Transalpine 2013. This time we made it!

I wrote this a few days after returning from Transalpine 2013.  I meant to write a more details account of the race but didn't get round to it and now I can't remember much detail!  So here's the "short" version!

This time last week Andy and I were in the bowels of hell, struggling round out penultimate day of the Transalpine Run.  But as with everything, even though you think it will never end, it does and here I am a week on sitting at work writing about it. 

I will do a more detailed blog with pictures soon which I will post the link up for when its done, but for those of you that don’t have a spare couple of days to read this then here are the stats and a few thoughts about the experience.

For those that don’t know, the Goretex Transalpine Run is an 8 day event that sees you running from Germany to Italy through, no, sorry…..over the Alps.  Each stage is a different length with a total distance of 260km and a whopping 15,468m of elevation over the 8 days.  This is broken down as follows;

Day 1: 36.4km.  2083m up -  1469m down

Day 2: 24.7km.  1883m up -  2040m down

Day 3: 38.4km.  2975m up -  2431m down

Day 4: 37.1km.  2000m up -  2698m down

Day 5: 6.3km.  971m up – cable car down!

Day 6: 37.8km. 1627 up – 1369m down

Day 7: 42.6km. 2381m up – 1937 down

Day 8: 39.8km. 1897m up – 3106m down

Day 1 started well enough with our plan being to go über conservative from the off.  Its all too easy to get carried away with the energy and excitement but we stuck to our plan and finished in 5.57 and 38^th /105 mixed teams. 

Day 2 was the “easy” day with only 15 miles to run but the fact that it took 5.14 to finish shows just how “easy” it wasn’t.  We were not that speedy on the climbs but my descending training had paid off and we were picking off teams on the descents which we were both hugely enjoying.  There really is nothing better than a good long descent to the finish passing people and Entschuldigung-ing as we go.  Finished 33^rd / 103 today

Day 3 was billed to be tough and it was.  It had the most amount of climbing with 2 whoppers to negotiate.  We had a pretty bad day here with a major bonk for me on climb two (which was, frankly, ridiculous) and ambled in in 8.07 and  52^nd place of the now 92 remaining mixed teams.

Day 4 just needed to be got through as we were then due a “rest day” on day 5.  It looked Ok on paper and I cant think of any major incidents on day 4 so I assume that we fared better than we had the day before.  A shorter day out with a run time of 6.26 and a finishers position of 45^th out of 91 teams. 

*its worth mentioning that each daily placing counts towards tour overall placing for the duration of the event.  Needless to say we slipped down a few places after day three but were slowly clawing our way back!

Day 5.  The day I’d been looking forward to the most.  The rest day!  Well, almost.  All we had to do was hike/run 6.3km up a mountain as fast as we could.  The set you off in a handicapped order so the slowest first with the fastest bringing up the rear.  You can run as a team or go solo but they combine your times for the overall team time so I wanted to not be that far from Andy.  I had half wanted to take it easy and use it as recovery but as soon as I saw the bottoms of a mixed team coming into view, the competitor in me kick in and I chased them down.  We finished with a combined time of 2.03 (1.01 for Andy and 1.02 for me – I nearly caught him but male pride spurred him up the final km when he turned and saw me!) we finished 22^nd today so a good day for team Tri London and we were stomping back up the overall scoreboard! 

Day 6.  After the easy day and the resting of the downhill muscles thanks to the cable car we took down the mountain, and the afternoon we spent in the local spa pools with massage jets a Jacuzzi’s galore, I felt good going into day 6.  The end was now in sight and a big psychological hurdle had been broken through with only 3 stages remaining.  It looked a relatively simple day with the first major climb at the beginning and then a couple of “humps” before descending into the next town.  Sadly, my descending legs decided to leave me here and it was an uncomfortable downhill day for me with a worrying quad pain.   We let 2 teams pass us in the final 1km and decided that was enough and made it in ahead of the next mixed team by 7 seconds!  38^th team of 82 for this stage.  The legs went into the fast flowing river for a cooling off ready for the following day which was the longest stage so far.

Day 7.  A full marathon that turned out to be 45km.  this was by far my worst day, despite it being so close to the end.  The first 17km were downhill on road and whilst that might sound nice, it really isn’t.  Then after some lumps and bumps that actually turned out to be far steeper than the profile suggested, we hit the major climb of the day.  This was 9km of up, that went on and on and on with no respite that took forever.  This is also where Andy’s Achilles started playing up so an unpleasant time for us both.  The downhill was awful for me despite the quad guards and hiking poles and Andy had to run on ahead to enable him to run pain free (or at least with less pain).  A dismal 8.02 hour day which had us limping in in 51^st place

Day 8 – the final day!  Another tough day of 40km (41km, actually but who’s counting?) but thankfully they’d put the climb at the beginning of the day.  after this it was pretty much downhill to the finish with a couple of “rises” along the way.  The biggest amount of descent of any stage so far in TAR history, 3,106m.  Miraculously, my descending legs came back and we flew down the first descent.  The rest it a mixture of ups and down and a rather painful fall but we made it to the end intact and still speaking in 7.17 and 43^rd for the day which put is 40^th team overall. 

