Swiss Peaks 170, Upcoming

[ This is a fictitious interview with myself. ]

What made you decide to come back to Swiss Peaks footrace?

Well … erm … good question. After participating two consecutive years in the Swiss Peaks 360, I took a break in 2024. All, I guess, I learnt is that miss this race. But you can’t really do the same thing year after year, can you? So I chose to do the Swiss Peaks 170 in 2025.

Signing up because you think you CANNOT do something … is that enough purpose?

Right. Actually, the race is in a fantastic place of the Alps, a rugged, spectacular landscape that presents itself differently during day and night, remote places that I won’t visit otherwise. The race organisers put a lot of love into this race. It shows in the food. In the atmosphere. I miss it.

Additionally, I hope that doing the Swiss Peaks 170 will allow me to recover a bit faster in the wake of the race, but the longer I think about it, the less likely I am to believe it. By starting “in the middle” of the 360 course (the 170k and 360k options share the latter part of the race course), I hope to have more capacity to enjoy the latter stages of the race, being less fatigued and such.

Can you describe the Swiss Peaks 170, what it is like?

But I haven’t done it yet.

I mean: what do you know about it today?

The Swiss Peaks 170 is one of several foot races offered in the series, which take part every year in late August / early September. All of the races consist of a single stage, regardless of the option: 100k, 170k, 380k (formerly: 360k) to name a few. All races come with a lot of elevation gain: nearly 11’000m for the Swiss Peaks 170. Basically, the trail goes up, and when it reaches a mountain pass, it goes down. When the trail reaches a valley, it goes up. And so on. Repeatedly. It’s fun. That’s why you sign up again, even after telling yourself not to sign up again.

Sounds like a challenging course. Is it doable?

You don’t know until you try. But then, the course is also technical. That’s not really my strength. In 2022, it took me over 80 hours to cover the distance (and vertical gain) from Grande Dixence to Le Bouveret. A year later, I got faster—less GI distress—, and it took me about 66 hours. But this year, that won’t be enough: the cut off for the Swiss Peaks 170 is at 57 hours. In other words, you must move at an average speed above 3 km/h horizontally and with every hour you must both climb 190m and descend 228m on average. I must take 9h off my 2023 time (-14%) in order to make it.

Nine hours? That’s a lot, no?

I stand a good chance. I will start with fresh legs & enough sleep from Grande Dixence this year. Rather than arriving at Grande Dixence after three days, and still having to go over countless mountain passes until reaching the eastern shores of Lac Léman. I will also train hard in the months before the race. There are a lot of challenges to prepare for.

The required average speed doesn’t sound that much, where is the challenge?

The cut-off time (56h) sounds generous at first. But the course is technical. A single kilometer can take half an hour in certain sections. I spend time at altitude (Grand Désert, for instance). I need to stop, maybe sleep a little, eat, repack, change gears, and so on. At the end, I can’t faff around too much.

What do you plan to do instead of faffing around?

There are plenty of things I can control. I need to control. First, I need fitness. The more fitness, the better. FITNESS. That is a priority. Second, I will need to be good at uphill and downhill sections. Third, I will need to somewhat efficiently move through the checkpoints. Most of all, I need to be mentally prepared.

How do you prepare for such an adventure?

Exercise is one of the things that—technological progress or not—simply cannot be outsourced: nobody is going to do the exercise on my behalf. I would not like that anyway. I am not training because of the race. I train because I like the process of training itself, and the race is more like a goal post to give the training a direction. The race is more like the cherry on the cake.

A cherry that gives you a lot to chew on?

Exactly. To improve my chances, I want to train better. The biggest change is that I am now following a structured training plan provided by KoopAI (wrote about it in Structured Training, Scenic Trail).

KoopAI provides me with a machine-generated, individualized, block-periodized training plan, prescribing training volume dynamically (time, vertical gain per distance). The program distributes hard workouts, recovery sessions, long runs over each week within the block, taking individual constraints into account while adhering to the training methods from Jason Koop and his colleagues from CTS.

While I still need to think about logistics of the training, while I still need to think about how to make the most out of the training opportunites, while I need to pay attention to good recovery—the program has been very helpful. I’m more consistent, have to spend less time planning from week-to-week.

I’m excited to get the support not only from KoopAI, but also the software developers and the CTS coaches who tag along with the athletes to improve both the software offering, and the athletes. I’m really grateful. And no, I don’t get paid for saying this.

What does your typical week look like?

Monday is recovery run, but also fun day my local trail running buddies, so occasionally these clash a bit. Tuesday hard workout. Wednesday rest day. Thursday another hard workout (temporarily suspended out of caution). Friday recovery run. Saturday long run. Sunday endurance run.

It’s all about running, then?

