Training Log Archive: OJ

TAR day 8, St Valantin to Sulden. I think it is fair to say that we were both ready for it to stop this morning. Another night of poor sleep, another early start, smashed legs. We were both in a black mood at breakfast (along with almost everyone else in the camp) contemplating the day to come. The route had been changed due to bad weather, the first we have encountered so far during the race. It felt as though autumn had arrived with rain, cold temperatures and the snow line not far above town. That left us with a largely downhill half marathon, mostly on asphalt and good trails, followed by a steep 1500m climb up to the finish line. Oh my. Mixed feelings this morning when the chorus of Highway to Hell kicked in for the 8th consecutive day. Off we go and, well, the legs are still running. Might as well get this job done. As usual we started what felt like hard, but it took us a long time to start passing other teams. Every step of the downhill hurt a lot, but there wasn't much point going more slowly as it would just prolong the misery. At least the kms passed fairly swiftly and we covered the first 15km in about 65. My main concern was that we would hit the flat and uphill section and be unable to run any more, but it was actually better than I had dared to hope, even once on the steep climb. We swapped bad patches for a bit, mainly alternating based on who had most recently had a gel. Most positively of all, though, was that we were still moving through the field. Near the top of the climb we caught sight of Salomon Deuchland, who were our nearest rivals in the open class. They had to take 35 minutes out of us to catch us, so we knew from that point on we were safe. For the last 10km or so it really was just a case of grinding it out and keeping up a bit of a rhythm when possible. There were no km countdown markers today due to the changed route, so we didn't really know how much further there was left to run. Eventually Rhys spotted the finish area in the distance, and all of a sudden we picked the pace up and whooped our way into town. I think that is the happiest I have ever been to finish something in my life. Big sweaty manhugs followed. It was really great to achieve something like this with a partner as strong as Rhys, there was just no messing all week long.

Bad stomach and no food followed, which meant that I crashed quite hard later in the afternoon. Luckily nothing that a few weisbiers couldn't fix. Crazy Euro party in the evening made up the final stage, on which Rhys was definitely stronger than I was. Wow, its going to take a while for all this to sink in.

C • Fantastic mate! 20

TAR day 7, Scuol to St Valantin. Last night was a bad night for many reasons. The camp was in a bomb shelter, which meant it was very cramped, stuffy and noisy with a 1950s air ventilation system. To add to the joy, our bags had got lost at a hotel on the other side of town. We managed to bag a spot in the back of one of the transport trucks in the end, which spared us the noise and stuffiness, but it was very cold. My guts were a mess after the race yesterday and I couldn't face any food all afternoon other than a few Pringles (paprika). I skipped the pasta party, the thought of which made me feel deeply nauseous, and had a massive bowl of chips instead. That seemed to work, but I was still worried I would struggle today. Woke to the news that a few teams had dropped out due to sickness, so that may explain my issues.

Anyway, this was billed as the most beautiful day of the race and it didn't disappoint. After a fast downhill 7km to wake us up, began a largely runnable 1200m climb up a gorge with clouds wafting about and gleaming domes of rock looming over us. There was even a section of tunnels traversing precipitous cliffs, all of which distracted from the pain. We emerged in an upland pass not unlike the Scottish highlands in character. The faster starting teams were all coming back to us, i was keeping the food in, Rhys spotted a marmot and all was right with the world. A long rolling section of single track followed and we managed to tap out a reasonable pace, Rhys working hard today possibly suffering with what I had yesterday. We had to fight our way through a herd of cows at one point which offered brief respite. The short and steep final climb was followed by another 1200m downhill, which hammered our sore legs still further. Thankfully there was an ice cold stream to sit in at the finish. Stage 7 done, 4th place in the open well defended and surely it should be a feeling of relief that it is almost all over..? But no, tomorrow is weighing too heavily on our minds for the time being.

TAR day 6, Samnaun to Scuol. Nice to get moving closer to the finish again after a couple of nights holed up at 1800m. Sleep has been bad for both of us up here and it hasn't helped the recovery any. This was apparently a really beautiful stage, but it was somewhat lost on me. I felt pretty good on the first mostly runnable climb, but as soon as we started descending I got stomach cramps that didn't really let up for the whole stage. It was then just a struggle to get anything in - I think I managed a couple of pieces of water melon until I forced a gel in late in the day to get me to the finish. Rhys ran well and kept me going and we actually managed to do our usual run through the faster starters and found ourselves in the usual place in the field. We did, however, get beaten by two mixed pairs teams today as Jasmin and Konrad smashed it to go for the stage win - unfortunately, they narrowly missed out. The long 1200m descent to Scuol was horrible, but at least the cramps eased off towards the end and we managed to finish reasonably strongly, despite Rhys's battered quads. Phew, I'm glad every day didn't feel like that one!

Scuol was a really cool town - JWOC next year is going to be something special!

Yes, we had a warm up!

TAR day 5, hill 'sprint'. My oh my, that felt hard, like all the suffering that I should have gone through in the last 4 days condensed into 50 minutes. Felt pretty good at the start and we ran the first couple of flat kms purposefully. Then the climb began and Rhys perked up. I, on the other hand, started blowing. This was the first time this week that the needle has strayed into the red and as soon as that happened there was no let up. Starting at 1800m clearly doesn't help matters and the lungs felt like they were struggling. Really had to grind this one out and thankfully more-or-less held our position among the teams around us. Tomorrow will, no doubt, bring plenty more suffering.

Yes, we had a warm up!

TAR day 4, Landeck to Samnaun, made it to Switzerland, woo hoo! The long 'un, and boy was it a brute. 5km preamble along the valley followed by a 1650m climb to the first feed station. That was followed by some lovely high mountain stuff, all way up above the tree line so no escape from the sun on another cloudless day. Lost count of the number of rivers I dunked my hat in. We had another steady start, both needing at least half an hour to run our bodies into it. After that we hit a good clip up the fairly gentle incline (aided by singing a bit of Kate Bush to anyone who cared to listen - most of the other teams seem to run in dead silence, weird) and worked our way through to what is becoming our usual place in the field of 4th open team, the leaders long gone (probably not singing so much). We both felt the altitude today with the course hitting about 2780m at the high point and most of the day over 2000. Near the top a suck on my drink and a missed breath would leave me dizzy for a few seconds. The final descent and long (8km) uphill drag up a hot valley felt really hard, but we managed to run most of it, as much to get it over with as anything else. Both ran well today, shared the lead and alternated low points. Very happy to have got this far, but legs and feet are a bit trashed and still very aware that there is a long way to go.

TAR day 3. St Anton to Landeck. First marathon of the week and longer than advertised, which was a bit upsetting. We decided on a steady tactic today and took it nice and easy on the first climb. Lots of nice single trail in lovely upland forests and meadows in the first half, followed by a less inspiring finish with a 1200m descent on forest roads and asphalt and an undulating 5km along the river into Landeck. We suffered on the descent with sore feet and quads, then Rhys picked it up at the end while I hung on for dear life. To be fair, he did have the decency to be almost incoherent at the finish though. Hot again, enjoying it (sort of) while it lasts before the weather breaks tomo evening. It's getting very hard. Most things hurt and I was bleeding from my crotch and little toe today. Tomorrow is even longer and harder. Lovely.

C • Bleeding crotch 3