Finishing together and un-injured is a rarity for a team in TAR and the fact that our category alone lost 27 teams over the 8 days shows this.  And not all of those that finished were un-injured either – there was more strapping and tape here than I’ve ever seen before.  I think we were lucky but also a big part of it was down to how sensible we were with training before the race and maintenance/recovery during.  High doses of protein (we took a tub of powder), BCAA, fish oil, magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, ice baths, leg draining, compression and as much sleep as we could fit it.  I’m not ashamed to admit that 8.30pm was a reasonably late night for us!  But it just goes to show if you look after yourself you can have a much better time of it.

As always, a stunning event with views that pictures don’t do justice to and the best organisation I’ve ever come across.  A ridiculously tough challenge but that comes hand in hand with the pleasure of running in mountain terrain.  If you’ve never done it then I urge you to do at least 1 days running in the Alps somewhere  - it really is stunning.

A couple of pictures attached,  but it wasn’t all like that!  

Counting Down

It’s been a funny old period since Salomon 4 Trails – I kind of have an “end of season” feeling.  I think its to do with the end of the heatwave and that a big event has been done and recovered from that I find myself looking to winter races and events for 2014.  Only when I really remind myself do I realise that actually I still have my biggest event ahead of me.  And in a matter of days no less. 

After we’d recovered sufficiently (or what we thought was sufficiently, anyhow) we headed off to Switzerland to couple up a visit to Andy’s brother, his wife and their baby with some mountain running.  The former was lovely, especially hanging out with Family Bruce at Zug lake in the 35 degree heat.  The latter was not so much fun, especially for poor Andy who was not as recovered as we’d have hoped.  We planned a 20 mile run up the Zugerbeg and Wildspitz but we hadn’t planned on it being 35 degrees.  I really enjoyed the run but Andy started to really feel it on the climb up and even after a lengthy break, coke and carrot cake up the top, the descent wasn’t much better.  But, glad we found that out so that recovery could take precedence over anything else.  He forewent the planned hill reps the following day and left me to get on with them by myself.  I loved them (hike up, run down) but got some funny looks from a few hikers that I must have passed 3 times on my rep.  they looked like they were having trouble just getting up once!  And my motivation was the massive buffet brunch planned for afterwards where I literally ate my own body weight.

Our next trip was 2 weeks later, and 2 weeks before TAR, and that was to visit our friend and 2012 Transalpine finisher Chris “Jenks” Jenkins at his family home in Shrewsbury.  The plan was to hit Snowdon on day 1 for a 20 mile loop over the mountain, then a shorter day on his local hills of Long Mynd the following day for some hill reps.  But Mother Nature plotted against us and with rain and winds of up to 60mph at the summit of Snowdon, we decided to forego the 90 min drive each way to spend 6 hours being wet and buffeted about on a ridge and stick to the nearer, lower contours of Long Mynd.  I’ll admit that I felt a bit cheated to be missing out on Snowdon and I didn’t think that the hills of Shrewsbury would cut the mustard in terms of what I wanted to get out of the weekend, which was to smash my legs in a bid to stave of the inevitable quad pain that would develop in TAR.  Turns out I was very wrong about that.  The hills there, although not as long as Snowdon, were certainly plentiful and Jenks even added in what we named Banter Hill, because he knew I wanted hilly.  After cresting this beast and bombing down the other side, I was shattered.  I had to eat a bit of humble pie and admit to the others that I had had enough hills for now and luckily they both felt the same so we agreed to cut out the last loop of the run which would have taken us down off the Mynd and back up again in a 4 mile loop.  I was relieved, though momentarily concerned at my fitness, or lack of, until it dawned on me that we all felt a bit lethargic  due to the 7 bottles of red wine we sank between 6 people the night before.  So with Andy’s headache worsening with each footstep we were certainly glad to be running through town to the car at the end of 16 miles. 

The following day Jenks and his girlfriend hiked around Long Mynd whilst Andy and I hiked up and ran down as many hills as we could in 90 minutes.  It was a lovely day a good weekend training and the DOMS in my quads for the next couple of days suggested that the hill reps had done their job. 

So now its mostly about recovery, rest and  maintenance – a few easy runs, a couple of gym sessions an maybe some hill reps this weekend, maybe not.  I know there is nothing more I can do to positively affect my race, but plenty I can do to negatively affect it so I will, as always (and secretly wish I could do all the time!) err on the side of caution and follow the less is more rule of thinking. 

So nothing to do but wait – and I’m currently looking at photos and reading race reports from previous years races and remembering how much I love the mountains and enjoying the feeling of the excitement starting to build.  (As long as I don’t spend too long looking at elevation profiles….)

