New Project

Is some weeks that I am working on my new project and I think is time to go public ;-)

I decided that what I am looking for is not in races (altough I will continue do them) but in the whole mountain experience. So I decided to start doing "solo" projects. I have several ideas I am working on:

1. Run around beatiful mountains (Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Bernina, Val d'Herens, etc.)
2. Do famous and beatiful treks that are usually done in few days simply running alone (or with friends).

For next year I am considering doing a project end of May, it will be around 75 Km with 5000 D+, a challenging project in the Swiss alps




I am preparing a website where I want to post all informations and plans. Maybe other people could be interested in such projects? I will prepare also the Matterhorn round trip for next year probably, but this is gonna be more challenging since is more than 100 Km (Still to check how long) and probably 5-6000D+. But the experience will be otherwordly.

I will probably ask someone to pace some pieces to have company... I am also preparing a reasonable training with many help from experienced people from the Ultra List! They are very cool and nice people!

I will write more details as soon as I clarify them. I will be on holiday from this weekend and I will have time to work on the project and bring it to a more complete form.

One picture from the Florence marathon

Here is one photo of me running (and suffering ;-)) in the Florence marathon...

Training Plan

I am thinking of using this training plan (in Km) inspired by the one from Higdon.



I will need to run early in the morning for the long runs, since I don't want to stay away on weekends from my family and daugther! I am still considering it. The training would be for a 90 Km (www.ultratrail.it). Comments from more expert people are welcome.

Florence Marathon

I found finally time to write something about the Florence marathon. I finished it
(and for that I am very happy!) and with it my second marathon in one month. I am
proud for it. The short (for me) recovery period and the "no running" between the two marathons due to a small injury to my left quadricep have paid off ;-) I finished in 4:42, suffering a great deal in the last 10 Km. My wife had a great run, 4:18 with just one long run of 28 km in her training and no suffering afterwards. She was (and rightly so) very proud to have run a marathon! I am also very proud of her.

But let's go slowly.

The start is on top of a small hill (Piazzale Michelangelo) and to get there you have to way: you can walk 1.2 km uphill or take a bus (there were many available for all the runners). We got at the bus stop at around 7:20 and were at the start around 7:40 (a bit early I must admit).

A good suggestion is not to give any bag to pick up at the arrival, the pick up point is far from the arrival and there is always a big chaos. We went there with a very old pile jacket that we threw away minutes before the start. When you enter the gates you will have to wait a long time (we had to wait roughly 40 minutes) without moving, and when is ca. 7-8 degrees C is cold :-)

So at the start you can get hot tea, cake (yum) and water. We got at ca. 8:40 in the starting area for 4:00-4:30 time and waited. The race started at 9:20 instead of 9:00 due to television needs
(the national Tv has a special 3 hours long on the marathon). The start is downhill, so is an easy start.

The first 15 km went very very good. At the half point I told my wife to go ahead, since I was having knee problems. So she continued at her speed and I did my race.
The course is breath-taking. When you enter the historical part of the city you will want to cry, believe me. I did the first 30 Km in 3:03 (that is rather good), and then things started to deteriorate. The last 12 km were very difficult, but since I don't quit usually I continue, I walk a bit and I ran a bit, but in the end it was a very wonderful experience. My wife cried for the emotions at the arrival!
Very moving.

So now I have knee and ankle pain (oh well)... so a couple of weeks of rest and then I hope I can start training again. Next year I plan to run only on trails and I want to prepare an ultra. I will
post my training plan and links since I spent quite some time in searching and I hope this can help someone else!

Ultra Trail Mont Blanc 2009 DVD

Almost forgot to mention it here. I got the DVD from the UTMB 2009 (get it here) and I almost finished it. It is great! Very nice, motivational, a very very nice watch. So if you are in trail running than go ahead and buy this DVD of the mother of all trails! After seeing it you will get up and will want to go out running!!

Florence Marathon Expo

So today I spend a couple of hours at the expo of the Florence Marathon. Nice and big. A lot of stands with a lot of discount (up to 50% on some items and shoes). All in all not bad. I got our numbers and the long-arm t-shirts (from Asics) with Florence Marathon written on it. I also got a nice pair of sunglasses with 3 different lenses for 25 EUR! Not a bad deal after all.

I must say is the biggest expo I have ever seen in a race by far. The one in Lucerne was probably 1/5 of this one. I may go back tomorrow to meet a couple of friends (but I have to see with family and all). On a negative side I also god a mild case of food poisoning that has kept me in bed the greatest part of the afternoon, but I seems to fare better now, so I keep my hopes up :-O

I was trying to find the backpack Olmo 5 from Raidlight at the expo but they didn't have it... Damn it. I know it costs 20 EUR of postal charges to get it directly from France from Raidlight! Bad luck :-)

-3 days to the Florence marathon

Already in Florence. Tomorrow marathon expo and Sunday the marathon. My wife has a cold but we hope she will recover for Sunday... Weather is nice (at least not cold) as usual in Florence. Looking forward to Sunday!

