- Running
- Trail
Izera running
Last week, during a holiday in the mountains, I got to try real mountain running for the very first time.
The route
The route was a slight modification of the 15 km race from the last edition of the Izera Ultra Trail in Świeradów Zdrój. All in all, I had
- 16.5 kilometres
- around 650 metres of elevation gain
For a start, I already saw that as a pretty big challenge.
The run
The weather turned out perfect. The first 3 kilometres were pure joy, and then the climb began 😄
At first it went really well, my heart rate went up but I could still run. Over time the gradient grew, the terrain got rocky, and my heart rate shot up close to max. I switched to power hiking, but even that was too much at times.
Fresh energy came when I spotted the top station of the cable car. I pushed hard over the final metres and a moment later I was standing on the summit of Stóg Izerski 🥳
The next few kilometres went by just soaking up the views and slowly running back down.
I saved my nemesis for the very end: a climb that last year I struggled to even walk up, and this time I managed to run the whole thing 😄
Takeaways
This run was exactly what I needed. Marathon prep had started to feel like a grind, and I wasn’t getting as much joy out of it, but after this run I know the marathon is just the next step, and next year I’ll definitely line up for the Izera Ultra.