Salomon 4 Trails 2013

We booked this race as an alternative to Transalpine, as we’d done it last year (Andy’s third year) and this seemed like a more sensible amount of running, but still getting in the mountain trails that we loved about TA.  So after convincing (he may say nagging) Andy to enter, he finally agreed and I signed us up quicker than Usain Bolt.   However, after a week or so Andy admitted that this would be great training for Transalpine and it would almost be a shame not to enter…….and so without being told twice I promptly signed us up for TA as well.  Now we had our years races planned out, we could set about the task of training for them.  Some of you will know that we entered TA last year but only completed 6 of the 8 days due to insufficient training (on my part) so this year its all about training hard (and efficiently) without getting injured.  And Salomon 4 Trails was essentially a training camp for Transalpine. In the lead up to this event I felt my training had gone well, no injuries, hitting all my sessions and my last few long runs had felt pretty good.  I was ready.  

So after a surprise visit to Frankfurt to watch my sister in the Ironman (surprise to her, not us obviously, we knew where we were going) we headed daaahn saaaaf to the mountains.  The excitement started to build as we approached mountain territory and I couldn’t wait to get started.  After a very efficient registration process and a day relaxing by a lake we were good to go.  Race day dawned and breakfast was a quiet affair with only Andy and I in the breakfast room.  We headed down to the start where the square was now thick with runners, stretching, drinking coffee, applying Vaseline or all of the above at once.  The race is run by the same company as Transalpine so its exactly the same format, fill your gel bottle, get your kit checked then into the pens for the daily blast of “Highway to Hell” before the off.  This event doesn’t make you run as a pair so we had agreed to run days 1 & 4 together with the middle two days being run solo.  This is mainly because my descending is not that great and Andy always has to wait for me so it’s a nice opportunity for him to be able to run at his own pace.  And if I hadn’t agreed to this then he basically wouldn’t have let me sign us up for Transalpine……..

Day 1 Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Ehrwald

Distance – 36.4km

Ascent – 2,410

Descent – 2,113

Time – 6:38

Energy – 7/10

Leg soreness – 0/10

Nausea level – 0/10

Enjoyment – 7/10

Number of retches when taking gel – 0

Finish relief – 5/10

Day 1 was a bit of a b*tch with 6 climbs and descents over the 36km route.  Most of the days will feature  1,2 or possibly 3 climbs but this stage had us going up and down like yo-yo’s.  Some of the ups were ridiculous, tip of toes type climbing that went on and on around the corner, just when you thought it was over.  The weather was lovely, if a little hot but I’d take that over rain any day.  The first aid station was not where it was supposed to be, for reasons I still don’t know, so after 2 of the climbs and approaching middle of the day heat (we set off at 10am this morning) with only 1 bottle of water and no more gel left, things started to get a little laboured.  Thankfully the mountain villages or sometimes even just a property have these water troughs with what I hope is fresh water running into them, so we all flung ourselves on this like we’d been in the Sahara for a week and drank our fill. 

I was doing well on the downhill’s and staying with Andy and actually passing people, which was unheard of last year.  In fact, I had traffic jams of walkers behind me most of the time.  The views were lovely as we had the Zugspitze as our focal point for the whole day.  Andy’s challenge to me was to pass 10 people on the descent into town which I did with km’s to spare ;-)

We ran in together in a time of 6.38 and stuck our legs straight into the towns fountain for some recovery. 

A fairly uneventful day and to be honest I have trouble remembering details of the first stage other than it was hot, scenic and harder than I thought it would be! 

 

Day 2 Ehrwald – Imst

Distance – 45.3km

Ascent – 2,723

Descent – 2,940

Time – 9.15

Energy – 6/10

Leg soreness – 5/10

Nausea level – 1/10

Enjoyment – 6/10

Number of retches when taking gel – 0

Finish relief – 8/10

Day 2 has 2 big climbs and descents.  Andy and I agreed to do the first climb together, then he was going to go off on his own.  The first climb was going ok, passed the aid station with no incident and carried on up.  Then we turned a corner and were face with……The Ice Wall.  Literally, an almost sheer mountain face covered in snow.  With nothing but fresh air below you if you slipped.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t quite that dramatic but it looked like it at the time.  Most people had poles so were tripping up it with a bit of purchase, but us Brits don’t bother with such aids so we just dig our toes into the snow and hoped that if you slipped, you wouldn’t go too far.  This was probably the most frightening part of any race I’ve done and I did not enjoy it one bit.  I was very glad when I reached the top and saw there was no snow on the other side, which was our descent.  I was even more pleased when I heard at dinner that night that towards the back of the field it got so slippery and treacherous that they had to pull people up by rope………

So a quick snap at the top and I wave Andy goodbye and see how long it will take him to disappear out of sight.  Turns out, not that long.  The first part of the descent is very rocky so I take my time but it soon turns into soft sandy shale so  its easy to dig your heels in and do a kind of slide/run down.  My shoes were full of stones but it was an Ok descent.  I even passed people on this too, truly amazing!  The second climb was a killer and the thing with this race is that when you think you’re at the top, you’re not.  I walked up stuck behind a girl who was taking her sweet time and now and then I’d manage to pass her but when I stopped to have a drink or a gel she would get in front again.  And behind me was a guy who was struggling more than I was who seemed to take a break when I did.  Which was fine, until he took a gel and spent the next 3 minutes retching all over the place.  This happened 3 times on this climb and I was very glad when we got to what I thought was the top so I could leave him.  But, as I said, this was not the top at all.  I knew what elevation we were going up to and I knew from my Garmin what elevation I was at and was very pleased to see we were within 12m of our max elevation.  But then we went down hill.  And then, around the corner looms another peak.  This was a theme for the rest of the race so in the end I just resigned myself to never thinking I was nearly there and always assuming there was more to do.  You certainly get value for money in this race! 

