Dear Reader,
Here are few lines about myself, just to give you an idea of who is behind those posts.
I am French, born in 1985, and obviously passionate about running.
It all started with athletics when I was 9, I wanted to do pole vault. Well by the time I got the chance to try it I realized that I had better skills in endurance running than pole vault – considering my shape I could have only been the pole…
Got into competition and with years of training and support from friends and family, I went 4 times at the France Championship of Cross Country from 2000 to 2004.
But when I got my A level and went to ESSCA - a graduate business school in Angers, away from my team mates and coach I decided to focus on other activities. I simply kept running as a way to wash my mind off school and stay fit.
Now you must doubt about my passion for running when I give up with it so easily but at that time I didn’t realize myself how important running was for me… but it didn’t take long.
I managed to get an internship in product marketing at 
for one year on the footwear trail running range, especially on the development of the Wings and its S-Lab version. What an awesome experience I had working in Annecy with these passionate people. Not only have I shared with them priceless work knowledge in product development and communication but they also introduced me to Trail Running and Adventure Racing…
My first trail running race was La course des Templiers that I did together with my boss. The fact that I actually won in my category while my goal was to simply finish the race definitely got me started and that was it. This victory gave me the motivation to keep going and train specifically for Trail Running. I did many other races that season until the biggest one: the GORE TEX TransRockies Run , in 2007.
This is basically how I got into Trail Running, starting my quest for the steepest ways up and down to get the most fun out of it. From that time, Martin GAFFURI has been turned into The Goat by my running friends and colleagues from adidas .
That should give you a bit of information about me for now, and if you want to know more, I’ll be happy to chat with you.
Here are few more links with interviews or documents I published about trail running:
Interview at GORE TEX TransRockies Run 2007
Interview at GORE TEX TransRockies Run 2008
Article TransRockies Run 2008 - Esprit trail
Article TransRockies Run 2008 - Jogging International
Enjoy the reading and Jog on !
The Goat
Monday: Off.
Too busy at work to do anything.
Tuesday: Off.
I felt pretty tired and undergo a lack of sleep. I’ll try no to go out at all for a bit…
Wednesday: hill session: 40’ on the treadmills at 8km/h and 13%
I went through it well and didn’t feel so much pain. I trained with Ed, who will come with me at the German championship of mountain running this week end.
I also restarted to do some core workout, that I’ll try to keep going everyday.
Thursday: Fast trail run. 50’
I was running with Ed and a girl from UK, Felicity MILTON who’s aiming to go to the London Olympic Games in 2012… Even though Tail running isn’t her stuff, she was doing well on the trail loop and she was litteraly flying during the 15’ on the way there and the15’ on the way back while I was absolutely dying! That reminds me that I have to keep working on my raw speed.
Friday: Tempo run; 12k in 42’
I was on my own for the run and joined two guys from adidas… well I had a recovering jogg planned and ended up hammering on a tempo session ! When I said I had to work on my raw speed, I wasn’t actually thinking that early…
Week end: German championship of mountain running (see report in Race Report)
Monday: 50’ run, 10’ warm up - 30’ tempo run - 10’ cool down
My legs were feeling pretty heavy after this week end but I was on it and did it all right as we were running all together under a roasting summer sun...
Tuesday: hills session 40’ at 8km/h, 13% ascent
I went indoor on the treadmills with a friend. I have to admit that it’s good to have someone to bring a bit of a chat during these boring indoor sessions; well a chat as long as you are able to talk... I had good feelings with my legs but still not strong enough yet and my heart rate goes too high… I’ll keep training until I become a strong uphill runner. I should know my level when I’ll finish this mountain race on the 13th of July, which is my focus of the month. The friend who’s training with me will also do this race. We’ll be training specific uphill together until the end of the week end then cool down before the race.
Wednesday: Off.
Fancy a pool session at lunch time? Impossible Is Nothing. Simply run 30’ back and forth – a good way to recover from yesterday - and let’s have some fun ! I love my job…
Thursday: 50' on trails
No big deal, just keep the mileage going.
Friday: Off
Way too busy to go for a run, shit loads of stuff to go through before the week end but that's ok, I know we'll go back to Ehrwald for a training camp with Ed and Corky.
Week end: Training Camp in the mountains 
Now we're on it, back to the mountain and ready to train hard. The main objective of this week end is to get to the top of the highest mountain of Germany called Zugspitze taking the route that we will have to take next week end for the race: Zugspitze Extrem Berglauf.
We took off on friday right after work and set up the tent at the same place we did last week end, you don't get bored of such a place ! We woke up at 8.00am went down the creek, washed our faces and ready for the trekk. That was amazing, the weather was not as good as last week but still decent. We got to the first path pretty quick,went down and up to the border between Autria and Germany, then we got pretty excited on the flat but technical rocky single track.
