With the Olympics here and the Men’s Marathon on August 12 only 8 days away, we interviewed marathoner Günther Weidlinger, who has been training in St. Moritz, Switzerland before arriving in London to run the Olympic marathon.

Günther Weidlinger

Here are some highlights of our interview with Günther:

Günther, how are you feeling now that Olympics are here and your race is in 8 days?

Thanks for asking, I am feeling great at the moment. The training is going quite well, and I am excited about every session and of course the race.

Why did you choose to train in St.Moritz, what is so special about this location?

St. Moritz has the perfect conditions for endurance athletes. The plateau is perfect for long endurance runs and the surroundings make every training an amazing experience. Running tracks, paved streets and gravel roads in combination with the mountains and a swimming pool with sauna… what else does an athlete need!?   

How many training sessions have you been doing a week?

I have been training about 12 times per week; that is around 800 km. In the morning I do mostly longer or faster trainings; then in the afternoon I do easier runs.   

What is the moment when a person can say that they are in good condition?

You recognize it during the training. When the legs are fine during the hardest training sessions and the heart rate is moving in the correct way, then I know that I am going to reach my goals in London. Of course there are good and bad days. Good days don’t go unnoticed, bad days will be quickly forgotten.

Günther, thanks a lot for your time and all the best for your big race!  We look forward to following you during the marathon and watching you achieve your best marathon time yet!

 runtastics, Günther will be running LIVE with runtastic thanks to the LIVE tracking function, stay tuned to our Facebook fan page and cheer him on! He will be excited to receive all your encouragement!

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During the last two weeks in Spain I did great training runs of about 400 kilometers under perfect conditions. Thank you very much to all of my fans, who watched my Live Tracking sessions on the runtastic fitness site.

For all of you, who observed my training range, just an indication: The average pace includes running activities to come in, sprints, running downs as well as breaks.

The time off, when I was not running I used to do some sportmanagement studies, which I find very interesting.

The necessary preperations for the spring season are according to my personal training plan. It’s already my 15th start as a professional runner into the new season. I‘ m looking forward to the Olympic Games in London on August 12.

Best regards

Günther

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The first five days in my Olympia training camp in Spain have been satisfying: I was able to run under perfect conditions with sunny 15-20 degrees and already made more than 150 kilometers. My physical condition is great but there are still some very challenging training sessions (basic endurance and also race endurance training programs) to come. The products of my sponsor Forever accommodate me with all the things I need starting with Argi+ coming to sun blocker and ending with my tooth paste.

Our hotel, the Barrosa Palace in Novo Sancti Petri, Chiclana, offers perfect circumstances to concentrate on the important things with its great lodging, large rooms and wonderful surrounding area with perfect running routes. I fully concentrate on the right training, right alimentation (even tough this is very hard because they got a huge dessert buffet) and sleeping. If there are free afternoons at times I do trips to near villages where I am also allowed to drink a cup of coffee as a little reward for my hard training.

The runtastic PRO app is the perfect tool to accurately record my training runs and get detailed analysis right in the app on my phone. Furthermore my fans can follow my runs live on www.runtastic.com and send me cheers which motivate me a lot. My training runs are daily at 10:00 a.m and 5 p.m.! Here you can have a look at my account on the runtastic fitness site and follow me live doing training runs for the Olympic Games 2012 in London.

I will keep you up-to-date in my next report – runtastic regards from Spain

Günther

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In October 2011 Günther Weidlinger successfully qualified for the Olympic Games 2012 in London with a great time of 2:12:23 in the Frankfurt marathon. At the moment runtastic is Günther’s great partner to work out and reach his limits in the Olympic preparation training camp in Spain.

Far away from the Austrian cold winter climate Günther starts his training camp in Chiclana/Spain today and will travel back home to Austria on March 3. The first rough training sessions will already be done in  the first training week. Actually Günther Weidlinger will start his first two training runs tomorrow and on Sunday (February 18 and 19) live with the runtastic PRO app. The two sessions will go live between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. Follow Günther in real time on the runtastic fitness site, cheer him on and push him to his limits. This way you can become part of Günthers training for the Olympic Games 2012.

“runtastic is my faithful partner in all my runs. I will run about 400 kilometers during my training camp. I’m looking forward to a diversified and effective training in Spain.”, says Günther Weidlinger.

Fascinating live sessions in Spain are waiting for you – don’t miss them. We will keep you informed with further trainings reports on our runtastic Facebook Fanpage.

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