Vincent Bouillard | UTMB Champion Post-Race Interview

okay joining us now the 2024 champion of the UTMB Mr Vincent buard Vincent welcome good morning how are you feeling good morning uh yeah feeling as good as I could hope for I can walk slowly so it's all right that's a win you can walk slowly you you took the elevator up here this morning which is well deserved I took the stairs not to brag got my verden in today waking up this morning I bet it literally felt like waking up from a dream where is your your mindset your emotional state after achieving such an incredible thing yesterday um yeah I don't know to be honest I think we we joked about that yesterday that I was really focused on the physical and like sport Challenge and you know like everything was set up for me to try and perform uh my best I clearly did not prepare for all of the like everything else that goes about like yeah if you win this race there's going to be huge like media you know EXP and in request so uh yeah lots of unread messages that I still need to go through um but it's also fun because honestly just looking at uh I was rereading like some of our best friends like group chat shreds and it's just it carries a lot of emotion so that's pretty cool oh cuz I'm sure everybody's just heart exploded with joy and pride for your accomplishment I wondered I wanted to have you actually talk about that just the sensation of literally becoming maybe famous is the wrong word but going from being somebody who the people who know you have a lot of respect for your capabilities as an athlete but coming in nobody was talking about you as a favorite except for free tril who identified you as a dark horse right but the sensation of that overwhelming amount of inbound is it unnatural or uncomfortable for you uh I it's definitely not like my like personality per se to go who are yeah like taking the spotlight but uh I think it's something that I will Embrace within uh reason and I guess go like well today there's a lot of interviews which is great because it's also opportunity to I don't know maybe tell uh story that I don't know that it's different but at least it's mine it's like yeah in the Finish Line interview I joked about the fact like I don't post on social media other than straa or gu was like a close network of friend and like yes there will be before and an after of uh what happened this weekend and and accomplishing a childhood dream but at the same time I hope that like it doesn't mean that my life has to change like I I hope I can keep control of my life and decide what maybe will change and what doesn't it is a different story and I think that's what's going to make this year's addition and your performance so exciting and so memorable and will likely inspire a lot of people for years to come but because this is in introduction to introduce you to more people I'd love to just spend a couple of minutes on who you are and I want to take it into two parts both your professional background and your athletic background let's start with sport I heard that you ran steeple chase I know that you're a cyclist I heard that you did some orienteering when you were younger of course you're a trail Runner now so maybe just summarize your competitive Foundation or the foundation upon which this UTMB victory was established yeah totally um I so I I grew up in this region not in chman but in in NC I was born and raised in NC and uh yeah I think it took me it's not until like adult life that I realized how active my like family Network and the just the context I grew up in was uh and I would hang out with like other friends and like oh you don't do sport by default on your weekends like what do you mean um so I was never like super competitive in anything that I would practice but always spending time outside whether it was hiking in the summer lots of skiing in the winter and then found running as kind of a yeah just a baseline for a lot of other things um but I've never been a huge competitor and I think it's because uh notably with track and field which is still like there's not a ton of sport that I still watch on TV but like we watch the entire Olympics and the trials and everything I love track but I think have had a very difficult relationship with competing on the track because it came with so much pressure of like you've got to show up within there's like a few minutes of like performing at your best level and as opposed to that I think longer endurance effort suit me a lot better because it's like you've got time to like settle in like set your plan up things will go wrong you can adapt from this it's more like a longer term management type of thing so yeah I've practiced different type of endurance and in more recent years especially through Co like found a lot of cycling and like long distance things yeah so what has been your relationship with competition generally because a lot of people who are discovering you this weekend will be looking up your race results and there's frankly not a lot you've done a few things in the past couple of years all of which have been successful but you said that you've had maybe a mixed relationship with competition over time say some say a little bit about that yeah it uh hopefully that's not too cliche to say but like I really truly enjoy the process that leads to the competition so even you look take UTMB of course it's incredible weekend incredible race but I've had so much fun through this training block like I was like a kid in a candy store when I come to