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Evans\u2019 coach Scott Johnston told him that, if he wanted to win, first he had to finish. It was a lesson in patience and perspective, but one that was well practiced with his new family.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen minutes before we drove to the start line at UTMB I was actually changing Phoebe\u2019s nappy,\u201d says the Red Bull athlete who finished over 30 minutes clear of second place in 19:18:58. \u201cYes, I\u2019m professional, but Phoebe comes first and she needs us more than I needed to win UTMB.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think taking it seriously but not taking myself too seriously was really important. It\u2019s so easy to get obsessed with something so seemingly small, but at the end of the day it\u2019s just a race, and I think that\u2019s definitely the way I looked at it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concept behind this year\u2019s build \u2013 and clearly Evans\u2019 recipe for success \u2013 was to have fun. He was happy and training well at home in Loughborough where he was surrounded by \u201can amazing group\u201d of family and friends, so with the backing of his cognitive performance consultant Dr David Spindler, they agreed to \u201cpick everything up and move out [to the Alps]\u201d.<\/p>
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In his YouTube mini-series No Stone Left Unturned, one of Evans\u2019 friends refers to him as a \u201cmountain warrior monk\u201d. His discipline, self-control, resilience and endurance are certainly comparable attributes, but his purpose has changed. \u201cIt didn\u2019t feel like a training camp,\u201d he admits. \u201cI used to think that in order to be my best I had to train at my absolute limit where I couldn\u2019t run one more mile in the week or climb another metre. I needed to be completely wrecked by the end, and I needed to be locked away in a small apartment at altitude with no distractions\u2026 and I\u2019m really good at that, but it\u2019s not fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy the training, but even if you\u2019re training five hours a day you\u2019ve still got a lot of time to do absolutely nothing. I train so much better when I\u2019m happy, and if you train better you\u2019ll probably race better. It was the first time that we\u2019d made a really conscious effort to bring people along with us and make it home from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had so much fun being able to be a proper little family and getting the work done, and to be able to support my wife [professional triathlete Sophie Coldwell] getting back into training was really rewarding for me, too. I say our superpower as a couple is that we get things done; we figure out a way and we make it work\u2026 and we didn\u2019t just make it work, we thrived. We both had the most amazing time and, looking back on it now, it\u2019s incredible. The training was still really hard, but outside of training I\u2019ve never laughed and smiled so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe race was the cherry on the top. To get to the finish line and see Soph and Phoebe was exceptionally special and a memory that I\u2019ll never forget. This year has blown everything from an athletics standpoint out of the water and it makes it even better that it had a fairytale ending.\u201d<\/p>
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A typical training week (CHAMONIX, AUGUST 4-10, 2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n Evans, who won the Arc of Attrition (80km\/2300m+) in Cornwall and Tenerife Bluetrail (110km\/6250m+) in early 2025, says he made two major changes to training this year compared to previous years.<\/p>\n One was additional fuelling to help train his stomach and aid recovery; the other was opting for passive heat acclimation (hot bath or sauna) instead of active heat acclimation (such as hiking\/running in hot conditions).<\/p>\n \u201cI found that training at such high volume, active heat acclimation just destroyed me,\u201d he explains. \u201cI was so tired and not recovering, so we swapped that to passive heat acclimation. I didn\u2019t do any active heat sessions in this build, and although the race didn\u2019t end up being hot, I felt way more prepared and far less tired.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday:<\/strong> (am) 2hr run with 4 x 8min at marathon pace on flat (around 5min\/miles); (pm) gym: \u201cIn the UK it\u2019s typically heavier work, legs and upper body; in Chamonix it was far more bodyweight, lots of core, and more prehab\/rehab, lots of knee health and downhill quad conditioning,\u201d says Evans.<\/p>\n Tuesday:<\/strong> (am) uphill weighted training hike\/run for 3.5km (1000m elevation) (15kg pack on back): \u201cI ditch the pack at top, run down fast and whatever my heart rate was on the first climb, I aim to average the same going back up without the pack (around 10-15min quicker),\u201d he says, then cable car back down; (pm) passive heat in sauna<\/p>\n Wednesday:<\/strong> (am) 50min shakeout run; (pm) overnight night 5.5hr run on UTMB course for specificity (10.30pm start)<\/p>\n Thursday:<\/strong> rest day<\/p>\n Friday:<\/strong> 3hr easy run (just inside 7min\/mile pace on flat sections), hiking on some of uphill; (pm) gym<\/p>\n Saturday:<\/strong> (am) hill strides \u2013 5 x (15sec-30sec-45sec-60sec with jog down recovery); (pm) 90min easy and passive heat<\/p>\n Sunday:<\/strong> 3hr run on the course with 3 x 15min at 100-mile race effort pace<\/p>\n Favourite session:<\/strong> \u201cA vertical kilometre on the treadmill - I have a custom treadmill that goes to 25% incline - so over 4km you\u2019ll climb 1000m in around 30 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n Least favourite session:<\/strong> \u201cA downhill-specific session such as 4 x 10min as hard as you can. Aerobically it\u2019s not hard but you have to concentrate so much. It\u2019s high risk but very high reward, or anything in the cold I don\u2019t really like!\u201d<\/p>\n