Foto: Diego Schäppi

During the pandemic, when neither ice hockey nor floorball were possible, Jerome Furer took up running. And what a runner he is! After several strong performances in road races, the 28-year-old became Swiss champion in trail running in mid-April and will represent Switzerland for the first time at the European Off-Road Running Championships in Slovenia this June.

Road or trail

After switching from ice hockey and floorball to running five years ago, I initially focused on road running. In the meantime, I have become truly passionate about trail running. However, I will continue to take part in road races from time to time to maintain or improve my speed. Trail running is now increasingly defined not only by endurance, but also by speed.

Trail running training

Compared with a road runner, I consistently include elevation gain in my steady runs (400 metres of ascent or more), do more interval sessions uphill and incorporate extended long runs. To maintain my speed, I still complete three out of four faster sessions without elevation gain. To improve my technique, I like watching videos of fast runners or analysing my own running style. I try to copy good movement patterns and eliminate weaker ones. I have made major changes to my arm action in particular – it is much more active when running uphill. 

Training routine

I run six days a week, do seven to eight running sessions and around 140 kilometres per week, plus two to three core and foot stability sessions and one strength session. Friday is often my ‘rest day’, although I cycle to work on that day.

A typical week looks like this:

Foot stability

I do a combined core and foot stability session two to three times per week and have made significant progress as a result. My feet are much more stable, I feel safer when running on trails, have greater confidence and can run faster downhill.

Training philosophy

After suffering a stress fracture a year and a half ago, my training philosophy became clear. For me, less is more – quality is more important than quantity. I prefer one high-quality training session to two runs in a single day. It's also very important to me that training remains enjoyable.

Training partners

I’m part of a training group in Bern that includes fast road runners, trail runners and orienteers and is coached by Beat Aeschbacher. We benefit enormously from each other and function like a team. We push each other and celebrate each other’s successes.

Key to success

In my opinion, consistency in training is the key to success. It doesn’t help to train a lot for one week and then hardly at all afterwards. Anyone who works consistently towards a goal over several months will succeed.

Goals for 2026

As someone from Bern, running the Grand Prix of Bern is pretty much a must. After that, the main goal is the European Off-Road Running Championships in Slovenia at the beginning of June, followed by the Jungfrau Marathon in the second half of the season. In between, I’ll also compete in one or two road or mountain races.

Recovery

I stretch regularly every second evening, go for a massage every two weeks and use recovery boots. I was sceptical about them at first, but I feel that this compression massage is effective for me.

Job

I work 60% as a workshop manager in a carpentry business. Part of the time I’m seated in the office, and part of the time I’m on my feet in the workshop. The reduced workload gives me ideal conditions for training and, above all, enough time to recover.

Equipment

In principle, it helps if shoes are light, flexible and have good grip. But the engine is more important than the shoes. Carbon plays less of a role in trail running than in road racing. On the trails, I definitely benefit from more cushioned shoes.

My strength

In running terms, my strength is uphill running in trail races. More generally, it’s my determination and consistency in daily training. When I set myself a goal, I’m 100% committed – there are no compromises.

My weakness

From a running perspective, I still have room for improvement downhill. In general, I sometimes get lost in the details. I always try to optimise everything and should probably be satisfied with less from time to time.

Managing intensity

On flat terrain I control intensity by pace; uphill and on undulating terrain by heart rate. My coach uses a scale from one to ten to define the effort level of each training session. Easy runs are at level 2, threshold intervals at level 6, VO₂max sessions at level 7, and long runs at level 4. A race should feel like level 9.

Insider tip

Recovery should never be neglected or underestimated. People often think: “I’ll train as much as possible and recover while working.” But that doesn’t work. It’s the recovery after the right training that makes you better!