In an ongoing quest to challenge myself with longer races with ever-increasing elevation gain, I figured running a half marathon with "Inferno" in its name would be a good milestone. So in August, the wife and I set off for Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, the location of this iconic half marathon that climbs from valley floor (795m) to Alpine mountain peak (2970m). (more…)
In the week leading up to this race, I had started to fall ill. But since I had taken the weekend off from my freelance job, paid for the hotel, and mentally committed to the race as an essential stepping-stone for the rest of my 2017 season, I drove down to the Alps anyway. It's only 11km and 1462m of height gain, so no big deal, right? (more…)
Was it wise to run the 23km du Mont-Blanc race with 1600m of elevation gain less than a day after running the Vertical Kilometer (3.8km with 1000m elevation gain), especially after not doing stellar at the VK? I didn't know, but once more it was a challenge that would get me out of my comfort zone. (more…)
Third time's the charm? Could the proverb be true, and was I sure to succeed at a task or event on the third try? After 2015 and 2016, I lined up at the Mont-Blanc Vertical KM in Chamonix again in 2017, intent on improving my ascent time for this race that goes up 1000m of elevation over just 3.5km of distance. (more…)
April was mostly a good month, but I might have wished for a better final week. I caught some kind of bug and ended up weak and tired, which meant I took six full days off running. Track&field: Only 7 Read more…
March was a high-volume month, and I’m quite happy with the majority of the training efforts even though I wish I had had some more energy during a handful. I set a new personal record for calories burned within a Read more…
February started off with a few more days on vacation in Fuerteventura, which maybe served as a way to kickstart a renewed focus on endurance, with a little elevation gain thrown in. Track&field: I decided to skip the last remaining Read more…
“Month in review” posts keep me accountable. At least that’s the theory. January wasn’t a remarkable month. I had some health issues (a stomach bug that impacted me for the majority of a week) and the indoor track competitions I Read more…
On Monday evening preceding this weekend’s Meeting Régio #2, we trained starting blocks. I felt strong. Then I returned home, had dinner and about an hour later I suddenly felt ill. I’ll skip the details, but suffice to say that Read more…
Going into 2017’s first race, I thought I had a good shot at being faster than the previous year. I’d done a much more thorough preparation phase over the previous several months, also because my achilles tendon had allowed me Read more…