Jungfrau Marathon Weekend

For those of you have already seen my pictures you know just what an amazing area this is (photos can be found here) .  Just to give you some background on the region.  After flying into Zurich I took the train west to Bern (60 minutes), where I switched trains and headed south for another 60 minutes coming along the southern edge of Lake Thun.  Lake Thun and Lake Berniez make up the two lakes that the town of Interlaken seats between.  The mountain range of Eiger, Monach, and Jungfrau are south of the town.  As you follow the road south it splits into two valleys, the one that heads due east goes towards the town of Grindelwald, while the valley that continues south is the one that the marathon course goes along as you head to the town of Lauterbrunnen.

The entire region is just amazing and the only thing I can compare it to is a collection of national parks in the US, because of all the national parks I have seen not a single one matches this area.  The valley of Grindelwald is a river formed V-valley, while Lauterbrunnen is similar to Yosemite, a U-valley with sheer cliffs.  These cliffs are home to beautiful waterfalls and great climbing, base jumping, and paragliding.  There are several slot canyons similar to Zion NP that are worth a trip back.  Then of course the backdrop to it all is a moutnain range best comparable to the Tetons.  Then add in some high mountain trails with spattered with wild flowers similar to trails in Rocky Mountain NP and you have one beautiful place.  There is also kayaking, sailing, white water rafting, and thats just in the summer.

Overview of Jungfrau Region with Train Routes

After an 8:30 flight from Copenhagen to Zurich and a 2 hour train ride I was in Interlaken by 13:30 on Thursday afternoon.  Since I couldn’t check into my hostel until 16:00 I decided to lock my baggage at the train station to take a quick trip up the range close to town that would give me a view of the lakes, the mountains, and the valleys.  The trip up and down was on a gondola type thing on a track, which climbed 700m quick.  The thing I first noticed when I reached the top was how far up 700m was.  This was very concerning since I knew the race climbed 1829m total.  I tried not to think too much about just as I had the entire period of training.  I went for an easy 60 minute run along the ridge during which I stopped every 3 minutes to snap a picture of the ever changing views of the lakes and mountains.  After I enjoyed some coffee and cake at Helder Kulm an old resteraent at the top of the ridge and headed back down.

Only 700m up, but still a beautiful view

The hostel was really nice and I was glad for the informal setting in comparison to the swanky Victoria Resort across town.  On the first night I met 2 girls from Canada, and guys from Seattle, South Africa, Australia, and Scotland.  We played some pool and headed out to a bar for a couple drinks and some live music.  Two nights before the race a couple beers never hurts and sometimes helps.

Hostel Living - 6 to a room, only one snorer (not counting myself)

.  In the morning (after the free all you can eat breakfast at the hostel) I hit up the expo tent to get my number and look for any good deals.  As an “elite” I ended up with this huge bib number that had my name and country on it, both for the front and the back of my singlet.  At the merchandise table I picked up last years (or maybe last decades) jacket for 25 swiss francs, a steal compared to this years at 125.  Since the weather was overcast and not ideal to take the 172 Swiss Franc trip up to the top of Jungfrau.  Instead I opted for the cheaper yet also easy on the legs train plus bus ride up to Trummelbach falls.  These falls are the main place that the melted ices from the glaciers of the mountains travel down to the lakes, meaning that a ton of water is flowing through there.  A total of 10 “shoots” make up the falls, most of which are inside in the mountain side.  I also got to see pretty much most of the first half of the course so I was prepared for what the flatter section entailed.  However, I did note that the 300m climb in the second 10k was still significant and would be much slower than the first part as it was mostly grass and gravel paths.  After a bowl of pasta and an hour of reading I headed to bed early, but was still the last of the 6 people in the room to get to bed.

One of the 10 Chutes in Trummelbach Falls

On race morning I made sure to get up at least 3 hours before the race to get a little pre-race jog in.  After the jog I topped off the carbs at breakfast and was feeling as ready as I could heading into the race.  The starting line was about 400m from the front of the hostel making it a super easy and stress free morning.  I was also thankful to have the elite bib as the course is pretty narrow and with 4000 plus starting it would have been difficult to secure a spot up close to the starting line.  At exactly 9AM the gun went off and we were off.

