Zegama Marathon

I realize this is going to be an extended version of a blog. But because this is quite an epic race for me this report is going to have an epic length :)

If you talk to people living in the world of mountain running they will all tell you there is this amazing race in Zegama you cannot miss. It attracts year after year some of the very best long distance mountain runners and is a core race of the skyrunning world series.
After I saw last years race report on youtube I knew I would have to do this race very soon. See for yourself how beautiful this race is. It is a full Marathon (42.2km) with start and finish on the village square of Zegama. 2736 meters incline is a big number as it is, but with the same amount downhill this results in an average of 13° gradient throughout the whole Marathon.

My schedule for the event was far from ideal but I knew what was coming, was well prepared for it and had the right mindset. I flew on Saturday evening from London to Bilbao where I rented a car. I arrived in Oñati at midnight, which was half an hour out of Zegama. When I had breakfast the next morning I met a few runners who did not had the chance to get a starting slot for the race because the numbers are very limited. Only 450 runners get accept through the ballot process and Millan Salva told me they got rejected the past six years. So they decided to come here to cheer the athletes on.
Once I arrived in the mighty town of Zegama I realized the dimension of this race considering the size of the town. So many volunteers were there to make this an event to remember; apparently this is THE event in everybody's calender in the whole area.

I decided to start in my Kinabalu shoes. I expected them to withstand the conditions better than the Trail Rocket. The weather forecast was not very pleasant to say the least; it said 8° in Zegama and 13mm of rain for the day. Luckily there was not much rain at all on raceday. But still mud and wet underground of all sorts would be your loyal companion at all times. These are not the sort of conditions I like because I seem to be less effective than my competitors.
I just received another new toy from Scott, the best hybrid running pants I could have wished for! They have a pockets on either side where I could put my gels and gloves without them bouncing about. They are super comfortable and I will wear them a lot whenever I go for a longer run and plan to take things with me. 

So I stood at the starting line extremely motivated for this race. You could not ask for a better field. Kilian Jornet won the race already 6 times, Transvulcania winner Luis Alberto Hernando Alzaga and my teammate Marco De Gasperi were the athletes to look out for, but the depth of the field was incredibly high. It was no surprise to expect a fast race even though the conditions were so bad.
Right after the start the top athletes set a very high pace. I knew that it would be suicide to go with one of the fastest groups. As this will be my longest run until now and I had to be careful with my resources. My gameplan was to stick to a comfortable pace until I would reach the summit of Aizkorri (kilometer 22) which I expected to reach well beyond the 2 hour mark.

After a first tough uphill the field was already fairly stretched. Trying to take the uphills as easy as possible but pushing the flatter sections I found myself soon in a position where I thought would be a good position for me just outside the top 10. I reached Otzaurte (km 7) which gave me the first big boost. I thought more than thousand spectators were lining the path into this sharp climb. The atmosphere was ear-piercing and simply gigantic when everybody cheers you on as if we were Gladiators! Now I know what it must feel like when you climb the Alpe d'Huez in the Tour de France. (Marco De Gasperi in the picture)

Soon the paths got smaller and even muddier. This climb was followed by the first technical downhill. I considered myself as a rather good downhill runner. I could imagine the likes of Marco De Gasperi and Kilian Jornet would be faster than me but I had to realize that this was a great weakness of mine. The whole bunch of athletes I left behind me on the last uphill rushed again past me. When I tried to increase my speed I started to slip on the wet stones, in the mud or grass. Nothing seemed to help. If it only was dry I kept telling myself. With great difficulty I could withstand a fall.
The uphill to Aratz (first summit after 16km) was interstratified with little downhills which did not allow me to get back to the position I was a minute ago. My mind started to work and I thought my time will come for sure when it's going to be less technical. Hah, what a mistake, this was just the beginning! During the following downhill to Sancti Spiritu, I did not only slip but fell also a couple of times. I must have lost well more than a minute on the athletes around me and a few others just passed me.
The next uphill was the last big climb of the course up to the summit of Aizkorri. The top was packed again with supporters and spectators. And again they dragged you over the last meters of the climb.

