A scenic tree filled trail run just 2.2km from the lake in Zurich
Hi, so I’m going to write about a run I did while on a work trip to Zurich, Switzerland. I think this run is very fitting for WorkTripRunning because it ticks all the boxes I hope my WorkTripRunning posts will (and I know some won’t). It’s on trail (my gold standard in places to run), it’s within running distance of a city (hence work trips) and it can be modified to shorter or longer distances. For Zurich, I am going to write about my run in Dolder Park. Check out the route here on my Strava account, the gpx file should be available there for download.
Getting There
I ran here while training for the Schwartzwald marathon back in 2016, I needed to do ~25km, I started at about 7am and was staying on Dufourstrasse, just a block East of the lake. From my door I ran uphill (seriously incline) for about 2.5km along Faerberstrasse, Ottenweg and then Klosbachstrasse and Rutistrasse. I didn’t stop to look at google maps much, generally I kept going as straight as possible and always uphill! You are running from city streets into neighborhoods and gradually the houses fade into trees. With gasps for air I reached Dolder park! So that was 2.2km of climbing from Lake Zurich to reach this scene (picture below), trees and trail.
I’m going to continue to describe my run which totaled about 26KM but this park is only 2.2km from Zurich center so you could easily get a post-work 10km of delicious tree-filled freedom here to clear your head before meeting colleagues/clients for dinner, or fit it in before work in the morning. In fact, I will detail at the end of this post how you can shorted my route into an 11km run.
From entering the park, for me, it was make it up as you go along and keep going for about 20km up here. The trails were quiet, I came across about 3 or four trail runners and a couple of early morning walkers. I found some marked routes shown in the photo below and I followed them a bit. The photo also serves to show the type of trail we are dealing with here, more gravel path than dirt singletrack.
I saw this huge log and it just looked like it was reaching out for a hug. So of course I obliged!
I am adding another picture (right) to show more of the trail, trail markers (seen in the middle of the photo in yellow) and the scenery you should expect in this park. I should add that I felt perfectly safe running alone here, with one exception! I heard what seriously sounded like whooping and schreeching of primates in the trees around me. Now that freaked the hell out of me! Turns out I was very close to the Zoo! I will admit I got lost in this park, but that was kind of my intention. The plan was reach the park, go in, run ~20km taking whatever route appeals most and then make my way out.
I had phone signal throughout and so I was able to look on googlemaps to see routes, I didn’t know about ViewRanger back then but I just checked and yes, as you can see here, ViewRanger has detailed maps of the trails in this park, incidentally it calls the area Hottingen, perhaps Dolder park is in Hottingen.
I wrote more about ViewRanger in WorkTripRunning Oslo, Norway.
OK lets take a quick look at my route, as mentioned above you can get the gpx file from strava here or just look at the images I have copies below.
In this image I am focusing on the blue dot which is in the middle of the map, it is showing where I was at 3.4km into the run, I then turned right and did a big loop out to the right as you can see here. If you wanted to shorted then run you could cut out this loop which was 7.8km.
The last thing I want to highlight about my route is this smaller loop which I repeated 3 times (I did say I got lost!), the two images below look identical but if you look at the elevation profile at the bottom of the images you can see that one image is at 11.2km into the run, when I begin this loop for the first time and the second image is at 14.3km when I begin the look for the second time. So, this loop is on 3.1km long, and it is only ~4km back to the lake so add them together and you have a nice ~11km run in the forest on trail to really spice up your work trip!
Coming soon, WorkTripRunning Basel, Switzerland and, because I’m not travelling for work right now, my hometown, Dublin, Ireland!
The Eiger Ultra Race was my first ultra run. An ultramarathon is anything more than 42km (a marathon). Going on that definition, I may have lied on the first sentence, because last October (2016) upon crossing the finish line of the Schwartzwald marathon in Germany I kept running a few more steps (no more than 10) and yelled to my good friend Mel, ‘Hey look I’m running an Ultra!’
Why would you do that?
