Inspired by Jakob von Raumer’s Murgleiter FKT, I did this scenic route as a preparation for the Trail Alsace Grand Est 50k, which takes place two weeks later.
Apart from a few sections on the uphill and downhill to and from the Battert, the route is very runnable and not technical at all (few single trails and mostly two track or broad hiking and biking paths).
I started at around 8 a.m. to practice an early start and so that I could get through the first half of the course before it got warmer. But overall it was a perfect day for running (10-18 °C and sunny with some clouds).
Time-wise, I planned to have a 10-minute buffer to the previous record by Henning Lenertz. Since it was a training run, I hoped it would be hard at the end but not “all-out” by any means. I wanted to run as fast as necessary, but as slow as possible. Especially on the first and biggest climb up to the Battert, I wanted to save my energy.
I checked my planned split times regularly and I was on schedule with one or two minutes off from time to time.
Unfortunately, I deviated from the FKT route at km 10, although I followed the official hiking signs for the Panoramaweg. I assume that there is an alternative section of the route there. So I unintentionally cut about 500 m compared to the original route. I hope that the attempt still counts.
At km 31 before the last climb, I still felt strong and therefore increased the effort in the last section. I arrived around 10 minutes ahead of my plan at the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden.
I planned my pacing and split times beforehand on ultrapacer.com and it served me very well.
I also practiced race nutrition for the Alsace race during the run. I had eight gels (corresponds to 83g Carbs/h), which I carried with me from the beginning. I started with 1.5 L of water in my soft flasks and refilled it at the natural water source Grobbach at the Geroldsauer waterfall (at around 26 km). To be on the safe side, I used water filters in my soft flasks.
I had no external support.
I really enjoyed the run on this route with its many great views and flow trails. Since it was spring, nature was in beautiful green color. I encourage everyone to run this nice course (and break the record)!
P.S.: The previous record holder, Henning Lenertz, is an editor at the German Runner’s World. Back when I started (trail) running a couple of years ago, I read many of his articles and he was one of the persons who inspired me and got me started in the sport. So I feel somewhat bad for taking the FKT from him as a “thank you”…but hey, that’s the game and maybe, Henning, you run this route again and take the record back :)