Anna Berglind PalmadottirIceland
Icelandic national team. Third woman at Laugavegur 2025, and the W45 winner, which is the stat that should give you ideas. Sub-3 marathoner. Explains hard things plainly, like a teacher.
Edition 1 · 26–29 November 2026
Dark at 4pm where you live. Nineteen degrees here.
Ice and headlamps at home. Here: dry ridges and a sea you can still swim in, plus the base block that sets up your whole spring. Fly to Alicante; we handle everything after the arrivals door.
Applications close 30 September; the eight are confirmed by 1 October.
- Group size
- Eight runners
- Applications close
- 30 September
- Confirmed by
- 1 October
The concept
A training camp, not a spa week. (There's still paella.)
For women who can run and want to run mountains. Real Marina Alta terrain, coached properly: line choice, foot placement, braking, poles, fueling, race planning. Every single run has a job.
Two athletes, one small room.
Monika has raced Worlds for Lithuania and lives on these trails. Anna is Icelandic national team with a Laugavegur podium and sub-3 marathon speed. Neither has any interest in impressing you. They're here to make you better.
Terrain first, slogans last.
Every run has a job: climbing rhythm, downhill control, endurance pacing, heat management, fueling, or race planning.
Why only eight?
Because eight is the most people two athletes can genuinely coach. You'll never be a bib number here. You'll be the one whose descent line gets shouted compliments.
After you're accepted
You're not booking four days.
You're booking four months. The camp is just the loud part in the middle.
Within 48 hours
A personal reply from Monika or AnnaIf it's a yes, you'll know exactly why we picked you.
Week 1
A 30-minute call with one of usYour goal race, your history, your dodgy ankle, your shoes (send a photo before you drop €180 on the wrong pair). We start your runner card: one page about you, updated until race day.
Weeks 1–8
The group chat opensA camp-prep layer on top of your normal training: two focused sessions a week (one for vertical strength, one for downhill work) plus honest time on feet. Three group calls: one to kick off, one on fuelling and kit, and a final logistics call the week you fly. And a weekly voice note from Monika and Anna. Less webinar, more your fast friend checking in.
Around week 4
A package in the postThe exact fuelling you'll use on the Long Day, so your gut starts training now. There's other stuff in the box. We're not saying what.
26–29 November
CampOne of us meets you at arrivals; the trail talk starts in the car.
December → your goal race
We stay reachableA follow-up call once your legs are back. The group chat stays open until your goal race, and the night before it, check your phone.
The arc
Four days with a clear arc.
Enough structure to be worth the money. Enough space to recover, ask everything, eat well, and fly home sharper than you landed.
Day 16–8 km easy
Arrival, shakeout & kit checkAlicante transfer, check-in near Denia, an easy coastal run to shake out the flight, then dinner and the goals circle: everyone names her race and one fear, and we answer both.
Day 214–18 km
Technical terrain & foot placementThe rocky stuff, coached hard: lines, feet, cadence, braking. We film you on the technical section, then you and one of us watch your tape that evening, one on one. Slightly weird, wildly useful.
Day 320–26 km
Long trail day & race craftThe Long Day. It gets its own section below. Fueling on schedule, real pacing decisions, poles where they help, and the answer to whether you can move well for hours. (You can. With snacks.)
Day 46–10 km
Recovery run, workshop & departureEasy scenic loop, mobility, a proper breakfast, then the handover: your race notes, printed. Your plan, your fueling numbers, your technique cues, your next twelve weeks. Then the airport, annoyingly.
Day three
The Long Day.
This edition: Serra de Bèrnia. About 22 km, with 1,400 m of climbing.
No heroic summit, because there isn't one here. The Marina Alta works differently: it accumulates. Everything from days one and two (lines, feet, poles, fuelling, pacing) at effort, for hours.
Twenty minutes of silence
Sounds woo-woo. Isn't. The last two hours of your ultra will be exactly this quiet, and it's better to meet that silence before race day.
The last runner has a coach
On any climb, always. Two of us, eight of you. The ratio is the point.
Then the sea
Ten minutes away, seventeen degrees. You'll swear a little. Everyone talks about it at dinner. Non-negotiable.
Every edition's Long Day is a different line. Bèrnia this time, Benigembla another year, some editions a race bib. Each one goes in the camp logbook, with the weather and all eight names. You take the day's profile home on a locally made tile. Earned on the day. Not for sale.
Who it's for.
The first cohort stays narrow: women with a running base, a race worth training for, and zero patience for being talked down to.
Road runners moving onto trails
You can hold your own on 15k, but rocky descents turn you into a very careful tourist. That isn't a fitness problem, it's a skills gap, and it closes fast with the right eyes on you.
50K and 80K hopefuls
There's an ultra on your calendar and a quiet feeling you're winging it. You'll fly home with the plan written down.
Northern runners needing sun
Your trails are under ice until April. Ours aren't.
Who should not come.
Complete beginners
Get comfortable running 15 km first, then apply for Edition 2. We'll be here.