So the new top was reached and to my horror the first part of the descent jutted out on a tiny path that was hanging over the edge of the mountain with nothing but blue sky below.  And, to make it worse, the surface was hard, slippery shale.  Again, those with poles seemed to fair better than me and the big orange “dangerous section” sign the race organisers had thoughtfully put up did not make me feel that comfortable.  In fact, I must have looked very uncomfortable as they had a mountain guide in this section who asked me “alles gut??” “NEIN!” all was not good.  So he came and peeled me off the rock I was clinging to and kindly walked me round the death path to safety.  I didn’t dare look but I’m sure the views were spectacular……….I was quickly picked up by mountain guide number two who had obviously witnessed my paralysis and though he too kindly helped my on my way, I’m sure he had a good old laugh with mountain guide one after I’d gone.  I didn’t care though, I was so relived to be off that section and it genuinely took me 10 mins to feel calm again. 

But, I survived and set about the task of getting 1,500m down in 11km.  Luckily for me, a lot of this was on forest roads so I stuck my iPod in and gritted my teeth to the increasing pain.

I finished only 30 mins after Andy, it turned out he was a lot quicker on the descents but any time he had on me was negated by his frequent and lengthy rest breaks on the second climb. 

Tonight we got a massage which seemed to help, and an early night ready for day 3!

  

Going it alone


  

Beautiful views but we had to earn them!

 



Day 3 Imst - Landeck

Distance – 33.6km

Ascent 1,884

Descent 1,804

Time 6.15

Energy – 4/10

Leg soreness – 9/10

Nausea level – 5/10

Enjoyment – 4.5/10

Number of retches when taking gel – 0

Finish relief – 9/10

Pigs – 2

So this was the “easy” day.  20 miles, one big up, one big down.  No fuss.  It was also the hardest day to start in terms of only being half way through the event when you set off.  Again, Andy and I decided we climb the same speed so we set off together with him leaving me when we got to the top.  Another day of false summits but the climb up was actually pretty enjoyable.  It wasn’t too steep in most places so you could enjoy the scenery, which was very green and lush.  As we neared to top(s) it became more rugged and rocky and steeper but really amazing views all around.  I felt pretty lucky to be up there looking at them.  As planned, Andy disappeared off into the sunset, leaving me to pick my way gingerly down the hill.  This was another big descent, 1,800m in 11km.  I really struggled here and had to walk more than I was running.  My quads when I descend for a long time become extremely painful, it must be the way I’m breaking but if you don’t break you’ll land on your face, or off the side of the hill.  But its agony.  I’m counting down the meters I’m dropping and its pretty disheartening to see the town you’re running to way down below, looking like a model village.  I break the time up by doing some filming, but by the end of the week I realise that I don’t have any footage of me actually running!  All 15 or so videos, I’m walking! 

I am being passed at a rate of knots and see girls I’ve not seen before coming by me so this must be bad!  Eventually at 6km to go I get passed by the girl I got stuck behind on the climb the day before.  We were each others “always see” person, we obviously ran a similar pace so saw each other every day.  She said “come on, we’re so close!” so I started running behind her.  We started chatting and her English was excellent (thanks to 16 years living in Hong Kong!) and it was a great distraction and I barely noticed the descent after that.  We reached the town and finished together, which was nice.  Andy was waiting for me, again coming in 30 mins before me.  It was a  6.15 day so relatively early which meant we got a nice bit of recovery time before the pasta party. 




Working hard

 

 
 