I think my longing to run ultra distances originated when I was living in Seattle, I had an amazing group of trail running buddies there in the High Heel Running Group and we would help out at aid stations of Ultramarathons. I would look on in awe at these strong courageous athletes, fill their water bladders, offer them potato chips, PBJ’s, salted watermelon…. all sorts of weird and wonderful snacks! My claim to fame, I offered Sage Canaday food at an aid station the day he went on to win the White River 50, he had potato chips and some cola and then ran off into the woods.
“I want to be like that”, I thought, in envy.
Last August (2016) a friend I had ran trails with once or twice invited me on a running holiday in Norway that she and some friends were organizing. I was very reluctant and first because I knew she was a stronger runner than I, but I went anyway. On that rainy week in Jothenheimen National Park I met some amazing inspiring runners who believed in me and the result was me running The Eiger Ultra 51K less than a year later. I would not have ventured into this distance, not this year anyway, and I would not have known about this amazing place to run, had it not been for the friend I met on this holiday.
Training for the Eiger E51
Training did not go to plan, I thought I would follow a schedule but it just didn’t happen. I read ‘Running Your First Ultra’ by Krissy Moehl and liked how the 50k training plan built up mileage then eased off then built up and repeated, but I didn’t follow it!
I even made my own training schedule but I didn’t follow it either! I found fitting in mid week runs very difficult so I focused on weekend long runs and got in a few weekday runs where possible. As can be seen from my Strava training profile below (bars show total number of KM ran each week) I did take Krissy’s advice of training in waves. I also incorporated strength training and yoga but not in a systematic regular fashion, definitely room for improvement there!
A month before the race I went to Grindelwald with two friends and had a go at running
the first climb of the E51 route. We made it from Grindelwald to about kilometer 17 on the trail before having to find an alternative route down due to snow. We covered 30km that day and ran 30km of another route (Burglauenen-Mannlichen-Grindelwald) the next day. After two 30km days in a row I began to suspect I might be able for 51km in one day.
Arriving in Grindelwald
I arrived by plane and then train, ‘SBB Mobile’ is the app for Swiss trains, bought my ticket on it and showed the QR code to ticket inspectors whenever they came to check. I had a bed in a dorm room in the Downtown Lodge right in the middle of Grindelwald. The staff there were very accommodating when I e-mailed the week before to ask to have all my trail running buddies put in the same dorm as me 🙂 I’ve stayed there a few times now and the welcome gets warmer the every time I check in!
I met up with Malte, that friend who’s belief in me encouraged me to sign up for this race, and we went for a beer at a great bar called Avacodo. Sitting outside, under the Eiger chatting about training and future running plans I felt so inspired for the future, inspired to train harder, to look for the next big thing and to work so hard that I smash it! Oh and of course, who else was at Avacado, only about 8 Irish lads who were over for the race! It was great to meet fellow runners from home and to share stories of training, or lack thereof! The lads were happy to heed advice from Malte, who was now a 5 year veteran of this race. After an evening of carb-loading and hydrating (ok…. beer-drinking!) we retired for the night as tomorrow would bring packet-pick up and the arrival of our friends.
Packet pick up was a very intimidating experience for me! There were lots of people, lots of very tall, lean fit-looking people, dressed in really nice running gear. I could feel the earth shake as my thunder-thighs pounded the ground, I was a stumpy blimp in a field of gazelles and the feeling of ‘what the hell are you doing here’ ran through my body! Everyone just looked so damn cool! I presented my pack loaded with all the compulsory gear, long pants, a long shirt, gloves … they checked it all and gave me a number. I retreated to a corner, inspected my goody bag and looked on in envy at the long lean legs that paraded past, the fear in my eyes as i tried to take a selfie with my number. Once Malte had his gear inspection complete we got photos beside a huge poster promoting the event and then went for coffee with some of the fit looking people he knew from previous races. Those fit looking people worked for Solomon, ye know, no big deal (!!!). It was fun to meet new people and chat about races and running gear, I think it helped me relax into the day. Then, the eating began, it was time to carb load so we cooked pasta back at the hostel and awaited the arrival of Kostya, Helen and Donata, all of whom would be sharing our dorm. I loved how our merry group of roomies was thrown together, I knew Kostya and Malte from running in Norway last year, they knew each other from a previous race, Kostya knew Helen from racing and running trips and then Malte knew Donata from a work gig a few years back, we were all thrown into a dorm in a very exciting world of the Eiger Ultra race. As we met other runners at pasta parties and coffee I got the sense that our little group was not unique in it’s random collection of acquaintances, people in the trail running scene seem to be very open and friendly. Even at the Downtown Lodge we met a friendly German runner Silke, who was also running the 51K. I just wish I had better German so people didn’t feel like they had to speak English for me. Once we had the gang together we went back to the race area and joined in the official pasta party, yes MORE pasta!