Further Back at the Start of the Race

The first 1km I was immediately in a kind of no man’s land, far enough behind the lead pack for not much drafting advantage but in no real pack of our own.  Passing in about 5:30 pace I felt like it was super slow, but knew that I needed to actually slow down a little and settle in.  At about 3km a nice little pack formed and I found myself in a nice groove at 5:35-5:40 pace, eventually passing 5km in 17:25 or so.   This first part of the race is great.  You run a loop though the town of Interlaken where there are people everywhere, noise makers going off, and cow bells ringing like crazy.  Really a great atmosphere.

The next 5 km the pace lagged slightly and I started to pull away from the group looking to start to pick off people dropping off the main pack the next 5 km or so.  We went through downstown of a nearby town were there was plenty more noise being made and then ran along a field and through a super sweet covered bridge.  I was probably in about 20th or so at this time.  I did pick off a few people in that next 5km coming through 10km in 35 flat and feeling super comfortable.  Immediately after 10km there is a decent climb that I had not noticed the day before and shocked my system a bit more than I was hoping for.  Still I kept a strong steady effort on the rolling gravel and then constant uphill into the Lauterbrunnen where I caught a few more people and was in about 12th at the half-marathon coming through in 1:17 high.  According to my wrist band I was 5 minutes up on a 3:20 finish, right where I thought I needed to be considering my lack of mountain training.  The next 4 km is a loop in the valley with a slight up for the first 2 km and a slight down for the next two.  I was really flying down the valley headed into the hills when in hindsight I should have been conserving energy in preparations for the real racing.  As I hit km 25 I was in 9th and the climbing was about to begin.

Super Sweet Covered Bridge

About Halfway; Entering Lauterbrunnen and Crowds

Almost immediately I knew I was in trouble.  This trail was steep.  I hadn’t even hit the first of 26 switchbacks and both my achilles were burning, my calves were aching, and my quads were quickly becoming worthless.  By about switchback 3 I was walking, and I would spend much of the climb up to Wengen alternating between walking and running being passed by 6 people.  I knew my hopes for a top 10 finish were done and I was already in survival mode.  In hindsight this section was not as bad I thought and I still had the 29th fastest time on the section despite feeling horrible.  Still 500m in something like 3 km is steep and hard to run no matter how tired you are.

However, after Wengen the course “levels out” meaning it becomes a runnable pitch, but my body was having none of that.  I would start to run and feel okay and then my quads would just shut down and within 100m of starting I needed to walk again.  So I altered walking and running while getting continuously passed and becoming really annoyed with the fact that the km markers were every 250m, which only made it seem like I was running that much slower.  At the next aid station I walked through, taking an energy drink, coke, a gel, and yes even warm broth thinking that maybe I was just cramping from low sodium.  Nothing helped, but I decided that this was a method to continue to the finish in hopes something would change.  It didn’t.  From Wengen at 30.3 km to the next checkpoint at Wixi (37.9 km) I split a 54:12 (just under 8 min/km) for the 188th fastest time.

Unfortunately from there I was broken.  Feeling like I’d rather just walk the rest of the thing I slowed down even more stopping to enjoy the incredible scenery as we climbed further and finally were above the tree line.  Even though I was 8min ahead of pace at 25 km I was now about 8 min behind the pace I needed for a 3:20 finish.  I knew it was not the cards and so I took my time.  Still it was work as the climbing became more difficult again; approaching the steepness from the valley floor to Wengen that first crushed me.  Luckily I could enjoy the comical aspect of it all.  Thinking, why would any sane person have thought that just being fit on the flats was enough to be ready for a mountain marathon.  Obviously I was not sane.

The Last Climb is Brutal

This last section from 37.9 km to 42.2 km was covered in a blazing 39:15, good enough for 288th fastest on the day.  So the final stats were 44th place, 1:17:28 first half, 2:20:40 second half.  Ouch.  Yet I still enjoyed myself and I still felt a sense of accomplishment climbing this much, albeit even if most of it was walking. Jonathon Wyatt, mountain running pro, won the race in 2:58, and 10th ended up being 3:14:09.  I was still the top North American or Scandinavian finisher.

Garmin of Jungfrau Marathon Course

Glad to be done

The rest of the day I spent at the top of the ridge where you can see into both the valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen and are right at the base of mountains.  I took a nap, got some post-race food, and even hiked around for some better pictures and to avoid the crowds.  On the train ride down I stopped in Grindelwald and had a nice Weiss beer with a better view as well as some ice cream and cookies as a well deserved treat.  The night was pretty anti-clamatic as most of the people I me earlier were off and on their way (although I did see the Scottish fellow, Craig, cheering for me along the course, very cool).  I had a couple more Weiss beers, some excellent Thai food, and enjoyed watching the Swiss-Greece world cup qualifying match with other exhausted runners.

