Sierre Zinal – Elite Race.
Last Friday, pretty much out of nowhere, we found out about a very special edition of the mythical race Sierre Zinal happening with just a handful of elite athletes.
This might also be the first time in our sport that we’ve seen a race field made up of only an elite field participating. What do you think about that? Is this trend that you see happening in the near future with their big races? Something that’s always been nice about our sport is that everyone participates and competes together, unlike other sports where elite athletes are separated from the rest of us.
The winners of the day? Maude and Kilian managed to revalidate their titles, beating a very deep field of solid women and men, who all ran hard from the gun while seeking a win in one of the few ‘big’ races we’ve had so far this year.
You can watch the video with some highlights here
WHAT INSPIRED US THIS WEEK
What to read:
Ok, this doesn’t have a direct relation to our sport. Well, but at the same time it does…and in a big way. The most iconic figure in our sport (Yep, Kilian Jornet) just launched his foundation with the main mission of protecting the mountains and their environment. So more than just posting on Instagram, this time Kilian is taking concrete action to address current problems involving the environment by backing (with the foundation) studies in the area, and also putting a lot of emphasis on the education side of things.
What to read:
With races cancelled, COVID-time is a great chance to challenge yourself and try something new in your training. In this article from the SCMP, Italian mountain running champion Francesco Puppi talks about why speed building is crucial for every trail runner…and how even if you train on the pavement, you can become a faster runner on the trails.
You can read the article here (and look out for a Vert.run shoutout!)
What to watch:
It’s been almost a month since Pau Capell tried to go under 20 hours on the UTMB course with his project ‘Breaking20’. Even though we all know the result by now, there hasn’t been a lot of footage or interviews with him after the project, so we leave you with this short video of him talking about his FKT attempt and some images of it.
What to listen to:
We leave you with one of the latest episodes of “The Well” (Dylan Bowman’s podcast) in which he interviews ultrarunner Jason Schlarb. In the podcast, Dylan and Jason talk about a broad range of things; anything from anecdotes of races, a little bit of Jason trajectory and his success in ultra distance (especially 100 miles), the role of consistency in training and of course, how this weird year has made him a better person by being more present and willing to work on his own personal issues.
You can listen to the interview here.
Like we said back in June, we’ll be donating each month–and encourage you to donate–to a different running group within the Black running and outdoor community. The organization for this month: The Melanin Basecamp.
