We've teamed up with The North Face to see just how fast Pau Capell's UTMB
pace really is. Now, we couldn't get all the way out to Chamonix, so we've come here, the Peak District.
If you haven't heard of Pau Capell or UTMB, welcome to the elite
world of other ultra running. UTMB is an infamous 171 km race and
Pau Capell won the title back in 2019. And this year he's back and aiming to break his own
record to go sub 20 hours. Let's see if we've got any UTMB
champions amongst our team. Now, Pau's given us some very kind of rough estimates of what he'll be
aiming for, but really we just want to see whether we could all be elite ultra runners. So we're going to be
aiming for 3:50 per km on a flat section. Then 4:30
per km on the downhill and then 5:00 per km on the uphill.
Let's see how we do. How are we feeling?
Good? Yeah. Let's go.
Let's do this. Let's go.
In three, two, one, go.
36 seconds, 39. It's a pass Jonny.
Well done, guys. Smashed it.
Could you imagine doing that within 100 miles race?
Absolutely not.
And this is just steady.
And also isn't he at altitude when he does these things as well?
We've come to the closest thing the UK can offer.
Incredible. Right, should we step it up?
Yeah. Should we go downhill?
Yeah, I love a bit downhill.
Let's go. So how do we feel about the next one?
I'm looking forward to it, I can't lie. I feel like the first one went by quite fairly smoothly for all of us, if we can agree.
Yeah. I felt it in my hammies.
Yeah, my legs are feeling it. And we're only slightly going uphill now.
Downhill is going to be all quads.
Yes, it is. Oh, my God. Downhill's trash your quads.
Yeah. And when you're doing long races, like, Pau does it be and stuff,
you've got to manage the downhills. You can't just slide down them as fast as you can because they do trash your quads.
And then when you go back up, your legs are useless.
We have the luxury of only doing this for about 200 meters, and also we haven't then got to do,
so we're doing flat, then we're going downhill, then we're going uphill, then we're done.
In his 100 miles, he's going to be going down a bit, then up a bit, then like across a bit,
then really up a bit, then down a bit, then stopping at an aid station while we're out doing all of these
crazy challenges, would you ever consider taking on UTMB 100 miles with 10,000 plus meters of elevation?
It's a pretty intense race. Would you ever want to take something like that on?
Or which TRC Presenter would you like to see take this on
please don't pick me. This is really hard. Let's carry on time for the downhill.
We've got 60 seconds to get to the red cone and that is 4:30 per kilometer pace.
Anna, any words of wisdom?
I love a bit of downhill. I don't know about anyone else. This doesn't feel like it's like savage enough, though.
I mean, I don't know. Me and Mo aren't feeling so confident on this one. As a seasoned trail runner. Anna, what are your tips for the downhill?
Stick your arms out and make aeroplane noises. Perfect.
Seriously, look ahead. Pick the point that you want to do and always be thinking one step
ahead. Don't get to the point where you need to step and be like, I've not thought where I'm going to put my foot.
Three, two, one, go.
So similar to if you run an Ultra. We've had one of our cones has gone missing.
I think you've done races before where like, self
nav, so we had to self nav that, which meant that it was actually 300 meters rather than 200.
Much like a trail race.
Much like a trail race. Jonny, the producer has just told us that we needed to do it in 1 minute.
So we needed to do it rather than in 1 minute. It became 1 minute 30 seconds.
So that means, you did it! That Mo did it! Mo did it 1:28.
I was 3 seconds off, I was 1 minute 33 and I was 143. Just goes to show how
savage downhills are. And now we're stepping it up again. How do we reckon we're going to fare on the uphill?
Stay tuned for some more weird noises as we attempt to go uphill.
So we're just making our way up through the bracken for the final uphill challenge.
I'm not sure how this one's going to go. I guess it's worth giving a bit of context as to why we're doing it.
If you've never heard of Pau Capell or UTMB, where have you been?
The UTMB is the highlight of the Trail and Ultra running calendar and Pau Capell is no stranger to it.
And back in 2020, he tried to break 20 hours for UTMB, which has never been done.
He didn't manage it then, but this year he's back trying to break 20 hours for this incredible race.
And, The North Base have created an amazing, inspiring, brand new film for 2022
titled Road To Breaking 20, looking at Pau's journey to UTMB. So if you want to go check it out,
then head to the link in the description of this video because you can go watch this
film that Pau Capell and The North Face have put together. It is an incredible watch and we
are so excited to see what he can do at UTMB this year. So go and follow UTMB because it
promises to be an incredible race. And now let's try and run as fast as he can.
Uphill 1 minute 37, 5:00 per km pace.
That's pretty quick. It's a long way, isn't it?
It's not happening for any of us.
Come on, believe. Last run of the day. We need to channel our inner breaking 20 Pau Capell.
For reference, Pau Capell's pace on this is
5:00 per km, which translates to a 25 minute park run.
So he's running up that hill at 25 minutes parkrun pace, just
like let that sink in for a minute. Whilst doing 100 miles. Yeah. How many parkruns is that?
About 34 parkruns.
Imagine, you know how, like, everyone often breaks down runs into chunks?
I highly doubt Pau does this, but imagine if he was like
that's 27 parkruns to go.
What do you think he listens to when he runs?
He doesn't.
It's just straight just runs. Nature, nature, nature's playlist.
In three, two, one, go.
I'm going to die.
How was was it? Wow.
Go on, Sarah. That's all I had.
Go on Sarah.
What did we need to do it in? 1:37? Yes!
Well done, we got an ultramarathonist on our hands.
I think Anna's approach will definitely get her lasting longer because I couldn't do
more than 300 at whatever pace we've just done.
You just missed out on the downhill and brought it back to the uphill.
I know. Well, technically I did 1:37 and 34 of a second.
We'll round that down.
Let's round it down.
But there is zero way
I'd be able to do that for any further. How about you?
I felt exactly the same. I mean, I did get the time, but
give me literally five more meters and I would have redlined.
My aid station would have to be here.
Yeah.
And I would have to probably spend
about 5 hours here. Yeah.
The fact that he can do that pace uphill
makes no sense to me. Wow.
What an absolutely incredible day out on the trails. Have you guys enjoyed it?
Yeah, beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful. But also very brutal. I have definitely so
much more respect, or I already did have respect, but even more so now that we've actually had a go at it at the
Ultra runners and Pau, who's going to be taking on UTMB.
Absolute best of luck from everyone at The Running Channel.
Anna, you're going to be there so you'll be able to see it up
close and remember how hard this is.
I know, right? Half out, plenty of high fives to him as he flies past.
So definitely track UTMB this year. It promises to be an absolutely phenomenal race.
And if you want to see the pros in action, then definitely go and check out Pau's film. All the information is
in the description of this video. We're going to go for a lie down and we'll see you next time. And some water.