Benjamin Mougel's 24-hour elevation-gain record
Hello Benjamin, thank you for giving us some of your time after your challenge and your elevation-gain record shortly afterward. You took on this challenge, and last week you set a mark of 21,134 m. First of all, how have you been since? And can you quickly summarize those 24 hours for us?
Hello everyone, I’m quite happy to say that I’m doing very well. I’m recovering fairly quickly from this little adventure compared with what I could have imagined, since I covered a 66.67-meter elevation gain on a 45% slope 317 times—uphill, but especially downhill. That represents 105 kilometers of “relatively” technical terrain over 24 hours, practically nonstop, with very few breaks and continuous effort; a pace that inevitably tended to decrease little by little, but overall a fairly linear progression without major variations in how I felt. I was ready for this challenge, my team was ready, the track was suitable, and everything went smoothly.
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You only started running recently, in 2023. Before that, you did marathon-distance roller skating. What made you change sports? And why trail running?
Since the COVID period, I had been using running as a cross-training tool. I ran more or less regularly, and despite a fairly low volume, I often got injured. 2023 was a turning point in the sense that the balance quickly shifted. I was beginning to see the limits of my progress in speed skating, while my body was coping better and better with the demands of running. But trail running is above all an ideological choice: returning to the most natural practice possible, one that makes the best use of human potential and allows me to connect the most meaning to my personal development.
When you look closely, this challenge didn’t come out of nowhere, since you finished 1st in the Infernal Trail des Vosges in 28:24 in 2024. We can imagine that you enjoy long efforts, but why take on the elevation-gain record? What attracted you to it? And how long does specific preparation like this take?
I progressed through the “stages” fairly quickly, at least those that conventional wisdom would have us follow. I experiment with everything that interests me, from the shortest efforts to the longest. The most important criterion is that it must remain an adventure: discovering an event, one’s abilities, and oneself. By mixing my first trail experiences in the cauldron of my imagination, I began to envision the 24-hour elevation-gain challenge. It intrigued me. I felt I had good predispositions for this challenge; I wanted to see what I was capable of. I don’t view training as a succession of specific preparation phases. For me, it is more of a continuous process that takes on the nuances of the next challenge. In this case, I began developing the 24-hour project around New Year’s. I gradually adjusted my training so I could handle a lot of elevation gain, and two months before the deadline, after Le Dernier Survivant, I entered a truly specific phase, with weeks systematically involving more than 10,000 meters of ascent and descent on the trails.
Let’s move on to nutrition:
Did you receive any nutritional or hydration advice for this record?
No, just personal choices based on my experience.
On the Nutribay website, there is a very wide range of brands and products. How did you make your choices?
I had two main criteria for my basic carbohydrate intake: a flavor that wouldn’t become tiring and logistical simplicity. The Precision Fuel range was perfect for that. For the gels: a slight lemon flavor, moderate sweetness, and a fairly gentle texture—and above all, a 90-gram pouch format that was practical both for fueling and for keeping track of quantities. I also ate quite a lot of Baouw fruit purées and gels, to some extent helping regulate my blood sugar with more complete foods. That was also the purpose of the homemade mashed potato purée I had during the night. In addition, it helped warm my stomach a little, as did the broth, to avoid the digestive discomfort that can occur when you lose a few degrees.
In general, everything had to be easy to consume. I’m not on team pizza during ultras, even though I’d like to be… I simply can’t chew that kind of food.
Which products did you consume during the record?
I had no nutrition plan for the 24 hours, just a supply of products that I would choose to consume when I felt the need. Since I passed my aid station every lap, roughly every 4 to 5 minutes, I could fuel very regularly without carrying anything on me. I alternated as I pleased between plain water, sweetened drink, gel, fruit purée, and so on.
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Do you have an idea of your carbohydrate, caffeine—if you had any in certain products, and when—and sodium intake, either per hour or overall?
Overall, I consumed 74 g/h of carbohydrates. Sometimes much more. Toward the end, while Stéphane (Brogniart) was encouraging me to eat, I managed to take more than two 90 g pouches and a bottle of carbohydrate drink in under an hour—more than 200 g. I’m not sure that had any physiological benefit, but I certainly wasn’t short of sugar!
I chose to take electrolytes separately. In total: three 250 mg sodium capsules. I’m not someone with particularly salty sweat; I supplemented to ensure an adequate baseline level.
I kept caffeine as a trump card for the second half of the night and the end of the event. In the end, I took 2 caffeinated gels. And despite usually being very sensitive to it, I barely felt its effects because my effort was so sustained and linear hour after hour.
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Here is everything I consumed:
13 PF 90 gels
5 Baouw gels - 30 g
8 Baouw fruit purées - 15 g
2 C30 Caf neversecond gels
0.4 liters of purée
20 cl of soup
3 glasses of cola - 50 g
600 g of Carb PF powder - 38 g per 100 g
Total: 1,778 g - 74 g/h of fast-acting sugars
The slope was very steep—remind us of the percentage. How did you manage consuming gels, bars, fruit purées, or anything else? During which section were you able to eat?
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I fueled exclusively while going uphill. My fantastic support team ran alongside me as I passed the aid station, handing me the products I asked for, and I swallowed them without stopping.
For foods that required me to settle down for a while, I made use of the few breaks at base camp to combine tasks: massages, changing clothes, purée, changing my headlamp, and so on.
Nutrition can be difficult during a 24-hour effort. Did you follow your plan to the letter, or were there any deviations? Maybe some comfort foods to keep you going?
As I said earlier, the plan was that there was no plan. I had prepared a few slightly different “bonus” gels in case I wanted to break the routine at certain points, but overall I consumed the same products for 24 hours.
Nutribay wanted to support you with this project. Would you recommend the website, and why?
What I like about Nutri-bay is the diversity of its offering. It’s really great to be able to order all the products we want to test from the same place—and, more importantly, the ones that have convinced us and that we consume regularly.
Was there a phrase you repeated to yourself during the challenge?
No, I don’t have a particular mantra. I already have enough to deal with from those tunes that come out of nowhere, get stuck in your head, and haunt you for hours.
Do your trail-running or running friends have a nickname for you?
My little nickname within the group is “the God+.” For the community, I was christened “the Architect” by Robin des genoux in the GIF ;p
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Congratulations again, and see you soon!
Thank you!