Desert Rats By UTMB 21K

Race strategy

Run the climb at race pace, build your speed on the downhill, and go all out at the finish.

• Start easy and control your HR up to 12.5km.
• Hold your race pace up to 17.0km, but stay in control.
• All downhill to the finish: go all out!
• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and go all out on the final descent from 17.0km.
• Start · 0.0km–2.1km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Settle in · 2.1km–12.5km · Ease in: hold back more than feels necessary. The race is still ahead. Running pays off here: run wherever you can.
• Work · 12.5km–17.0km · Climb of 243m, high point 1642m. This is where the race is built: steady, solid effort. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace.
• Home · 17.0km–21.1km · Descent of 230m averaging 6%. Build to the finish: leave whatever you have left out on the course.

Course

The course climbs 700m+. With 33m/km of climbing, this is a rolling, mostly runnable course. By gradient, 31% of the distance is uphill, 39% downhill and 30% flat. The longest climb runs 4.5km at an average 5.4% grade (243m of vertical). The longest descent runs 4.1km at an average 5.6% grade (230m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 9.8% over 0.3km. The steepest descent drops at 14.0% over 0.4km. Surface: 82% trail.

Poles

The course is runnable enough that trekking poles are not needed.

Quad damage

Quad damage risk is low (index 8 of 100): a few descents worth noting, none of them decisive.

• Ease into the early runnable section, then run your race pace, and go all out on the final descent from 17.0km.