came to shamoni and spent the week with h athletes and like ran the course for the first time like it's the biggest training weeks that I've done running wise in my whole life like I was so excited about that and so I think there's a bit of that that like I enjoy the practice and the training the process itself and also I think uh with uh in our life with Camila and with like well work schedule and other like social schedule we're trying to set the reasonable balance of how much sport and racing can should take and how much it's like okay maybe it's not for too often because really if you start to do more races then it's like oh there's a tapering phase and maybe there's travel involved and then you're really tired for like 10 days after so I think it works for me as well to be more reasonable and try and focus on fewer objective in terms of competition here so your professional background then famously you work for Hoka and you've been there for a long time so say a few words about what you do specifically for Hoka and what it's like to be with the brand at a period of time when it's really taken off globally yeah totally I I'm I'm really grateful for all the time that I spent with Hoka and it adds definitely a layer of how special the the win here with like the Hoka being the title sponsor but uh it's not something that I I never thought like oh one day I'm going to work in shoes like I started at Hoka I didn't know how we make shoes or things like that I studied because you were an intern right yeah I started as an intern at the end of my studies for uh material engineering um so before that literally I was working as like a research student student in a uh like polymer material lab so working on yeah like Extrusion like recycling of plastics and like very fundamental research stuff and I had been in touch with several of the Hoka team at several members of the hok team at the time try and ping them I was really curious to see like how much science goes in product that we use for sports and recreation and that that has some like that was something that intrigued me and yeah I did start as an intern uh the beginning of 2016 uh very quickly after the internship uh I was fortunate to be put on many different responsibilities and has had I've had different roles with the company moved to the US uh for big part of it was personal choice and personal life decision but also to pursue a next chapter in my professional career so um yeah so is it true that your work has directly contributed to like the foot you Footwear you were wearing yesterday we were talking to Chris Hollis and he said something like there were 157 versions of the tektin shoe and that you personally tested a lot of them I'm sure our audience would be curious to hear about that yeah yeah it's true uh yeah so the shoe I wore was a uh it's called tectonics 2.5 because it's an evolution of the tectonics 2 uh that was developed um really really with like Jim's racing shoe as a Target and objective and I was not leading that project per se Kristoff obon would is a project leader he works more specifically on athletes and uh athletes projects and and racing racing department but part of what I do uh within engineering is to help development of Technologies materials like things that go in products like this so yeah I've worked a lot for instance on the fo that's used in shoe that uh yeah I R with what has it been like to see the massive adoption of the public of the products that you work on uh yeah it's fun I think it's great to uh like I remember we were joking walking in shamoni this week the first UTMB that I I came while working at Hoka we were really excited to see like hey someone's wearing hokas over there look at that and you know now it's obviously grown to whole other levels of popularity but it's cool to in in the work to kind of bring a lot of things back to basic needs like well you know like what do you need out of your product like Footwear like yeah trail running is a big thing when you're in shamon or if you're in the you know in the sphere of trail running but like what does it mean for someone who's never heard about the sport maybe they would need a TR running shoe as well and it's interesting to Define like what that means in terms of when you create products to yeah so so cool so through Hoka you've developed a great friendship with last year's Champion Jim Walmsley and I'd like to ask you about that your wife Camila is here I know you guys are very close with Jim and Jess say a few words about your relationship with Jim and maybe specifically how he in some way inspired or contributed to your Victory yesterday yeah so the the fun anecdote is that uh signed his first contract or was finalizing the detail of his first contract the year I started with Hoka and uh he knows that so that's not a problem but like I had no idea who the heck he was so I think that participated to the fact that we bonded rather quickly because he was very famous and like everyone was excited and I was like yeah I don't know who you are sorry like hi um but uh yeah yeah after year we've uh We've developed a pretty special friendship and relationship with Camila and and and and uh and with Jess uh like shared some some vacation trips and and they've spent some time over here and then we've visited them in in Flagstaff or in Colorado and uh for sure he's a among others he's a big mentor of mine in terms of how inspirational many of his endless Athletics accomplishments have been um and I think being able to know