The Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, or UTMB, is widely regarded as the ultimate ultramarathon, often called the Super Bowl of trail running. For more than 20 hours, the world’s top athletes race from sunrise through nightfall and into the next day, covering roughly 106 miles and 32,940 feet of elevation across the Alps in France, Italy, and Switzerland. Along the way, they pass glaciers, alpine villages, towering peaks, and endless rugged terrain, all while keeping their minds and bodies laser-focused on the finish line. Don’t let the jaw-dropping scenery fool you: This race is brutal, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
Professional ultramarathoner Hayden Hawks knows the UTMB grind better than most. While he hasn’t yet run the full 174-mile course (he plans to tackle it this year), he’s dominated other UTMB events. In 2017, he won the 100K Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC) race, a key UTMB World Series event, in 10:24:11. He returned in 2024 to claim first again, shaving four minutes off his time and setting the second-fastest finish ever on that version of the course. Now, Hawks is gearing up for the full UTMB, armed with experience, strategy, and a few tricks to make it his best race yet.
Prepping at Altitude
Not everyone has the perks of being a HOKA-sponsored athlete, but Hawks knows how to maximize every advantage. For UTMB, he and his wife, Ashley, who is also a trail runner, didn’t just train—they uprooted their lives. The couple and their kids moved to Chamonix six to eight weeks beforehand, so Hawk could immerse himself in the mountains.
“I know everybody can’t do that, but as a professional athlete, I have the luxury of being able to do that,” Hawks said. “And so we come out here, we get on the trails, we get used to the weather, and I just prep as best I can for the race.”
Building Bulletproof Quads
Another key piece of Hawks’ training is quad-specific work. For a race like UTMB, uphill running alone isn’t enough. Climbing feels brutal because it shifts the load to your glutes, hamstrings, calves, and quads, but it’s the downhills that really punish your legs. That’s why Hawks incorporates targeted downhill training to make sure his quads are ready for the pounding ahead.
“Finding a way to load your quads and strengthen your quads to be able to handle the downhills is very important here,” he says. “What goes up must come down. And UTMB has 33,000 feet of elevation gain, and that means 33,000 feet of descending as well. It’s usually your quads that give out on you first in a race like this.” And so yeah, that’s what I try and do, is I do specific workouts where I actually run really hard downhill to train my quads so that they can then handle that pounding in the race.”
Race-Ready Essentials
Proper gear is another underrated tool Hawks swears by. A good pair of shoes can make or break your race, especially one as strenuous as UTMB. You’ll want traction for icy spots or loose gravel, plus enough cushioning to handle 20-plus hours on your feet. Beyond shoes, prep for the unpredictable mountain weather. A rain jacket, layered clothing, and a backpack to carry nutrition essentials are must-haves. And don’t forget the mandatory UTMB kit—though it might feel heavy, it’s essential for staying safe in the Alps.
“I know a lot of people complain about that mandatory kit,” Hawks says. “And they’re like, ‘Why do I have to carry so much?’ But you end up using quite a bit of it in a race like UTMB, just because the weather changes so much. Plus, you’re in the Alps, you’re in the mountains, you have to respect the mountains. The mountains are very unpredictable. And being able to be ready for all types of things that could come at you is really important.”