We kept the pace up until we reached the bottom of the final ascent, 1k left but when it includes 400m elevation gain, this becomes a freaking wall !!! It was sometimes that steep that we had to hold on to cables! And then we reached the top in 3.50 hours for an ascent supposed to take 7... But such an effort was woth it and the supe and the beer we had at the top was quite the reward...
On sunday we decided to run the first half of the race up to the first path and see what it's like in term of effort and possible timing. We alternated walk and run depending on the ascent gradient and got there in one hour. As we didn't start from the main place of the village we assumed we could get to the first path in 1.15. At that point we realized who good the 2h03 race record was... let's see what happens next week end. Once again a very good training week end spend with good friends. Good times.
Monday: Off
Didn’t get the chance to go running, too busy at work as I went on business trip to Berlin to meet some badminton players so I can’t really complain… it’s not as if I had to stay in an office bothered by my tie !
Tuesday: Hill session. 20’ warm up, 10 times 1’ on a road very steep at the beginning and progressively getting flat with the last 30 meters around 6%, 20 minutes recovering jog back to the office.
I felt pretty good. I am starting to feel the effect of my hill sessions on the treadmills, thank God, these frustrating indoor session are finally paying off !
After work: 50 minutes run, nice and easy to try and recover a bit more from the hill session. My calves are quite hard still and I’m hoping better feeling waking tomorrow morning.
Wednesday: Off.
That was planned. Doing double yesterday, I knew that I could afford a day off then. Pretty enjoyable I have to say !
Thursday: easy 60’ trail run.
Still heavy from the hill session but my legs were feeling better though. No more pain in the calves.
Friday: Weekly track session. 3 times (3x3minutes) at 80” per 400 pace with one minute recovering, and 5 minutes between the 3 times).
Tough session but I wasn’t feeling too bad and went through it with not so much pain. We had the wind against us during half the track loop but it didn’t bother too much. We speeded up on the final one to reach 1k but I couldn’t follow the guys, legs too hard and I was pissed that I was getting burned between my legs because of this stupid “marathon running” shorts! Nothing compares trail running shorts, that’s for sure.
Week end : One day and a half in the mountains, 5hours trekking
What an awesome week end ! I went with three friends from adidas: Ed, Sam and Courtney in Ehrwald for a night in the tents and a long day of hiking on Sunday. It's located at the Austrian border close to the very famous ski resord Garmish Partenkirschen .
After a 20 minutes walk up, we definitely found the best spot to set the tents and took some time to step back an realize how good it feels to be surrounded by mountains. The pleasure reached its peak when we had our dinner with local cheese and dried meet with paté and red wine, palatable!
We had the visit of a baby fox that night, apparently french as he went strait on the most smelly and creamy cheese we had !
We woke up had a quick bath in the creek near by and were up for the walk.
That was “proper brilliant man”.
Monday: 45’ of indoor biking.
As I went for a run yesterday and I said to myself that I wouldn’t run twice in a row, then I was up to get on the bike, but ne real motivation I have to say; specially indoor.
But I am glad I did it and that was a nice and smooth kick off for my first week of regular training for 3 weeks.
Tuesday: 50’ on trails.
I was feeling like a million bucks, like seriously flying!! I think this due to being in the woods and finally get back to Mother Nature. But I am happy to realize that I was wise enough to slow myself down and not getting too excited. It’s amazing how an injury can make you think and pay more attention to yourselve and better listen to your body.
As most of us, I am addicted to my running and being injured is the worst thing that can happen to me. I experienced this once and that’s enough for this year!
Wednesday: Treadmills uphill session, 10’ warm up, 30’ uphill (7km/h, 12%), 10’ cool down.
I definitely don’t like these sessions as their remind me how much I miss the mountains but there is nothing like a nice and steady uphill session to remind you that even though you feel your in a good shape on flat runs, you’re worth ridiculously nothing when the gradient increases !
Thursday: track session 3 times (5’ on a dirt path around the track at 80” for 400 pace + 3x400m in 70” with 60” recovery between each)
This session has been planned today and I knew it would be tough as I did me uphill session yesterday… It’ was freaking hard, indeed…
My calf were hurting me pretty badly and I didn’t do the last 3x400 as I didn’t want to push myself too hard still having in mind my past injury.
I am still happy I went almost to the end.
Friday: Recovering run
Went for 50’ after work. I didn’t really enjoy it but I “had to” do it to get rid of this lactic acid stucked onto my legs…
Week end : off running. Party time and I went for a “dancing marathon” on Saturday night… pretty tough, especially when energy drink has been replaced by beer and fruits by “bradwurst” (local sausages) and “kartofelsalat” (cold potatoes salad).
Dear Outdoor addicted,
I am still developping this Blog to make it more efficient. It will be available very soon, thanks for your patience.
Please suscribe to the RSS flux to be the first to know about the coming topics :
- The mountain race "Zugspitz Extrem Berlgauf"
- The OutDoor Trade Show in Friedrichschafen
Looking forward to hearing from you.
In the meantime, jogg on !
Goat
