How did you feel during the route? Explain your overall feelings throughout the 4 days….
At the beginning, it is always hard to know if you have good or bad legs but I was very confident because I knew that on such a long distance it is even a positive sign to not have the best feelings in the first kilometers.In general, I felt very good and I was in control almost the whole time. I trained specifically at this pace and I knew that even if I was going fast I was at a comfortable speed.
Day 1 was really hot, so managing this factor was really important. I started feeling some pain on the inside of my left knee after 80k and after 195k I had to tape it. In the first 24 hours I did 166k (100 miles) but the last summit of the day, the Surenenpass was really hard for me because I started to feel tired for the first time. I was falling asleep while power hiking on the last 300 meters of elevation.
Day 2 was very warm again and for me it was the decisive one to see how my body and my brain will accept my sleep strategy. Every 30 to 40k I was stopping for a short nap of 20-25'. Strategically I was always sleeping before a hard or long push or when it was really hot. On the other side, the nights were incredibly good and I keep in mind some incredible moments where we all switched off our headlamps to watch the milky way and the stars on the second highest peak of the Via Alpina at 2660m (Sefinenfurgge). I did 100k on that day so two thirds of the distance were done, but you know on that kind of distances everything can happen. On the beginning of Day 3, I started with a big climb to Hohtürli at 2778m, the highest peak of the Via Alpina, a terrible steep climb where we got some thunder and rain. It was kind of mystical to get up there. The hardest climb of the day for me was definitely the Bunderchrinde end of the morning, I was literally falling asleep while pushing to the summit and the weather was really bad at that moment. Surprisingly every time I was feeling asleep and with no resources anymore, the situation changed when I started descending. I was focused again and my muscles allowed me to play on technical downhills. On that day more and more people were coming to do 15 or more kilometers with me, which stimulated my motivation even more. I did 100k again on the third day but the last 10km of the day were very hard and I started to feel my right quadricep and ischio. I decided to sleep 25' in Rossiniere with just 33k, and 2000mD+ remaining to the final line in Montreux.
When I woke up on Day 4, I knew it was the last one but I knew as well that everything can still happen. The first climb early in the morning was good. I kept a very good rhythm and I felt very confident in keeping that rhythm towards the end. But when we reached the summit, my right quad didn't allow me to descend...it was almost impossible to put my right leg on the ground. I couldn't bend or stand on it and the first downhill was hard and steep. The pain made me cry... I was also very worried because I knew that I still had one big climb and one big big downhill to reach Montreux. Physically, the pain was increasing and I couldn't do anything to ease it.
On the other hand, I was still feeling like always; with energy and strength so I kept pushing.. but from now on, it was impossible to run so I resigned to finish the last 20km of power hiking and walking on one leg in the downhills, while helping myself with the poles. The last climb was long because I am not used to going up so slowly and at the last checkpoint with the team, they tried to tape it again, but nothing helped anymore. Everything had to be in my mind...the legs couldn't support me anymore so it was time to use only mental strength.
The last downhill...what to say about it...I think images or videos will be more valuable than words but I was suffering like hell and I had to find a new downhill technique. I was literally throwing the poles in front while balancing all my body on them in order to land on my left leg. If one of my poles broke, I wouldn't have been able to finish because I was putting all my weight on them without any security.
Finally in the last 3km, I realised that I would be able to do it and I was pushing to do the best time possible. More and more friends were joining so that with 1km to go we were almost 20 people and when I discovered the music and all the people waiting for me at the finish line, the emotion was incredible. I started crying like a baby in Maya's arms and I shared my happiness with my team, friends and fans. It was the perfect final for a perfect adventure! Without all my team I couldn't have done such a time and such a performance.