someone um and understand what it is to you know compete at that level where like oh everyone is just human like they go about their daily life and stuff and he like well it's not that it tells you click like oh sure I can do that as well but it's more like I guess you see the full spectrum of what it takes to set some elements that participate and help to to get you closer to a higher level of performance so and being close to him maybe gives you a better appreciation the fact that he is human and he has a normal life outside of being a heroic athlete yeah no I mean he's they're both amazing human being just in JY and uh but he also has definitely helped with some uh either Ed station uh little tricks or like gear um optimization type of things so he anything you can share publicly or we keeping those uh proprietary for the moment super secret stuff well it's it's very cool and I mean what it's another special story you guys being close friends him being the winner last year you being the winner this year and you know you having at least some inspiration drawn from Jim and his career let's talk about your history with the race because I think this is interesting also because you've been here many times in various capacities but this was your first time competing at UTMB or any of the UTMB races talk about your relationship with this event over time um yeah I think I um I was trying to put like the exact years and dates on when I've come for the first time I honestly I don't remember I need to look back at photos or ask maybe in my family but um for for many years like I yeah seen the event grow and like I had like I think uh through my dad's work like he would always get me like the poster of the year's Edition so I would always have like the recent editions poster in my like teenage room um and like following all of the like the winners and of course like with kilan arriving and just changing the sport completely um it's always been something that has attracted me just because even if I grew up in the region ANC is an hour an hour and a half drive away and so coming to shamun is always special it's like ah you come and you see the big mountains and there's the glaciers and the iges everywhere so there's always a special feeling coming here and uh I had in fact not only never uh participated to GMB but I've never I had never done this Trail like I've never hiked other than in the shamoni valley and immediately around the Ed stations um and I knew that was like someday for sure I'm going to do it and I think after seeing the event so many times like yeah know I really want to try it and it's like we through work also I've been fortunate to see lots of other sports events and um I think this atmosphere that um yeah is in town during this week and the the start line and the Finish is just yeah I've never felt even though you know what it's about and you know every year yes there's going to be the music there's like every time you're there it's like yeah that's something so it's really cool too even being on the start line was already like so happy to be there unbelievable so let's talk about the process to get here we were joking yesterday that it was the classic Gorge water falls 100K to UTMB Championship pipeline so and I also told the story about how you and I met when I was running on Skyline and you pulled up next to me on your bike that's right and said hey what's up and um anyway it's been you know it seems like a pretty great process to get here you don't race often but when you do it's very successful you won Gorge you won Kodiak in a amazing time that was your qualification and then Anna C the Maxi race in May maybe you could just say a few words about that process like knowing that UTMB was your and goal how those maybe three events in succession set you up for what happened this weekend that ultimately surprised a lot of people I actually just remember I met you earlier but I don't know that you remember that uh my first attempt to an ultra was very early when during my time with Hoka I raced at the tnf 50 in fact you finished right be didn't I think we finished like very close to other with Ryan at the 50 mile in San Francisco and you you and Ryan had did the funniest thing we finish literally like maybe two spots yeah like minutes or something yeah no way Ryan you almost beat a UTMB champion at a 50 mile race four people AP something yeah in 2017 2017 yeah yeah no way what a story but uh I mentioned that cuz that was my first attempt to longer distance in try running and I think I clearly did not know my but as much and just hadn't prepared as well and I think every time I've kind of i' I've always wanted to try longer distance in in running specifically um but I've dealt with a lot of just injuries and not understanding as much of the the how much training to do and I was getting excited to try again more things right when I moved to the US um at the beginning of 2020 but then with covid there were like no races happening so um that just put a break on a lot of potential racing plans and I think yeah after after the pandemic I kind of got that edge of uh yeah let's see let's let's try let's see what uh what I can do if I focus a lot more precisely on how to build the proper training block uh I got the opportunity to do lots of uh very long endurance project on the bike during covid so that also enabled me to practice I was going to ask you about that Nathaniel fredman said that that you had done like a 30h hour push or something on the