Last day before the off!

It was a day to chill out and allow the muscles to be fully charged for tomorrow. A trip back to registration was necessary to clarify some details, and a chance for a picture. It's in the sports hall that doubles as an ice rink in the winter. Just a big desk to check in and sort out all the logistics. A short walk around town and I was able to follow the first kilometer of the route as they mark out the route one day in advance. After an afternoon siesta, Chris and I played our second game of crazy golf. The first ended in a draw and the second did too, all very equitable! The Pasta Party and Opening Ceremony started at 18.00. We sat with brothers Bernd and Ralph, veterans of the TransAlp. Bernd has completed 4 of the 5 events and Ralph has finished all 5. Their top tip - start slowly. The race doesn't really start until the hard days on days 3 and 4. We'll try to heed that advice tomorrow. The evening had the highlights of the parade in of nations, all 25 flags of participating nations being paraded in. We than had some local Bavarian dancing. It surprises me just how soon they get their young lads into leather shorts and braces. They got a great ovation.

We also had some awards for all 10 or so participants who have completed all 5 Tranalpine runs to date, including Ralph of course.

Then a long briefing on the event including:

• Don't be more than 2 minutes away from your partner at any time
• Don't fall off the mountains
• The snow on our highest peak (day 5) is currently 70cm deep!
• Don't take short cuts

One observation was that all the Germans appeared to be drinking copious amounts of beer, whereas the Brits were on apple juice and water. What do they know that we don't?

Robin Lowis is holidaying nearby and will see us off. I have texted him to say that Chris is injured and for him to get some running kit so he can be my new running partner! He has said he wont be fit enough, but we'll see. By the way, Chris is fine!

We are ready to go. We have our kit laid out (courtesy of New Balance and Up & Running (Bristol) - Thanks Rick). It's great kit that means we will be matching throughout the event, and more importantly, we are bright orange, so hopefully able to see each other easily, so long as few others are in bright orange - or we'll have a problem.

Anyway, off to bed now for an early night, hoping that pre-race nerves don't interfere with a good night's sleep.

First day in Ruhpolding and Registration

Hallo aus Ruhpolding, Deutschland. (Hello from Ruhpolding!). We made it here yesterday, with an uneventful flight from Heathrow to Munich, with a rapid 50 minute gap from touchdown to catching the first train at the airport, made with 30 minutes to spare due to German efficiency. A second intercity train across Germany past Chimseee (big lake) and onto a local single track branch line to Ruhpolding at the end of the line. The only hiccup was continuing to sit on the train in Ruhpolding as we thought there was another stop to go. The hotel had arranged to pick us up for the short trip to the hotel. Here it is, Hotel Fuchs. A very comfortable hotel, despite the local pronunciation. Having checked in, we then enjoyed a Chinese meal (when in Rome etc!!!), which included an intriguingly translated chicken, pork, beef and 'quacking grass' for main course. We think it was the duck! After a long night's sleep, we felt it would be good to loosen the legs with a short run. We ran up the valley along the trails that start the Transalp itself. Beautiful paths through the woods, including this bizarrely arched tree, clearly thinking the light is coming from a different direction to all the other trees:

The trail runs beside a shallow river that descends speedily down the valley and contains lots of fish camouflaged against the rocks.

After our 6 mile run, we decided to go for a lunch at the top of the nearby mountain, so with ham, cheese and rolls in hand we walked off. Great scenery and alpine views along the way, including this horse and cart. You can see some of the hills we will be running round (and over) in the background.

And in case you thought we had lost our marbles, we went up the mountain on a chairlift:

From the top we had great views down on Ruhpolding...

...and great views across to the high Alps. This looks South towards Austria (the snowy peaks are in Austria) and the mountains we will be running over in a couple of days time.

After lunch and the cable car back down, we spotted a challenging conundrum. It was in the form of a 6 inch long fish in a mountain stream. The stream was only about 2 feet wide and was very fast flowing and steep, probably about 1:10. So it ran over lots and lots of large rocks and boulders before getting down to the river 2 miles downstream. How did the fish get there. It couldn't possibly have swum up and over all the boulders and it couldn't have simply hatched at the top by magic. Our best suggestion was a bird of prey had dropped it as it flew over the stream, but even that suggestion sounds implausible. A conundrum that will vex us over the next week.

