Baseline run - Marathon + 2000m climbing

Hey everybody, thanks for checking in!
In September I will be running a mountain marathon in Swiss. In order to prepare for that run I tried to create a simultation that I could run here in the Netherlands.

The goal of the simulation was to discover how I:

• would handle running over 4 hours
• would handle climbing around 2000m
• could integrate powerhiking to distribute my energy
• try new nutrition

I mimiced the Jungfrau elevation gains by running specific amounts of hill repeats in every quarter marathon:

• first 10.55 km - 5 climbs (13% increase - running)
• second 10.55 km - 11 climbs (7 @ 13% , 4 @ 25% increase. Running the 13%, powerhiking the 25%)
• third 10.55 km - 16 climbs (8 @ 13% , 8 @ 25% , running 6 of the 13%, powerhiking the 25% (and 2 of the 13%)
• last 10.55 km - 22 climbs (10 @ 13% , 12 at @ 25%. Running 8 of the 13%, powerhiking the remainder)

My nitrition plan:

• energy gels every 20 min (isotonic)
• bread with strawberry jelly around 2h (testing)
• 2 snickers (3h and 5h in - testing)
• 3 liters of water with electrolytes

I created my own aid station by parking my car closeby and having the food lined up for every segment. Allowing me to carry a bit less to make life a little easier!

In general the run went pretty well, it became though around 25km as I felt a blister popping up due to the slippery mud on the steap climb - but just focussing on the single climb over and over helped me to just ignore it.

The powerhiking went smooth as soon as I discovered how to use your abs and hands to support the legs.

The experience was fun! I do expect to be a little sorry next few days but we did it!

Happy running! ❤️