Our gang. Photo By Mülte
It was early to bed that night as Kostya, Helen and Malte were all running the 101K race and it started at 04:30! I couldn’t sleep, and at 02:40 I thought “well that’s it, the others will be getting up in 20 minutes to get ready for their start, I guess I’ll be starting this thing with no sleep…..” then, “beep beep” went my alarm at 05:00, the others were gone, I didn’t hear them go, I had eventually fallen asleep, but it was now time for me to eat some breakfast and get ready for my 07:00 start. As my porridge cooked I looked up the hill we would be climbing first, it wasn’t quite dawn yet and I could see a line of headlights snaking up the mountain,
“Good luck, guys”, I whispered to my friends.
I was delighted to have a buddy in Donata for the morning, having someone to share the excitement and anticipation with, just someone to walk to the start lie with. She would be much faster than me so was starting with the ‘sub 10hr’ people at 06:45. As we left the Downtown Lodge we bumped into Jonas, a new friend I met through Malte, and definitely one of those incredibly fit looking people.
“Are you ready?” he asked,
“Born ready” I proclaimed, with a deadpan face, before bending double with laughter, “I’m so not ready for this!”
Photo by Donata
The Eiger Ultra
Ready I was not, as I took out and unfolded my poles, I was planning on starting with them in hand, I completely blanked on how to lock them in place! I panicked! Ready or not, at 07:00 the race was on. The poles stayed in place for the first few KM as we passed through Grindelwald at a nice steady jog, heading up into the mountains. Soon the jogging turned to power-hiking and as my poles hit softer dirt and began to stick into it they came apart frequently. I frantically tried to remember how to lock them, I had done it before, I had seen videos, I could just hear my friend and coach, JuJu Jay, in my head saying
“You have seen my video, you know how to do this”
but I was panicking, I wasn’t thinking straight, so every time they came apart I just put them back together and kept climbing. It would be kilometer 25 before I would meet another runner who was able to help me out. Besides this mishap the poles were incredibly useful for the climb. Up and Up we went, the crowd had thinned out fast, by the first aid station, Grosse Sheidegg, at 8KM, there was space between me and the person in front and those behind. I topped up my water quickly and kept moving through this aid station however stopped shortly afterwards to switch from my t-shirt into my long sleeve, the weather had forecasted sunshine but it was now windy and cold with many clouds about. It was around this time that the socializing began, one woman, from Finland asked me if I had got my hat from running Bigfoot 200, a 200mile (!!) endurance run in the Northwest of the USA, note, we were at the back of the pack on a 50K run right now! I assured her that no, this was actually my longest run to date, but the hat did come from the Northwest so it could be the same designer. There were nice runable sections after the steep climb to that first aid station, I was happy to increase my speed (from walking!) knowing that I was racing one thing and one thing only today, the cut offs! In fact I had them scribbled in pen on my arm, though the sunscreen blurred them, not to worry, they were burned into my mind.
First by 10:30, Feld by 12:00, Faulhorn by 13:45 and Synge Platte by 17:00. I made it to First by 10:00, not much luxury for hanging around so I went straight through the station, stopping on the other end to stretch my quads. After only 2-3 minutes of gently downhill running a sharp twinge started to build in a familiar spot just below my knee. I knew what this was, it had kept me away from running for the past two weeks and I had hoped it would not raise it’s ugly head today…. alas, only about 11km in the ugly head was rising…. feck!
