And My Summer/Fall Marathon is…

Alright so I knew I wanted to run a late summer early fall marathon/ultramarathon.  My criteria were as follows.

1) Somewhere cool

2) Between the middle of August (should be in shape by then) and then end of September (Before Oktoberfest + trip to California)

Also among the considerations; could I get comp’d, could I win money? How often will I visit this particular place in the future? and How fast is the course.

My initial short list included the following:

1) Berlin.  Pluses:  Fast, cool city.  Minuses:  Going to Germany already, been to Germany already, maybe going to world champs, have to pay to get in.

2) H. C. Andersen Marathon in Odense Denmark.  Pluses:  Close so cheap, fast course, chance to win prize money.  Minuses:  In Denmark and in Denmark

3) Slight considerations for the following: Iceland marathon in Reykjavik City, Helskinki Marathon, or Hornindalsva marathon in beautiful Norway.

While the above were all fine choices, I ended up selecting the Jungfrau marathon in Interlaken, Swizterland.  Now maybe all three of you who read this are thinking the what marathon? and where the hell is that?

Well it is located in the heart of the alps and it looks beautiful (google map here).  Situated between 2 alpine lakes (Thun and Brienz) and at the foot of three famous mountains Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau it should be a beautiful setting.

However, with all that beauty comes a price.  Check out the elevation profile of the course.

Brutal Course

Part road, part trail, all uphill.  Starts at 1800 ft or so, and ends at 6800 ft.  As you can seen most of the elevation comes in the second half of the race where you go from 810m at 13.1 or so, to 2100m at the finish.  So ~1300m in 21k, or about an average grade of 6.2%.  Oh yeah, did I mention that Copenhagen is as flat of Davis, CA.

Here is another picture of the course for a little perspective.

Beautiful, but I'll be Running Ugly

So there are couple of cartoons that show the truly comical elevation of this race, but now for a couple of real pictures (taken blatantly from their website) showing some of the real drama on the course.

Crowded Mountain Single Track

I hope it won't be this foggy

I love single track

The Flats Before the Pain Train

Notice Zac Freudenburg in the orange

Will I Feel Like Enjoying the Views and Music?

Okay, so obviously this is not a PR course.  However, this is not going to be a race that I win either.  There is a decent prize purse and this race is part of some mountain racing series.

Men
1. CHF 10’000.-
2. CHF 5’000.-
3. CHF 3’000.-
4. CHF 2’000.-
5. CHF 1’000.-
6. CHF 700.-
7. CHF 500.-
8. CHF 400.-
9. CHF 300.-
10. CHF 200.-

So my goal is top 10.  Looking at the past few years winning time is on average 2:59, 5th place is 3:12, and 10th place is 3:18.  Of note, in 2007, one of the more competitive races Zac Freudenburg ran 3:14:58, which was good enough for 8th place.  Breaking down his race he ran the first half in 1:14:47, and then just under 2 hours for the second half.  My plan was to try and run the first half in 1:16-1:18 and then try and run under 2 hours the second half and hope that puts me in the top 10.    Okay after a 20 minute diversion remembering just how good Zac is I might have to revaluate my goals.  So an A goal of top 10, B goal of sub 3:20, and a C goal of sub 3:30.

Okay now that I have some goals how the hell am I going to reach them training in the flatlands of Copenhagen?  Hopefully all two of you that read this will be able to advise me on the types of run that I should do.  Due to the length of time that I will be running, I almost have to adjust my effort from marathon pace to 50K pace.  I mean I will be trying to run at a high level for almost an hour longer than in a normal marathon.  So I obviously need some longer long runs – probably in the 2:30-3 hour range, which may mean 26 miles.  As for the hills I am thinking there are several workouts that need to be experienced before this race occurs, unfortunately all on the treadmill.  1) Running uphill tempos at marathon effort, which will be based on my HR, 2) Running “easy” uphill for 2 hours straight or for 1800m – this sounds really crappy and will require some good podcasts, and 3) A mountain running brick, going from flat marathon pace to treadmill marathon hill effort for 75-100 minutes (half marathon simulation), and 4) just some easy runs where some or all of the miles are on some kind of grade.

I have 8 weeks to become a mountain runner.  Wish me luck and give some advice.