Sure beats the view from my office window





Day 4 Landeck - Samnaun

Distance – 48km

Ascent – 2,840

Descent – 1,820

Time – 10.15



Energy – 3/10

Leg soreness – 11/10

Nausea level – 8/10

Enjoyment – 4/10

Number of retches when taking gel – 7

Finish relief – 25/10

Pigs – 0

Killer cows - 2

So the final day was full of mixed feelings.  Relief that this was the last day, awful nausea at breakfast that lasted most of the morning, and the knowledge that this was the longest, hardest day that they’d made even longer due to a rock fall.  The first 4 hours were climbing.  Lots of climbing.  Some on road, some ridiculously steep, some where I got chased by a cow.  Most of which I felt sick for.  Its not easy getting up at 5am after very little sleep and having to try and cram down bread, cheese and spam before running.  I knew it was important to keep on top of nutrition as I’d not eaten much at breakfast and the climbs were going to take it out of me, and I needed something for the downs.  So I tried to take a gel fairly regularly, but sadly they just didn’t want to go down and I spent a lot of time retching at the side of the road.  Thankfully they did all stay down and got me up one of the steepest climbs of the race to the first checkpoint.  I am desperately trying to forget the rest of this day as it was quite possibly the hardest single thing I’ve done.  The climbing seemed to go on forever and I think its clear just how hard this stage was by the amount of time we were out there.  Andy had decided to take poles with him today and used them on the ups and I stole them for the downs as I needed something else to help me brake as my legs were totally gone.  They did seem to work though I was still painfully slow down the hills.  Then I got sore arms from using them as brakes so not sure what the solutions is.  I definitely need to find a way to stop this crippling quad pain when I descend.   Thankfully I had the poles when we came to the snowy descent, similar to the Ice Wall of day 2 but not so much of a risk of death.  I was skiing down the tracks of those that had gone before me and was possibly the most fun part of the whole event!  Until we realised that the reflection of all that snow had caused pretty bad sunburn to the backs of our legs which by hour 8 was beginning to smart! 




Smiles because we've done the last climb of the race

 

It took forever to get to the last aid station and this was down a long, steep forest road that was runnable, but only just.  We were both low on food so needed to get there soon and overtook a number of people on this section.  We eventually arrived, fed ourselves and I said goodbye to the lovely women running it as this was the last time we’d see them.  Only 8km to go.  Time on the clock was about 8h.45 and we still had a way to go.  The last 8km were a slow drag up hill which got steeper as we got towards the finish.  We decided the quickest way was to run and broke it up into sections of run 10mins then rest.  I don’t think I’ve ever struggled to run more than I did there.  But we chipped along as best we could, just desperate for this to be over and passed more people here than we had all day.  According to Andy’s parents who had been following us online back home, we were fastest there that anywhere else and made up a lot of places.  It certainly didn’t feel like we were moving fast but at least we were moving!  Each step took us closer to the finish and that couldn’t come soon enough.  But then we hit the last 4km which was all uphill again.  We walked for a bit and ran where we could and were told by a couple of finishers that we had “about” 2km to go.  Brilliant, we thought.  But then 10 mins later we saw the 3km to go sign and almost cried.  The last section of this race was pretty dire, unattractive road in a fairly empty area and through what looked like a quarry road at one point.  It was laughable really, all that time running through stunning landscapes with amazing views and we finish walking up a hill in no mans land!  We ran the last 500m or so as we were determined NOT to finish this by walking over the line and it was nice to see that the finish was still there and they hadn’t all packed up and gone home.  Phew, that was a tough stage with 10.18 on the clock but so pleased to have made it.




Done.

 

 Sadly we didn’t make it to the awards party as there was some trouble with Andy’s bag which was a real shame but we had got what we wanted out of this “training camp” which was to get round uninjured and take some of that fitness with us into our training for the next spell in the mountains.

During that last day I said that I didn’t want to race Transalpine, but now I’ve been back nearly a week I cant wait to get back out there.  There really is nothing nicer than running in that kind of terrain and though this race kicked my arse, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had and I’m pretty proud of myself to have got round it.  100miles along and 10k of ascent in 4 days is a pretty tough event – tougher than anything I’ve done before.  I remember being chuffed when I finished my first Ironman, thinking that was pretty hard but this event is far, far harder.  And for any of my triathlete friends that may disagree with that, please come and do this next year and you can see for yourselves! 

So now for a rest and recovery before the training into transalpine starts proper.  But this has given me a lot of confidence going into the next event so as long as I can keep myself injury free I should be in fine form come September.     




I can't wait to come back.......

 

The Brecons beckon

This Saturday is round 2 of the Might Contain Nuts series that Andy and I entered with our friend and team mate Chris "Jenks" Jenkins.  Its a 40 mile potter over the mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park and is set to be a toughie with finish times ranging from 6.5hrs (for the winners) to 22 hrs (the stragglers).  I would pitch myself somewhere between the two and estimate a finish time of around 9-10 hours.  On a good day.  But I don't think Saturday will be a good day coming off the back of a head cold that is insisting on hanging around and has already cost me a weeks training.  

For those that have read my previous blog you will remember that I had invested a fair bit of time and money into developing a specific training plan for 4 Trails and Transalpine.  Sadly, a 40 mile run with a taper and recovery period meaning yet another weeks training gone by the wayside isn't really fitting in.  So after some deliberation and with a twinge of disappointment I decided to give the 40 miler a swerve and focus on getting my training right for 4 trails.  I will still head up to the Brecons with the boys for our planned weekend of jelly babies and banter and I will start the race as planned and simply leave them to make my way back after a couple of hours.*  So really I get the best of both worlds - running with team 'Single Leg Sqwhat??!'  and not being too frazzled after it to do any structured training the following week.  A perfect compromise methinks. 

* I say hours but me, alone in the wilderness that is the Brecon Beacons, it could be more like a couple of days.  If no one hears from me by Monday, ring mountain rescue as I will probably have run out of Mrs Crimbles by then.

