I woke up early my first morning after moving to Luxembourg, jet lagged but excited to explore. And the best way I’ve found to explore a new place is by running. This first run in a new place felt different though, because I was exploring my new home, my home now for over five years. Since moving to Luxembourg I’ve also trained for and run 33 full marathons which required thousands of kilometres of training. I still run the route I ran that very first day and have several go-to routes that I use depending on where I am in a training block. Here are five of my favorites!
4.3 mile / 7km loop
A version of my very first loop. I love this one as it’s mostly flat/down hill if run clockwise and includes a ride up the panoramic elevator.
The perfect 10 mile / 16km loop
Run counter clockwise, this loop includes a long 2km+ climb up Reckenthal and takes you through the middle of Strassen and back to the city through Merl. My favorite part is the drop into the Petruse with sweeping views of the city through Grund and Clausen.
A place to tempo run
Finding a stretch of flat, uninterrupted space to complete a tempo run (an important workout in any race training cycle) is not easy in Luxembourg. I find the long stretch of paved trail down by the river to be the best place to complete a workout like this. If you pick up the trail at the bottom of Rue de Hamm and run until it intersects Rue de Bettembourg and back you’ll get 8.8 mile / 14km of uninterrupted running room. It’s also beautiful!
Heading north
I love the valley stretching from Eich all the way up to Lorentzweiler. You can loop around on the road and connect up with the bike trail that stretches nearly the entire way. I’ve mapped a 7 mile / 11km loop in this route but you can add on or shorten as needed to fit your training schedule.
Training for ING Marathon
When you train for a specific race, I find it important to incorporate race specific training into a plan. If you’ve ever run the ING Marathon or Half (or have a dream to do it!) you know that hills are a big part of that course. I’ve built a long run that includes the long climb up Kirchberg (IYKYK!) to get in the practice.
