Insights Into The Training Of Kilian Jornet – What We Can Learn From His Exhibitions Of Extreme Endurance In Extreme Locations
[Article by Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite]
Despite captivating, shocking and fuelling the imaginations of his fans and followers, Kilian Jornet is yet to become a household name in mainstream circles. The Spaniard confronts conventional beliefs and his athletic pursuits defy categorisation. The label “ultramarathoner” is commonly applied but this is an injustice that overlooks his world champion achievements in the world of ski mountaineering and his incredible fastest known times (FKTs) on some of the world’s most intimidating peaks. Kilian made a name for himself with his ultra-endurance exploits, winning races such as the 170km UTMB (at 21 years of age!) and Hardrock 100. He then set his sights onto grander targets, obliterating any remnants of what most imagined to be possible in extreme alpine conditions – ascending Kilimanjaro in 5h23min and even summiting Everest twice in a week, both times without supplemental oxygen.
Kilian’s story is fascinating, and his physiology – one of the pillars on which his success and versatility as an athlete rest – is exceptionally impressive (he has one of the highest recorded VO2 maximum values – 92 ml/kg/min). Here we take a look at his training and how he has come to be such a formidable athlete.
Known for his long days out in the mountains, a lot of his training may seem free-form and simply driven by intuition. However, Kilian has published quite a lot of information on his website, providing insight into how he goes about what is clearly more than just training, but also a way of life. Whilst his training is vastly different to that which traditional runners might use, there are several key takeaways that are universally applicable to endurance sport and life in general.
His nine key tenets are as follows:
- Know yourself and feel your body
- Analyse all the trainings
- Create a base and enjoy every training
- Work beyond the physical aspects
- Get used to pain
- Adjust the training to conditions
- Explore your body in every limit in safety
- Trial and fail until it works
- Make goals
Kilian claims to train seven days a week – amassing 1200 hours of training per year. For a long time, Kilian has eschewed the tutelage of a formal coach and devised his training himself. A key to his success appears to be how he varies training according to the seasons, mixing running (mostly in the mountains although he has incorporated more flat running in recent years) with skiing, alpine climbing and cycling. This has allowed remarkable consistency through the years, which in turn has enabled him to develop a phenomenal aerobic apparatus and a body that is near perfectly adapted for what he does.
Endurance – He says that the vast majority of his training (88% according to his site) is done at low intensity – zones 1-3. Z1 before and after races. Z2 in long workouts (up to 10 hours plus) “to create volume”. Z3 in the lead-up to races, long sessions of up to a few hours.
10% is at high intensity (zones 4-5): “In Z4 specific workouts with intense intervals and repetitions. In Z5 workouts of a few seconds and many repetitions. Only about 10 times per season and during the competitions (about 30-35 days of competition per year).
2% of the time at maximum intensity (zones 6-7).
Whilst these numbers appear to be somewhat generalised estimates, Kilian is known for his fastidious documentation of his training, so they are probably more accurate than you would imagine.
Strength – strength training plays a very minor role in his regime, with most of it being incorporated into other activities such as climbing and mountaineering. He says that he will sometimes perform short strength workouts including “20 minutes of core/stabilization + 30 minutes of strength, upper and lower body.”
Altitude – many of Kilian’s most impressive feats have been performed at extreme altitudes, hence it’s no surprise that this comprises a sizeable portion of his training. Of his total training 33-40% of it is at above 2000m, and over 200 hours of training per year are logged at over 4000m (these numbers come from his painstakingly detailed training log maintained over many years)!
Technical training – Something that he works on constantly, and something that his life frequently depends upon (even in training he performs some seriously death-defying manoeuvres). Kilian provides the following advice for improving technical skills.
– Execute the movements in the fastest and most efficient way possible
– Work and know the biomechanics of our movement
– Specific exercises and repetition and automation of technical movements
– Movement visualization
Preparation and strategy – Despite the nonchalant approach Kilian appears to take when completing some of his enormously impressive feats of endurance, skill and bravery, he clearly prepares for the extreme conditions he knows he will come up against. These extreme conditions comprise both the internal (mental state, extreme fatigue, strained physiology) and external (weather, geography, altitude) environments that form the arena in which Kilian performs. He provides the following advice:
– Know how to do the movements and exercises in different conditions
– Test all equipment and take into account all aspects before the race
– Establish a plan for the day of the race: nutrition, rhythms, equipment, transitions…
Conditions and limits of your body – pushing boundaries is something for which Kilian is renowned. What isn’t so apparent to people when they see footage and hear about his achievements in extreme conditions are the thousands of hours spent in comparable conditions, honing skills and becoming attuned to the state of the body. He regularly goes out on all day explorations of the mountains without taking in any nutrition: he apparently only consumed a single energy gel (and a half-litre of water) on his almost 12-hour round trip FKT up and down North America’s tallest mountain, the 20,310ft/6,190m Denali (a.k.a. Mount McKinley). His recommendations here are to become acquainted with, and expand, the limits of your body – performing long workouts without food, or hydration, increasing intensity at altitude, combining technical skills with hard workouts etc – and gradually expanding your capacity. However, here he again stresses that safety must be a consideration.
Much of this is somewhat specific to the world of mountaineering and ultra-endurance, but how can this apply to training for races such as the marathon or even shorter races on track? Below we will look at some key takeaways.
A prominent feature of Kilian’s training is that he combines hard workouts with what he loves: spending time in nature. He trains in various disciplines which all complement each other, with strength and aerobic capacity developed from his ski mountaineering helping his running and vice versa. Incorporating variety into training is key for avoiding boredom, burnout and repetitive stress.
Developing an aerobic base by exercising at low intensity is important for any endurance events. A strong base is key for allowing physiological adaptations that permit maintenance of higher intensity exercise, and gradually building up volume over a prolonged period is important for avoiding the injuries so commonly seen when runners fall into the trap of “too much, too soon.” Focussing on having lower intensity for a lot of your mileage also means that there are more physiological reserves for when you are doing a high intensity workout.
Kilian stresses the importance of preparing for the conditions in which you will be competing. For him this means all day excursions into the mountains and incorporating technical terrain into his workouts, for a marathoner it may mean doing hard efforts at the end of a long run to simulate the last few miles of the race. Getting equipment and nutrition dialled in to minimise issues come race day is also crucial.
A final key takeaway from Kilian’s training is the importance of becoming acquainted with your body. Knowing how you respond to certain training, how you respond to pain, to specific forms of nutrition, to heat, to altitude, to exhaustion. Experiment and see what you are capable of. Take some time to run without a watch and focus on the sensations you are encountering. And most importantly – “Enjoy every training.”
Buena suerte y disfruta.
[You might enjoy this article as well: Kilian Jornet – Ultramarathon Training – Variety Is The Key]