2013 pre race planning

After lots of cajoling (read nagging) and hours spent wistfully looking at their website,  Andy finally agreed to let me enter us for the Salomon 4 Trails event in July.  For those that are not familiar with it, its basically the lil' sister of Transalpine with only 4 stages instead of 8.  Its run by the same company with the same fantastic locations and organisation so we knew we would be getting value for money and a good experience in the Alps.  We didn't have much in the diary for our 2013 season other than the  Might Contain Nuts Welsh series so I was keen to get some more events lined up and my eye had been on 4 trails since Transalpine last September.  So I was a happy girl.  :-)

Made happier still when Andy "I don't think I'd ever do another Transalpine" Bruce announced that as 4 Trails was such good training it would be a waste NOT do enter Transalpine again this year!  Needing no further encouragement I promptly signed us up (I do that a lot, and not always with Andy's knowledge....), booked the hotels and started thinking about training properly for these events.  Those of you that have read my blog about Translapine 2012 will know that I didn't go into the race as trained as I would have liked so I am keen to make that right this time around.  So this time we have built ourselves structured training plans with threshold, V02 and hill sessions among many others.  Only hitch there was I didn't know what my HR was in any of these zones.  Enter Pete Byworth of Metabolic Solutions.  Pete offers a variety of scientific tests for athletes and Andy and I booked ourselves in for some V02 testing.  In layman's terms, V02 is basically the amount of oxygen you are absorbing into the blood stream in millilitres per minute.  The highest number you record is know as your V02 max.  This number by itself is fairly arbitrary - its mostly genetically predetermined and you are unable to increase this number by more than 10-12%.  What is important about this number is that it gives you accurate HR zones in which to train effectively.  This is what we came to find out and were duly donned with face masks hooked up to various beeping machines and set off on the treadmill.  Slowly at first, a nice gentle walk that increased in tempo up to 11kph.  So far so good.  Then came the increase in incline.  This got progressively less pleasant as the inclined went up by 2 each increment until I was practically sprinting up a hill, breathing into a mask with Andy and Pete shouting at me to "keep it up!".  Finally the data was recorded and the test was over.  And although it only lasted about 18 minutes, it wiped me out!  But, we got some great readings from it that will allow me to structure my workouts much more effectively knowing EXACTLY where my HR should be in any given session.  It also told me that my body is very efficient at burning fat as its main fuel source - excellent for endurance sports. 

So armed with this knowledge I have been able to add very specific sessions into my schedule which will do away with junk mileage and make each session I do more effective for me.  The lucky thing is that Andy and I posted relatively similar results (Andy's V02 max is 64.something and mine is 61.4) so we should be able to do these intense sessions together, which is always easier than trying to do them on your own.  I am very excited about the coming weeks and came away from the test with not only a set of very useful results, but a huge confidence boost going into an intense 10 week block of training for 4 Trails. 

  

Transalpine 2012. Stages 5-8

Stage 5 Prettau to Sand in Taufers. 0km (0m asc. 0m desc.)  0hrs00– out of Ranking

It wasn’t until I was cleaning my teeth the next morning, looking at my race kit all laid out ready to go that I made the final decision.  I was out.  I was torn between relief at not having to go out and run, and disappointment that I wasn’t going to complete the race.  Saw our last 2 remaining men off, Chris and Sergio, before getting a lift to the next town.  Jaime went hiking up the mountain in search of the last aid station whilst Andy Christophe and I drank coffee and ate pizza (we were in Italy, afterall).  We whiled away the morning and watched the leaders come in, followed slowly by the rest of the field.  I didn’t want to go to the briefing and photos of the day that night so after dinner we went back to our apartment and watched How I met your Mother in Italian.  Andy and I reflected on our day and agreed we both felt down and disappointed but also agreed that it was the best thing to have done.  Our main goals were to enjoy ourselves and to come out of it uninjured.  Both were in danger of not being reached had we continued.  My running form was so bad it was unrecognisable as running and I spent at least half of the last two days moaning.  When the bad started to outweigh the good, it was time to address it.  We did that and now had to live with our decision.   

Stage 6 Sand in Taufers to St Vigil. 0km (0m asc. 0m desc.)  0hrs00– out of Ranking

After watching our 2 head off for what Andy described as the worst day of both races combined, as well as our lift from the day before, we hung around in the hope of an alternative lift to the next town.  There were so many who had pulled out that it was clear this wouldn’t happen.  Jaime, who had been off since day 3 had made firm friends with the guy on the High5 stand and happily jumped into his van with a “see you later guys!” as we stood in the drizzle and wondered what to do.  Luckily a quick check with the tourist office told us that there was a bus that left in 5 minutes.  On we got.  And 3 buses later we arrived in the next town, St Vigil.  It was a beautiful morning and a good nights sleep with none of the do-I-don’t-I dilemma from the night before had us both in a better mood.  After coffee and tiramisu cake (rude not to) we headed up the mountain for their final 1.5km.  Boy it was steep.  And on road.  It took us almost an hour to get up there with a couple of stops on the way.  Almost on cue the lead men came through making it look easy.  Shortly after, our friend Ceri from stage 4, in 2^nd place.  Turned out he’d had enough of running at his partners slower pace and asked if he could head off alone.  He was told no, but I think he must have resented that so did it anyway!  I don’t think they talked much after that!  

