RIKA Kirtagslauf Adlwang Training Plan & Preparation

Course & Elevation

The RIKA Hauptlauf is a 6.5-kilometre loop through Adlwang in Upper Austria's Traunviertel region and opens the traditional Adlwanger Kirtag festival. Start and finish sit at the UNION Adlwang sports ground. The surface alternates between asphalt and gravel track, with the occasional stretch across unpaved meadow.

After a brief dip the hardest section comes early: from kilometre 0.45 the course climbs roughly 64 vertical metres over almost a kilometre, averaging 6.9 percent with pitches up to 11.8 percent. Go out too hard here and you pay for it later. Beyond the crest a long, almost continuous descent runs to around kilometre five and lets you carry speed. To close, a short counter-rise of about 500 metres and 24 vertical metres from kilometre six leads straight into the finish.

The profile is rolling rather than flat but evens out over the loop, with roughly 100 metres of climbing and the same amount of descent. The race is part of the Traunviertler-Laufcup, a regional series with stops in Lambach, Kremsmünster and Vorchdorf among others.

Pacing Strategy

Over 6.5 kilometres every second on the opening kilometre counts: the only real climb sits right after the start, gaining about 64 metres in just under a kilometre at roughly seven percent. Overcook it here in the excitement and you pay for it across the rest of the loop, which runs more than 40 percent downhill and rolling otherwise.

Attack the opening ramp hard but controlled, not flat out, settle back into rhythm quickly at the top, and use the following descent to carry speed for free. Because the course nets slightly downhill, a steady high-threshold effort from the crest onward beats a cautious start. The closing kilometres roll: keep your cadence high and don't let the pace fade.

12-Week Preparation

For ambitious age-group runners the effort over 6.5 kilometres lands roughly between 28 and 45 minutes. It is a short, intense distance run largely near threshold, but the rolling profile makes it a race of clear pace changes rather than an even effort.

Two sections decide it. The early climb from kilometre 0.45 arrives before the body has properly warmed up and demands deliberate pacing: take it in the red and you lose more on the fast middle section than you gain. The second is the short counter-rise over the final 500 metres, which leads straight into the finish under accumulated fatigue.

In training it pays to build around threshold and tempo work so you can hold the short, hard effort. Brief hill intervals on grades of six to ten percent prepare specifically for the early climb. Because the long middle section runs downhill, controlled fast downhill running belongs in the plan too, so you can convert that into clean speed without overloading the quadriceps. Rehearse the finish with short rises at the end of long or hard sessions, so the closing counter-climb into the finish does not break you.