Training Log Archive: rob s

In Switzerland near Zurich for a trail/cross country race. Did an early jog f the course before breakfast to work out where it went. Pouring rain for a change

Warm up run on the course plus some strides etc. Rain still hammering down

Gelandelauf am Bachtel race, part of the Zurich running series. Pretty low key race but big compared to Scottish standards. It was three laps of an undulating circuit on grass, trails and a bit of tarmac. A few quite good runners were there but nobody amazing. For the first lap I was in the lead but with the series leader on my shoulder. He was making me work quite hard although I wanted to save energy for the later laps. On the muddy downhill at the end of the lap I opened up a gap then kept pushing from there. Pushed harder on the last lap although I was tiring a bit. Won by 1min 50 in the end and apparently a course record. Happy with days effort. It's nice to win something abroad even if it is a small event. Also nice to win a Swiss gold coin

Morning loop going across the river and up through some of the small villages near the Gaistal road then back along the river path. Legs a bit stiff after yesterday

Loop over the smaller of the local hills to Wildmoos then to Buchen then up the short steep climb to the Rauth hutte then back through the valley. Looked very flat on the map but turned out to be tougher than expected. The wooded hills look small next to massive mountains!

A bit of a walk and some stretches. Needed the rest

Warm up run on the forest paths behind the fishery. A few hills to warm up the legs. Slightly unsure how the session will go. Altitude is lower than places I trained last year so not managing to run anything fast shouldn't be a problem

Progressive run going round the fishery on the path, it had a few slight undulations but probably more fair than going up and down the valley as running down the valley is easier. Did 5 laps getting faster each one, finished with 10 strides. Mile splits were 5.50, 5.22, 5.11, 4.55. Happy with this

Exploring some of the trails towards Moos. Not feeling too bad after this morning

Another fartlek session but on more undulating trails

Evening hill loop opposite way round from before. Gradual uphill went on forever, think its better the other way