In early 2017 I stumbled upon a compilation of videos on YouTube that probably are best described as “somewhat niche”. They documented the training and racing journey of a few ultra runners. What is an ultra runner you might ask?
An ultra runner is someone who runs any distance longer than the classic marathon (e.g. beyond 42.195 km). Typically, these races start at the 50km mark and go up to 200 miles or even further. It is also not uncommon for these races to cover a lot of the distance on trails and take place in a mountainous area having significant amounts of vertical gain and loss over the racecourse. Needless to say, my mind was blown that people do this as recreational activity, or job for that matter. These races are so far outside of what I generally perceived to be as even possible for a human being to do. Which is a whole other topic I might write about in a future post.
Even though I never considered myself a runner (just jogging to keep a basic level of fitness*) I was intrigued by the journeys the videos portrayed. Jumping to early 2018 when I seriously started to train for my first half marathon. During that training phase I truly realized how much more fun running on (mountain) trails is than logging your miles on pavement. At the same time, I started to appreciate the fact much more that I live in this beautiful country called Switzerland, which offers unlimited access to the most incredible mountains. I always loved to travel but did not start exploring what lies right in front of me until more recently. Turns out trail running is not only great endurance training but also an awesome way to explore the wonderful mountains around you.
It was during that time I remembered a very interesting conversation I had with a mountain guide back in 2017 about the ultra he was preparing for – the Eiger Ultra Trail 51km. The race directors of the Eiger Ultra Trail call the 51km distance the Panorama Trail and for good reason. Running above Grindelwald with the stunning Wetterhorn and the famous Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau right in front of you is beyond comparison. So I decided I wanted to find out what this trail was all about. Obviously, I assumed that it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to complete the whole route in one go. Therefore, I looked for options to split-up the distance into more digestible pieces. Luckily, there is a mountain guesthouse on the highest point of the route – the Faulhorn (2681m) – which happens to be pretty much at the halfway point as well. So, I booked a room and my partner in crime (also future husband) and I took the train to Grindelwald on a Saturday morning in August 2018. I’ll reserve the details of this trip for another post but to sum up, it was a completely unreal experience.
Coming home from this two-day trip I felt on top of the world. I thought everything was possible and of course I started to wonder if I could run the whole thing in one go. Funny how your perception of what is possible can change within two days only. A project like this requires a certain amount of planning as well as logistics to ensure we are safe and have everything we need. An easy solution to this would be, getting a spot in the actual Eiger Ultra Trail 51km race. I was fully aware that in the past year all slots sold out within a couple of minutes, so naturally my hopes were not very high. Sure enough, when the sign-in process started, all slots sold out within 1-2 minutes, which is great for the race of course but nonetheless I was a little disappointed. There happened to be an option to enter a lottery for an additional 100 slots. So I put my name on the list but also kind of forgot about it over the next month (this was in October 2018).
Then at the beginning of December 2018 I received an early Christmas present via e-mail: “Congratulations, you won a E51 – Couples slot […]”. Never was I so excited and scared at the same time. Not only did I just get the chance to run this beautiful race but we (my future husband and I) will be running as a team in the Couples division!
… and this is really where my strange journey began. I signed up for a race seven months before it starts and had no clue what I was getting myself into. I had no experience in how to train for longer distances, especially with this amount of vertical gain (the 51km route has a total gain and loss of 3100m). When I’m typing this, I’m currently 2.5 weeks out and a lot has happened since signing up in December 2018 and I want to share this strange journey and what I learned along the way with you.
*for reference, I ran my first 10km race in October 2017 and my first half marathon in May 2018 both of which were road races
Pingback: Race report Eiger Ultra Trail 2019 E51 – my first Ultramarathon experience… – Make It Worthwhile
Pingback: How I trained for my first Ultramarathon – Eiger Ultra Trail E51… – Make It Worthwhile