Beer with a view

The next day I woke up not really sore and only a little fatigued.  It was absolutely beautiful out so I decided that I needed to get back to the mountains for another run.  So I was up early, checked out, and up the mountain to Schynide Platte, an alpine garden with amazing views of the mountains and lakes.  It was also 1500m above the valley floor really putting into perspective how much climbing I had done before.  As we climbed the old cog railroad I was amazed as how high we were getting, and also getting a little nervous since I did not have a lot of time and I was unsure how I would feel I left myself plenty of time for the run down. Yes I ran down 1500m the day after running up that much.  I did a short loop up in alpine garden getting some nice pics with cloudless skies and then headed down the mountain by foot.

Ran A Short Loop in the Alpine Garden at the Top of Schynige Platte

I was originally planning on just running down to the train station where a 5 minute train ride would get me back to the train station at Interlaken.  However, when I realized that I only had 4 swiss francs left, an amount not enough for the train ride, I improvised taking a route down the mountain that put me closer to Interlaken so I could just run back.  While the top part of the trail was really steep and quite technical there ended up being a far amount of runable trail that I could make good time on.  I was probably 3/4 of the way down when the event I was waiting for finally happened.  I nicked a rock with my shoe, rolled onto my side, and then did a backwards summersault on the trail, glasses, water bottle, and camera flying in every direction.  Luckily my knee already had a big scab on it that protected it from the impact and I only scratched my elbow.  Unfortunately my knee ended up bleeding a bit and by the time I reached town I had a nice streak of blood down to my shoes.  I was however down about 90 minutes before I predicted and had a relatively stress free trip home to Copenhagen.

Ran Down to the Town on the Left

Overall although I am disappointed with the race result I also understand why such a result occurred.  If I do the race again I will be sure and be prepared specifically for this time of course even if that means dreadmill runs.  On the bright side I was not beaten up to much and have decided to run another marathon.  So on the 20th I will run the  H.C. Anderson marathon in Odense, Denmark.  This will actually just be a day trip with a 10 AM start and only a 90 minute train ride away.  I’m not sure how I will feel, but since it is a relatively low key race (top 5 in 2:25) and is super close, I decided why not see what it feels like.  Depending on the course I will probably try and run under 2:30

Training 8/17-9/4

Well in the two weeks leading up to the marathon training was not ideal and I was more than happy to back off the intensity and volume a little.

8/17 – AM ran to work.  6.25 miles easy after the long run yesterday.  PM- 10.75, ran home with extra Amager Field Add on.  All easy running.

8/18 – PM ran 65 min easy from work out to the Utterslev Morse.  9.5 miles.

8/19 – Quick 8 with 6×200m strides at the end.  Along Amager Strand.

8/20 – AM run into work 7 miles.  PM 9.5 miles back from work with Christianhavn add on

8/21 – Last big workout before the marathon.  Felt I needed a long tempo to solidify my fitness.  I’ve done some good long runs and some good short races so far.  So 14 miles at marathon effort – HR 145-152, controlled the whole time.  5:54, 51, 55, 47, 50, 52, 47, 48, 45, 43, 46, 44, 42, 48.  Felt really relaxed with that effort and the HR showed it. 17.25 total.

8/22- 10 easy, but my achilles was a little sore.  Not happy about that.

8/23 – tried to run, but decided against it.  Rest and recover now.

75-80 on the week with a last great workout.  Think I am fit, but am I mountain fit.

8/24 – off again rest the achilles

8/25 – 10.25 miles.  Went out to the track in hopes of getting a little speed in, but opted for an easy run with Christian, cool Danish masters runner who I hope to run with more in the future.

8/26 – AM – run to work 6.25 easy PM – Run home Amager Field Add on 9.5 miles – achilles is feeling better after massage and walking around in a lifted shoe.