I knew the next bit would be quite a technical part along the ridge of the mountain. But soon there was no real path anymore and it was more of a climb. Because the rocks were sometimes quite sharp I had to pause for a moment to regain balance. To make things worse it started to snow! This was the moment when I realized I couldn't orientate myself to the front anymore and had to make sure I would get out of this in one piece! A drop of 300 meters in about 700 meters distance is not fun. And finally I started to really slip. Not once. Not twice, but many times.

At this point of the race I started to feel the distance and because the race did not quite go the way I was hoping (not only position-wise but also physically) it was hard to maintain the motivation to push myself. The muscles got tired of all the balancing acts. As the fog started to kick in I sometimes could not see the next signpost (the race is absolutely perfectly flagged though) and there was no athlete I could follow. This forced me to stand still again and again until i spotted the next sign.
To get back to Zegama you have to cross the ridge again at kilometer 30. Apart from a few counterslopes this is the last uphill of the race. This in mind I pushed more or less as much as I could (which was not that much anymore). A long 12 kilometer downhill to Zegama finishes this race off. I lost count after a total of beyond 20 falls, once I even tumbled over a branch and landed flat on my front but luckily I fell in soft mud.

I crossed the finish line after 4 hours 21 minutes as 31st. It was a tough day in the office. It was certainly not the result I was looking for but I witnessed an epic race, maybe even more so because of the conditions. I was covered in mud from tip to toe and was happy I made it to the finish and to my surprise my legs did not feel that bad either. I enjoyed every moment of it and am glad I made the trip to the Basque country. I am also happy with some parts of my performance. Before the race I thought 4:15 would be a realistic time. Considering what I have lost in the technical parts I know I would be at least there. In addition when I compare my finishing time with other years I would have been close to a top 10 ranking.

The guys in front of the race went absolutely mad (results). The first four athletes would have set a new course record. It was Kilian Jornet who won it in a time of 3:48 in front of Marco and Hernando finishing both in 3:50. I have great respect of their performance and everybody else who finished this race.

I am not sure yet if I will go back to Zegama because it uncovered quite a few weaknesses but something tells me it was not my last time in Zegama. I would definitely wish for good weather next time! And in addition I did not get the chance to see the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Gehry. This is one of my absolute favourite buildings in the world so there's another reason to come back.
The next stop of the skyrunning world series will be Sierre-Zinal for me. In the meantime I hope I get the opportunity to represent Switzerland at the European Championships in Gap (France).

Preview Zegama 2014

 Zegama-Aizkorri 2014 Preview

It's only four days to go until I will start at my first race of the skyrunning world series! It is the mountain Marathon in Zegama, Spain. On the traditional 42.2 kilometers there is a total of 5472 meter incline and decline to overcome. Not exactly what one can prepare in the likes of Kent! Well I've tried to use the North Downs ridge with its 100 meter incline with a few repetitions. We will see if that did the trick ;)


There has been quite a while since my last post. Here is an update what happened in the meanwhile:


I did the Paddock Wood Half Marathon which was on the 30th of March in a time of 1:10:49. It was a very flat and fast course but I just did not feel right on the day. It was really tempting to pull out of the race after 3km because it was not only very close to my car but I also had to write a 2000 word essay within the next 24 hours. But I decided to finish the race, even though I had to take it a bit slower than I expected to. I had to let go those runners I thought I could challenge. James McMullan, Tom Collins and Anthony Jackson disappeared slowly and my speed started to drop until a few runners caught up to me. I thought it was a good idea to just hang in there so they could drag me along. I did not lead much until we reached kilometer 18. Because we started to close the gap to the aforementioned guys I tried to push hard to the finish line. It was to late to catch them and I crossed the finish line in 10th position. I was a bit disappointed with my performance but then again 1:10 for a not-so-good-day is acceptable I think.



