Fernanda Maciel, a Brazilian living in Catalonia, will soon be racing the 2013 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. In the following interview, Fernanda talks about her endurance sports past, how she’s been training for a race as “fast” as Transvulcania, and what other events she’s looking at in 2013.
[Editor’s Note: We’ve previewed of the Transvulcania men’s and women’s field and will provide live Transvulcania coverage on Saturday.]
[Click here if you can’t see the video above.]
Fernanda Maciel Pre-2013 Transvulcania Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Fernanda Maciel. How are you?
Fernanda Maciel: Good. I’m great!
iRF: You’re originally from Brazil, but you live in Spain now?
Maciel: Yes, I’m Brazilian-Spanish… well, Catalonia, because I live in the Pyrenees in the north of Spain. I love this kind of race on the island and La Palma because it reminds me of Brazil. It’s warm weather… tropical.
iRF: By the ocean…
Maciel: It’s by the ocean… it’s amazing.
iRF: How long have you been in Catalonia?
Maciel: I moved there four years ago.
iRF: For work?
Maciel: For work and I met my husband there, so it was both.
iRF: Work and pleasure.
Maciel: Yes.
iRF: Nice. You’ve been running on the international level for a number of years. Can you tell the iRunFar viewers what is your running background? How long have you been running? How did you get into the sport?
Maciel: I’m an endurance athlete. I came from adventure racing, so for me, long distance is better. Usually I do more 100k, 100miles. For me, a good race is like Transgrancanaria 120k or Lavaredo in the Dolomites, 15 to 20 hours for me is better. So Transvulcania will be my first time. It’s 85k, so it’s a really speedy race. This year I’ve tried to do more half marathon and marathon races just to get more speed.
iRF: So you’ve trained specifically for this race.
Maciel: Yes, because my objective was always like Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc and long distance. My projects are always for long, long distance. But now I’d like to do the Skyrunning World Series. They are ultra trails, but they are short—for me they are short. So I need to get speed.
iRF: What has drawn you? Most people go the other direction from shorter distances to longer stuff. What has drawn you to these shorter races?
Maciel: Yes, I think it’s just the opportunity and to be close to good athletes as well, good places, good kilometers to race. It’s a new challenge for me and I like new challenges.
iRF: So you’ll be trying to hang with Nuria [Picas] and Emelie [Forsberg] this weekend.
Maciel: Yes, I like it. I know them and they are good persons, runners, and friends. Probably we will enjoy the race.
iRF: What else do you have lined up this year. Any other races you’re looking forward to?
Maciel: Yes, after this I’ll do Ice Trail, which is for the World Champs. After that, I’ll do Lavaredo in the Dolomites in Italy. I love that race. It’s 120k and has beautiful views. I really enjoy it. The Italian people are nice. After that, UTMB, UROC in Colorado, and after one race in Everest that I’d like to be in the Himalayas in Nepal to see how high the mountain are there. Maybe I’ll do a longer project there as well.
iRF: Well enjoy racing short and running long this year. It was good to chat with you.
Maciel: Thank you.