Not quite. Trail running is a bit of a misnomer. It should have been called trail locomoting, or something a bit catchier. Many sections of the Swiss Peaks course are not runnable at all. Not even for the elite trail runners. There are runnable parts on the 170k course, particularly in the Val d’Illiez, and from Morgins to Le Bouveret, including the last downhill through the infamous forest (“The Forest”).

On non-runnable sections, who walks the fastest will be the fastest. And among those parts where you can either walk or run, you are still faster among the walkers, if you walk faster. Obviously. Combine this with the insight that most sections aren’t really runnable, you know what matters.

For instance, if I walk ~10% faster this year than I did on the same section of the race in 2023, and save 3h in the checkpoints (from roughly a total of 6:45h), then I will have already saved 10h from the total 66h compared to 2023, and make the cut off under 57h through those savings alone.

Running and walking are biomechanically fairly different (I’m no expert here, but I let myself be convinced!), it seems natural that I need to train hiking in similar terrain as a preparation. Over the summer months, I will make trips to the mountains, ideally once a weekend. This has the nice by-product of not only enjoying those mountain hikes/trail runs, but also escape the waves of sweltering heat that are far less tolerable at lower altitude. I reckon that I can get in ten such specific training sessions in before tapering for the race.

What else is there to prepare for?

As mentioned, the mental side is important. For that, it is important that I feel up to the challenge that awaits me, rather than overwhelmed. When the going gets tough, I need to quickly get to the point where I can accept that it is tough and then work my way through that. To this end, I can prepare for scenarios before, during, and after the race.

What does AFTER the race have to do with anything?

More than I had previously acknowledged. This is something I learnt in the previous two editions of the Swiss Peaks 360. Yes, the course is tough. But the goal is simple. Go to the next flag. Then repeat. The moment you come through the finish line, the world gets complicated, in a strange way. What now? What do you do next? Eat? Rest? Shower? In which order?

Such questions are trivial in an everyday situation, but this is no everyday situation. If, however, I can put trust into a simple plan on what to do in which order once in the finish, I don’t have to worry about that at all during the race. My mind is free to solve the problems that pose themselves, and will have the feeling that I am well taken care of once I reach the end of the race.

This year, I will set up a tent as accommodation in Le Bouveret. This tent will be there when I finish, and I will have a nice cosy place to take either an extended nap, or stay over for a night. No more searching for Swiss bunkers to sleep in. No more escaping from said bunkers to find something more comfortable. Just the nice little reassurance that accommodation is taken care of, rather than just leaving this to be figured out at the finish.

I’ll store some non-perishable food in the tent as well. Just in case that I am in the lucky position to arrive faster than expected, during the wee morning hours on Saturday. This way, I have the nice little reassurance that food is taken care of, rather than leaving this to be figured out at the finish.

There is a theme here. What about DURING the race?

Logistics matter here, too. This is part about the gear, and part about preparing some basic routines. But just imagine the logistics required by the race organisers to put so many different race options together, to set up the checkpoints, and everything. Whenever I think about the logistics required to move through the race as a participant, I am truly impressed by what the race organisers pull off! Chapeau.

There will be two life bases (Salvan, Morgins) that cut the 170k into three sections. The life base used to be in Finhaut, but is in Salvan this year. At least at the time of writing, after Salan, the route sidesteps the Col de Fenestral as well as the Col d’Emaney compared to the earlier courses. Otherwise, the route appears to be largely unchanged.

At checkpoints, I need to (as applicable) get rid of rubbish, refill water, refuel, reapply sunscreen, check feet/shoes/lacing before proceeding. At the two life bases, additionally change socks, change shoes (if necessary), resupply food to carry along, ask for weather changes, take a bit extra time for eating a warm portion of food, use that time to mentally reset to race the next section. And always thank the staff because they are awesome and it wouldn’t be possible without their effort.

Ths year, I will bring two race vests. One for colder days/nights (extra extra layers), one for warmer days/nights (extra layers). I can swap these out at each of the two life bases, if the weather forecast is cold. This will reduce some weight.

A quiver allows me to store my poles without taking off the vest. Neck tubes are super-versatile. I love them. I will take several ones that I can swap out for fresh ones at each life base. The tubes prevent my neck from getting sunburn (sunburn knocks you out of the race, among other negative consequences). Drenched in water, the tubes cool down my head on hot days. Dry, they can double as beanies to provide extra warmth when there is a chilly breeze on mountain passes.

What about BEFORE the race?

Some decent sleep in the week before the race. As little stress as possible on the two days before the race, including on the day I am travelling to the race. I will take a trolley with wheels in order to avoid having to carry bags over my shoulder. That’s just an example of what I am going to do differently this year in order to have an easier time before (& after) the race.

[ As with most articles on this blog, I wrote this one for myself. If it helped you in any way with any adventure that you might be embarking on, I’m happy, too. ]