Ryan has enjoyed great support in his running from wife Vanessa and son Max |
you drop off slightly , suddenly you ’ re sitting in 50th position . That ’ s why I think last year was big for me … to go through some pretty low patches , but to come back and finish strong , and I ’ m hoping to have a good one this year . |
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moved well . It ’ s also good to see some of the training paying off . I also had a stress fracture after Lesotho , two years ago , and I think it ’ s taken me a long time to bounce back fully , because I had to take six months off running completely , and then slowly build back up to it . It took me a long time to get back to decent fitness – my coach , Jason Koop , said at the time that he thought it would take 18 months to two years – and I was like , Jeez , that seems like a long time , but he was right . Thankfully , I ’ ve had a really consistent last 18 months , and hopefully that will pay off in the next couple of months .
MA : Well , that answered my next question … why you chose to do the marathon at MUT instead of defend your Miler title . I was going to ask why the change , but I can see it ’ s because you ’ ve got the two big races coming up in Europe , which appear to be your main goal events this year .
RS : For sure , because I want to have one more go at UTMB . I ’ ve been focussing on that for a number of years now , and while there is a part of me that feels maybe I need to just go and do something new , there ’ s the other part of me that knows if I don ’ t give it one more go , I ’ m going to look back and regret having not done so . Having had that stress fracture , and maybe one or two results I wasn ’ t overly happy
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with last year , I feel like I ’ ve done some really good , consistent training under Jason . So , yeah , I ’ m putting a big focus on running Val d ’ Aran in July , where I ’ m doing the 110K race . It ’ s a European major , so it ’ s one tier down from UTMB , and it ’ ll offer a good level of competition , and I hope to have a good race there leading into UTMB .
MA : How many times have you actually tackled UTMB ?
RS : Four times , but with only one finish , so it hasn ’ t been my best event . In the first UTMB , I had glandular fever , and then the next time I had stomach issues . But being completely honest , I also think a lot of it became a mental aspect . My mental game has always been very strong , but I think when it comes to UTMB , maybe it hasn ’ t been . Then again , if you look at the elites , you ’ ll see that a lot of them have dropped out at UTMB as well . I guess it ’ s like taking 100 eggs and throwing them against a wall , and the 10 that don ’ t break are the guys that do well .
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UTMB has become such a competitive race that I feel like I need to be mentally and physically 110 % there , and you have to be aggressive and go out hard if you want to be up there . So , if you start the race feeling even slightly off , and then something happens and |
Having said that , what ’ s kept me in the sport for such a long time is actually the failures , and when things did not go according to plan . With the Western States , I had one or two really good runs early on , including finishing second in my first one , then one or two not so great races there and some disappointments , but then I came back to win it . You just need to keep going until you get it right , which is how I feel about UTMB . Granted , I need to be realistic that I had a better shot of winning UTMB some five to eight years ago , and I know I ’ m not getting any younger , so I do need to readjust my goals , but the dream is still to win it .
MA : On that , you ’ re in your early 40s now , and they say that it takes age to get better at the 100-miler distance . Do you think your age actually helps you in the longer races ?
RS : For sure ! As you say , 100-milers are harder to stick , but it ’ s quite interesting seeing a number of young guys just come out of nowhere and shoot the lights out . But I kind of feel sorry for the young upand-coming runners now , because it ’ s getting harder and harder to break through , because there are so many young , fast guys coming through the ranks . And you can get one guy that has an amazing race today , but then struggles for a couple of races . It ’ s hard to stay on top of your game .
MA : Last question on the MUT ... George seems to be getting quite a bit of publicity thanks to this event , and top international runners are coming to run there now , so what are your thoughts on George as a world-renowned trail running venue ?
RS : I think it ’ s amazing . As you mentioned earlier , last year I spent a lot of time training there , not just for the MUT , but also because in my opinion , George has the closest style of trails to Europe . I even went back there in July to train , but unfortunately , I slipped and injured my right knee ligaments . Luckily , it recovered
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Images : Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool & courtesy Ryan Sandes |