Preparing for Swiss Alpine K78 à la Dave Scott

Swiss Alpine K78 is only three weeks away. This is about my preparation for the race, including training, tapering, and tactics. (The photos are from last year's race.)

I've once again re-read my worn out copy of Dave Scott's Triathlon Training (1986), especially Chapter 8 about his Racing Secrets. Dave suggests you ask yourself two questions:

• What do you hope to accomplish?
• How do you plan to do it?

My PR is 9:43. My goal is to finish under nine hours. How will I accomplish this?

It's easier to plan if we divide the course into three parts (a bit like a triathlon):

1. Davos (1,538 meters) - Filisur (1,032 m), 30.6 km. Mostly easy roads, some small uphills with lots of downhills and some single trails. You need to start strong and relatively fast when the gun goes off 8AM. Unfortunately the K31 and C42 runners start at the same time, so there are too many runners. You don't want to get left behind the masses when the trail narrows and the long line of runners slows down. How fast you dare to run depends on your fitness and your goal for the race. Even if you just want to finish the race within cutoff times, you should take the first part seriously.
2. Filisur - Kesch (2,632 m), 22.3 km. This is the monster uphill that requires climbing strength. You will begin to feel the effects of high altitude, but don't give up. Keep going as fast as you can and remember to hydrate and fuel properly. The aid stations should provide everything you need, unless you arrive too late, in which case they might have run out of some items. Remember the cutoff points: Filisur 11:50 AM, Bergün 1:00 PM, Chants 2:15 PM, Kesch 3:40 PM.
3. Kesch - Davos, 25.6 km. After Kesch the Panorama trail followed by Scaletta pass can be a bit tricky, so you better watch your every step. Thunderstorms often occur in the afternoon. Don't stop or you might get cold. The stones and gravel might be surprisingly slippery, as I found in 2007, landing my head inches from big rocks. Be extra careful until you reach Dürrboden aid station (64.4 km). Then the rest is relatively easy downhill cruise to the finish in Davos Sports Centre, the same place where you started in the morning.

My training specifically aims to prepare me for each of these three sections:

1. The first section requires speed and good downhill running ability. This can be accomplished with simple track workouts, for example 10 x 400 meters. I've also practiced downhill runs (30-90 sec) with a fast leg turnover, trying to stay focused and relaxed.
2. Living at sea level, there's nothing much I can do to prepare for the high altitude, but it definitely helps running up all sorts of hills you can find in your neighborhood. Even the biggest hill near my home takes me only about 2-3 minutes when running very slowly, but if I repeat it say ten times, it's a pretty good workout. I also often sprint smaller "10-second-hills" as fast as I can. Also climbing stairs helps.
3. The third part of the race requires endurance. I ran a distance beyond a marathon once every week last year. This spring I did a challenging self-supported (meaning dehydrated and hungry most of the time) 99 km trail training run. In May I ran a half-marathon and a marathon race. I often do tempo runs and fartleks of various length.

When it comes to tapering, I'll follow the advice from my old Dave Scott book. Dave says: "I certainly do not recommend the TV Taper. You can train as you normally would up to about four days before the race."

Three weeks prior to race:

• Do not increase your high-intensity training, speed work, or overdistance training.
• Maintain or slightly decrease the actual time you spend training.
• Maintain the intensity.

Five days prior to race (the race is on Saturday):

• Your last hard workout should be on Monday
• Tuesday: very easy day, to recover from Monday's workout.
• Wednesday: same as Tuesday, but add some easy work to slightly elevate your heart rate.
• Thursday: rest day, perhaps some easy walking to relax.
• Friday: easy loosen-up, 15 to 20 minutes, at a very low intensity (around 50 per cent of your maximal effort).

Get organized:

• Plan out your meals.
• List what you need to have with you at the start and during the race.
• List what you need to take care of on race morning.

Race morning:

• Wake up early, allow yourself at least two hours to wake up and warm up before the race.
• Wake up slowly, don't bolt out of bed after your alarm goes off and start doing jumping jacks.
• Take a hot shower to get your blood circulation going, warm up your skin, and accelerate your metabolism.

Pre-race diet:

• Do not overeat on race morning.
• Eat food that is easily digested.
• Do not eat sugar or drink a lot of fruit juice.
• Don't eat anything within an hour of race start.

Pre-race warm-up:

• Try to warm up 20-30 minutes before the race, at a very low intensity.
• Never do any sprints, save all of your energy for the race.
• Do some easy stretches.
• Stay warm after your warm-up, it's better to overdress than to get a chill.
• At the starting line: control your breathing, relax.

Finally, what pace should you run to achieve your goal time? Simply divide it into three.

For example, I aim for under nine hours, so I will try to run each of the three course segments in under three hours.

Let's take Jonas Buud of Sweden. Last year he won with 6:00:26. His splits for the three parts were 2:01:59, 2:03:56 and 1:54:32.

Or Ernesto Sicurelli, who lives in Davos and certainly knows the course well. He won M60 age group with 8:08:44. His splits were 2:37:34, 2:49:58 and 2:41:13.

So a pattern emerges, where you can see that the successful competitors run the shorter middle leg a bit slower than the longer first and last legs.

This is just one possible approach. There are certainly more than one way to do it. Whatever you choose to do, good luck!