Ultra training plan

I have found a very nice training plan for an ultra here

Chec this link

Is in italian so you are all warned ;-)

Links on Training for an Ultra

I found this very nice collection of links on training for an Ultra

Check this out!

Is really worth it. You will find everything from reports, to suggestions, to training plans, etc. Enjoy!

Race calendar 2010

Ok ok I know... I have still to run the Florence marathon this year (in less than 20 days) but what the heck! I am already planning a very aggressive race calendar for 2010.

 

As every year I need a main objective. I was thinking about the Lavaredo Ultra Trail (www.ultratrail.it) but I must admin that 90 Km are maybe too long for a first ultra. So I am setting my eyes on the Verbier trail (61 Km) http://www.trailvsb.com/en_ultratrail.php?cnt=EN for beginnig of July. This will (99%) be my main goal. So I need some training marathons on trails to prepare. I cannot race every weekend so I need to choose carefully. One will be for sure the LGT (42.2 Km with 2000 D+) http://www.lgt-alpin-marathon.li/ beginning of June, this will be my main long run. Then I am thinking beginning of April about the Zürich marathon http://www.zurichmarathon.ch/. The only problem I have with this is that is on road and not on trails. If I manage to find something long enough on trail I will change, but for the moment is the only marathon I have found close to home in April. In May there is the Wintherthur marathon but that too is on roads so I think I will skip this. I want to train as much as I can on trail starting december.

 

I will post soon about the training plan for my first ultra. I am collecting links and information that I hope could be useful to others.

 

Until then

 

Happy runs!

Lucerne Marathon

I made it! I ran my first marathon in 4:29, not fast but I finished. I did many mistakes. The main was to run the first half at my best HM time and therefore paying the price in the second half.

The marathon (Lucerne) was wonderfully organised. Weather was wonderful, 14 degrees not too sunny. Perfect weather! It was an amazing experience, and apart from aching legs no bad effects! I am hooked. In one month I will run the Florence marathon with my wife, now with more experience on my side ;-)

The worst part was between the 28th Km and the 36-37Km, where the pain was intense. After the 37Km everything fade away and I was able to run fast again! I was amazed. The experience was incredible, and the adventure fantastic!

I am looking forward to Florence end of next month!

Last long run

Ok ok, today I did my last long run. I ran for 31 Km (19.3 miles) in preparation for the Lucerne marathon on the 25.10.2009, so in approximately 2 weeks. It didn't go as I wanted but well...

It was cold and I had ca. 300 m of height gain that I was not prepared to do and that together played on me.

Now the big questions is: to try to do the marathon below 4:00 or aim at 4:15? Next week I will decide.

Back and running...

Hi to everyone,

sorry for the silence but it was a very busy period with a new job!

 

Anyway back to running. Glacier 3000 done in 4:36, slow but fun! The weather was so ugly it was bordering the insane. Rain, snow, fog everything. I saw people puking alone the way, kind of epic. You start from 1000m height and arrive at 3000m, is kind of brutal with its 2000m (6562 feet) of elevation gain.

 

I am now training for the lucerne marathon, that is in less than 3 weeks. I did already a long run of 30 Km (18.6 miles) and I will do a new one beginning of next week and then we will see!

 

Good running everyone!

 

Fantastic Race

If you check a comment of one of my post below you will find a link to a fantastic race: COLLONTREK (http://www.collontrek.com). I strongly suggest you to check the race website.
It is a race of 26 Km ran partly over a glacier with 1200 m D+ and 1200 m D-. It is for a team of 2 persons and it sounds really like adventure.

Check the course HERE

Check general info HERE

And you can register HERE

I am seriously considering going there...

Holidays!

Sorry for the long silence but I had a very eventful period. I am now officially on holiday :-) I will not be able to write on this blog before the 3rd of August when I am back.

Happy holiday and happy running to everyone!

Check this out...

So cool...

First race of the year

Last Saturday I had my first race of the year. Who has followed this blog

knows that I wanted to run in the Aletsch Half Marathon, but the weather forecast was so bad

that me and my wife (she also ran with me) decided to go to a different race.

We ran in the Graubunden Half Marathon (part of the Graubunden Marathon): http://www.graubuenden-marathon.ch/.

The course was of course 21.1 Km long and with 755 m height gain  (all in the first 8 Km). The course is very fast (I needed 2:17 to finish it) due to a couple of pieces that are downhill. There is a bit too asphalt for my taste but the few trail pieces were a lot of fun!