California's Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Santa Barbara or something so you do have experience with the sort of ultra endurance type projects yeah yeah that was uh in California is amazing for uh cycling notably just great weather year round um but yeah so to come back on your your prior question on the the yeah the the The Gorge and then Kodak and UTMB I think I knew that if I was to try to get to longer distance I wanted to see first how my body react but I I kind of had in mind that like yeah one day I'd like to get into UTMB and when you're not an elite and things well it's a process like it's not something that you decide the months prior to coming to August sh shamon and so yeah I was thinking of the gorge waterful because we had just moved to Portland and it's an amazing race that I had uh heard about and seen and the trails are fantastic um he went very well was very happy with it um and then Kodiak with uh to get yeah to get the entry to UTMB same just for Logistics of it was close to lots of friends and family we have in Southern California it's honestly a really beautiful course on the mountains above uh LA and um but what about the Maxi race because I went back and looked at the results and it was it was matchu Blanchard aelan D plaz tibo guier and Baptist y who finished second two yesterday of course the top three guys from the Maxi race unfortunately didn't make the finish line but all five of you started you tmbb you finishing fifth there were there any specific learnings that you took with you to the UTMB Star Line yeah totally so my the Maxi race was another list that I had another race that I had on the bucket list because it's literally you go around the lake in n and I had never done it before so it's a really really cool course but it's actually I think the perfect course in a UTMB training block because it's half the distance with the same vert ratio it's uh it's more technical overall but you get a great variety of type of teing and uh we had so we just moved from the US to ANC at the end of April this year and signing up to Maxi race for me was like all right I'm going to see if I can if I still know how to run on like super technical Trails yeah and uh I knew that I would be short in terms of preparation uh because Portland has amazing Trail but there's not as much like long not like an it's not an um so I got a mini training block or very precise training block for Maxi race but I knew that I would get a lot of learnings out of it not just because of the terrain and the type of racing but also because with Gorge and Kodiak last year I raised by myself in in the front the entire time like at Kodiak I race for 16 hours Soo right and Gorge I think I was with another runner for maybe the first few hours but then same I was in the front and I needed to face competition like I wanted ahead of UTMB I was like for sure that's not going to happen at UTMB so I want to experience what is it to be challenged to like have packs in front and the back and stuff and I knew with Max race usually there's really good density of U of Runners there okay perfect transition then let's start talking about the race itself early in the race obviously it is a big pack can you just talk about the dynamic of the front of the men's race this year and what your psychology or strategy was in those early miles yeah I think uh I was trying to focus on my my effort and not too much about what was going on around because uh I I expected it to start even faster I was like oh it's sometimes it's always crazy people go out front like way too fast um the first climb from Lush was actually yeah I think I was on not too un reasonable Fast Pace uh with a couple of us in the lead I think there were two runners in the front on that first climb yep um but then Jim caught up on me the very top so then it was fun to be a I had so many people think I was Jim so I got a lot of like Al Jim Al and then literally like 10 seconds later they would see Jim come by and like okay that was confusing um but uh it was still a big group when we got to San and then bit more splits I guess until Le contamine um I did not feel that that great after Le contamin so I uh yeah I took it pretty easy on the climb uh to um the cam with another group uh catching me uh Katie sha called me as well and I was like she's I was like she's going to get on the podium if not like win overall potentially cuz she started really faster Katie sh cment on on the climb to C Bown for the fans of the sport that's really awesome I mean on the first climb she was not that far behind the lead like I was with Jamma and she was like yeah like right right underneath you know maybe like less than a minute for sure yeah incredible okay so to me when I go back and look at the tracker it feels like the critical section was from Le shapu to Cormier so for our viewers and listeners that's roughly mile 31 to mile 51 so roughly mile 50k to 80k and I believe you were in eighth or 9th at Le shapu and then you were in first by Cormier that's the section where you go up over the Cala the ca pyramids you're it's through the middle of the night so if you could just describe what happened between Le shapu and Cormier how you were able to establish yourself at the front of the UTMB race um so I knew that uh I so I only ran this course once this like a couple weeks ago beginning of August and uh I really lik the Cain clam because the beginning it's very runnable which suits my profile and I like when you can just run a little faster