This was a problem, but I had a plan.
The pain was only on the downhill and there was little of that before Faulhorn, KM 25. I knew there would be massage available at the second aid station following Faulhorn, Synge Platte at KM 35. However before Schynige Platte there was 10KM of solid downhill to survive before, maybe, the masseuse could sort me out…. that’s if I made it to KM35, I was only 30mins behind the cut-off. I ran on, using my left leg and poles as support on the short downhill sections and, thankfully, avoiding pain. Periodically I glanced at my phone which was in the front pocket of my pack, I saw a message from a friend Dee to the Mud Sweat And Runners group…
“Killian Jornet is still running with a dislocated shoulder in Hardrock and he’s still smiling”
Well, if the greatest trail runner of my lifetime can run one of the toughest 100 mile races in the world with a dislocated shoulder, then Sara Hayden can finish this 51K with her dodgy knee!! So thank you Dee for a well timed message, and thank you Killian for being an inspiring badass! He won that race by the way, spoiler alert ….. I didn’t!
These occasional glaces at my phone provided morale boosting nuggets in the form of messages. I was using Strava Beacon to allow friends and family track me and Strava was my only recording device because my Garmin 405 running watch dies after 5.5 hours, I expected to be out for up to 14 hours today! I did miss having the convenience of checking my time and distance with the flick of my wrist instead of unlocking my phone. In fact one of my first messages of support delivered the news that Strava was not working properly.
When I arrived at First (KM13.5) I saw a message from my dad congratulating me on running 17KM already….. edh….. no. In case you read on through the text exchange, sorry dad, I didn’t stop to take a photo, 30 minutes ahead of cut off time and already aware of a time sucking problem. But these little texts popping up were morsels of encouragement which I could glace at while on the move without unlocking my phone. Some of my favourites were
“You’re like the Energizer bunny; she’s still going!’
from my fiance Nick, I remember reading that and thinking YES! Yes I am, that’s what I’m doing, I just keep moving. After First there was a nice smooth runable trail before a bit of technical climbing (that’s rocky uneven terrain that requires you to have your brain turned on). Here I met some friendly folk from the Netherlands including Wayne who warned me to conserve my energy for a big climb ahead to Faulhorn. He was chasing cut off times like me, last year they caught up with him because he was enjoying it too much and taking too many photos! Now I wanted him to make it too! Here’s some photos of the terrain we were running through, these were taken a month before the even when I was there to train, by now the snow was completely gone from the trail.
Warren didn’t lie, the climb to Faulhorn was brutal, at the aid station before this climb I was 40 minutes ahead of cutoff but heading into this climb a hiking sign pointed up the trail to Faulhorn giving an estimated time of 2 hours. It was noon when I saw that sign, 2 hours would have me up there at 14:00, 15 minutes after cut-off, time to push push push!
It was unrelenting power-hiking up that seemingly never-ending switchbacks in open mountain terrain, no trees blocked the view of my next destination, Faulhorn, as I powered on, the bloody building didn’t seem to get any closer! I felt pangs of envy as I could see runners in the distance, leaving Faulhorn, heading onwards, I so wish I was up there now, I wish i was them! I passed quite a few on that climb, always with reciprocated nods of encouragement, the international language for ‘this is tough but we will get up there’. I did get up there, 30 minutes before the cut off time!! Yes!! I filled up my water and got out of there ASAP hot on the heels of my Finish friend from earlier,
“Ireland! You made it! How is the knee?” she asked.
The knee was about to come under pressure, the 10 kilometers of downhill to Schynige Platte, the aid station that would make or break me, it was the last cut off before the finish, if you didn’t make the cut off you were sent down the hill by train. That would be one miserable train ride, I hoped beyond all hope that I would not be on that train. Push push push. It was around here that I spied a man running beside me with the same poles as me,
“SAME POLES! How do you lock them?” I cried out in desperation
Not only did this English gent remind me how to lock out my poles but he also made me feel better for my utter stupidity by telling me he had forgotten to start his watch until about 8KM into the run! At least I pressed Start on Strava!