In one you are going downhill, pretty fast, and you end up in a wood where you have to jump

from one side to the other in the mud for a few minutes (scaring walkers on the way)... A LOT OF FUN! The fog added a certain atmosphere to the race too!

 

All in all a very successful race. A lot of fun altough the weather was not sunny. But maybe it was better in this way. A lot of sun would have meant a more difficult and slower race I am sure!

 

Now to the next goal: glacier 3000 run (26 Km and 2000 m height gain).

 

I will post some pictures soon.

Real life

Man... Real life always interferes with training, does it not? Or is just me? This week I will probably be able to put only 3 units of training... Birthday of my daugther, visit of my parents, my wife´s parents, friend from Germany, training at work... damn. I really need to start training early in the morning. I really don't see any other way of keeping to my training plan.

I usually go at lunch running, but sometime work come in the way. I cannot miss some business lunch, so I better start running in the morning damn! In one week I will be off to the Aletsch Half-marathon (nothing for you ultra runners out there :-) ). 21.1 Km with ca. 1000 m of height gain!! It will be fun, I am sure. I hope weather will play along. To reach 3000m of height with snow and wind is not gonna be fun, so let's hope for the best! I will check the weather reports regularly from Monday on. And I will post a race report after the race.

Actually I am thinking about tapering: yes or no? Well since I am training for a marathon I should not. This should be a training run, so no special tapering required, since Friday and Saturday I will not be running anyway. Friday I will travel and Saturday I will be resting for the race. So probably I will try to put at least 4 units of training next week, or 3, have to see. Monday and Tuesday for sure. Thursday too and I have yet to decide for Wednesday.

Will see...

Long run again

Ok,
after a bit of recovery time I did some cross-training and had my first long run again this weekend. I felt the left knee after 8Km but I had an elastic band that has brought me to the end. No big problems today. I am happy, altough I would prefer a stronger knee, but I will do a lot more of cross training and will take care of my shoes from now on. This is the map of my long run



18.2 Km around a beatiful lake with a friend. Wonderful time, and after that: pizza! Yummy...

Too long, too fast, too often...

I mention in a previous post that I like to run with the heart. Well that is true but I really need to stick to a training plan. My left quadriceps and knee are slightly hurting now :-( Nothing big but I will stop for 2 or 3 days to let the leg recover. I need to pay attention and do things correctly. I increased my mileage steadily and in the last weeks I was running a half-marathon each week almost, and that comes not for free... At least not for me :-)

 

I need to do shorter and more aimed runs and planned longer runs with lighter weeks otherwise I will hurt myself! Oh well the weather in the weekend is anyway crap around here ;-)

 

I will prepare a concrete training plan and will use it as much as my heart permits ;-)

Run with the heart?

How do you run? With the heart or you adhere strictly to a training program? I mean the other day I was running my planned 10 Km flat, slow. Then I saw a trail going uphill and there it goes my plan. I did 11 Km with ca. 200 m of height gain. I always run like this. I always end up going to trail I don't know anything about (and very often I get lost). But I cannot resiste really...

I started running from home to work and from work to home. I end up always lost in the woods ;-) And I need to ask for directions. Because if I see a beautiful trail I cannot resist...

How do _you_ run? Let me know. I am very interested in knowing!!

Ways of donating

I have inserted on the top right part of the blog a button that allow you to donate using paypal. In this way
you can use any creditcart (or EC).

Please use it ;-)

In case you are interested or prefer a direct bank transfer just contact me and I will be more than happy to give you the bank coordianates.

Slow couple of weeks

I had two slow weeks. Few short holidays has forced me to slow down with training (ouch). Last week I was able to do only two good trainings, but no more. Small daughter and trip to Germany :-) Actually very nice indeed!

I have two days of holidays too this week, but I should be able to do some good training, including a long run! Will have to see.

 

Tonight I will also finalise the "donate" information for you to use :-)

 

-u

The trails I run...

Those are the trails I run in my lunch break... The pictures are not so sharp... but hei I was running :-)

Donation methods

Now I have done some research to decide how to accept donations for the children. Of course any method is valid but I would like to make it easy for you to donate for the Ama Foundation. I decided to use Pay Pal mainly. What that does mean for you? You will be able to donate with credit cards, pay pal, etc.

 

I will add more details in the next 1-2 days as soon as I put up all the details.

 

-u

Good week of training

Another week is gone. It was a good week of training. 5 times, with a long of 19.5 Km and one of 12 Km. For a total of 48.5 Km (30.1 miles). Normal for many athletes but very good for me!

It was a fun week. To do the long runs, since I had a free afternoon, I decided to run home from work. Two mountains in the middle, one city and ca. 20 Km. It was fun, especially since I lost my way and had to ask directions... Kind of embarassing :-) But the run was good, 2:05 hours with ca. 300m of height gain (ca. 980 feet). Fun fun fun. What I loved more was the small adventure. Get out of somewhere and just run. You have a goal, that is pretty far and you don't know how to get there exactly... It was fantastic. Next week again!