it's relative fast but compared to average spaces and so um I started to feel a little better getting down to lure took the time to like hydrate and refill properly and I just went at what pace felt like comfortable to me um just yeah looking at a bit of metrics to ensure I was not like unreasonable fast but like okay let's see try and rally a little bit and and hold the pace that I know I can sustain for for like pretty much like very very long and honestly surprised myself like catching like Runner after Runner after Runner and on the climb to C say you're yeah even after the runable part was over and starting like hiking and like with poles yeah it felt an a steady Rhythm like I felt really comfortable and yeah I was just catching people I caught Tim which he was like super sty Tim T yeah which is also a good friend and uh it was funny because like a tap on his shoulder was like oh D this you uh but then um I kept pushing and got over the top of C saying uh some volunteers said like oh yeah there's like a group that's not that far ahead and then Jim a little further and I was like oh okay I guess I'm not that far and I caught really easily on it was J Tim no Tom Evans and two other Runners uh to Pam K and I stayed with um benimon was in that group as well we kind of stayed somewhat together until uh the climb up to but same like I was feeling like really easy like following it was so climbing was your strength well I honestly like what felt like my comfortable cruising Pace enabled me to catch up on them and then when I was in the group I was like oh I'm like recovering if I stay in that which I was at I was checking I was like okay is this truly or is how long is this going to last like I'm maybe I'll have low moment that's going to come like not that long but it kept feeling like really good so in the climb up to AR I just pushed a little harder and uh kind of took put a little gap on on JMA and and Tom Evans and uh in The Descent to k um there were the uh two others were not far behind me but we caught on the gym and uh it's funny because same thing like he didn't expect to see me so he was like really excited but unfortunately he was not doing well but the funny thing is I thought there was another runner in front and so he told me he's like no no it's you like you're in front of the race and I was like well what do I do now dude goosebumbs in the studio here basically Jim wsy is passing the Baton to vinan buard at the front of the UTMB race on The Descent to coray where is your head space at in that moment I mean understanding the massive implic of that uh yeah I think it's uh mentally I was like okay I'm going to try and like catch up spots but I wasn't like I need to be get in the front of that race like that's not that was not my move to make and uh I think but I mean is there doubt there I mean this it goes without saying right you were 69th ranked Runner coming into the race obviously those of us who know you everybody knows that you're a very talented athlete but for many people when they woke up and checked the tracker they were saying who is Vince saard and for yourself to be like fairly inexperienced especially against those names you just listed Jim Walmsley Tom Evans Ben demon Jer Mo you're at the lead of the race yeah where's your head at at that point is there doubt or is it competition belief process so I think that's where like having experience in Long urance in including in other sport helps because I was really focused on my own effort and what I like with the length of of those endurance effort is that everyone kind of goes through rough Patches at moments and so when I realized that I was taking the lead I was like okay well that's where I am now but very likely some other people will catch up on me later and I just to focus on like how I feel what pacing is right for me and if that means that right now I'm making up a little time great like it uh we joke that we've been watching I don't know if you watch the bear the TV show I I know it but I never got into it I just wrote on my shoe the one of the statement that they have in the restaurant that says like every second counts and so I had that written on my shoe like yeah but truly like if I'm taking time now like might as well take it now it feels okay um so that's when when getting into Kay in the lead I was trying to like not focus on the fact that like yes I'm in the lead of UTMB but more like no I'm feeling okay now let's try and be efficient I feel good on the climbs let's go after the next climb and see see what happens but I think it helped me not putting too much pressure on like yes but what does that mean what are the implications of like being in the lead I was just like this is my effort this is how I feel good I think I can keep up with this space for a good while longer and uh we like you can control what the others are going to do and so being in control of my own effort was really what I was Focus but you were then in control of the race all the way to the Finish Line Jero was the one who was closest through about champe lock he ultimately dropped out at trient were you getting updates from the field in terms of your progress where was the point at which it be it started to feel real that you might be able to win the race I was really focused on not thinking about that just was like not until I get to the very last turn in Shamone then I can I saw you at Shan pck and I said finish the deal man and I was like [ __ ] I was probably too early to say that there's still 50 