Josh Wade: My Road to Chamonix

In elite ultra-trail, the UK’s Josh Wade has become a byword for consistency, delivering numerous top 10 finishes over the last few seasons. 

His notable achievements include first in the Montane Spine and back-to-back thirds in the Transgrancanaria 125k. He’s dominated Snowdonia in recent years, leading the field home on four occasions, over both 80k and 100 miles.

Josh’s trajectory at the prestigious UTMB Mont-Blanc is emphatically upward… DNF, 11th, third. This gives him great momentum going into this year’s race. 

We caught up with Josh to hear where he’s at and how he’s feeling for the start line on 28^th August.

This is your fourth UTMB, and  your improvement has been dramatic. Can we expect the same again this year?  

Thankfully each year I’ve managed to get faster, stronger, and more confident. So hopefully the upward trajectory keeps going. But we’ll see.

How does an elite athlete get themselves into the right mindset year after year?  
 

Mental preparation for UTMB is one of the most important parts for me. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks at altitude in Tignes. I do the bulk of my training there – visualising the race, making sure I’m going through absolutely everything, so I arrive on the start line fully prepared.

How does an elite athlete get themselves into the right mindset year after year? 

Mental preparation for UTMB is one of the most important parts for me. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks at altitude in Tignes. I do the bulk of my training there – visualising the race, making sure I’m going through absolutely everything, so I arrive on the start line fully prepared.

 
How long before an event do you start training? And when do you incorporate fuelling into your physical training plan? 

I never really stop training. I’m working consistently, year on year, without many breaks. Even in the off season. But I do some periodisation. So, through the winter it’s a lot of flat, easy miles. Then I build on that and start adding speed, maybe 12 weeks of 100 miles a week, including speed work and a harder long run, but only up to about 3 hours. 

What about specifically for UTMB?

For me the focus for UTMB is the six weeks preparation where I really ramp the volume. It depends. Last year I went up to about 140 miles a week, with 45,000ft of gains. This year, last week was 130 miles, with 40,000ft. I’ll just keep building on that until I taper. Hopefully that prepares me well.

What was the moment that made you realise you could, and should, perform at the highest level?   

 
I always knew I wanted to take this sport as far as I could, but I never really knew how far I could go with it. So, I just kept putting in the work. 

I did a lot of racing in the UK at the start of my career, and won a few, but when I went abroad I faced much tougher competition.

Eventually I found myself getting results in some of these top international races and I thought, ok, this is good! Hopefully I can keep up that momentum. In the past couple of years I’ve been able to take my training and racing a bit further.

Was there a shift in your thinking when this realisation happened? Or has the determination always been built into your thinking?   
 

I’ve always been determined with this sport. It’s my passion, so it’s easy for me to go out training. I love training, and that means racing just is a byproduct of the training. So, every single day when I wake up, here in the altitude camp, I’m just thinking about what I’m doing that day and trying to improve.

That’s my mindset. I just think day to day, but I set goals and obviously work towards them. But every day or every block of training, I’m trying to get better all the time.

When did you realise the importance of fuelling as part of your training, and secondly, racing?  

 

I never got my nutrition right in the first few years of my racing. I was still learning and I’m still learning now, all the time. 
I gradually came to realise fuelling is such an important part of ultra-running. As my fitness has improved and I’ve been able to hold a higher output for longer, my feeling for fuelling has improved. As a result, I’ve been able to race a lot harder, a lot better.
More recently I’ve been able to dial it in properly and have strong energy levels right through a race, which is good.

What were the fuelling mistakes you made when you first started using products?  

 
I made a lot of mistakes early on with fuelling. I ate too much at once a few times, and overloaded my gut, which it wasn’t prepared for, and threw up. That’s what happened at my first UTMB when I DNF’d. My gut just wasn’t trained. 
So I spent a long time training my gut to handle a high carb load. Gut training is massively important, especially on specific long runs preparing for a race. I’m fuelling exactly what I’m going to be fuelling in the race, just to make sure that my body runs like clockwork.

What is the biggest piece of fuelling advice you can offer people starting their ultramarathon journeys?   

Fuelling-wise I recommend training the gut and not starting too high with carbs. Maybe start with around 40 to 60 g an hour. You could have a gel and a bar an hour, or drink and a gel, or just liquid, or some chews. There are different ways to get those carbs in. Most importantly, make sure the products you’re using suit you and you enjoy the flavours. Find what works best for you.

What does a typical fuelling plan look like for you in the build-up to a race, during the race, and after one?

My fuelling plan is a lot of carbs, because right now I’m trying to run on as much volume as my body can handle. I’m constantly fuelling. But in easy runs, I’m only putting in about 60 to 80 g an hour. Then my long, hard, specific runs, I’m putting in 120g an hour.  

To hit this target, I’m taking a Beta Fuel 80 with a Beta Electrolyte Gel, which takes me up to 120g, and I do that in the race as well. 

It probably does slip off towards the back end of a race a little bit, but I’m consistently trying to put the fuel. Because as soon as you stop doing that, your energy levels are gone. Your race could go terribly wrong. 

To load in the days leading up to a race, I’m having just very simple foods. Plain rice and chicken, bananas, you know, just very, very easy-to-eat foods.  

Is there an SiS product that has acted as a gamechanger for you? 

The SiS products that I use are the electrolyte drinks, Beta Fuel drinks, Beta Electrolytes, Beta Gels. It’s mostly Beta Fuel. And I have the Nootropic Gels as well. And the Caffeine SiS Isotonic Gels.  

So, it’s a mixture, a combination of many different products which each do a specific job. But if there’s a go-to gamechanger for me, it’s; BETA Fuel

And so on to Chamonix. We wish Josh all the best in this year’s UTMB Mont-Blanc. By the afternoon of August 30^th, we’ll know if his impressive progress continues.