Katharina Hartmuth burst onto the stage at the UTMB 2023, finishing second behind the unbeatable Courtney Dauwalter. What followed was not her big breakthrough, but a series of injuries that forced the German ultra runner/scientist to start over and over again. Her bicycle played a major role in her way to recovery.
“I never lost confidence in my body or doubted that it couldn’t handle ultras. I analysed my injuries. They were all due to accidents. Not overuse injuries. When you’re injured, you always have the idea that it won’t go away. But I’ve been injured enough to know that isn’t true. On the contrary, in the end, coming back from injury always makes you stronger.”
“When I did Tor des Géants last year, I felt surprisingly good. I struggled the whole year with bursitis in my knee, after a bike accident. Despite that, I was able to do the Tor des Géants, my dream race.”
During that race, I had no problems. (Hartmuth won the 350-kilometre-long (25,170m+) race through the Aosta Valley; jk) It involves a lot of hiking. I could keep going for three to four days without issues.”
“Running, I kept having problems. For a long time, we thought the knee would heal on its own, but in the end I had to have surgery. Now I’m fit again.”
“Cycling helps me to get into shape. If I run too much, I get stress fractures. Running is hard for the body. Cycling is, for me, a way to train a lot of volume, without the risk of overuse injuries.”
“In winter I cycle inside. About ten hours a week. I do my VO2 training and threshold on the bike. Closer to race season, I focus more on easy long rides and hill reps. Sessions like three times twenty minutes.”
“In spring it’s time for the big rides, and interval work. I easily spend sixteen to eighteen hours per week on the bike. This year I went to Mallorca and I biked for 25 hours.”
“For me, it doesn’t matter if I run or bike. Both help me to improve my endurance. That also means that I use the bike for my back-to-back training sessions. If I have a big running day, the next day I will do a long bike ride. Unless I want to run on tired legs. Then I do it the other way around.”
“During the race season, I mainly use my bike to train volume. But I’m not just biking for injury prevention; I do it because I love variety. I still go swimming. I go to the gym twice a week to make my body resilient. Variety keeps it fun.”
“In the last couple of weeks, with the UTMB coming up, I’ve been focusing more on running. In the morning, I would go for a two- to three-hour run; in the afternoon, I would cycle for three hours.”
“And now it’s time to race. I’m excited. UTMB is UTMB. The week before is always crazy. Now I’m longing for a day of quietness. And then we’re off. I have a time in mind I want to run. I focus on that. On myself. I never look at what my opponents do. I can’t control that. I can only control my own race. We will see what it will lead to.”
“UTMB is a fast race. I’m not a fast runner. To compare, if I would focus on the marathon, I might be able to run 2:45. Longer race suits me better. More technical, more climbing.”
“I’m better at races that are more of a mental challenge. Races in which you have to be more conservative with your energy. That’s also why I am looking forward to the last 45 kilometres. That’s when the big climbs come. That’s when I can start to push. Until then, I will be racing myself. After that, I will look at who is in front of me.”
