Victory on the Ventoux

+ Notes on Preparation

The body was tired but the mind was not. With 10km to go, I went like my life depended on it. Without inhibition, without fear and found good power in the legs.

Cramps which had plagued me since hour 5 set their teeth. No panic, just urgency. Obstacles. Noise. Game. Signal.

I pried myself out of the bear-trap that was the last section of overgrown limestone and pillaged the downhill (losing my sunglasses to a lucky tree), sent the false flat with big breaths and sailed over the flats back to town.

I didn’t know how my body would respond to pushing at the end of the effort, and my elation at the finish was so much a thrill of victory as celebration of passing the test, a gratitude for the alignment of mind and body in spectacular context.

The race plan was to sit behind whoever wants to lead until 35km and turn the screws up the long (nearly 20km!) climb. But the Ben who hatched that plan is not the Ben who races.

I took the lead after 1h, having a grand time on the curvy single-track. On the flats and descents, I opened it up and lost myself to the good feelings of speed.

It was warm and on the long climb I started to doubt myself. Baptiste Chassagne caught up and looked bouncy. The obvious thing to do was glue myself to him and hope some of that freshness came my way.

It did not. But cramps did. My hamstrings locked up and I had to change my stride, hike for a couple seconds, stretch. When they relaxed I accelerated to get back on the strong wheel ahead.

Coming through the aid station at Mount Serein (52km) neither of us were sharp. It was a grueling effort to get to the summit of Mount Ventoux, but we were steady and patient so it was not so hard.

Off the top, a 14km descent. At times fast, then technical. Baptiste maintained his position in front. We didn’t say much. There was not much to say. I was enjoying the company.

When we hit the flats I pushed the pace to see how he would respond. It was not clear just how long we were going to stay glued together.

Sit and kick, I told myself. Wind it up. I took an extra flask of water at the last aid station, chugged it running, then a gel and some salt. Baptiste had inched ahead, but as I cruised back to him, I sensed something and went.

At first just keeping the pace honest then with increasing pressure then deliberate attack to a little col then I was committed and never looked back.

Race Prep

Comparing the period from last year (January through April) which culminated in a victory at MIUT on the same weekend, I did substantially less running in 2025.

• -40h, -200km, -35000m d+/-

I think everyone can admit that some percentage of training is counter-productive, making us less rather than more fit. The problem is, we don’t know how much.

My legs were not conditioned to handle the demands of the race, resulting in cramps for several hours. But the energy systems were fine and general vitality strong, giving me the ability to push at the end. So the adage that athletes are better off being 5% undertrained rather than 2% overtrained holds true.

Aftermath (legs sore to the touch) with the team.

How did the speed work interact with running an ultra? Running fast causes muscle damage, and it’s likely that I was a touch excessive at certain points during the race, but as you might expect it proved an invaluable competitive advantage.

Overall, I am happy with undercooking the build. I think we owe it to ourselves to get out of ingrained training patterns and try rethinking the basic problems. So with a victory and some important lessons learned, I turn the page.