Singletrack Pensieve

4/23/11

Zurich marathon race report

I had a very nice time at the Zurich marathon last weekend. I lined up right around the 3:30 pace group and immediately noticed everyone else looked much skinnier and faster. Nevermind, I managed to set a nice pace and hold on to it pretty well, thus splitting the difference between my A goal and B goal with 3:27 for a 9 min PR. I ran the 2^nd half 3 min slower than first, or about 15 seconds per mile slower. I’m happy I went out just tad too fast so at least I know where I stand fitness-wise. This was my 3^rd road marathon, but the first the first that I really trained for, and the first where I ran for time. I think I can bring my time down a bit more, I’d love to qualify for Boston soon, but I think it will take a few years at least.

Afterwards I did some research to see where my training pace lined up. The recent 5k and ½ marathon I did predicted my marathon time within few minutes, but my intervals were much too fast. No wonder I was dreading the track workouts. I was also doing my long runs too fast by 20-30 seconds or so, which is probably why I wasn’t able to get a 2^nd quality session in during the weekdays. Next time I will ease of the pace on quality days and try to add more tempo workouts between 3-13 miles, which totally took a backseat to long runs and track days for me the last few months. I will also train at a much more reasonable but still optimistic pace, since now I know it will be at least a few more until (or if I ever) I get my BQ. Now that road season is over, I am really looking forward to getting some vertical into my diet. Bye bye roads, hello mountains.

4/12/11

Moleson and Me

Due to its prominence and size, the summit of Moleson has intrigued me from the first time I laid eyes on it Fall of last year. Accompanied by hikers, I was at the time in no position to attempt a summit, and so I vowed to return as soon as possible to tackle it. Nature intervened. A mid December attempt proved fruitless (and obviously mistimed) due to the snow, but was very successful if success is measured by amount of chocolate or cheese ingested. An early season heat wave all last week melted enough snow that I opted for another shot the 2002 m peak, rather than a return to the crest of the Swiss Jura mountains (~1500m) where I had spent a good chunk of April's weekends.

I love going to bed on Friday nights thinking about tomorrows climb. This one proved to be quite tough. 4150 vertical feet in 7.3 miles, which was about 1.5 miles and 1/2 hr longer than I had hoped. The day warmed up quickly and at ~75 F it was easily one of the warmest days of the year. The snow conditions were fine, but much of the Western ascent route was on cow pasture. I opted for a few shortcuts here and there and did about 1000 vertical feet at 45% grade. Ouch.

Approaching Moleson from Gruyere area

There were only a few snow fields to cross, this one had a terrible run-out so I went around and straight up through the cow pasture ...

... where I was rewarded with some great wildflower sightings. I'd guess this might be a Synthiris (Snow Queen)

and this is the bluest Gentian I've ever seen.

From Moleson I took the ridgeline route South towards Teyschaux

and then dropped off the ridgeline route to the right after the fields of crocus, which were absolutely peaking

Snow-wise this run was done with perfect timing, here the very side of the road is open for running

Crocus for days on the descent of Moleson

Daphne in bloom and very fragrant

The SW route off the Moleson Teyschaux ridge had some very nice runnable sections

Beginning the ascent of Nirenmont to the West

On the very pleasant and well worthwhile peak of Nirenmont looking back at Moleson on the left. The pasture I climbed is slightly below and to the left of the summit

Garmin says - 19 miles with 5600 ft of vertical est. (Garmin died on the way up Niremont). About 1/4 of the ascent of Moleson was at 40-45% grade.

4/10/11

Jogging in the Jura - Mt Tendre and Dent de Vaulion

With spring coming along quite quickly on the Swiss Plateau I made another trip out to the Crest of the Jura mountains to check on the snowpack and wildflower progression. This run started in Biere, and in typical Swiss fashion, proceeded directly alongside a shooting range. By the end of the day I summited Mont de Biere (highly recommened), Mt Tendre, and Dent de Vaulion and finally got a look at the Lac de Joux.

Garmin says: 25 mi w/ 5000 ft of vertical. Sundays effort in Orange. The route started in Biere, climbed up to Mont de Biere, Mt Tendre, traversed over to Col del Mollendruz and Haut de Mollendruz. Garmin died on Dent de Vaulion, but I had that track from a previous effort. The photos shows tracks from 4 runs. I hope to connect footsteps over as much of the Jura Crest as possible.