Andrea Huser has only been focusing on running for two or three years, but that didn’t stop her from taking second at Transgrancanaria 2016, two places better than her 2015 finish at TGC. In the following interview, Andrea talks about her history with endurance sports, where she’s raced alongside Uxue Fraile, and where else you’ll see this frequent racer in 2016.
For more on what happened at the race, check out our 2016 Transgrancanaria results article.
Andrea Huser Post-2016 Transgrancanaria Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Andrea Huser after her second-place finish at Transgrancanaria 2016. Congratulations, Andrea.
Andrea Huser: Thank you.
iRunFar: You had a very nice run out there.
Huser: Yes, I’m very happy.
iRunFar: It’s a good start to your year.
Huser: Very good, yes.
iRunFar: I know you race a lot. Was this your first running race of this year?
Huser: Yes, it is my first running race this year.
iRunFar: But not your first race. You did some ski mountaineering?
Huser: Yes, I did some ski mountaineering races during the winter time.
iRunFar: Is that your main training over the winter?
Huser: Yes, I do both—running and two or three times per week I train with skis.
iRunFar: How long have you been ski mountaineering? Is this new to you, or have you done it a long time?
Huser: No, I’ve done it since two years.
iRunFar: On the running side, how long have you been a runner?
Huser: I did some mountain bike races until 2004. After, I started triathlon, running, mountain running. Then, I run until 2006 with triathlon, and just running is about two years.
iRunFar: Two years?
Huser: I do these ultra races.
iRunFar: You started to do the ultra races, and you’ve done a lot of them in these two years.
Huser: Yes, they have really nice races all over the world.
iRunFar: I think you’ve run most of them in two years. Yesterday, you had a very strong, consistent race. Did you feel good all day?
Huser: Yes, I felt very good. At the beginning, I had good legs. Yeah, I had some times that I’m feeling bad, but so what, that’s normal for me. Every ultra I have a bad stomach. My legs were good, and it went good as well.
iRunFar: When I saw you at Fontanales, you were running with Uxue Fraile. How long did you run together?
Huser: Yes, quite long. It was really funny. We meet at every race.
iRunFar: She said at Fontanales [location corrected] as you were running past that you guys had spent some time together at… what race did you run together as well?
Huser: We met the first time at an adventure race in Patagonia. It was a really hard race. We [unknown] together. Last year, at the [IAU Trail World Championships] we meet the first time in ultra-trail. It was really funny. Again yesterday we met.
iRunFar: When you’re running together, you’re in a competition, were there times you were just friends enjoying time together?
Huser: Yes, the first time it’s really fun and we try to talk a bit.
iRunFar: In what language?
Huser: That’s difficult. I speak not very good English and not Spanish.
iRunFar: Not Spanish but in English.
Huser: It’s fun.
iRunFar: When did you get ahead of Uxue?
Huser: In the downhills. She caught me on uphills sometimes. Once, I run too far down after Pico de las Nieves, and I have to go up again and she caught me.
iRunFar: Looking on paper, seeing just checkpoints, it looked like you got ahead and stayed, but it was dynamic?
Huser: Yes.
iRunFar: When did you think you’d be finishing in second place?
Huser: I wasn’t sure because the last part… I’m not a good flat runner. Uxue was very fast. I was scared the last 7k that I could lose my second place.
iRunFar: Was it too hot for you yesterday or was it okay for you, the temperature?
Huser: No, it’s okay. At night it was quite cold.
iRunFar: You were cold, eh? Even for Swiss?
Huser: I don’t like very cold.
iRunFar: Do you think it was your best ultramarathon so far?
Huser: Yes, it was.
iRunFar: Do you have any other races planned for this year?
Huser: Yes, I want to do Madeira, UTMB, Eiger Ultra-Trail…
iRunFar: Probably a lot more? Many more races as well?
Huser: Yes.
iRunFar: I think last year you must have had 12 or more ultramarathons.
Huser: Yes, it was July and August I always had some—[Swiss] IronTrail, Swiss Alpine Marathon I had an invitation. I was in very good shape. If I can do it, I do it. I was in a flow, I don’t know.
iRunFar: Yeah, why run all those races? What makes you want to run so many?
Huser: I like it. I like to trail run. I get to meet other the runners, and I like to go long distances.
iRunFar: You do like long, longer and tough. What’s the most difficult ultramarathon you’ve run?
Huser: I think it’s La Réunion. It’s hard, really hard, but I liked it.
iRunFar: Diagonale des Fous—you had a good race last year there.
Huser: Yes, also one of the best.
iRunFar: What’s the biggest challenge there at that race?
Huser: It’s a long time.
iRunFar: How long were you out there last year?
Huser: 28 hours.
iRunFar: That’s a very long time.
Huser: It’s a long time, yes. Long ups and downs and very technical.
iRunFar: After running something like Diagonale des Fous, does this seem easier?
Huser: No, it’s also hard.
iRunFar: Different challenge?
Huser: Yes, it’s different in how you think in your head.
iRunFar: What was your biggest challenge yesterday?
Huser: I think the last part because last year I broke down in the last. I had too little salt and problems with the heat. Yesterday, I was thinking, I hope I don’t have a big crisis.
iRunFar: You didn’t have any problems, but you were thinking or worried. You weren’t confident.
Huser: Yes.
iRunFar: You should be. You ran a great race yesterday. We’ll see you soon at another race.
Huser: Thank you.