This was just before I went to my training camp in Giverola, Spain. It feels like home to me, as it was about the 11th time I was there. The location, the food, the training and company was as always brilliant!
I did not get quite the miles in my legs I wanted but I had an amazing time with my love which made more than up for it.

Since the Easter break I was training about 10 hours per week. This is quite a lot for me but compared with my competitors from Sunday it must be very little and I am about to run a mountain Marathon! The training was generally not as hard as it could have been, but then again I am studying full time and had at least an exam or essay to hand in every week with the final exams of the year coming up in a couple of weeks.


There was a last test on Saturday with the traditional Sola-Relay in and around Zurich. I did for the first time leg 11 which was 12.3km and 400 meters up- and downhill. Because I knew it was a very close race between the first three teams I had to give everything. I wore for the first time the Scott Trail Rocket which is the lightest version of Scott Trail shoes (apart from the Race Rocker which is rather a shoe for tarmac). It was really comfortable and now I am a bit confused which shoe that I should wear on Sunday. After a few kilometers when I reached almost the highest point of the course it got flatter but I struggled a bit with the rhythm and the turnover of the legs. Thankfully this got better by time and I could push in the downhill, even though I tried to save my legs also a little bit from all the shocks. I reached Zumikon after 45 minutes and in total I was very happy with the performance. I realized pretty soon that my legs would ache the next few days after all this downhill running. However this needs to be trained as well and who knows, it might come in handy this Sunday on the last twelve kilometers to the finish line which are basically downhill. Taken in consideration this was only 300 meters downhill and another 2700 are waiting on Sunday for me, I do not want to waste a thought what my legs are gonna feel like afterwards.
Our team TV Oerlikon came less than a minute behind the winning team (after 6:55 hours) in 2nd position. I hope we can strike back next year! It was great to see so many familiar faces and to have two more Dala-horses in the collection :)


The training for this week will be to move my legs a bit without pushing to much but to keep the metabolic demand high. I have been struggling in the past with the tapering because the body was not ready anymore to get pushed to the limit.
I reconnoitred the course many times online on youtube (last years race recap with the beautiful scenery) and google earth and should be mentally prepared for whats coming. I know that I am my worst enemy by pushing to hard in the first hour. I hope I find the right mix to be able to get through without any serious downtime. I have been looking forward to this event for almost half a year when the skyrunning federation released their calender. Now its approaching really quick and I am excited to do well in this competition. At the same time I have great respect of the course and that so many things may happen on the way. The only question remaining is now which shoe I should run with! My beloved Kinabalus or the Trail Rocket?

I will let you know how it went as soon as I'm back from my adventurous trip to the basque country.

Thanks for reading!
Stephan

Southern 12-stage Road-Relay

On Sunday was the Southern championship of the 12-stage road-relay in Milton Keynes where my first claim club - Woodford Green with Essex Ladies had a medal to defend. We knew that the depth of the team was not the same as the year before so it was not realistic to aim for another podium - but at least you can try! So the pressure was somewhat off which gave you the opportunity to enjoy the race a little bit more.

When you participate in a relay its somewhat different from a normal race you do on your own. You realize other people depend on you and you can not afford to ease off when you think it's not your day or you would like to play some tactics. Every second counts. Its unrelenting until you pass on to the next runner and it is your job to get through there as quick as possible.

It was an absolutely stunning weekend. Blue sky and temperatures close to 20 degrees are for English circumstances a special treat. I arrived just in time to see the start of the relay which gave me roughly 40 minutes to warm up for my own start as I was running leg 3 which was with 7.7km a long one.

I could still feel my legs from the 100 mile cycle I did two days prior to the race but I know I need some miles in my legs for later on in the season so I just had to deal with it and make the best of the situation. They felt quite stiff when I started my warm-up but this would change once I was on the way. I reconnoitered the first and last bit of the lap to know exactly what I was on about.
Our team tactics was to stay with the quick boys for a few legs, see what happens in the middle and have a few strong anchor guys to finish solid.

