Who'se doing the Zurich marathon in April? There must be a few of us. How's the training going??? I find the first half of schedules the hardest.

Anyone fancy meeting up to do the last long run before tapering - the 5th/6th April weekend? It might make the race day more fun having a few familiar faces to say hi to.
I have a couple of ideas as to where might be interesting (the swiss path around the Urnersee or my usual pre-race long run along the river Toss, Winterthur way) but I'm open to suggestions.

Maybe we could have our own little EF half marathon around the Griefensee mid March time.
I'm also planning on doing the Winterthur race (10-ishkm) on March 1st, if anyone wants to join me.

I will move to Zurich on April 1st and I am thinking to run the marathon. For me it would be nice to train with some new people.

I would have been tempted by the Winterthur 10k, but sadly I'm going to be in the UK that weekend on a course

I was planning on doing the Zurich Marathon but I doubt sincerely that I'll be ready for it in time, I'm now re-thinking about the Lucerne Marathon in October instead...

couldn't believe there wasn't anyone out there.

Of course you don't have to be doing the marathon or have to run the full length of a run to join in with a few of us, and it's not too early to start building that base for an autumn race.

I'm interested in joining some training runs, I was planning on doing a half for the Zurich Hitlers birthday commemorative marathon but theres no accompanying half on the 20th

if you have any links for halfs in switzerland I'd be grateful.

I know it's a shame I'm sure alot of people would like to see a half this early in the race season.

The Greifenseelauf in September is probably the most famous/popular half locally (ZH).

www.zurilaufcup.ch lists the local series of 10km races or there abouts.

http://www.datasport.ch/ lists pretty much most races across the whole of switzerland

PT Kate,

Good luck training for the Zurich marathon. It will be my first Zurich marathon and fourth in total. It's looks flat but a bit zig-zaggy! I'm finding the training hard, but the next two months are where the mileage gets a bit silly, so needs must.

Do you know what kind of temperatures are the norm in Zurich on race day? Can't find anything on the web regarding this.

Cheers

thanks, and the same to you. This will be my 4th too, after swearing i'd never do another after the first - well, you've got to see if you've still got what it takes don't you.

Got my distances wrong on sunday, was out for 4hrs 30 - oops. legs felt they'd been in a fight. least I've got the really big one in early, can relax now!

As to the weather it could do anything, although likely to be significantly warmer than the UK would be at that time of the year, plan for shorts and t-shirt and as we get nearer runs during the warmest part of the day might be an idea. Everybody thinks it's really earlier and that is a bad thing, but temperature wise is potentially a good thing.

Come and say hello race day, will post my number when i have it.

I'm surprised you can walk after been out for that long.

Thanks for the weather tip. I'll come prepared for all possible scenarios. I ran in the USA last April and the weather was awful; gales, rain and sleet. The marathon was okay but it was the one hour wait in the coral before the start that made it miserable. So now I have weather neurosis - it's an English thing perhaps!

Good luck with the training. Take it easy with 4 hour runs.

It is flat apart from one very minor gradient on the way to Meilen. As the course doubles back here, you have to do it twice but it's hardly noticeable.
The course does zig-zag quite a bit at the end taking you towards the finish, and then away from it, and then back again etc but this bit is in Zurich so there's a good atmosphere.

With the turn around point being way up the lake at Meilen, you do get to see a lot of runners going the other way which is either a good thing or a bad thing for your moral, depending on whether you are past the turn point, or not. You do get to see the race leaders though.

This will be my second Zurich Marathon. Last year it was overcast with no wind - probably good conditions for a long run.

I should have said - and pleasantly cool. (Overcast, no wind on a hot humid day would be quite unpleasant for running a marathon but probably okay for relaxing with a beer).

Tom 1234 - thanks for the info. Much appreciated!

Thanks for the info Kate and good luck, are you doing any short races as part of the preparation?

am down to do the Winterthurlauf on the 1st march (11km) and may do the Baden-Limmat 13km on the 29th. I'll be the one wearing slinky compression tights with go faster stripes - just squeezed myself into a pair in preparation for todays run.

I'm also planning to run one side (the sunny side)of the Walensee sometime soon, if anyone fancies a scenic trail run, it's only 15km-ish but quite rolling terrain.

Broado--presume you ran Boston...I was there on business that day and can attest to how nuts the weather was...congrats on sticking it out!

I'm still in my post-first-marathon-will-never-run-another phase, but just started training for the "3laenderlauf" in Basel this may. its a half that loops through DE and FR ending back in Basel. sounds like a good time.

I'll check back in on this thread as my mileage increases to see who's up for a (medium) long one.

s

Anyone else planning on doing the Lucerne in October? Have never run / trained for a marathon before (despite having worked in a specialist running shop in the UK for 4 years, haha) so any pointers on training most welcome...

Hi Fernando. Try to find partners on www.meet2move.ch - it is easy and no cost at this time. An English version will follow in April - hope you can do with German. Regards. Benno

Yes, it was in Boston (a mother of a course). I'm trying to run under 3:10 in Zurich to qualify for Boston 2009. It's going to be hard, but if I run a sensible race I reckon I'll be able to creep under.

Good luck with the training for 3laenderlauf in Basel. Looks like a good race to do.

Cheers!

Hi,

Thanks for the link (3 times) but I'm not looking for someone to train with - I'm commited enough to turn out on my own in all weather, and prefer running on my own to running with someone else - but what I could do with is tips on what sort of distances to put in, timing the training so I "peak" at the right time, basically technical advice on *how* to train effectively for a Marathon as I've never done one before...

PTKate -

I was hoping to do the Zürich marathon, but travel killed my training schedule this year. Hopefully I can be ready for the Luzern or Berlin marathon instead.

Terry -

http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm or http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00intermediate.htm depending on your fitness level....