Andy and I agreed to run stages 7 & 8 as these were meant to be the most scenic.  So after dinner I headed back to sort my kit out, feeling like a kid on Christmas eve.  If that wasn’t proof that those 2 days off were the best thing to do, I don’t know what was.  2 days ago I’d been hating the sight of my running shoes and the smell of the gel bottle but now I couldn’t wait to get back out there. 

Stage 7 St Vigil to Niederdorf. 41.8km (1950m asc. 2000m desc.)  6hrs30– 3^rd out of 18 in the out of Ranking category

I felt a bit like an intruder at the start line, there were people who looked pretty beaten up still going and there we were, fresh as daisies ready to roll.  People we’d befriended along the way were pleased to see us in race kit again and not clapping at the side of the road but I still felt a tinge of disappointment that I couldn’t say I’d done the whole lot.  And as I’m sure we’ve all experienced, its easy to forget how bad you felt once you feel good again.  And we were relegated to the C pen, of all places!!  Still, as Sergio and Chris were individual runners, they had to start there too.  Danced a little to excitedly to Highway to Hell to disguise that fact I’d had 2 days off and then we’re running, and it feels amazing!  We are ploughing through the broken, battered field and find ourselves on beautiful trail in the sunshine ahead of the lead mixed and lead womens team.  Its odd running with new people as you get used to seeing the same teams around you.  But we were having a great time so goal number one was back on.  Hardly stopped at the first aid station at 12.5km and had covered the distance in about 1hr 10.  First climb of the day was a long one but just got stuck in, telling the surprised mixed teams that we were out of ranking and watching them visibly relax.  It sure is competitive at the top! Chris passed us at the top of this fist climb, saying he felt light headed and weak.  The he fell over.  He was ok, but sporting a rather large bruise.  The first descent is where any lead we may have had went, and even though I was doing better, it was still nowhere near the calibre of those that were in the lead for a reason.  The nice thing about this descent though is that you can see the lake Wildsee at the bottom.  It’s the most stunning aquamarine colour.  After causing a few traffic jams I made it down there and into the second aid station on its shore, which had a tannoy announcing you and hundreds of people out for their mid day walk wondering what was going on! 

The next climb was a killer and dangerous in parts too.  it was hot now when you weren’t in the shade of the big hill and our over exuberance at the start of the day was beginning to show.  It took an hour to climb and the reward was a rocky descent that moved with each foot step.  The sound of people skidding all over the place was ringing in my ears as they slalomed by me.  one guy offered me his poles, I must have looked really desperate.  I assured him I didn’t need them then instantly regretted it.  It takes me almost as long to go down that it does to go up but with a lot more moaning.  My legs weren’t as bad as they had been but I was still painfully slow.  I’m assured it’s a confidence thing but I’m not sure.  I think it’s a not being able to practice thing, the biggest hill I’ve run on is flat, grassy and over in about 15 seconds. 



This hell went on for about 40 minutes



The last 7km were flattish/downhill but took their toll.  Clearly though the aches and pains had gone during our two days rest, the deep fatigue was still there.  Andy started tightening up in the last 5km and took longer than it should have with us struggling to maintain 6m/km.  This marathon took us 6hrs 30mins and got our bottoms handed to us by teams that had done every single day.  Still, it was a beautiful day and I’m glad I got to see the lake that Andy has had as his screen saver since 2010. 

Stage 8 Niederdorf to Sexten. 33.4km. (1269m asc. 1104m desc.)  4hrs36 – 5th out of 18 in the out of Ranking category

So the last day finally rolled around and there was such a feeling of relief and pride in the start pen that once again, I felt slightly sorry to be missing out on that.  The fatigue from the first 4 days and the faster pace of yesterday's run had left me more tired than I thought so any feelings of regret I might have had were soon replaced with a renewed feeling of having done the right thing for me.  I felt a bit emotional in the start pen as so many people were so close to achieving their goal and I was incredibly pleased for them.  Our two, Sergio and Chris, although looking like the walking wounded were in great spirits as they waited for Highway to Hell for the last time.  I was the most happy for Chris as he had missed out last year having to pull out halfway through the penultimate day due to injury, so this was a long time coming for him.  We wished them well and set off for the last 33km.

Todays stage was another longish run out for 15km or so before a climb to the Drei Zinnen and the final descent to the finish line.  The run out was taking its toll on a lot of people, myself included.  After about 3km I felt an odd pain on my knee-cap.  I mentioned it to Andy who asked if I wanted to pull out.  We'd already done it once so it made no sense to be running on what could be a potential injury for the sake of it.  I said I'd see how I went to the first check point then decide.  We came to it at about 6km and the pain was coming and going but not too much to worry about so I decided to carry on.  It was a beautiful day and I wanted to be out there.   The second CP was 15km in, just before the climb.  It was 10k to the next one and we had a big climb and descent between the two so we stocked up and started the ascent. 