Martyn Cryer who was doing the first leg started real quick and came in in fifth place. Jonathon Cook then took over and just managed with a final rush to came back in 2nd place which put me on a lot of pressure as I did not wanted to be the one who lost the places...
I started off knowing that some quick runners were on the same leg as me so lets say I was warned. I also knew that quite a few runners started right behind me. My goal was to run a consistent race to optimize my end time. I ran the first kilometer in 3:10 min/km pace and my goal was to hold on to this for as long as possible. There was this slight uphill where I tried to stay comfortable to pick up the pace again on top.
To my surprise nobody caught up to me on the first lap around the Linford Wood park. As I was going uphill for the second time Terry was taking pictures and with a contemplative expression on his face he just said sort of: "There are coming a few quick guys just hang in there". What this meant was that a couple of Olympians were right in my neck and made me look like a schoolboy. Chris Thompson (27:27 over 10'000m and yes he is the one which looks like Terminator) followed by Scott Overall (2:10 Marathon) overtook me in a pace which was out of my league.

I tried to keep the pace steady but dropped it a little even though I was fighting quite hard to the finish where I handed over in fifth position. My time was 25:06 which is a solid time but nothing I could be really to proud of (for strava link click here). The team finished in 8th place which we thought was realistically a good result.
A positive turnout for me personally was that I kept the guys on distance which started off right behind me. One of them was Daniel Bradley, my companion from the Ashford 10k in February. He started only 5 seconds behind me and closed the gap once almost but never quite got there and lost half a minute in the end (but Tonbridge finished in 7th just in front of us - damn!).

I ran with my Scott Race Rockers which are phenomenal shoes. I did last years Jungfrau Marathon with them and was super happy. For their lightweight of only 190 grams they are solid, have a decent amount of shock absorption and are very comfortable - even after a 3 hour race there was no discomfort whatsoever!



My plan was to run the Eastleigh 10k this weekend, but I had to acknowledge that my form was not that good to justify this longish trip with so much stuff at hand for my studies. So I signed up for Paddock Wood Half Marathon on the 30th of March and will do the Parkrun instead this Saturday.

After that its time for the training camp in Giverola - Spain! Really looking forward to that!!

Race report Ashford 10k

My next goal is to run a new 10k personal best in March. I have planed to go to Eastleigh for this attempt where I have set my official PB in 2011. 

To achieve this goal I have to work hard and be determined, as I am not getting younger and speed certainly does not come with age! This shall be the basis for the upcoming mountain running season where speed in the flat is not exactly essential. But it gives you confidence and makes your legs move quicker which is good for fast downhill sections. 

That's why I've decided to do the Ashford 10k, to get a first attempt on this distance under the belt. From the trainings on the track I knew that I have great deficits on the base speed. I know that I am missing the force of the cycling training which I have not been doing for months now (basically due to the beautiful English weather, long days of sunshine and smooth road surfaces) but have to pick it up again better sooner than later. 

From the Park runs I knew that I should be able to run between 32 and 33 minutes. The course had to be changed on the day because parts of the roads were flooded but fortunately the organizers were able to accommodate with the circumstances and had a backup plan which was a 5k stretch with a turnaround point. The course is undulating which makes it interesting for tactics but not exactly fast.

Everybody gathered at the starting line and all I wanted is to run a solid and smart race. The horn sounded and some local runners went for it and were sprinting with a 3min/km average into the first hill (the usual procedure :)). After the first kilometer I was in 3rd position and was in reach of the two leading guys which did not seem to slow down and I had to make the move to be under control of the situation. As I was passing the local Ashford runner he was breathing very heavy and I knew he is going to drop right away so I went to the front and made sure this would happen. The other runner, Daniel Bradley of Tonbridge AC, did not have any problem to follow me and I gave the lead back to him. Daniel is the guy who won the park run in Maidstone in between my two wins in the exact average time of my finishing times which means we had about equal strength.

