In the little French town of Chamonix at the base of Mt. Blanc, New Zealand-born Stuart Mills is getting ready to run the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc – a distance of 168 kilometers with positive elevation of more than 9,600 meters.

Now a principle lecturer at the University of Brighton’s School of Sport and Service Management in the UK, Stuart has won an impressive number of ultra trail runs.

Only last year, he placed first at the Montane Lakeland 100 miles with a time of 22:17:50, beating his previous first place result in 2010 by nearly two hours.

But the UTMB is one race of a kind and preparing for it takes more then physical fitness, it takes serious mental training.

Find out more about Stuart on his blog.