Having not solved our puzzle, we went over to the Transalp registration area. Lost in the back of a large sports hall on the outskirts of the town, we met Uta Albrecht, race director (A blond German lady for those who aren't sure if Uta is a boy's or a girl's name) so she could check us off the list of 280 teams entered.

We picked up our race numbers (51-1 and 51-2) and photo passes, route maps and enormous holdall with lots of goodies inside (energy gels, nutrition supplements, buff, event tee shirt, notebook, drinks bottle). Now we're contemplating where to eat dinner, and lots of it, as we will need the energy for the week ahead.

Training in Wales

I completed my last major stretch of training in North Wales in early August. The training included four long 20 mile runs in four days that I used to try out my kit for the TransAlp. My training has included three of these 'long weekends' over the last three months, getting my body ready for 8 days of 26 miles per day over the Alps. The runs in North Wales were mostly along the North Wales Coast Path that runs around the end of the LLyn Peninsula. It is a beautiful path, mainly through National Trust land. The route I took included Rhiw, the highest point at the end of the peninsula at 300m high (not quite alpine). From the top you can the the whole of the peninsula, with Bardsey Island just visible over my left shoulder. After a fast descent down Rhiw and through the small village of Aberdaron, it continues beside the coast for 14 miles. This picture looks back at Rhiw on the right with Aberdaron down on the beach.

The path continues to the Western tip of the peninsula off which lies Bardsey Island. There are 20,000 Saints buried on the Island (allegedly). That fact comes from the Middle Ages when it was said that 3 pilgrimages to Bardsey were the equivalent of one pilgrimage to Rome. The weather was mostly beautiful for my runs this year, but I know that the maximum wind speed recorded at the end of the peninsula is 120 mph. That's windy and demonstrates just how exposed the headland can be.

This next picture is taken from the end of the peninsula looking West towards Snowdon (about 40 miles away). The panorama over the heather shows the Irish Sea on the left (North) and Cardigan bay on the right (South).

So what of the running? I saw the obvious speed differences from running on road (9 minute miles for the long distances to conserve energy) and off road (from 11 minute miles if relatively flat to 30 minute miles when the going was steeply up the side of a hill, and everything in between. Trail running remains inspiring and happily takes your mind off any aches and pains that may develop (well mostly).

After 14 miles of running along the coast path, I get to Whistling Sands (Porth Oer for the purists out there). A beach where the dry sand whistles under your feet due to the shape of the sand grains.

I carried my Camelbak for all four runs, carrying wet weather gear (you can never be sure in Wales, even when the sun is shining) and hydration and nutrition were critical. The runs took about 4 to 4.5 hours and I drank about 2 litres of electrolyte for each run, using Nuun tablets dissolved in the water. They help the body absorb the water and provide essential salts to replace those sweated off while running so funding off any tendency to cramp at the end of the run.

Now bring on the Alps.

Welsh 1,000 Metre Race

The Welsh 1,000m race was used by us as a training run. It is a tough race visiting all the peaks over 1,000m high in Wales. We ran it in June, but I had failed to update the blog until now! We started with a bus journey from Llanberis to Aber on the coast about an hour away. We were deposited in a field for registration (the green tent behind us in the field) where we got our transponders. We were then sent to a corner of the field for a kit check (hold up your map and compass - thanks). Then we were off. We started with a 5 mile climb up the Carneddau. We ran the first mile or so, but as the path got steeper, we started to walk.

And the views started to open up. The skies were clear which was good for the views, but meant lots of sun cream had to be slathered on our arms, necks and faces.

There were about 6 checkpoints on the way. This was the first and Chris had to sort out a developing blister with Compeed. The marshalls had a fantastic view, which contrasted with last year when they had gale force winds and plenty of rain.

