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Three years ago, Simone Troxler was looking for something to balance out her medical studies, and she found running. Since then, the French-speaking Swiss has gone from victory to victory, including the Jungfrau Marathon.

How did you experience "your" day at the most beautiful marathon in the world? Can you give us an insight into your race and how you were feeling?

This is a race with where all sorts of feelings are mixed up. The course is amazing and the atmosphere along the way is very special and motivating with all the people from the various villages cheering you on with bells, alpine horns, children clapping or Guggenmusik. It really carries you forward, motivates you and fills you with joy. Despite a difficult weather forecast and a very demanding course, I was so happy to be on the starting line. Unfortunately, things got complicated as early as the 21st km when my calves started to hurt. As I was in the lead then, I told myself not to let up and that there was only one way to get there and that was to keep climbing. So I held on. When I got to the finishing line, my feelings were all over the place: I was tired, I'd drawn on strength from who knows where, but I was so happy to win and proud of having climbed so high by sheer will to overcome my bodily weakness.

Your strength is in long races. Meanwhile, you also got a great result at the European Mountain Running Championships coming in 8th place. What does your workout routine look like? 

I don't really have a typical week because my training and my university schedule change from week to week. But I often do interval training twice a week with a great group (one session with long intervals and another with short ones). Then a long run. Between these workouts, I go jogging. In the summer I do more hill work.

Above all, I think you have to enjoy it. Running can seem quite monotonous, but I don't feel that way. You can relax with a jog, let of steam with intervals, have some me time or on the contrary spend time with friends. It also allows you to go beyond your capacities, to feel your body, to improve and get to know yourself.

In your eyes, what are the three most important factors that lead to success?

In theory I would say: passion, perseverance and a healthy lifestyle that involves listening to your body and your health. Unfortunately, the last part can be difficult...

The more successful you are, the more pressure and expectations there are. How do you handle this situation? What advice would you give amateur athletes who also suffer from anxiety before competitions?

It's a very tricky situation and I still have a lot to learn in this area. I find it very upsetting when people tell me: "You'll do well whatever happens" or "What time are you aiming for?". It really piled on the pressure because I felt that people expected me to run fast, or that things would go well as a matter of course, but it also upset me because I felt that I was being compared to a machine where you just press a button to make it work. I think running is more than just a time and numbers: it reflects how you feel right then, with all the factors of your private and professional life influencing how you will do on the day. So very often I tell myself "What gives them the right to tell me that I run fast or that I'm aiming for something when they have no idea about my life outside of sports?". I try to disregard it by telling myself that I'm running for no-one but myself because I enjoy it and that anyway I want to run this race. It is also important to remember that life doesn't change the day after the race: whether I win or not, I'll still go to university, I'll still see my friends and family and that is more important than success.

Do you have a secret tip you would be willing to share with us? Is there a key training or advice on nutrition or technical issues?  

No, not really because I find that to get to where you want you need a balance of a multitude of factors, the 4 main ones according to me being training that is adapted to each individual and in terms of the objective, the nutrition to have the necessary energy, but also to make sure you recover, biology including health and genetics, mental strength to overcome the pressure of expectations but also to go beyond yourself and marshal that energy during races.

Foto: ZVG