Facing Forward
Last May, I was in Lauterbrunnen. While walking in the shadows of the canyon walls that surrounded us, I was mesmerized by the 4158-meter Jungrfrau in front of me. And then, I noticed markings saying “Km 22” on the side of the road. I then realized that the road we were walking on was on the course of the immensely popular (and sort of challenging) Jungfrau marathon.
The race combines 3 of things I love about running: Running flat on the road, Running uphill on trails and No Downhills! It is the marathon distance (42.195 kilometers) with 1953 meters of climbing. Surrounded by the Eiger, Jungfrau and Mönch. It goes without saying, I checked how I could participate. Turns out there’s an elite entry for the race: You need a 31 min 10k, 1:09:00 Half, 2:24:30 Full or 3:18:00 at Jungfrau marathon. Fair enough.
Over the last 2 years, I have been swinging from one injury to another. I spent most of my summer in the swimming pool, getting tanned and re-discovering my love for chlorine. Earlier in the year, I had tried to make a comeback in running but wasn’t able to do too much on account of the piriformis syndrome. Also, I still had the mindset that I wanted to return to the level I was at in 2020, before I got injured. That summer, while hiking in the mountains in Zermatt, I just decided to accept the life that was mine. I was nowhere at the running level from 2020. But I still had my body, which if tended to properly and with respect, could build back. I stopped listening to the negative energy coming from my physio, whose advice basically had not helped me for 2 years. I let go of expectations, I let go of ambition and just decided to train.
Slowly ramping the mileage, I ran fairly decent races in Morat-Fribourg
and Lausanne half marathon.
I tried shorter races too but with less success. The best one for me the 3.6k only uphill race in the Vineyards in late August, where I ran off 0 kilometers/week of running and yet finished 14th. In November, I got COVID (for the 1st time in 3 years) and had to pull out of Corrida Bulloise. I pulled myself back together but I was pushed and fell at the start line of Escalade. Being trampled by a bunch of people was rather traumatising. I ended the year with the Christmas run, where I managed to outsprint a friend at the finish line.
My conclusions from 2022 were the following:
1. Take yourself less seriously. Run without expectations and you will always have a good race. You’re not a professional, this is supposed to be fun. If it is making you miserable, it is not worth it.
2. Never start too fast. Overtaking people is a lot more fun.
3. I am too old for 10k or below. Ok, maybe not. But I have more fun running at Threshold pace than 10k pace.
Starting 2023, I was in a dilemma: To run a marathon for the 1st time since April 2019, to do a half marathon, to do mountain racing or to continue racing 10ks.
For me the cornerstones to a good marathon are:
1. High mileage to develop endurance
2. Workouts which promote efficiency in the last 10k of the marathon.
In the last year, I managed to build back my weekly mileage to as high as 76 miles(122k), which is not bad. My past builds had, on average, 96–98 miles per week of running(155–157k). I am not saying I cannot run a great marathon off 70 miles per week, but if race days doesn’t go to plan in the post-race debrief, I will definitely point a finger at my weekly mileage. Plus, to be perfectly honest, I love running 100-mile weeks. I am a big mileage guy; running big miles is like meditation for me. And despite building to 76 miles per week, my longest long run was 16 miles (26k). In a marathon build, I refuse to call anything shorter than 32k a long run. My body is better, but I am not sure it is ready to handle consistent high mileage and brutal long runs.
I want to slowly introduce it to high mileage, see how I feel and if it all goes well, then why not register for a Fall marathon or run one next Spring? For this Spring, I will keep my sights on a half marathon. I am registered to the Geneva half marathon on 7th May. However, the build to this half marathon will be a high mileage one, with a couple of 100-mile weeks. The long runs will still be south of 30k, albeit with added intensity, loads of tempo runs and some speedwork.
I will do a 12-week build for the Geneva half, starting 13th February. Until then, there will the massive task of waking my body up from the off-season and rebuilding it to handle the load. The 6 weeks between now and 13th February are all about base building. I will ramp up the mileage slowly, having mostly aerobic runs, trying to improve my aerobic efficiency. Here and there, I will have some tempo runs or intervals thrown in, plus strides to keep myself sharp. One thing I am particularly happy with is the inclusion of strides at the end of long runs. It helped me develop a strong kick, which helped in the Christmas run and Lausanne half. I plan to continue that.
After 13th February, I will commence the build with more half marathon specific workouts. Like I said before, I love to race without expectations and this year is no different. I want to put in the work and let the training and my racing experience dictate the results. But I am also only human. While racing without expectations is the primary goal, I still need to have a little target in mind to chart the progress. If I am able to hit the Jungfrau marathon elite times with this build, I would be rather chuffed.
I also have stated many times before that I want to eventually be a writer. This build presents a great opportunity for that. I want to approach this build as a journalistic challenge, documenting my training and how I felt through the build on a weekly basis. If it then serves as something useful (or a tale of caution) for people, then it’s great!
Frankly, I am doing it for myself. I like to write, and I like to run. This seems like a great opportunity to combine both my passions. Plus, this way I remain accountable to not overdo things, not convert my double recovery runs into a single aerobic jaunt and just keep sane in general.