Result hunters
We promise better skills and better decisions, not miracles. Anyone promising you a podium is selling something.
High-volume sufferfest seekers
Some climbs here are meant to be hiked. That isn't weakness. It's racecraft.
Your hosts
Hosted by women who race for real.
This isn't celebrity worship, it's access: two national-team athletes who coach you all four days, in a group small enough that every question gets answered. Usually at dinner. Usually with strong opinions.
Monika FahleLithuania
Lithuanian national team, raced Worlds, lives on these trails. Knows which lines go and which ones cliff out. Your footwork will be rebuilt by Tuesday.
What's in it
The ratio is the product.
Two athletes, eight runners, four days
No guest-athlete cameos, no assistant guides. The women on the website are the women on the trail.
Individual video review
Filmed on day two, watched together the same evening, one on one. Exactly one other camp in Europe offers this. We checked.
Your race notes, printed
You leave with a plan, not a certificate: your race plan, your fuelling numbers from the Long Day, your technique cues from the video, your next twelve weeks.
Sports massage after the Long Day
On the evening of day three. Included, because 'optional recovery' is camp-speak for 'pay extra'.
Three nights in the villa
Breakfasts, trail snacks, and group dinners. Airport transfers driven by one of us, on purpose: best Q&A slot of the week.
The eight weeks before, the months after
See the timeline. The camp is the middle of it, not the whole of it.
Buy all this separately (this much time with athletes at this level, video analysis, massage, transfers, board) and you're past €3,000. We charge €1,350 and get to choose who comes. We like that trade.
Not included: flights, insurance (mandatory), alcohol, race entries.
The terms.
Founding runner rate
€1,350
€1,800
Per person. €1,800 from Edition 2 onward. Eight women only.
Deposit €350 on acceptance; the balance by 1 November, in one or two payments, your choice. If we don't offer you a spot, you pay nothing.
The trade
The discount isn't generosity. It's a bet you're making on our first edition, and we pay for the bet. Founding runners agree to:
- A short filmed interview on the last day
- An honest review, wherever you post reviews
- Letting us use the week's photos of you
- One blunt feedback call, so Edition 2 is better
Day-one guarantee
Run day one. If by dinner you think this camp isn't for you, say so. Full refund, and we drive you back to Alicante ourselves. No forms, no hard feelings. We can afford this because we pick the eight of you carefully.
The Founding Eight
The first eight runners keep, permanently:
- First refusal on every future edition, 48 hours before anyone else.
- Your founding price, €1,350, held for life.
- One nomination per edition: someone you vouch for skips the queue, and you both get €100 off.
- Page one of the logbook.
Coming alone
You probably are. So is everyone else.
The price on the page is the price: shared twin in the villa. Your own room is +€120, our actual cost, not a single-traveler penalty.
Day 1 you know nobody. Day 4 you have seven numbers in your phone and a group chat that will not shut up, in the best way.
Questions worth answering early.
The stuff you'd ask us over coffee, answered before you apply.
I'm scared I'll be the slowest.+
Someone will be. She gets one of us beside her on every climb and the same paella at dinner. This camp doesn't do dropped runners.
What can four days actually change?+
How you move on technical ground. Descending is a skill, braking is a skill, line choice is a skill, and skills move fast when expert eyes watch eight people instead of eighty. You'll also leave with a race plan, your fueling numbers, and video of your own feet. What four days can't do: make you fitter by Sunday. Fitness takes months. That's what the eight weeks before and the plan you leave with are for. We're careful about which one we promise.
How fit do I need to be?+
Comfortable running 15 km on rolling ground and happy to hike the steep stuff. The Long Day adapts to the group. This is a real training camp, but 'real' measures seriousness, not speed.
Do I need trail experience?+
Some helps. If you've got road fitness and rocky ground makes you nervous, you're exactly who this is for.
Is it women only?+
Yes. This edition is women-only, coaches included.
What trails will we run?+
Routes are selected from the Denia, Javea, Bernia, Vall de Laguar, and Marina Alta area depending on weather, group level, and permissions.
What if the weather turns?+
There will be lower-risk backup routes, road-to-trail options, workshop swaps, and heat or storm protocols. Mountain plans need escape routes.
Can I come alone?+
Yes, almost everyone does. Shared rooms are matched by preference, and by day two the strangers thing is over.
What kit is mandatory?+
Trail shoes, hydration vest, wind shell, sun protection, emergency blanket, phone, personal meds. The full list arrives before you fly, with our honest shoe opinions in it.
Steal our homework: five Marina Alta routes, free. GPX files, water points, which lines actually go, and where people get cliffed.
Pilot cohort · 8 spots
Apply for the first Costa Blanca cohort.
Eight women. Two minutes. Costs nothing, because payment only happens if we offer you a spot and you take it. Tell us about your running and we'll tell you honestly whether this fits, in both directions. And if you're hesitating because you think you're not fast enough: the application asks about your running, not your PRs. Fit matters here. Speed doesn't.