8/27 – last real workout.  7,6,5,4,3,2 just substituted the 1min at 800 pace for 7 minutes at marathon pace.  Felt alright, but I don’t have that gear as both my 3 and 2 were the same pace (actually I think that always happens) and I was just not ready to run real fast. 13.25 miles

8/28 – off

8/29 – Long run through Amager Field, along Koge Buge, cut into the Field again and back through Amager field.  A real nice med-long loop. 13.25 miles

8/30 – 5.75 miles along Amager Strand.  Beautiful morning at the beach.

Week total. 55-60.  nice down week, dodged the achilles and now ready for the final taper week.

8/31 – DHL race.  This is the craziest race I have ever seen.  It is a 5 person relay, each person running 5k.  The course is like running in one lane of a road….and there are 4,000 teams…..on monday.  Over the week 19,000 teams or about 100,000 legs were run, or about 10% of the entire population in Copenhagen takes place.  It is opportunity for employers to bbq and employees to get some exercise and enjoy some company.  The course winds through these huge tents where people eat, drink, and generally live upto the moniker of the happiest people on earth.  The course itself is road, dirt, and a tarp over grass with probably 20 9o degree turns to ensure that you weave past each tent and the full 5k is accounted for in an area with a 2k perimeter on a normal run.  I was running anchor which meant that the entire course was pretty much packed with people and required much weaving, sprinting, and at times almost walking.  I forgot to start my watch but think I was around 17 or so, which at marathon pace was the goal.  As a team we were the 13th best 3 men, 2 women team, 2nd best on that day, and like 400th overall of 19,000 teams.  Crazy.  7.5 miles

9/1 – 6.25 miles with “hill” repeats (10 s hill sprints) at two different locations – much too little – much too late.

9/2 off – and then tomorrow off to Switzerland.

Training Blog 8/10-8/16

Monday: AM:  Ran into work.  Freaking sore from the 24 yesterday.  41 minutes, 5.75  PM:  Ran home, tried a new route along the lakes from Vesterboro, but did not really like it.  Ran some through Amager Park and back to the apartment for 68 minutes, 9.75 – 15.5 on the day.

Tuesday: Biked into work.  Biked out the track practice.  Did a 20 minute w/u before the real warm-up which allowed me to actually be warmed up for the workout.  Legs were just dead tired and needed the warm-up.  Once they got going on the repeats they felt surprisingly good.  Just maintained a solid effort, never went to the well.  The course was a greenbelt that felt a lot like Duck Pond 1.5 mile loops, but I was only doing 800s (did run on the grass).  9×800 in 2:30-35 pace with 90s rest.  real short cool down running, but a 50 minute bike ride back to the apartment.  10.5 total.

Wednesday: AM:  Ran into work.  41 minutes 5.75 miles.  Then played football (soccer) for an hour indoors.  Damn I am going to be sore.  Was exhausted bu the time work started.  PM:  Ran home – with Amager park continued exploration add on.  Really like the park – soft surfaces, lots of options – and not a lot of stop and go like the routes in the city center. 68 minutes, 9.75 miles

Thursday: PM:  Was suppose to do a medium long before going to see Vampire Weekend, but by the time I finished work I had less than 80 minutes to get a run and shower in.  Was really, really, really sore from the football, all in my hips, abs, lower legs and my right hamstring is acting up again.  68 minutes or so 9.75 miles.

Friday: AM:  Ran to work with a little bit of an add on.  48 minutes, 6.75 miles.  PM:  Ran home with add on through city lakes and then some in Amager also with some hard charges up the small hills in the middle of the field/park.  Felt like crap.  79 minutes, 11.25 miles.

Saturday: Unmotivated, took it off, probably won’t kill me.

Sunday: Long run to the southern tip of Amager again, at 13 miles did a 6 mile tempo cut-down – 6:21 (strong headwind), 6 min (mixed wind), 5:44, 5:32, 5:25, 5:32 with HR moving up from 140 to 157.  Just wanted to get some marathon pace running done after 13 or so in the legs.  Wish it was more MP and more like 8 miles, but oh well, was just a little overzealous.  Ended up with 21.75 in 2:24.  After the run I felt pretty good, which is rare for a long run, so I know that I am getting in pretty good shape.  Did not need my gel on the run either.

Week Total: 92 on 9 runs with a day off.  I was looking for more like 105-110, but with the bike riding, soccer playing, and day off, it just was not in the cards.  Still know that I moved my fitness forward and I don’t think I put myself in the hole any.  Should be able to do another similar quality week to 10 days and then back it off.  Try to get some hill work in this week and maybe some MP work with rolling hills.