The first ultramarathon, adrenaline rush and tapering blues

July seems to be a remarkable month in my running diary. I started running in July 2010, ran my first marathon on 28 July 2012, and now I'm tapering for my first ultramarathon - Swissalpine K78 - that is scheduled for 27 July.

The last couple of weeks before a marathon (or an ultra) are probably the easiest training weeks. You decrease your training volume to let your body recover for the big day. But having said that, tapering period can be the toughest part of the whole journey. Tapering is all about paradoxes. You can feel the adrenaline running through your veins, you are probably in the best shape and ready to head out for a long run at any minute. But you've got to control yourself. You've got to know what you are doing. You've got to take it easy and let these feeling go.

I have been training for my first ultramarathon for almost three months. Well, two months to be precise. I was away from running for four weeks due to an ankle sprain. Now I'm not in the best shape I was expecting myself to be, but I'm absolutely ambitious. I am not sure how hard it would be to run 78 km through mountains, but I know that I'm going to give it my best. I know I'm the happiest when I'm pushing myself achieving what once - not long ago- seemed impossible, what once was not even a dream of mine. I don't know how hard it could be, but I know I feel most alive when I struggle to take the next step.

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Eiger Ultra Trail 2014; 101km of mud, rocks and sweat

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Swissalpine K78. On running my first ultra

“How to run an ultramarathon ? Puff out your chest, put one foot in front of the other, and don't stop till you cross the finish line.” Dean Karnazes Last week I made my way to Davos to run the Swissalpine K78. Davos is where I ran my first marathon last year and this year I was there to run my first ultra. Davos is the place where it all started. It's the place where I met many runners and heard their inspirational stories. We arrived in Davos (That's Samer, a good friend of mine from Belgium who came to Davos to run the K21 and myself) on Thursday morning and went to the expo. Collected the race numbers and had a look around the expo. This is one of my favourite parts of any race. You get to know other runners, races and latest products. At the expo, with the bib numbers The day before the race started by going up Jakobshorn where we met Franz, a truly inspirational man. He's started running when he was 60 and now at the age of 73 he's run numer

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It is 47 km into the race and I'm walking downhill through a forest towards Burglauenen. It's been a great race so far. I passed the last check point (Faulhorn, the highest point of the race) 15 minutes before my expected time and enjoyed running downhill to Schynige platte. A few minutes ago, when I approached a corner on this muddy terrain, a sharp pain hit my left knee so badly that forced me to stop. I cannot run anymore, I am using my walking sticks to take some weigth off my knee and slowly walking down. I could have run this part of the race quite fast and effortless if my knee didn't hurt. Through my training, I put so much effort to master my downhill running technique and I was quite confident in it that I'd consider it as one of my strength points. It hurts a lot when you have trained a lot and on race day you just cannot perform well. In fact that is hurting much more than my sore knee. As I am limping cautiously, there are many runners passing by, mos

Running in late 20s

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