With my now locked in place poles, I developed a gait that suited my situation, a type of loping gait, using my poles like crutches launching my body downhill and leading with my good leg. I mentally scanned through my body, having a wee chat with the muscle groups, thanking those that were helping out, putting in the extra effort to compensate for those that were suffering, left leg and triceps got huge praise!
OK I did stop to take one photo, the scenery was magnificent and I had never been here before. The trail was beautiful and I just longed to run. Mentally, I was 100%, feeling rested in fact, sure I had been walking! I was very happy, maybe a little too happy, that Hammer Perpetuem, which was the only nutrition I was taking, gives me a good buzz :), Chocolate flavour, I didn’t even get sick of it! Man I was happy, my lungs felt comfortable, confident, like they were whispering to me,
“We got this, just get us to the masseuse to sort out the right leg and then I’m ready to run us home”
I stuck behind a couple from Hong Kong for this 10KM stretch, they had come over for the race and were travelling for a week afterwards before heading home. I first saw them on the climb to Faulhorn, him towing her up the mountain on a rope! We had a bit of a chat and agreed that this 10KM felt more like 20KM, it took hours and hours! We could see Schynige Platte train station in the distance but every time we turned a bend there seemed to be another big valley we had to go around to get to it! By now I was hoping for a miracle-worker not a masseuse!
We did eventually get there, about 45 minutes before cut off. On the run into the aid station which was about 500m away from the train station I saw downtrodden runners hiking uphill towards me,
“Oh we have to go back up this hill?” I asked one of the runners hiking in the opposite direction
“No, my race is over, I took too long” he replied
I realised then he had a 101K race number and had missed the cut off, after 35KM he was told to get the train home. He, and the next man following shortly after him looked so defeated, it really shocked me, this could happen to me, I so didn’t want it to happen.
At Schynige Platte aid station the atmosphere was amazing for 35KM into a 51KM run! I’ve experienced more somber finish-lines! We had made the last cut off, it was downhill from here to home, all sorts of suspect finish-times were being thrown about,
“Only 15KM left, that’s max, 3hrs!”
Yes that sounds logical, but nobody seemed to be factoring in the 3 hours it took us to do the last 10KM! The Dutch were there, Wayne was going to make it this year! Finland was already gone by the time I got there. I had one mission and one mission only, find that miracle-working-masseuse. I found her and she was so lovely, the massage on my quads didn’t hurt, this kinda disappointed me. I told her how I SO hoped I would make the finish and she looked at me incredulously, as if I had no idea what I was talking about
“Oh you will finish!” she stated matter-of-factly,
as if the finish line was only 50 meters away. This gave me huge confidence. I got up after about 10 minutes, after filling up my water I thanked all and skipped out of the aid station jumping and kicking my heals together in elation. I managed about 2-3 minutes of downhill running before the pain returned, so I resumed my yet-to-be-patented loping gait. I was happy as happy could be, I was going to make it! This section was lovely, meadows and farms, rich green grass and wild flowers. I saw men herding cattle and a young woman bringing a cow into a barn, presumably for milking, it was like getting a sneak peak into the serene side of Swiss alpine farm life. I was singing the race theme tune ….
“Are you ready to win the race,
Your heart is pumping at a faster pace
You’ve got to give all you’ve got
and reach for the top
On the Eiger race!”
…maybe I was a little too happy!
Then came the enchanted forest, that f’ing-never-ending-enchanted-forest! At the entrance was one of the yellow jacketed ‘trail-police’. I had a sneaking suspicion these folks were dotted about the trail to look for people struggling who may need to be taken off the trail, so each time I saw one ahead I perked up, put on my best ‘Alles gut’ smile and blasted out ‘Hallo, Wie gehts?’. Basically translated to “Hi how’s it going, nothing to see here, I’m as strong as an Ox and moving like a (wounded) gazelle!”
