Csapó András

In three weeks’ time I will have completed my second UltraBalaton race. Now, I will give you a little account on my trainings of the last couple of months and my hopes about the race.

During winter, there was no fault in the line of my trainings: I ran even under extreme circumstances. In spring, there were some gaps, when I didn’t train for a week or more. These were because of fatigue and workplace matters. In addition, I am attending an athletics-coach training in Budapest, which covers a lot of my time, too. The average number of accumulated kms was good in each month. I am in a good shape and I don’t think there will be any trouble during the race.

I have been contemplating a lot over the question if I should pray for hot or cool weather for the weekend of the race. If hotter weather should occur that day, my result could be better as I seem to be more resistant to hot weather than most of the runners. In colder weather my finishing time could be better. It’s all the same, I think the most important wish for that weekend should be any range of temperature without a drop of rain.

My aid will be a colleague of mine. She is a PE teacher and that will be her first encounter with an ultramarathon. She is a great sportswoman and I am sure there shouldn’t be any problems about our co-operation. As I know her, there won’t be time for getting bored.

I have started a poll. Please vote and don’t exaggerate: mark the answer you feel to be right. You can post a comment as well, which is of course, welcome from everybody. The question is: How much time will I need to finish the race. The numbers are hours, the text means: I won’t be able to cross the finish line.

My name is András Csapó. I am a 29-year-old Hungarian ultramarathon runner. Some years ago I read about your worldwide fun-run event. I wanted to take part year after year, but unfortunately always happened something and I couldn’t run the 50K I had planned. This year is different, because I am delighted to inform you that I have run 50K around a Hungarian village called Rimóc. It was a trail run, with two identical loops. On my route I approached Szécsény, Hollókő and Nógrádsipek. You may have heard about Hollókő, which village is part of the World Heritage.

My time was 4:47:49, which I consider to be an excellent time, since the conditions were not so good. Snow and ice covered the route and the temperature was very cold, -5 degrees centigrade.

I am sending you two photos as well. One of them was taken at 25K, the second was taken at the finish. I hope the letters can be read in the snow.

I haven’t updated my website for ages, so I think it is high time now. The reason for being silent for such a long time is simple: I didn’t take part in any running races at the end of last year, I just kept on training. This was successful and I could enumerate more than 4000K in 2011. Around Christmas I ran a 150K week, which was a great fun.

My previous year can be considered to be a good one. My greatest success was the completion of UltraBalaton and 118K in the 12-hour Hungarian Championship. The only disappointment in 2010 was the 24-hour failure in Sárvár, where I had to give up in the middle of the race. I didn’t get a medal or cup but I managed to break almost all of my records (12-hour, 24-hour, 100K), which is a better success than any tiny-shiny cup or medal could be. I also consider having run 100K under 10 hours in the 12-hour race a great success. It is a promising result.

As for international and national rankings. The 118.515 kms that I have completed in the 12-hour championship, I reached the 111^th place of all sportsmen in 2010, 83^rd place of European runners and 13^th of Hungarian ultramarathonists. It is a progression compared to the year 2009, which is also a promising fact.

In opposition with the few races I entered last year, I am intending to take part in more this year. The list of my planned races can be found here.

Last, I would like to wish a very happy and successful New Year to anyone for the year 2011 with this quotation:

“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”

12-hour national championship: 118.515 kms, 9th place (6th in age group). Currently I am the 71th in the world ranking. Further details soon.

There’s only one week to go! I am very nervous, anxious, whatever about the race, which I often think of. During the last month, I didn’t train much, but it may not be a problem. Indeed, it can be very useful. Today I ran in the heat of 36 degrees centigrade, trying to get used to the circumstances which might be waiting for the runners round Lake Balaton. The meteorologists forecast a bit lower temperature but we can never be sure. The weather doesn’t matter in fact, because we have to accommodate to the circumstances. Dry clothes, salt, a lot of drink – these are things I will need the most during the 212K.

