very lucky.
Pommeret: Yeah. So, it was good.
iRunFar: Awesome. And then you took a two-week break, you did some hiking, you were on vacation. And then when you returned to Europe, is that when you sort of started training again, or what has the training part looked like?
Pommeret: Yeah, when I came back, just the day after I arrived, we had the Hoka training camp and so I-
iRunFar: I came straight away.
Pommeret: Yeah, just arrived on Sunday and then Monday morning I was here just to do the UTMB in three stage. And so we start again quite fast to run again. And after that, the week after, I did again with other guys, the UTMB course in three days. So that was a good training.
iRunFar: So am I sensing that there’s a pattern with you and your preparations for these races at Hardrock? You made two loops before the race and same thing here.
Pommeret: Yeah, yeah. Usually, I do only one, but this time was like this. So it’s good to train and to spend some time with other runners during these three days. So to mix the preparation and enjoy with friends.
iRunFar: One of the things I think I learned about you at Hardrock was how methodical you are about the course and how much I think it helps you to know the course, to know what’s coming. This is a course, I mean you’ve been around it twice this year, but you also know it quite well from the past too. For you, does it help you that you really know the UTMB course?
Pommeret: Yeah, it helps because you can plan and manage your effort, manage where you will take maybe more food because you know that it’ll be a big uphill. And when you can have water and you don’t need to carry all your water from the station, you can have safe water, let’s say… So yeah, it helps. And of course, I don’t need to do again this UTMB before the race, but as I said, it’s mainly to enjoy some three days where we are focused with friends on the race and spending time together.
iRunFar: During your training and your loops around Mont Blanc, how has your body felt? Do you feel like you have recovered from Hardrock or how is it?
Pommeret: My coach says yes. On my side, I don’t know exactly because I did these two UTMB really slow, slow pace. So I don’t know if I could go faster because during race I should be faster. But let’s see on Friday. We still have four days to race.
iRunFar: I also feel like maybe there’s a pattern because you said sort of the same thing the week before Hardrock. I don’t know where I am.
Pommeret: Yeah, I am never really confident what is my shape. And I could never say that yeah, for sure, I’m ready. I know that I have done what I think it’s the good thing to do before the race, that I did a good training. But I don’t know if the training plan was the good one for the race. It was for sure the good one for Hardrock. I don’t know if it would be the good one for UTMB.
iRunFar: We cross the fingers for UTMB.
Pommeret: Thanks.
iRunFar: You have been around UTMB for I guess it’s-
Pommeret: 20 years.
iRunFar: Yeah. I mean you have seen the full evolution of this event too, where it was a small race with a couple hundred runners to, it’s starting to become a week-long festival, to where it’s really busy in Chamonix even a week before the race starts. Talk about a little bit about how it feels to sort of watch that progress and how it feels to be in it today compared to that.
Pommeret: Yeah, 20 years ago. So 20 years ago was my first participation in UTMB 2004. Yeah, you can subscribe maybe one month before. So that’s really different.
iRunFar: Yeah. Can’t do that anymore.
Pommeret: No, it doesn’t work. You will not have a bib. And yeah, it was not the same, but even for me it was not the same because it was not the same objective when I was starting 20 years ago. Objective was just to reach the [finish] line, even if I failed. And now the objective is to have a time to perform on the race. So that’s a change. Also on my side, I think in the middle of, let’s say in the pack, the spirit is almost the same than the beginning. But yeah, for elite athletes it’s a bit different because there’s a lot of media, a lot of pressure for… Not pressure, but expectation from partners. And yeah, if you do a good race, it could be better, good for you for the next, for your life-
iRunFar: It’s a career-changing performance.
Pommeret: Yeah it could be, for sure.
iRunFar: But you said, I don’t know that the spirit still feels the same once you’re out on the course. Yes and no, maybe?
Pommeret: Yes. I think in the middle, yes. When you are in the front, we are speaking maybe less than when we were in the back, but when I did Diagonale de Fous with my wife last year, I feel again the same spirit, that you can exchange more with the runners that are around. Even if in the front when we are together, we exchange some words with other runners. But yeah, we are not spending too much time by talking.
iRunFar: Saving your energy a little.
Pommeret: Yeah, try to save. Everything is quite important. Save your energy from the beginning. Even if you can speak, you should avoid.
iRunFar: My last question for you. You’re running two 100-mile races this summer and in my mind, they’re almost exact opposites. Small race in the mountains of Colorado, not so many entrants, a few people cheering, to this race, which is the biggest, most famous, the most media.
Pommeret: Yeah. That’s opposite for this, for a number of people for the cheering, as you say. But that’s quite similar for the trails.
iRunFar: It’s true. Yeah.
Pommeret: It’s not the same. I would not say that between Western States and Hardrock or Western States and UTMB. That’s a bit different, but it’s quite similar between Hardrock and UTMB. I think Hardrock is a bit more tricky some part, but maybe it’s a bit faster on UTMB and more runnable. So yeah, it’s similar for the trails.
iRunFar: It’s actually, you make a really good point about how similar it is, the running part, but then how different it is, the landscapes, the culture, the other things.
Pommeret: Yeah, yeah, for sure. That’s really different. And you should manage also all these cheering when you are in Notre Dame de la Gorge at the beginning.
iRunFar: Don’t run too fast.
Pommeret: Yeah, not run too fast.
iRunFar: Don’t give all your energy away there.
Pommeret: No, but it’s incredible. I don’t know how many thousands of people you have and it’s noisy with bells, with everything. And then maybe after 500 meters, you are again in the mountain.
iRunFar: In the quiet.
Pommeret: And you will enjoy all the night. Not alone, but yeah, really quiet.
iRunFar: Close to alone.
Pommeret: So just enjoy this part and you will find quieter a place later on.
iRunFar: I love that.
Pommeret: Like Hardrock.
iRunFar: Yeah, like Hardrock. Well, I wish you the best of luck in making this loop around Mont Blanc and in your second 100 miler the summer.
Pommeret: Yeah, thanks. Hope to see you on Sunday. Not too late on Sunday. Saturday, sorry.
iRunFar: Yeah, I was going to say.
Pommeret: On Sunday, it’s not good.
iRunFar: Let’s see each other at the finish line on Saturday.
Pommeret: Okay, thanks.