very hard kilometers to go it was good to have that actually it was good to have that as a wake up as like yeah you're not letting that go but um no I was trying to ask what the splits were and I think so the climb up to Berton out of Kay I I I think I had Loosely like three minutes Gap at the top uh but it's give take it I don't know how precise it was um I like the runable part after that and basically when I got to anua I was started to think I was like well it's very unlikely if they catch up on me that I'll have another opportunity to be in the front again like the odds of that like they'll have the psychological advantage of like coming back on me so quickly I realized like no I should try and like push now because like try and basically squeeze everything now and see how much of a gap I can increase if at all but it's kind of like my move to try and make and so up to the gr kere I I try and like maintain a good pace and I think I increased a little bit and then um I was hoping the long long long descent until not just Lai but after the bottom of champe same like very rable so that can suit me but then your muscles are also really tired at this point but I think it helps psychologically at that point to be in the lead to be like yeah but like I don't want to listen to the legs and just like try and run really fast to see if I can increase again and so I was happy when I got to champe cuz same like the climb to champe was like same thing okay keep pushing because uh in terms of how it plays in the race I guess I could take a psychological advantage if I was able to like increase the Gap um checkpoints after chpo yeah so you have to get going here in a second so let's fast forward to the Finish I heard Jim was up at the fer to greet you and cheer for you so maybe you could say a few words about that but then also dropping into the shamon valley running through town through the finishing arch your wife Camila greeting you at the Finish Line what was it like um so it's funny because we were just saying how I was trying not to focus on like you know like I have to finish I have to like bring bring it home and win this thing I think because mentally I was so focused on not thinking about that I really was even like struggling at the end to like fully Embrace maybe cuz I was so focused and like no no no like get to the end of it but no it's surreal like even the climb up to leer with like crowds like just like yeah singing and screaming my name and was like really that's yeah that's defin The Humble materials engineer from anasty um yeah no it's it's crazy like it's uh um I truly have had moments through the night where those thoughts were coming in and I literally would have a split of second of starting tearing up and that's when I was like nope can't let that thought comes through like you have to stay focused and so I didn't even cry at the end because I think I like was so hard on myself not letting that that comes true but it's it's incredible like having so many family members on the Finish Line like yeah it's true so special so cool your family who was standing there with Camila just like you know screaming with joy and everything just it's the best part of the sport isn't it yeah it's it's incredible yeah so it's it's obviously way too early to know how this might fundamentally change your future but as a UTMB Champion there's going to be a lot of unexpected and exciting opportunities coming your way you made a lot of new fans this weekend and I'm sure a lot of people are curious to hear again it's way too early to know but just like you've now proven you're among the best in the world and you sort of just happened overnight does this give you excitement to see how far you can push your potential in the sport or there other things in the future that you're already thinking about uh I have lots of thoughts I don't know what and when and in what order but um this was a this was a dream like this was a like bucket list thing that I've been dreaming about since I was a little kid or I guess a little older than that but so letting that sink in for a bit for sure um but then it's funny we were having conversations with friendy nany about like getting all the membership at the local track club and getting back into doing a cross country racing season this winter I'm really excited about that actually and uh yeah just some fun like I've never there's so many iconic races now that we live in the Alps uh I've um I I I like the long onour things but I also love short like shorter like you know like Marathon type of effort I don't know that I fully explored what I can I can do in those type of formats um uh I like I love the training blocks for for those type of races so maybe trying to see some shorter distance stuff unbelievable well the future is bright it's an abundant opportunity for you to pick and choose what inspires you but vinant I think on behalf of the trail running Community it's an amazing story to see you come here and do what you did yesterday inspiring all of us especially those of us who have normal jobs and normal lives that you can come and compete at the highest level and I'm sure yeah again speaking on behalf of the the community we're excited to see and hear what's next for you so congratulations and thanks for making the time for us of course yeah I mean thank you and F has been a running buddy on lots of my uh long runs in in Portland you know so it's uh it's yeah it's great to be here and and CH with you both so thanks for everything you do