As I loped through the forest I could see across to a trail at the other side of the valley and realised how high I still was. Across the valley I recognised the high point of the trail the 101KM runners had gone up after reaching the valley floor. I had climbed that trail twice before in training and I knew how high that was,
“Wow! I have a lot of descent ahead of me”
The the trail started to go up, what the….??? There were a few frustrating moments and I began to doubt that I would make the finish cut-off. I sent a message to Nick and my dad, who were still following my Strava Beacon, a little call for support and what came back did the trick. Great to have people who had the brainpower and the data (none of which i had now) to do the math and sent back a reassuring message that kept me going.
As I entered the enchanted forest Donata sent me a message saying she had finished! I congratulated her and said I was on the descent to Burglaugenen, the last aid station before a gentle climb on a riverside trail back to Grindelwald. An hour or so later she messaged to say she was going for dinner, did I want her to order a burger for me? I burst out laughing when I got this, I was still in the f’ing forest!
I hobbled into Burlaugenen aid station, 6 or 7 kilometers to go, I must have looked rough because one of the people there asked if I wanted to see a doctor and upon my refusal said ‘well go and eat something before continuing’ I showed him my remaining Hammer Perpeteum and thanked him but said I was all good. I then met some other official types and I got the fright of my life!
“I can still finish right? I can go on to the finish?”
Why did I even ask that??? Just GO! Get out of there!
“No. Sorry”
“But…. but… I’m so close”
“Ohhhhh Yes, go, you can finish any time! We thought you said, ‘Is this the finish?'”
I was out of there like a rocket!
This last section was the one I was dreading, after ~44KM there was now a long slow uphill for 6 or 7KM. It was FANTASTIC! Uphill, I could RUN!! I ran and ran and ran, painfree and all the time knowing I was going to make it, oh my goodness I was going to make it!! The finish looked amazing and I really wanted to run through Grindelwald with supporters clapping, people sitting outside cafes thinking ‘wow!’, down that ramp into the finish line.
There was one last climb, I power-hiked up to the small crowd waiting on the main street. There were cowbells ringing and, because I love an audience, in the last ~20 meters of uphill, I decided to run, more cheers! I felt a little undeserving of the cheers as I was being passed out by 101K racers, but they started 2.5hrs ahead of me (and did twice the distance!). I continued to run along the main street, up the wooden ramp, paused a little to let a 101K guy run down and through the finish, I took it all in, and then, I went for it 🙂
Afterwards, it was back to the Downtown Lodge where I woke Nata (yeah she was home, showered, fed and having a nap!) and we had a celebratory can of beer in our room. Then our 101K roomies powered in, Malte with an amazing 17.5hr run, Kostya not far behind completing the 101K in 19Hrs! My heart went out to Helen who was taken off the course on doctors orders at Mannlichen, that’s 67KM into the race, she is healing up now. We ate pasta, drank beer and together with Jonas and the irish lads, cheered 101K runners into Grindelwald until 2am when, I for one, eventually, got tired, 21 hours from when I woke up, more than 13 of which were spent on the trail. I can’t wait for next year, I want to heal up my knee, come back and finish a lot faster and healthier.
Hopefully I will be doing it with these amazing friends 🙂
“take the T-bane out to the local trail system (which is very well marked & has ‘sports cabins’ along the way). Actually did a great run a few years ago from Holmenkollen to Songsvann – ski jump museum to start & a jump in the lake to finish if you’re feeling brave!”
-Kari V.
This was great advice and just what I wanted to hear when I put a call out to Facebook last for recommendations trail runs accessible by public transport from Oslo.
Planning
So I used the app, View Ranger, to plot a route from Holmenkollen to Songsvann, using Google Maps when needed to actually locate these places on ViewRanger’s map. I wanted to do 30KM plus but there were so many trails visible of ViewRanger, it is possible to do any mileage in this vast trail system.
I used Googlemaps to plot a route from my hotel to the start of my run, Holmenkollen. My route consisted of the number 31 bus followed by the No.1 T-bane.
