As Chief Scientific Officer at FLF and Global Performance Director at Salomon, Aitor Viribay has spent the last two years refining ExoLactate® Gel with some of the world's best ultra runners. This year's UTMB — including the legendary circumnavigation of Mont Blanc — offered the ultimate testing ground for both FLF's trailblazing fuel substrate and Salomon's roster of super humans.
Over race week, Aitor and his team supported more than 15 athletes, gathering performance data that will continue to reshape this new generation of fuelling.
"When runners arrive at the feed station, you've got the opportunity to change their mind, motivation and focus."
Aitor Viribay — Chief Scientific Officer, FLF
Before the race begins
Much of Aitor's work happens before athletes ever arrive in Chamonix. "Preparation for the race week starts a few months in advance. By the time UTMB comes around, my work is already complete." Once on the ground, his focus shifts to coordination and culture. "I am in charge of the performance structure, strategy and leadership of the Salomon performance ecosystem. My involvement is more focused on allocating the right resources and establishing the direction on the physiological side of things."
At UTMB itself, his time splits between operational needs and strategic work. "A big part of my time is dedicated to meetings with potential partners, scientific discussions, exploration of new approaches. It's a combination of execution, coordination and strategy during UTMB week."
The feed station as a performance moment
The stations dotting the UTMB course operate on their own rhythm — one Aitor describes as "another competition in itself. It's demanding as it involves staying awake through the night and always being ready to support athletes not only with food or protection, but also emotionally."
The emotional dimension is critical. "When runners arrive at the feed station, you've got the opportunity to change their mind, motivation and focus," Aitor explains. "On the nutritional side, it's the moment to fill up the vest with fuelling options and reset ahead of another sector."
Though Aitor wasn't stationed for an entire night shift this year, his presence carried through. "I crewed during CCC and supported athletes in all other races with my voice and claps. Always an important role!" To see how athletes and coaches respond to seeing Aitor out and about in Chamonix tells you how much his presence at the event matters to people.
A sport growing up fast
What struck Aitor most was the calibre of performance and the sport's rapid evolution. The younger generation particularly impressed him: "Seeing our younger athletes performing with huge results, such as Naomi, Nashon and Agnes in OCC, or Jan, Mael, Max and Axelle in ETC, they have been impressive."
This year marked a shift in the sport's recognition and maturity. "This has been the most sophisticated and professional edition from a performance point of view. Things are really getting very serious, including the embracement of science, new performance approaches and innovation."
How the cold changed everything
This year's cold and wet conditions fundamentally altered fuelling strategy. "Dramatically, as you remove from the equation one of the biggest factors of fatigue, which is the heat," Aitor explains. The effects cascaded: "Generally that means lower hydration requirements and even fuelling needs, which makes the whole race slightly easier from a gastrointestinal point of view. Moreover, internal load is reduced, and therefore the capacity to sustain energy production is improved, alleviating the need for extreme carbohydrate intake and electrolytes."
Cold and wet conditions granted athletes a reprieve — but not from the need for fuel.
ExoLactate® Gel on test
The performance data vindicated months of laboratory work. "It's been an extremely successful week for us, not only on performance with several podiums and top 10s, but mostly from knowledge and data gathering," Aitor reports.
One podium finisher captured the phenomenon perfectly: "I thought I had to stop, but I could keep pushing hard, mostly on descents and after fatigue." Aitor saw validation of his hypothesis. "That explains it all. We have received very positive feedback around the performance of the gels, especially when neuromuscular function is highly compromised. This supports our physiology and metabolism hypothesis."
Gastrointestinal tolerance was strong across the board. "All athletes responded well to them, being able to give impressively strong performances. Most importantly, we have avoided gastrointestinal issues with our gels, although we had two cases with GI problems that we need to review."
Thirty gels. Nineteen hours.
Perhaps the most surprising discovery was sheer volume. Aitor and his team had long wondered how many gels elite athletes could realistically absorb over 19–24 hours. UTMB provided an unexpected answer.
"We've been concerned about the quantity of gels that can be absorbed and tolerated," Aitor admits. "UTMB has shown us that these elite athletes have used and tolerated more than 30 ExoLactate® Gels in a 19–24hr race. This is something unbelievable for us and it has never been reported before."
"This can definitely confirm we have entered into a new era of fuelling."
— Aitor ViribayImages by @davidmiller.photography and @core_prod_