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On August 10th, Kilian Jornet secured his 10th victory at Sierre-Zinal, the unofficial sub-ultra distance Super Bowl in Switzerland. Pushed to the end by Philemon Kiriago, Kilian also managed to better his course record by less than a second, edging out the Kenyan only narrowly. The performance itself was staggering – another masterpiece to add to the museum of Kilian’s career – but the context around it is what I find more interesting. Specifically, I want to focus on Kilian’s history at the race, his training, and lessons about longevity.
First, it’s worth underlining that this was Kilian’s TENTH victory at a race known to create legends. For anyone else, a single victory or podium performance at Sierre-Zinal is a career defining achievement. Those ten victories came in 13 starts, dating back to 2009 – the only non-winning days coming in 2011 (3rd), 2013 (4th), and 2022 (4th) when he raced with COVID in between Hardrock and UTMB. Thirteen races with 10 victories, never finishing lower than 4th, over a 15 year window. Simply astonishing levels of consistent high performance. For inquisitive trail fans like myself, you might wonder about the training and lifestyle considerations that contribute to the GOAT’s continued dominance. Well, lucky for us, Kilian wrote a whole post about it, published on his blog this week.
The entire post is worthy of multiple reads, but there are a couple things that felt especially salient to me. First, I really appreciate Kilian’s transparency, especially detailing the weight he allocates to the qualitative parts of his athletic life. The foundation of his training is described as “systemic health” – a constellation of lifestyle factors like circadian rhythm, stress management, and nutrition. Only once we have a healthy balance of these qualitative elements does the quantitative mix of volume, intensity, and environmental stimuli become relevant to performance. Though not a totally original thought, it’s comforting to hear that even the greats struggle with balancing the daily responsibilities of life and family, building fitness in often imperfect circumstances. Without systemic physical and mental health, it’s impossible to be a good athlete, even for Kilian.
Once that foundation is set, Kilian dives into the details of his training from both a macro and micro perspective. Like the rest of us, Kilian’s race competitions and personal projects anchor his annual calendar with specific blocks, strategically timed, building momentum into his goals. Systemic health is the bedrock, macro planning is the infrastructure, and specific training days are the guideposts of progress. Two weeks ago, I highlighted an uphill/flat workout from Kilian in the newsletter that likely acted as one of those guideposts. Another that caught my attention – one of Kilian’s final hard sessions before Sierre-Zinal – is also worthy of linking here. Registering GAP paces in 4:30s on a double ascent of a local hill with 30% grades, Kilian’s ridiculous talent is on full display. I simply don’t understand how anyone could compete with these types of numbers.
Importantly, in addition to solid systemic health and a deeply analytical approach to training, Kilian has the heart of a champion. Under his calm and self-described introverted demeanor, he is a ruthless competitor. The videos of his battle with Philemon in the closing meters of Sierre-Zinal exhibit the insane physical and mental force he can apply on opponents. Never giving up or settling for an impressive 2nd place, Kilian has the killer instinct of Michael Jordan. Even as the sport has risen to a new level, the 36 year old father of two still finds a way to win.
Finally, closing with an excerpt from Kilian’s blog:
“When we read training posts by athletes we often focus on the details (altitude, heat training, the specificity of the high intensity sessions, the tapering, etc) but we don’t really look to the BIG part of the work, that gives 90% of the performance (the volume, the lifestyle, the consistency during years, etc).”
This is perhaps the single biggest lesson from Kilian that we could all internalize. Reminiscent of Tom Evans’ “basics done well” philosophy, it really isn’t that complicated. Focus on health, work hard, with strategy, and do it for many years. Then you might be able to win Sierre-Zinal ten times. 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration, Kilian!
Miscellaneous Stuff
- Strava File Of The Week – In honor of Jeff Browning’s upcoming FKT attempt on the Colorado Trail, this week I dove into the file from existing record holder, Kyle Curtin. Just a casual 159hr, 487 mile Strava activity, NBD.
- Mozart 100k Video – This week, our friends at BOA released a video from my race at the Mozart 100k in Austria back in June. It turned out great, brilliantly capturing the challenge and the beauty of the race! Check it out if you need weekend motivation.
- Sierre-Zinal Broadcast – Speaking of Kilian, when you get the time, scroll through the Golden Trail World Series broadcast of the race. It has more than 100k views in less that a week – further evidence of increased public interest in our sport.
- UTMB Fantasy – Though not open for picks quite yet, we have the start lists uploaded for OCC, CCC, & UTMB on the fantasy site. It’s worth spending some time scrolling through each.
- What The Pros Are Eating – Frequent Freetrail contributor, Herbert Krabel, wrote a great piece this week dissecting the nutrition strategies of many of the top female finishers at Western States. This has been a hot topic of conversation, but one thing remains clear from Herbert’s research – there are still many different products and strategies contributing to great performances.
- Ben Dhiman’s UTMB Training – Last week I linked to a huge vertical training day from Ben and mentioned that I’m a religious reader of his Substack. This week, he sent a newsletter titled Metamorphisis that summarizes his UTMB training. It’s worth reading.
- Joyline Chepngeno Has Arrived – One of the great stories from Sierre-Zinal was women’s champion Joyline Chepngeno. Only beginning her running journey a year ago, Joyline emerged victorious in her first race ever. No doubt we’ll see more of her, including this weekend at Tatra SkyMarathon.
Thanks for reading!
Love,
DBo