We carried on over the Carneddau to two peaks. The ground was rough small stones, with most people walking up and everybody running down with varying degrees of speed and sure-footedness.

We ran with Harry (in the middle) but we all kept a similar pace and encouraged each other through the event. This was the second of the four peaks.

We then descended for two miles off the Carneddau to the next checkpoint and then up the Glyders. The descent is hardest on the quads and with a mile down an almost dead straight tarmac track, hard on the feet too. The road can be seen in the background on the next picture

The Glyders are a frustrating 999m high, so don't count for a peak in the race, just an obstacle to get over, so another walk up the side of a Welsh mountain. There was no real path, just some trodden grass from those who had gone before. This was looking down...

...and this was looking up...

Again some great scenery opened up at the top of the Glyders, with views across to Tryfan

The race comes off the Glyders at Pen-y-Pas where there was a drink station and checkpoint. We refilled our water reservoirs and grabbed a bite of food and then ascended the Pyg track around the Snowdon horseshoe. Towards the top, we had spectacular views back into the horseshoe. It helps explain one of the reasons why we do this. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately that brought out the tourists who seemed to take a delight in getting in our way as we tried to race up the track. It made the ascent a bit tougher, as if we needed it.

Then up to the remaining two peaks...

finishing at the top of Snowdon.

A great day and a very tough route. We finished in about 6.5 hours and enjoyed a hard earned pasty, bun and drink in the Snowdon cafe. We found out a bit about each other's running during the race - Chris is faster uphill and I am faster downhill. I also have a tendency to start too fast!

The only frustration of the day was thinking that we deserved to take the train down to the car in Llanberis. However as the train was fully booked, we had to trek the 6 miles off Snowdon, so making it a 29 mile day in the end. I'm sure it was good training.

Overall it was a fantastic event with really helpful and friendly marshalls, which makes such a difference.

The Fan Dance, 22 May 2010

My most recent run was yesterday, taking part in the Fan Dance. A race involving running from the bottom to the top of Pen-y-fan (the highest point in the Breacon Beacons) as many times as possible in 5 hours. Of course the race was taking place on the hottest weekend of the year so far, and the Breacon's don't have one leaf of shade. It made for some spectacular views though.

This picture looks up from the first trail to the top of Pen-y-Fan, the taller peak on the left. The peak to the right is Corn Du, which we go over on the way to the Fan.

On the way up, we first came to the Obelisk, where three walkers were taking a break. No break for the runners though as we carried on to the peaks. The obelisk marks the spot where Tommy Jones, aged 5, was lost in the mists of the Breacons on Jan 9th in 1900, a very sad tale. There were no mists to keep the sun off us as we toiled up the hill.

The trail carried on up and it was like a motorway, with hundreds of walkers and quite a few Special Forces wannabe's trying their hand at getting into the elite forces. I learned later that two of them were stretchered off the Breacons on drips due to dehydration.

From the top, we had a great view back down from where we came (and would have to run back down to in due course). The start/finish was down by the nearest trees in this shot.

Anyway, I made it up and down three times in the allotted 4 hours. On the other hand Jo Green, also from Nailsea Running Club went back up another two times. I ran a total of 16.5 miles, whereas he ran about 27 miles. I remain in awe at such an achievement on such a hot day. I was pretty chuffed with 4 hours, as the third placed man was 3 Hr 50 mins, so I wasn't too far off. Here we are at the finish:

The key issues for the day - hydration and energy. The key factor was keeping fluid intake up. I continue to use Nuun tablets in my drink. These things are 2cm wide tablets that dissolve in water. 1 tablet for 500ml. They contain a balanced electrolyte mixture including sodium, potassium, calcium etc, which replace the salts you lose when sweating during endurance sports. They stop you developing not only cramps, but also nastier ailments like hyponatremia (low blood sodium), which is what happens if you only drink water and your blood salts gets diluted. It leads to hallucinations and, in extremis, death. Not good for a fast time.' Today (Sunday) I then had a short recovery run through Ashton Court and got this great shot of bluebells. One for the album: