Running in late 20s

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, ...

Just a quick update about the Eiger. I finished the race under 19 hours (slightly shorter route due to bad weather) and will run the Swissalpine K78 tomorrow. I've almost recovered from the Eiger, just slight pain on my knees. Hopefully it won't cause any trouble tomorrow.  Stay tuned for the race reports in a few days. 

I am heading to Switzerland to run the Eiger Ultra Trail E101 and the Swissalpine K78. I have run both these races before. Both were my major goals at the time. This time though I am going to run theses races to prepare myself for the UTMB. The training has been all right so far. I have trained much more than last year and climbed much higher. The only problem is a slight knee pain that I have since last week. It's kind of weird as it happens when I started tapering. Hopefully it won't cause me any trouble this Saturday. And if it does, it will be a part of the suffering you always experience during an ultra. So there is nothing to be worried about. My goal time for the Eiger is 22 hours. Last year I did it in 25:12. Considering the amount of training that I had, it should be possible.  I have spent some time analysing the route and set time limits for every check point. Whatever happens I am going to give it all I've got. This is what ultra running is all about, p...

The title says it all, in the following 11 weeks I will run three ultras. The Eiger Ultra Trail E101, the Swissalpine K78 and the UTMB. My training is going fairly well and I have three more weeks of intense training before tapering for  the Eiger . Last year I finished it in 25 hours and 12 minutes  and this year I will try to run it under 22 hours. A week after the Eiger I'll be heading to Davos to run the Swissalpine K78  for my second time. These two races will be my longest training sessions for the UTMB. After the K78 I'll have a week of recovery, two weeks of training and 10 days of tapering. Now I am analysing the UTMB route. Trying to set a time goal for every check point. I'll try to post more frequently and update you about my training. You can also have a look at my movescount profile or instagram page (both links are in About / Contact tab)

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...

My training for the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc started three weeks ago. The first few weeks of any training plan has always been quite hard. This one was no exception. I started my training on 21 March which is the first day of the year in Iranian calendar. Twisted my left ankle on the second day but with a short rest I recovered quite fast and could manage to cover 140 km in my first two weeks. I also had another problem on my right foot. It is called Bunionette, and that is when the end of the toe got swollen and it can cause pain in different shoes. I visited a doctor and figured out that the only effective cure is an operation that requires a few weeks of recovery. But hopefully I can keep on training and leave that for after the big race. So I had an easy week of training and now I'm ready to get back into my training plan. I would rather increase the weekly mileage slowly than risking overtraining and injury. I'll keep you informed about my training every week. Yo...

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