Skip to main content

One step at a time

The UTMB is now only 15 weeks away and I cannot wait for that. Having said that, there are 15 weeks of intense training ahead and I already feel a bit stressed. 

Training for an ultra is pretty much like running an ultra, both mentally and physically. During an ultramarathon, there are moments - better said "hours" - that you enjoy running. You move forward effortlessly. There are also hours of struggling and pain. There are moments that you seriously question if you can go on, you wonder if you can climb the hill in front of you, sometimes you just thinking of how to take the next step. 
“I always start these events with very lofty goals, like I’m going to do something special.And after a point of body deterioration, the goals get evaluated down to basically where I am now – where the best I can hope for is to avoid throwing up on my shoes.” – Nuclear Engineer and ultrarunner, Ephraim Romesberg, 65 miles into the Badwater Ultramarathon
When you are training for such an event, you have to get out six or seven days a week and run. If there are times that you cannot move forward due to fatigue or an injury, if  you miss a couple of training sessions because of your busy schedule, you probably feel stressed. Then you need to think about the race. You won't run a 100 Miler easily, there are for sure moments of pain and fatigue. You have to be prepared for the physical and mental torture.Everyone has good or bad days. Learn to push yourself as hard as you can on your good days, and to embrace the failure when bad days come.

I've got a couple of long runs planned for this weekend. The first proper back-to-back long runs of the season. Hopefully I'd cover 50km and 3000 meters of elevation. 15 weeks to the UTMB and 8 weeks to the Eiger! There are loads of training to do.

I'll post a weekly update on my training from now on. Take care and stay tuned.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

"Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must. Just never give up" Dean Karnazas Last Saturday and Sunday I ran the Eiger Ultra Trail, a 101 km ultramarathon with more than 6700 metres of elevation gain. I arrived in Grindelwald on Thursday and went to collect my bib number on Friday morning. The race organisation was quite good for a race in this size. There was a strict equipment check at the bib number distribution which I appreciated during the race. They asked every runner to bring all the mandatory gear listed on the website in order to collect the bibs. Apart from the bib numbers we were handed out a plastic cup in order not to use many disposable cups along the way. There was also a reflective band which we had to wear after 9:30 pm. The mandatory gear that should be carried along the way Weighs around 4kg (including 1.5L of water) Pasta was served from 12 to 7 pm and there was a briefing session on Friday evening at congress centre which ev
8 comments
Read more

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
6 comments
Read more

On over-reaching your goal: The Eiger Ultra Trail E101, 18-19 July 2015

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
5 comments
Read more