Suunto Blog

How do you film the world's fastest mountain runner? Filmmaker Sébastien Montaz says it's all about the emotion. Dejame Vivir - Let Me Live - is the eagerly awaited second film from Sébastien Montaz to follow Kilian Jornet on the athlete's personal Summits of My Life project. It follows Kilian as he sets two mind-boggling record ascents on Mt Blanc and the Matterhorn. But it's much more than a documentary of the climbs, the filmmaker tells us: “To me what's important is not the performance; that's not my thing. My background is as a mountain guide and I've always filmed people – the thing for me is to try and capture the emotions. Kilian is someone who's happy, who has an entertaining personality. We wanted the film to be like him. So I asked him to shoot whenever he did something. Kilian has passion for the image and a very good understanding on how to make a film. He writes books, has a very good touch for telling stories using his phone or camera, he's posting stuff every day. He has a good eye and knows what works. These very personal shots added something new to the film because people think they know a little bit more about Kilian. It's more intimate. We also involved the public. For the Matterhorn record I was asking via Facebook for their shots, which I included. It's the same concept – getting stories from the inside.” Kilian is not the only star of the film. There is also another mountain legend, who the team meet in Russia for a race on Mt Elbrus, Vitaly Shkel, a Russian mountain guide. “His nickname is 'the monster' in Russian,” continues Montaz. “There's a whole legend around him. He lived in this hut at 4,000m all summer just to prepare for the race. He was well prepared. Kilian was quite suprised to have someone who kept up with him! To me it was the highlight of the filming to discover this unique athlete.” It's also a highlight of the film to see the camaraderie and friendship develop between  the small community of mountain runners who turn up for the race. “Russia was fun,” adds Montaz. “It's a bit of a wild region.” Déjame Vivir is available for download here.

Finding your running legs after a long winter or a period of inactivity is always a challenge. Emelie Forsberg offers some old school advice: Just get out there and run! For the trail runner Emelie Forsberg, there is only a small window to get fit after winter. The first race on the calendar is the brutal 80km Transvulcania in mid-May, which doesn't leave a lot of time to train if, like her, you're into ski-touring and other mountain sports! But the Suunto ambassador says there is a way to quickly regain your running fitness: “I'm old school! I was recently in Chamonix and was worried I had heavy legs. I spent four days there. I ran for three hours on the first day and three hours on the second day. On the third day I felt good so I ran for six hours! My tip is just to never give up. You may not feel good the first time or even the second time but you will feel good soon. You just have to get over the hard part and then you can start to enjoy it and you'll be running fit again.” However, there are some running specific exercises she does practise. Emelie's five running specific exercises “I do five exercises that are really good for working the small muscles that are important for running. You just need to do them a few times to wake the muscles up.” 1. Plank, sideplank and reverse plank: “This is good for the core, back and hamstrings.” 2. 'Paddling' with rocks: “This is good for the abs.” 3. Side leg raises: “I do this to wake up the small muscles in the hips that connect to the IT band.” 4. 'Swim' with rocks. “This is great for the lower back and shoulders. I lie on my stomach, lift up my chest and 'swim' with a water bottle or rock in one hand.” 5. Hip flexor stretch: “This is important for running.”