Ticket
The best option for ticketing was to get an app called Ruterbillet which allowed me to purchase a 24hour Zone 1 pass, Zone 1 covers Oslo and surrounding neighborhoods, including the T-bane train so I was able to use the 24 hour pass to get from my hotel to the T-Bane station at Stortinget and on the T-bane Number 1 headting towards Frognerseteren, up to Holmenkollen. It would also get me back to my hotel from Songsvann (T-Bane number 5). Once you have the pass on your phone you don’t need to scan it or show it to anyone unless an inspector gets on.
Route
The route started off on road then, after the Holmenkollen ski jump went into a nice dry singletrack trail. Before I knew it I was on mountain bike trails, thankfully I didn’t meet any bikes but I was hyper aware of
a. Perhaps, as a runner, I was not permitted on these trails?
b. I might get hit/cause a biker to have an accident trying to avoid me
After a couple of KM I was off mountain bike trails and did not end up back on them again. The rest of the route was approx;
80% Dry singletrack
10% Fire-service road
8% Marshy-grass
2% Slick rock
Sorry no photo, but think running on bare rock.
Insects
Insects got worse in the second half, in fact avoiding the mosquitoes kept me running! I didn’t notice insects in the first half of the run, it was mid June and about 20oC(approx 70F).
Amenities
This might seem like a weird category for a trail run but there were huts on this run selling drinks and snacks! All huts I came across were on the ViewRanger map, many were closed. I stopped at a hut at the most northerly part of my route, I got a cola, used their power to charge my phone (ViewRanger is hard on phone battery) and filled my water bladder.
There were many lakes on the route and a river near the end should you want to top up your water more frequently.
Enjoyment
This route was super enjoyable with varied terrain and a comfortable level of challenge. I have highly impressed with Oslo as a city with an extensive trail network accessible by public transport. As I mentioned at the start you could run loops taking in 100’s of KM or 5KM, it’s a trail running heaven up there 🙂
Hi! Welcome to WorkTripRunning. This blog is designed to give people advice on routes to run in various places around the world. I love trail running, and travel for work almost every week. I will write a blog on each place I have been running (where possible trail but also some scenic road runs) including how to get to the route, things to look out for on the route and possibly where to go for a post run snack, mmmm foooooddddd.
I ran here while training for the Schwartzwald marathon back in 2016, I needed to do ~25km, I started at about 7am and was staying on Dufourstrasse, just a block East of the lake. From my door I ran uphill (seriously incline) for about 2.5km along Faerberstrasse, Ottenweg and then Klosbachstrasse and Rutistrasse. I didn’t stop to look at google maps much, generally I kept going as straight as possible and always uphill! You are running from city streets into neighborhoods and gradually the houses fade into trees. 
With gasps for air I reached Dolder park! So that was 2.2km of climbing from Lake Zurich to reach this scene (picture below), trees and trail.
I am adding another picture (right) to show more of the trail, trail markers (seen in the middle of the photo in yellow) and the scenery you should expect in this park. I should add that I felt perfectly safe running alone here, with one exception! I heard what seriously sounded like whooping and schreeching of primates in the trees around me. Now that freaked the hell out of me! Turns out I was very close to the Zoo! I will admit I got lost in this park, but that was kind of my intention. The plan was reach the park, go in, run ~20km taking whatever route appeals most and then make my way out.
I had phone signal throughout and so I was able to look on googlemaps to see routes, I didn’t know about ViewRanger back then but I just checked and yes, as you can see here, ViewRanger has detailed maps of the trails in this park, incidentally it calls the area Hottingen, perhaps Dolder park is in Hottingen.
An ultramarathon is anything more than 42km (a marathon). Going on that definition, I may have lied on the first sentence, because last October (2016) upon crossing the finish line of the Schwartzwald marathon in Germany I kept running a few more steps (no more than 10) and yelled to my good friend Mel, ‘Hey look I’m running an Ultra!’
I would look on in awe at these strong courageous athletes, fill their water bladders, offer them potato chips, PBJ’s, salted watermelon…. all sorts of weird and wonderful snacks! My claim to fame, I offered Sage Canaday food at an aid station the day he went on to win the White River 50, he had potato chips and some cola and then ran off into the woods.