There's only one month until UltraBalaton (www.ultrabalaton.hu). I think, I don't reveal a secret if I tell you that this shall be the biggest race of my life. It's not that I haven't run so much at one time in my life (that will be 212K altogether), but I will have to circumrun the lake, which is my home and one of the dearest parts of my heart. I want to prove after the failure in Sárvár, where I decided to give up after havein run 118K. After Sárvár I had a little illness, after which came another one. Finally I am in training with full force. At the weekend I ran 47K despite the awfully terrible weather. I was soaking wet but I enjoyed the training very much. Sadly enough, my GPS sensor leaked in - maybe I will have to buy another one.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian ultramarathon team achieved a very good result in Brive, at the 24-hour World Challenge. Hereby, I would like to congratulate for all the participants. It was a good job, guys!

Concerning UltraBalaton, I have managed to get two excellent supporter, who will come with me by bike during the race (they divided the distance between each other). Both of them are tightly connected to the world of ultrarunning. All in all, the task is given: I have to complete a full loop, a BIG 212K-loop. Not impossible, but terribly difficult. I have to respect the distance, but I mustn't be afraid of it because I can defeat this beastly race. And what's more important: I want to show that YES, I can run hell of a lot of kms, and YES, the sweats of my trainings will fructify at a big race. This must be the race. THE race.

The final countdown has started. There are only a couple of days left until my second 24-hour race starts. Let me ponder over my chances in the race.

As I have already written, I ran more than 181 kms in the little town of Aulnat, France. It should be a real target to go further than this distance, because during the race in November, runners had to face an extremely difficult track and weather circumstances. It should be also realistic because I have completed a serious, long and aware training session. I completed almost 1500 kms, which include mainly long trail runs or middle-distance (around 25 kms) trail runs. My only recent race was also successful in Veszprém (6-hour national championship). I have developed a good tactics, I have set my goals, I only have to run that 24 hours, after which I would like to be absolutely satisfied. What exactly would make me satisfied? My minimal goal is to run more than 181 kms. My realistic one is to go beyond 190. I should have to manage that except of running under extreme weather conditions.

Is this result worth for anything? I think yes, because there aren’t any real big names in the list of participants, due to the forthcoming World Challenge in Brive, France. I expect it to be a good race, because even if there isn’t anyone going for more than 230 kms, some may reach 200 and even more might expect running more than 190 kms.

There was a poll at my website where I asked you to guess my performance in this race. Most of you stated that I might go above 205 kms. I will try to manage to live up to these expectations.

Here's the video of the race in 2009 (after the race I am planning to do my own):

I haven't written on my page for a long time. Unfortunately, the previous server stopped to exist so I had to move the whole stuff to another place. Now, here we are and I hope I won'"t have any difiiculty here.

Meanwhile the number of my kms have risen: I closed January with a cool 500 kms. February was also amazing and in spite of the fact that there was a full week without running, I could achieve a promising number of kms. I run the long-runs with confidence and freshness. All in all, the forthcoming season may have a lot in store for me.

I decided to take part in the 6-hour National Championship in the end of March, however I should be very careful considering the fact that a month later I will run a 24-hour race. The most important race this year will be the UltraBalaton. I will also run a 12-hour in the beginning of September and maybe I will travel abroad for another 24-hour race in November.

The poll is still alive and I would like to ask you to mark your opinion about my previous running year. As a little help, consider these numbers, which are my world-ranking positions in 2009:

These numbers are not of the quality that conquer the world, although if you take my results 2-3 years ago into account and note that at that time I would struggle to run a single marathon... I don't continue, you should decide!

There has been a very important change in my contact list: my previous e-mail address is not valid any more. My new e-mail address is csapoandras81@gmail.com. You can't get in touch with me writing to the previous address.

Let's do a bit of evaluation of my previous year. It was an era of transition, because that was the first time when I had experienced running a 24-hour ultra. Regarding my results, I am satisfied but I am sure that in 2010 I will be able to reach my wildest dreams. The best innovation of last year was the great number of my sponsors, thanks for their helping me. Hadn't they been, I wouldn't have been able to travel to France for the 24-hour race.

In 2009, I ran 4247 km, which is my new record: I haven't run more than this in a single calendar year. Maybe it isn't worth running more than this distance, but for an ultrarunner 4000K is a MUST!

My plans for this year: I am to concentrate on quality rather than quantity. I will enter very few races including the 24-hour National Championship, the UltraBalaton, the 12-hour National Championship and an other race of which I am still not sure (when, where and how long). All of my races will be of vital importance and I am cherishing high hopes about them.

As a Christmas present, I give you the video of my French 24-hour ultramarathon: