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Swiss Alpine Marathon
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hello Ian and mike
Swiss alpine has to be my favourite. I did the c42 a couple of years ago. It was the first time I had done a marathon and wanted to turn round and do it all again! It was a lot easier than I expected. I took it really easy in the first 20 miles walking a lot of the hills as I thought that was the only way I woudl get through but really it is not too bad at all. I did just under 4.30, a couple of months later I did just under 4 hours at nottingham where I worked harder than at Davos. So as a rough guide I would say it is prob about 10-20mins slower
Loved the K78 and will be back this year. I will adust my training though and do lots of hill walking no the TM as that climb to the top nearly killed me!
Ian
Thanks for that - just wish we had a decent GP in our practice. Went again this week and he's asking me who i want to see. Never mind will keep battling on and hopefully get there eventually, thanks again
I really don't know. Surely it's foolhardy to do Davos K78 as my first ultra. I might have to be doing Offa's Dyke walk next summer, but maybe K78 the year after. I'm not so keen on the idea of a 7 am start though!
In a way, it has to be done, but once that can of worms is open, there are a lot of other events that "have to be done", and I haven't done quite a few important maras yet. I think I'll run out of holiday and get too old before I fit them all in.
Is a tough first one but lots of support makes it easier
I stuck to the C42 and had lovely weather and a great run of 3:45.
I keep saying that I won't be doing the K78 or indeed ultras at all, then hellen keeps tempting me with daft events
Thanks for the encouragement, Hellen (I think!) and Ian, I know what you mean about temptation, especially as its not quite so frightening after getting the K42 under my belt. I do fancy a belt buckle from something. there are some daft races here in Norway too. People who've earned those things are the closest to gods I'll ever meet.
Speaking of gods, I was doing a spot of geocaching while hillwalking around the Davos area in the days before. I was at a simple roadside location, looking for the container to sign a logbook and a chap had arrived just before me. Are you Italian, I asked? No, Belgian. He looked a bit of a sporty type. I got chatting and asked if he was there for the running. He said no, not this year, he was injured. What about me, had I run here before? No, it's my first time here, though I have run 11 other marathons, said I, a touch proudly. I asked how much longer it would take me than a flat marathon course. Well, he said, it takes me about 20 mins longer - my pb is 2:17. Whaa - I said - that must be international level? Yes, he said, I run for Belgium.
A couple of minutes later it came out meekly that he had* WON* K42 in 2007, second in 2008 and a high place in 2010.Teach me to be proud! Afterwards I thought: that's the fastest person I've ever talked to. I should have kissed his feet. I worked out on the net later it was Koen van Rie. Davos was like that the week before. You knew that the town was packed with amazing people, it was just hard to distinguish them. Like Lizzy Hawker - just incredible. Thinking about it, I have to go again!
I've booked flights for Davos but I only get in Thursday before the race. I've not decided if I will do K30 or C42. I've run a few marathons and a 50k race so I'd like to think I can enjoy the C42 - the unknown is altitude. Given that I arrive so close to the race I won't have time to acclimatise - is this going to be a factor in completing the C42 or can I simply overcome it with grit?!
Cheers
R
I think you should be fine arriving Thursday, plenty of people do the same.
And the C42 is pretty much flat after the end point of the K30, so you have no more uppy downy bits to cope with.
Is anybody doing it this year? (of course you are!) I was looking at the 2.09 events week long trip which sounds good - but I was also planning to do the Cotswold 100 mile challenge (over 4 days) the following weekend. So thought maybe I could have this as a training week and take either the K21 or C42 as a last easy (Ha!) run, then have a week off before Cotswold. Has anyone been on the 2:09 trip?
Hey guys
I'm thinking of doing C42 for my 2nd marathon this July and hoped you might be able to help me clear up a few bits (my 1st is going to be Midnight Sun marathon in June and the plan is to run another 11 over the following 12 months for charity)
It looks as though the first 10k is on asphalt but rest is off-road so I wondered what type of running shoes people usually wear?
Also, do you need to do any special kind of training for the C42, over and above normal marathon training, to prepare for the high altitude/hills/rocky terrain?
Thanks!
Oooo, it must be time for me again !
Moggie, sorry I missed your earlier post, but I have been going with 2:09 to this event for the last 15 years, and even have a long service certificate from the Davos Tourist board to prove it
I wouldn't recommend the K21 as it is a rather hard course that revolves around the start point of the bridge. If you don't fancy the full C42, then you need the K30, which is the first part of the C42.
Andrew. I run the C42, although it does tend to change a bit from year to year. I have run in trail and road shoes and prefer road shoes. The terrain isn't rocky, or I wouldn't be doing it, being rather clumsy. If you want rocky, you need the K42
The paths and trails are mostly of very good quality for easy running, nothing technical like you would find here.
All told, thorougly recommended.
Ian
there are a lot of tree routes on the C42 at some point but it is still a road shoe race although not your brand new ones!
Hi Helen, no more tree roots as the course has changed from Filisur. It now follows the K78 route to Bergun.
I have registred for the C 42. Will run it easy so I still have something left for the bulid up to the Stockholm half and Berlin marathon in september. If I like the Swiss alpine race I may go back next year and do the K 42. I´m interested in the Jungfrau and Zermatt marathons as well, althought these two seems tougher, or at least they don´t offer any easier option than a full marathon with high ascent.
Thanks guys!
You've helped me make my mind up, I'm going to go for it!
If I arrived in Davos on the Thursday, do you think that would be enough time to acclimitize?
Andrew: Are you going to do the C 42? Height adjustment is mainly an issue if you are going to do the K 42/K 78. It seems that the maximum altitude in C 42 is app. 1 700 m, and this is just a top quite early in the race. If you search the net you will see that it is from 1 500 m and upwards the altitude affects your performance so this shouldn´t be a big issue. I will arrive on wednesday - just one day before you - and I don´t expect any problems with the thin air.
Stockholm Syndrome: Thanks, that's good to know. I'm going to enter the C42, getting quite excited about it now!