Helden der Freizeit: An interview with Austria's most successful ultra trail runner

From zero to ultra: my story in Helden der Freizeit

Ahead of the 2023 Trail Running World Championships in Innsbruck, Austrian lifestyle magazine Helden der Freizeit invited me for an in-depth interview. Writer Christoph König told a story that even I sometimes find hard to believe.

The beginning: a failed 5 km run

At 30, I was a classic workaholic: 80+ hours a week, no exercise and no balance. Then I reached a point where I could not go on. My first attempt to run 5 kilometres ended miserably. I had never been the sporty kid at school and had no athletic background.

Yet that failed run was the starting signal for a transformation that changed my entire life.

The numbers that describe my life

Today, things look different:

• 5,000 km of running each year
• 250,000 metres of elevation gain in annual training
• 9th place at the UTMB, the world’s most prestigious ultra trail race
• Victory at the Eiger250, 250 km with 20,000 metres of climbing in 50 hours and 47 minutes

#lifeworktrailbalance: more than a hashtag

In the interview, I discuss my idea of #lifeworktrailbalance in detail. How do I fit in 15–20 hours of training a week as a father of twins and an IT entrepreneur? The answer is deliberate integration. Running is part of my life, rather than an extra activity bolted on to it.

Training by feel

One point the interview highlights is that I train through feel and experience, without a rigid plan. My local hill in the Bucklige Welt, 500 metres long with 111 metres of elevation gain, knows me better than any training computer. More than 1,000 repetitions over the past few years.

Read the full interview at Helden der Freizeit.