So to recap my last three weeks of training:

Week of 20/4: 41.7 Km (25.9 miles)
Week of 27/4: 30.2 Km (18.7 miles) recovery week
Week of 04/5: 48.5 Km (30.1 miles)

I am happy now.

Some other impressions of the Aletsch Half marathon 2008

Here are some other impressions of the Aletsch Half marathon 2008. Splendid weather and atmosphere. Looking forward to run it again. Only this year it will be a training run! :-)

The peak you see in the distance behind us is the arrival of the race...

 

 

 

 

Why do I run?

What is all about

Any runner has the secret (or not so secret) dream of running once a marathon, with its 42.2 Km (26.1 miles) of distance probably the most famouse endurance event in the world. I plan to run my first marathon end of September 2009 and raise money to help children in Nepal doing it.
Receiver of charity

The receiver of the charity will be the Ama Ghar foundation. All the money collected will go entirely to them after the marathon end of September (100% without any deduction). All costs for the marathon, travelling, gear are sustained entirely by me with my personal money.


What makes Ama Ghar different from many children's homes in Nepal is our commitment to raising the children as a family and in their own culture. When a child first comes to Ama Ghar, they are tentative and shy- most are in shock from their very troubled circumstances. Yet the Nepali housemothers and fathers offer warmth and gentle support- easing the child into the daily routine. The guidance and affection of the older children embrace the child and soon they begin to feel wanted and loved. Simply learning to play is a new exploration. And school work can be fun with so many older sisters and brothers to help!

Sustainable social change begins with education - and particularly in poor countries such as Nepal- educating girls. Ama Ghar currently has a larger ratio of girls to boys for this particular reason. Studies have shown that lifting women and children out of poverty has lasting and real economic and social effects.

Many of these children come to Ama Ghar without having experienced childhood. It is our privilege to return to them what is rightfully theirs- a warm loving home, the freedom to create and explore through education, and the chance at a bright future.


About me
My name is Umberto Michelucci. I have known Ama Ghar in 2005 when with my wife we decided to collect money to help them by climbing two 6000m high peaks in Himalaya in 6 days:

6k Expedition

It was a very succesful expedition where we were able to collect ca. 2500 USD in charity. In 2005, in Kathmandu, we had the occasion of meeting all those people in persons and it was a wonderful experience.

I have run several half-marathon, both as mountain races and flat on paved roads. I am not a fast runner, enjoying more the endurance aspect of the run and the challenge of finishing it (this is why I enjoy so much mountain races where you have 1000 -2000 meters of height difference, or ca. 3250 – 6500 feet). Additional challenges, like height add to the experience. Last mountain half-marathon I did started at ca. 2000 m of height (ca. 6500 feet) on sea level and finished at ca. 2800 m over sea level (ca. 9200 feet).

Charity

I will run my first marathon end of september and I decided that I could try to use my training to help the children of Ama Ghar.

The idea is that a person could sponsor my training kilometers! You could “subscribe” in the following ways:

Monthly subscription: you can give in charity a certain amount (from 1 cent to any value) for each Km that I run in training each month. You can sponsor one single months or all months of training. For example if you give 1 cent per Km for May and if I run 120 Km you will have given to charity 1.2 dollars (or francs, or Euro, etc.). If you decide to give 0.5 dollar then you will have given to the children 60 dollars!
Marathon subscription w/ or w/o race: you can sponsor the entire training with or without the race itself.
Marathon finisher: you can decide to give to charity a fixed amount when (notice I didn’t say if ;-) ) I finish the marathon.

I am in the process of setting up an home page where the results of my training will be logged. I will post results as coming from my heart-monitor with data and information, not because people would be interested (I don’t think they would) but because I want to convince you that I am really running what I am claiming! When I will be able to do it I will also post the route I ran so that you can check what kind of runs I am doing.

If you want to contact me leave a message on this blog and I will get back to you most probably within a day.

Some impressions of the Aletsch Halfmarathon 2008

 

 

 

 

Back in action...

Well well... I didn't write for a long time. Sorry. Had a very very busy period since last fall. I ran the Greifenseelauf (half marathon, without hills) in 1:56. Not that fast... Well I ran the first 10 km in 51 min (a PR for me) but then I was knackered... not enough training apparently (or not good enough)... Now is spring again and the training has started again. Next goals? Aletsch halfmarathon again, and then maybe the glacier3000 run:. 26 Km and 2000 height meters difference. I already signed for the Aletsch, thinking about the second ;-) Will post information on my training here soon to motivate myself :-P