Training did not go to plan, I thought I would follow a schedule but it just didn’t happen. I read ‘Running Your First Ultra’ by Krissy Moehl and liked how the 50k training plan built up mileage then eased off then built up and repeated, but I didn’t follow it!
the first climb of the E51 route. We made it from Grindelwald to about kilometer 17 on the trail before having to find an alternative route down due to snow. We covered 30km that day and ran 30km of another route (Burglauenen-Mannlichen-Grindelwald) the next day. After two 30km days in a row I began to suspect I might be able for 51km in one day.
I arrived by plane and then train, ‘SBB Mobile’ is the app for Swiss trains, bought my ticket on it and showed the QR code to ticket inspectors whenever they came to check. I had a bed in a dorm room in the Downtown Lodge right in the middle of Grindelwald. The staff there were very accommodating when I e-mailed the week before to ask to have all my trail running buddies put in the same dorm as me 🙂 I’ve stayed there a few times now and the welcome gets warmer the every time I check in!
inspired to train harder, to look for the next big thing and to work so hard that I smash it! Oh and of course, who else was at Avacado, only about 8 Irish lads who were over for the race! It was great to meet fellow runners from home and to share stories of training, or lack thereof! The lads were happy to heed advice from Malte, who was now a 5 year veteran of this race. After an evening of carb-loading and hydrating (ok…. beer-drinking!) we retired for the night as tomorrow would bring packet-pick up and the arrival of our friends.
Everyone just looked so damn cool! I presented my pack loaded with all the compulsory gear, long pants, a long shirt, gloves … they checked it all and gave me a number. 
I retreated to a corner, inspected my goody bag and looked on in envy at the long lean legs that paraded past, the fear in my eyes as i tried to take a selfie with my number. Once Malte had his gear inspection complete we got photos beside a huge poster promoting the event and then went for coffee with some of the fit looking people he knew from previous races. Those fit looking people worked for Solomon, ye know, no big deal (!!!). It was fun to meet new people and chat about races and running gear, I think it helped me relax into the day. 
Then, the eating began, it was time to carb load so we cooked pasta back at the hostel and awaited the arrival of Kostya, Helen and Donata, all of whom would be sharing our dorm. I loved how our merry group of roomies was thrown together, I knew Kostya and Malte from running in Norway last year, they knew each other from a previous race, Kostya knew Helen from racing and running trips and then Malte knew Donata from a work gig a few years back, we were all thrown into a dorm in a very exciting world of the Eiger Ultra race. As we met other runners at pasta parties and coffee I got the sense that our little group was not unique in it’s random collection of acquaintances, people in the trail running scene seem to be very open and friendly. Even at the Downtown Lodge we met a friendly German runner Silke, who was also running the 51K. I just wish I had better German so people didn’t feel like they had to speak English for me. Once we had the gang together we went back to the race area and joined in the official pasta party, yes MORE pasta!
As my porridge cooked I looked up the hill we would be climbing first, it wasn’t quite dawn yet and I could see a line of headlights snaking up the mountain,
Mentally, I was 100%, feeling rested in fact, sure I had been walking! I was very happy, maybe a little too happy, that Hammer Perpetuem, which was the only nutrition I was taking, gives me a good buzz :), Chocolate flavour, I didn’t even get sick of it! Man I was happy, my lungs felt comfortable, confident, like they were whispering to me,
There were a few frustrating moments and I began to doubt that I would make the finish cut-off. I sent a message to Nick and my dad, who were still following my Strava Beacon, a little call for support and what came back did the trick. Great to have people who had the brainpower and the data (none of which i had now) to do the math and sent back a reassuring message that kept me going.
We ate pasta, drank beer and together with Jonas and the irish lads, cheered 101K runners into Grindelwald until 2am when, I for one, eventually, got tired, 21 hours from when I woke up, more than 13 of which were spent on the trail. I can’t wait for next year, I want to heal up my knee, come back and finish a lot faster and healthier.
I used Googlemaps to plot a route from my hotel to the start of my run, Holmenkollen. My route consisted of the number 31 bus followed by the No.1 T-bane.
Work Trip Running 