Training: Day 2

For day 2 of the Marathon Training Camp we ran part of the first half of the marathon. Early in the morning we boarded the train to Lauterbrunnen, a picturesque little village in the valley below Wengen.  As we exited the train station, we were faced with the harsh reality of the crime pandemic ravaging this part of Switzerland:

Tragic. 

The run around Lauterbrunnen is essentially flat and entirely on asphalt, but it still posed a problem for me as I struggled to keep up with the rest of the group. I still try to keep up with everyone else instead of running at my own pace - another skill I'll need to work on between now and the 14th of September.

Lauterbrunnen

After about 5k, we came to The Wall. The Wall is a point at the 26 kilometer mark where you go from flat to what is essentially a 45 degree incline within one step. Visually, it's represented by this lovely and informative graph:

  The Wall starts HERE ↑

To the untrained eye (ie. mine), The Wall looks relatively benign, and almost playful with its squiggly lines and Crayola colors on the Jungfrau course map:

Awwww adorable!

But in reality, The Wall is a monster from the bowels of hell. It was immediate. It was steep. Really steep. And it was long. Like, really really long.

The reality of The Wall

The Wall climbs for just over 2 kilometers, switchbacking up the mountain towards Wengen at a very steep incline. We passed numerous hikers headed on their way down who looked like they were struggling not to topple over as much as we were struggling to hoist ourselves up. Luckily, this is where my rugby-player-esque legs come in handy - they may not be able to run long distances very well, but they are pretty good at hoisting my bulky frame up these kinds of inclines. I actually really enjoyed the fast paced hike up this hill more than the flat asphalt run through Lauterbrunnen. And getting to the top made it aaaaaall worthwhile:

Top of The Wall

Like Moses parting the Red Sea, the dense cloud cover parted right down the middle of the surrounding mountains, revealing the village of Lauterbrunnen far below. Now only was it an incredible sight to behold, but it was just as amazing, if not more, to realize that I had just run/ hiked/ walked from there to here.  This gave me the energy I needed to carry on, sporadically turning my quick walk into a slow jog as I climbed closer and closer to Wengen.

"I ran from THERE!?"

At one point a fellow member of the Yak Pack, Craig, who had been running up The Wall - yes that's right, running, had come back down check on the rest of the group. Feeling the love, we ran together towards the "house with red shutters" landmark. Yak Pack organizer Tom said that once we found the "house with red shutters" as we approached Wengen, that's when we should really start running. Not because it was a downhill recovery, not in order to make up time, not in order to maximize our energy usage - but for a far more important reason: "It's where loads of spectators are", Tom advised. And it's true. No runner, no matter how novice, wants to be walking past spectators cheering you on. So together Craig and I picked up our pace at the red shutters, through Dorfstrasse and stopped at the Yak Pack meeting point in the center of Wengen.

This marked the end of the day for the Yak Pack Marathon Training Camp and most people got ready to return home. But I still had a few more adventures in store (due more to me accidentally booking the hotel for an extra nonrefundable night than any desire for additional training).