Day Two

We awoke in our celubrious classroom at 5.30, mainly due to an unelievably loud alarm clock brought by a Spanish competitor. Then a sprint for the loos and basins! An early breakfast, to allow the stomach time to digest it before the start. Also a chance to sudy the route profile for the day. After a gentle 1,200m of climbing yesterday, the height grows, with two mountains to scale and a total height gain of 1,800m. Here's the profile: We lined up in the early morning mist, although we were promised sunshine for most of the day. Chris and I were in the C start, with the elite A's starting at 8.00, the B start at 8.05 and us off at 8.10.

The uphill started immediately. We were soon onto technical single track, with queues of runners waiting to climb.

This was definitely technical climbing, with this sign meaning no overtaking and to take extreme care on the fixed ropes and loose, rooty trail.

This continued for about 4km and took an hour, not our fastest pace, but we were going the same speed as everyone else, and the trail just kept on going up:

Until we finally reached the summit in sunshine and a spectacular Alpine vista. The calves were screaming at this stage and were delighted to pass the hard work onto the glutes for the downhill.

However, it was also time for Chris's press up at the top, just to prove to Dan Bennet that he was up to the challenge!

After another of those great drink stations, it was on up the Kitzbuhel peak. Chris and I both agree that the best item at the drink station is the watermelon. So juicy and it really refreshes the palate. Maybe we can have a go at NRC!?

The climb was unrelenting, mainly up mountain tracks, just long a continually stepp, with minimal amounts of running possible.

Just the odd break for a photo!

There was snow at the top, which was great to wipe over the forehead and cool down. We peaked at about 1,850m above Kitzbuhel, and then descended the last 7km down into the town.

The descent was great, mainly technical single track through the forest. Our only problem is that we are faster descenders than those around us. This is a surprise, as I would have thought the locals would train on these trails, but all the Brits say they are fast. Maybe it's because we are used to mud and roots. Many otehrs slow down and dodge the mud. Brits just run through the middle!

We finished the stage 41st in class and in a time of 5Hr 10mins (the winning time 2Hr 59mins, 15 mins ahead of second!) We have found the free Smoothie stand at the finish run by Buff. We have three or four smoothies to rehydrate and carb up, then its off to the hotel in Kitzbuhel, and hopefully a good night's sleep later.

We start at 7.00 tomorrow and can look forward to 2,300m of climbing over 43km. It is the most vertically challenging stage race in the world, so we knew what we were getting into:

One down, seven to go

Here we go then. One hour to the start at 11.00 and looking fresh (for the last time) After a gentle 6km along forest tracks, we started the single track, including running under this waterfall:

Then up and up, with about 1,350m of climbing today. Having started in rain, the weather cleared, but it was quite muddy along the trail, with the mud eased by these enormous planks laid over the top.

Then carrying on up the ski run into the cloud.

Then down into St Ullrich (in the distance) after a 5km descent (good for the quads).

Then we finished with this 7km pretty flat into St Ullrich after 37km (22 miles) today

Our finishing time was 4:38 today, placing us 44th out of the 75 in the Mens Masters category.

We were well fed along the way, with great drinks stations with water melon, nuts, oranges, bananas and cakes to keep us going.

We enjoyed great comraderie along the way, chatting to teams from Spain, Holland Britain and the USA. Most complaining that they tend to run on flat trails.

I should add that the winning time was an astonishing 2Hr 48mins. A record for the leg and claimed by a Scottish team, who most will struggle to beat.

As for sleeoing, tonight we are in the 'Runners Camp'. That involves a space on the floor in a classroom of the town's school.

Now it's time to rest before getting up at 5.30 for the start at 8.00 tomorrow morning.

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.