Now this is the time I love most when I have a game plan and can play my tactics. After he pushed for another couple of kilometers I made another move and got a gap of a few meters but he would not drop. So I had to be patient and just carry on at a speed where I would not overdo myself, keep him occupied and was still able to attack again when the time comes. Just at the second aid station after 6km Daniel rushed past me and our positions were reversed. I was now following a few meters behind him when we reached the hill where he was looking for the deciding gap. I stayed calm and started the counterattack in the following slight downhill with 2.5km to go. I was expecting to get away from him quite easily as he looked quite exhausted when I passed him. But he was hanging in there tough and stayed just about 5 seconds behind me. Now I was missing the force in my legs so I had to concentrate to be as efficient as possible and not to show any weakness. The closer we got to the finish the more I was hoping he was not able to out sprint me but then again if he had the strength he would have closed the gap before.

I crossed the finish line in 32:24 just 3 seconds in front of Daniel and thanks to him I was keeping the pace high all the way. According to my GPS the course had about 100 meters elevation which puts the time in a better perspective. I think it is fair to say I have achieved what I wanted from this race. The legs feel still good and are ready for the next training block!

Now I need to get my bike sorted and get those miles in! 

Here are the results

Park run number 2

Last week my goal was the Dartford 10 mile which got cancelled the same morning due to "flooding" of the course. I was really gutted about it because it was the first Kent Grand Prix connected with a bit of prize money which is always useful as a student! Anyway I could use the time to finish my "cranial" essay.
This week was densely packed with visceral osteopathy. I don't mind if people prod around in my tummy as it is fairly relaxed. Back in the days when I was training regularly with my Swiss club Oerlikon I was sometimes so hungry I could eat a pizza right before the track training and hardly ever was uncomfortable. Now this time I went after the lessons on Thursday straight to the gym from where I started a run and did some exercises afterwards. When I was relaxing in the jacuzzi I started to get a headache. By the time I was home I seriously felt sick but funnily enough still had a good appetite. It cleared off eventually the day after. My exercise for that day was my regular Friday evening water Volleyball which is great fun!!
As a proud fan of the Detroit Red Wings I watched a couple of periods of their match against Montréal which compromised my sleep and preparation for Saturdays morning race.

I don't accept excuses, looking at last weeks results there was a guy faster than me the week before so I was warned. I warmed up a couple of kilometers to look at the condition of the trail which was a lot better than a couple of days ago.

I am now familiar with the procedure of the event and was ready for a bit more resistance of the combatants. And I was right, Junior James West started off his first kilometer in about 3:03 and I just let him go right from the beginning. He has a good running style and I was a bit confused if I should chase him down or not. I thought I should wait until its my turn on the bottom half of the route.
Just before we reached the halfway point he blew up and I was able to overtake him and ran it home. I knew I was close to the course record and was pushing for it but also realized that its not my time of the year just yet and sometimes you have to be patient to prevent any injury. I crossed the line when the timekeeper shouted '52 which would equal the course record - the official results showed 15:53 just 1 second shy of it. A good reason to get back and claim it once and for all!

The legs were fine for the first 3 kilometers when I had to admit they were not working as well anymore. That is exactly what I want from these events, to keep my legs going and not to relax after a couple of laps like you do on the track where you can recover between the reps.

Here is again the data on strava, a very cool tool to upload your GPS data to and compare it with whoever run/rode at the same places as you did.

Next event: Ashford 10k on 02/02/2014

My very first Park run!

There is a national program to motivate everybody to get out and run. In more than 150 parks all over the UK (and further) there is a park run every Saturday morning which is basically a 5km run out in the green. It is completely free to start and has great success.
I think it is a great opportunity for literally everybody to get out and just do it. For me I think its good to do on a regular basis a 5k "training competition" to get my speed back and to get used to my Scott Race Rockers, the name says it all!

