Mont blanc marathon training plan, preparation of our ambassadors!

Maeva Danish

After completing Zegama and the 2x40km of the Euskaltrail, Maëva boosted her mental strength, completed a training block with volume and planned a peak in form for the Mont-Blanc Marathon.

How long have you been preparing for the race?

“I’ve been preparing for this goal since the winter restart! It’s my main goal for 2023. I’ve had this marathon in my head since the finish line of the previous edition. I’ve been back to Chamonix several times since then to get more familiar with the course: going back through the sections where I blew a few fuses last year, reviewing the descents where I wasn’t comfortable. I’ve been learning from every race I’ve done since the 2022 edition to get better and learn mountain racing.”

Does your preparation consist of specific blocks? If so, which block are you currently in?

“The preparation is structured as follows: three weeks of high intensity and one week of assimilation. We plan the weeks with two muscle strengthening sessions of 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, two sessions specifically for hills/descents/transitions, a long session of Pacing in the mountains, and basic endurance outings. Currently, I am in the sharpening phase, perhaps one of the hardest blocks to manage.”

And that’s the most important thing for me today: to be the happiest at this start, to recognize this chance to live and vibrate at the heart of a race like the Mont Blanc Marathon.”

How are you going to manage the end of your preparation to arrive in good shape and not too tired?

“I will arrive in Chamonix a week before the race. To acclimatize and especially because this environment is beautiful and perfectly calming, this is what I need most before lining up on the Place du Triangle de l’Amitié: to be in a suitable place so that I can regenerate mentally. We did a final reminder of race pace on Sunday with Julien, my coach. Now that the body is adjusted, it will be necessary to align the head. And that is the most important thing for me today: to be the happiest at this start, to recognize this chance to live and vibrate at the heart of a race like the Mont Blanc Marathon.”

If we had to do a specific session to prepare for this race, which one would you give?

“The specific session that brought me a lot during this preparation and certainly the Pacing session: maintaining my racing heart rate for 1 hour on mountain terrain. Thanks Polar for the Polar H10 heart rate monitor connected to my Polar Pacer Pro by the way!”

What is the longest outing of your preparation? Do your long outings allow you to test your nutrition (gels, bars, drinks, etc.)?

“It’s simply the sequence of 2x40km EUSKAL TRAIL a month ago. This sequence allowed me to unblock the fear of distance.”

Anthony Felber

Anthony made an impression on Annecy at the end of May during the Marathon Race. By finishing 3rd, he sent a clear message to his opponents: he will be a force to be reckoned with in Chamonix, where he will be playing on home soil.

Did the preparation go well?

“I did a very good preparation, it is also finished because we are a few days away from the race. I started it at the beginning of winter and I ran quite early in the French trail championships. The specific preparation for the Mont-Blanc Marathon really started after the French. I did the Marathon Race in particular at the end of May, being in good shape but not doing too much to increase my power even more for the end of June. I trained on steep slopes to prepare for the Marathon Race, but recently I have been working on more rolling terrain that is more like what we will find in Chamonix. I am lucky to live in Argentière at the foot of the course.”

How will you manage the last few days before the race?

“Keep the volume and do intensity boosters every week without trying to over-fatigue. I do a last uphill race (10km and 1200mD+) a week before as a way to unblock. The format of this race without descent will allow me to recover very quickly and not break any fibers.”

If we had to choose one session to do to prepare for the Mont Blanc Marathon, what training would you recommend?

“It’s a very complete race, you have to be able to run fast everywhere (flat, technical, uphill, downhill, etc.). I would recommend a session of 3x20min, at tempo pace (between threshold 1 and threshold 2) with 7min recovery on a course similar to the Mont-Blanc Marathon. This allows us to have downhill, uphill and flat throughout the training.”

After your performance in the Marathon Race, can we say that you are in good shape?

“I am reassured about my fitness, especially on the climb. The descent was a little more difficult, but it was the first big race of the year with a descent. It is very encouraging and I am back up like never before for the Mont-Blanc Marathon. It was a very rewarding race and I hope to take my revenge on Robert!”

Mehdi Dergaoui

In Ile-de-France, Mehdi faced many challenges to prepare for the Mont-Blanc Marathon. He arrives in Chamonix ready and highly motivated.

In general, how is your preparation going?

“This preparation is the first of its kind. I have never prepared anything like this. I push back a lot of things to free up the 7 to 10 hours a week that are necessary. I care about everything that makes up my schedule: time spent with my children, my job which is to manage my company and the preparation for the Mont-Blanc Marathon. Which means that when something unexpected happens, I necessarily have to encroach on one of the three. And it has happened several times, so I try not to always take on the same one. It is a challenge in itself. But it is very cool because it gives me a lot of keys that will be useful for future challenges.

Regarding the preparation on the sporting side, the journey into unknown territory continues! Each week, I will look a little further in the training distances and the efforts that accompany them. It is often difficult and sometimes it is great to finally be in total comfort in the middle of nature and enjoy the moment with all your senses. This is also one of the things I came looking for with this bib… a preparation that would take my head out of my daily life and reconnect me with nature!

How many weeks do you prepare for the goal? If you don’t work during the week, how did you structure your preparation?

“I started my preparation in mid-December. On June 25, 2023, it will be 7 months of gradual build-up to the race. With Vincent Viet (who accompanied me during the first weeks), we chose to integrate several races to boost my preparation. The Paris half-marathon, the Paris eco-trail (30km) and the Paris marathon. 3 new race formats, which allowed me to have important benchmarks for the following weeks.”

Does your preparation consist of specific blocks? If so, which block are you currently in?

“I don’t have a specific block for this preparation. Each week is simply divided to include tempo work at the beginning of the week and a long outing that includes D+ at the end of the week.”

• Moderate outing at the start of the week (1 hour)
• Specific marathon tempo outing in the middle of the week (2/3 hours)
• Long outing with D+ on Friday (3/4h)
• Fun outing on Sunday (1h30min)

If we had to do a specific session to prepare for this race, which one would you give?

“It would surely be a session that would combine 3 blocks of work distributed like this:

30min warm-up in Fundamental Endurance then 3 blocks of 25min including 15min at marathon pace and 10min of D+ each separated by 5min of active recovery. Finish with 10min of cool down. »

How do you manage to work on the elevation while being a little far from the reliefs?

“It’s a real pain! Especially since I need to see, to feel a change of scenery and not run in circles. So I’ve been to Fontainebleau several times on the 25 bumps course. Over the last two weeks, I planned to go to Montmartre early in the morning to avoid meeting the whole world on vacation. Otherwise, another tip: do a really energetic session in the gym (which creates muscle fatigue in the legs) and go running for 1h30 to 2h straight away. The body ultimately interprets this as a big muscular load, which is in a way what the legs will undergo on D-day.”