Running in late 20s

2015 is going to be an exciting year. I was successful in the UTMB draw and will be heading to Chamonix in August. UTMB is definitely one of the most amazing ultras in the world. 170 km of trails and 10000 metres of elevation gain demands loads of training. It is far more difficult than what I've done in the past. I am now trying to set a training plan. The race is six months away but it's never to early to start training. There are a couple of races which I want to run in preparation for the big one. Eiger Ultra Trail in July and Swissalpine K78. Eiger is going to be my main training race and I'd try to run it faster than last year. I have also got a couple of long routes to train on. If you have ever run the UTMB or any similar races, please let me hear about your experience. I'd appreciate any training advice. I'd try to post my weekly training here so you can track my progress. Also you can have a look at my movescount page. Stay tuned

Last October I tried to run the Cappadocia Ultra Trail and it turned out to be the first race that I didn't reach the finish line.  There were a few reasons behind that and a few lessons to be learned. Give your body proper rest after a (or a couple of) big races.  I ran the Eiger Ultra Trail E101 in July and the Swiss Irontrail T81 in August. Looking at my training diary there is a significant difference between the amount of training I had prior to the Eiger (April, May, June) and before the Cappadocia Ultra Trail (September, October). During summer I had a massive goal of getting all qualification point for UTMB and I trained so hard for it. In late August just after the Irontrail, I was quite week and need a good recovery. I didn't run for a few weeks. Then I start training only a few weeks before the race. But the amount of effort I made was nowhere near what I should have. I should have respected my body more and gave it a good rest.  Never Underestimate ...

This is definitely worth reading. Runner's World article on the possibility of running a marathon under two hours. It says a lot about the course, temperature, age, height and the other important factors. That reminds me of   The Perfection Point  by  John Brenkus (Check out the Reading list page). He predicts that the fastest time anyone can ever run a marathon is just under two hours. 

Just read the story of  Mauro Prosperi who got lost during the Marathon des Sables in 1994 and survived after 10 days. He will be running 7000 km across Sahara next year. This is definitely worth reading.

Just finished the Istanbul Marathon in 3:59. Not a PR but I'm quite pleased with that.

I'm heading to Istanbul tomorrow to run the Istanbul Marathon on Sunday. Last year I only managed to drag myself to the finish line and it turned out to be my slowest marathon. That was due to lack of training and running the first half of the race too fast. I haven't really trained for marathon distance since then and my main focus was running ultra trail races, so a PR sounds too optimistic. But I am in better shape comparing to last year and I hope with pacing myself properly, I will be able to run better this year. I'm sure no matter what happens this Sunday, I'm going to try my best and enjoy every single stride along the way. Stay tuned

Just a quick note on Cappadocia ultra trail. For the first time ever I had to drop out of a race. That happened at 77th km due to severe pain in shin area and dropping the body tempreature and shivering. DNF ( stands for Did Not Finish) really hurts. There are lessons to be learned and I'm going to write a detailed post on this one.