Finally I managed to get there myself. It was the 40th time it was organized in Maidstone. The start is just around the corner of the river Medway. The course goes along the river, crossing it over a bridge to make a U-turn and head back to where you came from. This course has a few features which makes it a rather slow course. The fact that the whole area next to the river was flooded made it a rather soft underground with lots of puddles. To get over the bridge one has to slow down around all the 180° turns. Finally, the trail is not exactly wide and some runners (understandably!) like it a bit slower and more social and don't pay that much attention to what is approaching them.

Right after the start the path got considerably narrow with a following sharp left turn so it was important to get through there quick! Some youngsters use it obviously as their training and were apparently aiming for the same goal, to get through there as quick as possible. After that, I thought I should be on my own, but you never know if there are some middle distance guys in their winter training!

It turned out to be quite easy to get away right from the beginning. I set the pace high enough on the first kilometer to get some distance between me and the other competitors. While I could choose my lane on the way out, it was considerably harder on the way back, hoping between the puddles as everybody else was on the "comfy" side. 
 
I managed to get back in 16:04 just 12 seconds shy of the course record. I could feel that I am not ready yet to push a decent pace for very long which will hopefully change in the near future. But I have to say it was good fun, can recommend it to everybody and will be back soon!

Click for data on strava

Orienteering!

A post on the facebook wall of the Maidstone Harriers really got my interest. It was an invitation to take part in a local night orienteering. I thought it was the perfect occasion to do a good training whilst being pushed mentally and enhance my map reading skills.

It was a cold night and I was not sure what to wear. But one thing I could not miss was the head torch my dad lent me just as I was going back to England. I tested a few eventualities and was not really sure what to expect, if it was cross country or just on roads, how cold it would actually be, if the batteries of the head torch were still alright?! Must be, it was shining bright!.. all these questions were spinning in my mind.

Once I got to the parking of the Old Orchard in Leybourne it was still pretty quite. There were a few people hiding in their cars but I was still not sure if I got to the right place but it soon turned out there were others for the same occasion. I got my chip and tried to get a bit familiar with the area as it was completely new to me and trying to match a few directions with what I have seen on google earth. I decided to stick to my Scott T2 Kinabalu shoes which are incredibly comfortable both on road and trails and are now my favourites!

The format was to find as many (or all) of the 20 posts (all on lampposts) in one hour.  You get 1 point for every post found and you lose 1 point for every minute being late.

There were a few moment between getting the map and the start signal. I immediately tried to get some posts in a good order around me so I could find the best way to get out of the neighbourhood. Before I could count to three all of the approximately 60 athletes were running in different directions. I had an idea where I wanted to go and because one guy in particular was sprinting to the same post as me, I was following him. He tried to get rid of as many competitors as quickly as possible which I thought was great for me. The first post was found easily in no time.
I knew the direction I had to go for the next post and was pushing when my mate suddenly stopped and obviously decided to go for an alternate route. I went my way finding the second post, just realizing that I forgot to start my Garmin with all that stress at the start line. I came to the third post which led onto the big road where I could take a closer look on the map. I roughly had my strategy and was pushing about 3:30min/k between the posts.

It went all really well and I was sure I could make it in time except for the fact that the light beam of the head torch got weaker every minute. Reading the map got really difficult but I was under the impression that I was in control. 
After 58 minutes I was back and thought it took me longer than I estimated it should take me. My Garmin showed me that I ran 14.6 kilometers so it must have been about 15 kilometers.The guy I followed at the start claimed to have all posts and had just 12.6 kilometers! What the hell went wrong?

When I got the results sheet I had 22 posts, so I went for two of them twice and lost at least eight minutes! I got mixed up by a post that was in the middle of the map so when i folded the map I lost track of it and went for it again on the way back.. The other I got wrong was at the very end so I had to acknowledge that my brain was tired towards the end of the race.

Thinking back of some mountain running, the mental exhaustion towards the end of a (long distance) race can be quite significant! Maybe a good point to work on for this season?

I had great fun challenging myself with the map. I hope I can do some more orienteering very soon.

Cheers for reading :)

Here is my data on strava