Back from holiday and news...

Ok,
so I am back (well I was back end of July :-) ). But I was very busy. Well the Jungfrau marathon is out for me for this year. Next year maybe. My next goals are more in the climbing area... I intend to climb again more! But to keep me trained I intend to run the Greifenseelauf (half marathon) and maybe the Florence Marathon end of November... Let' see!

Holidays...

Hi,

I am going on holiday for the next 2 weeks. So expect no posts until end of July... Mick is trying to convince me to try the Jungfrau... I will think about it ;)

See you soon!

Umberto

P.S. Thanks Mick!

Change of plans...

Ok,

I must abandon the idea of running in the Jungfrau Marathon. Don't have enough time to train properly... I will be away the next two weeks for holiday (Sardegna :) ), and then just one month is simply not enough, at least for me. My longest run to date was 21.1 Km :)

So next year. For now other goals. A half-marathon in ca. 1:45 and one marathon in November in Florence (where I come from)...

Photos...

Here I am... Running at the end of a _very_ steep piece of trail, and yes, I _am_ tired :-)

Here is Francesca running! As usual she is very fresh and not at all tired! She is really in another league.....

The view from our hotel in Bettmeralp, at the start of the Aletsch Halfmaraton...





Me in front of the hotel the day before the race...

3:09

Success! 3:09 for the Aletsch Halfmarathon. 21.1 Km with 1050 m of height difference. But I made some mistakes... First of all I didn't put any time in my online registration and therefore I started in the last block with the slowest, and being the race almost 80% on trails so narrow that you cannot overcome anyone, well.... I had to run at the speed of the group, and it was not that fast! At a certain point we stopped for more than 6 minutes for some reasons! No movements at all!!

But the race was wonderful, maybe too hot. Many people felt ill at the end. I saw people vomiting at the arrival... maybe because we were high in the sky. The race starts at 2000 m and finishes at 2700m!

Well now I have to consider the Jungfrau Marathon. For several reasons I may not have the time to train properly. I have to decide what to do. I will have to be away for some weeks in which it will be very difficult to train...

For now I am very satisfied. I will post some photos soon...

Umberto

The halfmarathon...

Long time no write... Well I had a very busy week. My parents came to visit, business trip to London, first birthday party for my daugther (1 year old now)... But still I managed to do two long runs (ca. 15 Km) and one short (ca. 4 Km). Not bad after all...

I will let you know how the half marathon will go!

/u

Last week...

Long time no write... Well I had a very busy weeks. It all started with a business trip to London, then visit of my parents for my daugther first birthday.

Last week was a chaos! But I managed to do two long runs (ca. 15 Km) and one short one (ca 4 Km). Now this week is relaxing and accumulating energy for next sunday!

 

I will run in the Aletsch Halfmarathon. A great experience! I hope for sunny weather. It would be nice. Last mountain race I ran I had rain, snow and sub-zero temperatures... Was cold! It was 12.5 Km with ca. 1000 m of height gain around the Matterhorn. A special race!

I have even a friend from Italy coming to run with us. It will be a lot of fun!

 

/u

Silence...

Sorry guys, my blog was very silent lately! Well my training is going on. Not as much as I wanted but still ok. Did already two long trainings so I am relatively happy... Three weeks to go. Next long training should be _at least_ 17-18 Km. Let's see if I manage to do it ;-)

4 or 5 trainings a week?

It seems that lately I never manage to run more than 4 times a week.

My plan would be 5 times a week. I would be more than happy then, but for one reason or the other (laziness is a reason :) ) I tend to stop at four!

Goal for next week is 5 times. Promise :)

/u

Running quotes on t-shirts

Wow I am writing a lot today. The other day I was searching for some funny quotes on running and I found this thread on a forum of phrases on t-shirts.

http://www.coolrunning.com/forums/Forum22/HTML/004204-4.shtml

The thread is on 10 pages so be sure to check them all! Is so funny...

Some of my favourites are:

• I thought you said this was 2.109 Km!

• This sport would be fun if it wasn't for all the running

• If you start to feel good during an ultra, don't worry you will get over it. - Gene Thibeault

Others are in the thread. Have fun and good reading!

-u

Blog under construction

You may notice that some parts of the blog are... well... not optimized! I am working on it. :-) They will get better soon...

-u

Races in Switzerland

Well well, I am always searching new challenges, although for this year I am all set :-) But this race seems very nice!

http://www.sierre-zinal.com/

beware the site is in French. 31 Km around 5 4000 m. Wow! Must be beatiful. I really need to do that. But who knows... Maybe I wil try! mmmh mmmh need to be realistic. If I convince Francesca this could be a very nice training run.

Some pictures...

Since Mick asked for some photos (it is your fault Mick alotugh you asked for photos of where I train not of past events...) here are some pictures of the Thurgauer Triathlon I did last year when Francesca (my wife) was pregnant.

You can find the homepage here: http://www.thurgauertriathlon.ch/

Here I am before the start...

Preparing for the start... A bit nervous!

Out of the water

Here I am at the start of the run! I was already a bit wasted... ;-)

Last long training

Fantastic long training! 15 Km in 1:50h. Slow but very very beatiful. Sunny (almost 22 C), in the woods, alone... FANTASTIC. I will post some statistics if I find the time... I am trying to step-up my training. Need to do more!

Back online and training

Ok ok,
no excuses this time. My computer is back online and I can post. I donwloaded the last 3 weeks of training. Not something to be proud of really. Average of 4 times per week running and ca. 25 Km per week... NEED TO IMPROVE. Working on it now. Today I have my long runs.

Problems started 10 days ago when I went running with a friend. Guy who can run a half-marathon in 1.5 hours.... I should have known. We have run a hilly trail, 9 Km in 42 minutes... Way over my normal speed.... I felt that in my legs for one week.

Well you live to learn :) I will post some graphs later today or tomorrow.

Good training!

-u

Dead computer...

Well well... I am not dead and my two projects: aletsch halbmarathon and Jungfrau marathon are alive and well.

But my home computer died last week, so I am waiting for a replacement. Until then no details on my training. Will post more next week hopefully!

 

Yesterday I reserved the hotel for the Aletsch half marathon! Really looking forward to it. Half marathon starting at 1950m on sea level and finishing at 2700m! It will be hard but _very_ cool!

As soon as my new home computer will be there I will also post more details on the last trainings.

 

Umberto

Start of the adventure...

Ok ok,
is 6:18 am and I don't know if I will survive such an early rise :) Today is the start of my official trianing! Heading for the gym in 10 minues... (need to agree on some strength training for the marathon with a trainer). Let you know later how the first training went!

Last week training

Hi,
sorry for the empty blog :) Was on holiday. Spent the week before the last sick :( and the last in Leukerbad skiing :) Going to start the "official" training tomorrow again!!! I'll post here each week (or more often if I can) training, feelings, etc.

First interesting thing is that on the 29th of June I will run the Aletsch Halfmarathon as a training run! I will add a link to the event this evening.

What is this about?

Welcome!
Me and my wife are going (hopefully) to run in the Jungfrau Marathon in September, so I started this blog to report our training... To motivate us :) Let's see...