The views were really magnificent and I was very glad that I carried on.  I was feeling no pain now and was making the most of the last day, knowing my next running experience would be nothing like this.  We finally reached the top and were rewarded with amazing scenery and a close up of the Drei Zinnen. 

The descent was up us all too soon and so it began again, the hobbling down as best I could.  The two descents the day before were making themselves known in my legs and I adopted my pre-break hobble-a-bit-rest-a-bit strategy to get down.  It was late morning and the path was full of hikers out making their way up and down and we gots lots of lovely encouragement from people we encountered.  Our british friends came by us and Kelly said her foot was in agony now the pain killers had worn off (turns out it was a fracture so I'm not surprised!) but even then I couldnt stay with them.  I did however pass 2 lots of people which was a noveltly for me, and the fact they were limping badly will not detract from my achievement ;-p
A man on his way up told us that the sign for the aid station was wrong and that it was only 800m from here.  Brilliant I thought, I have less to do than I expected, and from the aid station it was only 5.9km to the end.  But 1km later and we still hadnt seen the sing for the aid station, which they put out 1km and 500m out, so I thought they must be REALLY out.  But then we saw the 1km to aid station sign and cursed the man for his mis-information!  We finally came to it and only stopped briefly for some coke and a chunk of banana because I didnt think 6km down a gentle hill would require that much energy.  Not for the first time did I make the mistake of assuming normal rules apply out here.  I was getting more and more cooked, literally, as it was now midday and the heat of the sun now we were off the mountain was pretty warm. 

The last 5km or so is on road so for the final time we counted down the km markers, passing a few people, being passed by a few as we neared the town of Sexten where there were already a lot of very happy people.  These last few km were gruelling, so goodness knows how they must have felt for those that had done all 8 days.  Though they probably didnt feel any pain, just relief!  Finally, the last km marker of the race came into view and I must admit to a rather large feeling of relief myself.



A sign we were probably all glad to see

I tried to enjoy the last few hundred meters of this incredible race as were neared the town.  We could hear the finish and see finishers limping around with a medal round their neck and a beer in their hand and knew that in a matter of minutes, that would be us.  The finish chute is a 3 sided square, maybe so you get longer to enjoy it, I dont know but Andy and I ran down there hand in had genuinely enjoying and feeling we deserved the applause and high fives.  After an underarm turn Craig Revel Horwood would have been proud of we were over the line, having completed 154 miles over 8 days.  I have to say, that even though we hadn't run all 8 stages, I was still proud of this achievment. 

The evening was spent relaxing in the sun before the awards party where we got to see Chris finally collect his finishers t-shirt after 2 years of trying, and Sergio proudly getting his.  More beers than was probably good for us and a live perfomance from Marty, composer and performer of the Transalpine theme tunes "Keep on Running" and "Believe in your Fire" rounded the week off nicely.

Team POWERbreahteUK!

I have such fond memories of these 10 days.  I was lucky to be with 5 great people, Sergio, Jaime, Chris, Christophe and of course Andy.  It really was a rollercoaster of a week and I felt I learned a lot, about running but mostly about myself.   I always thought that I was a competitive person and that I cared about where I came in a race, or what people thought of me and my performance.  But in an event like this there is no room or place for ego.  It humbles you and strips you down to your raw self, where only the things that really matter to you remain, and are brought clearly into focus.  This is where I discovered that I didn’t in fact care about the finishers t-shirt, or our position or what people thought…. I only cared about enjoying myself.  As discussed on the mountain side on day 4, we came out for a holiday, to do something we enjoyed and once that stopped happening, it was time to end it.   Yes, I could have carried on, and I would have finished and probably been injured, and ill, and hated running, but that would have been ok because I wouldn’t have been able to run anyway due to the injuries….and that’s not the experience I wanted.  Those 2 days off halfway through meant I enjoyed 90% of the event, as opposed to 50%.  And that’s what I call value for money!!

Would I do the event again?  Yes, definitely.  Not because I feel I have unfinished business or something to prove, but because the good bits of the race were REALLY good.  The best running experience I’ve ever had.  Fact.  I would probably train for more than 3 weeks before however, and probably not do an Ironman triathlon 7 weeks out, but these are just more of the things I’ve learned from doing Transalpine.   

I had one of the most incredible experiences out in the mountains and I’m glad I got to share it with Andy.  Or rather, I’m glad he agreed to run with me.  Having done both this and the Western route before, and knowing how much I can moan I’m surprised he asked me to run with him! He has said on our return however, that if he did ever do it again, he probably wouldn’t do it with me.  “No offence” he says.  Pffff……

He was a great running partner, patient, encouraging, helpful, reminding me to eat and helping with recovery at the end of each day.  He didn’t even mind when I shouted at him in some of my darker moments.  Of which there were a few ;-p 

So thank you Andy, for not only encouraging me to enter this fantastic race but for putting up with me whilst I attempted it. 

 

And thank you to the rest of the group, Team Muppets and Team Naïve Enthusiasm for a week full of laughs and banter.  It wont be forgotten in a hurry :-)