Training Log Archive: rob s

Good warm up from Heiligenblut along the race route and back plus strides and exercises. Hot day

Grossglockner Berglauf. Second decent race since the disaster of the European championships. The race gets quite a few fast Africans so I knew the field would be strong. The course was mixed with a few very steep climbs broken up with fast flat running and a few descents, mostly on small mountain paths. Great route anyway.

At the start the Eritrean and two Kenyans went speeding off at an impossible pace, one guy tried to stick with them then after a mile he completely died and finished miles back. I stuck with Robert Krupicka and Jono Wyatt for the first 2km on the road then tried to drop them on the first steep bit. By the top of the climb at 3km I had a 30s gap on Robert and Jono and was in 4th. For the next 9km the gap stayed much the same. I never felt like anyone was very close behind and the guys in front were far ahead so I just ran fairly hard, trying not to get caught. On the steep climbs I was pulling away from Robert and on the flat bits I was pulling away from Jono but the two of them were pushing each other and I couldn't tell if they were catching up or not.

Once we got to the last flat section I could tell that Jono was dropping back and Robert was making up time on me. The ground was rocky and lots of short sharp climbs and descents made it hard to get a rhythm, I was just waiting to get on the really steep climb to the finish. Once we hit the climb Robert was just on my shoulder and I was struggling to drop him and he seemed to be going very well. The path was a bit tricky underfoot so not as easy to climb fast. With 500m to go he hadn't overtaken me so I thought I might just manage to hang on, it was the most painful finish ever though. We got on to steep wooden steps and I managed to run them all while Robert was walking, this allowed me to pull away slightly. With 200m to go the path levelled out a bit and there was only one steep bit left before the 100m home straight. Once we turned for the finish I knew I had a few seconds but Robert was really sprinting to catch me so I had to work very hard to stay ahead. Finally I got to the line 3 seconds ahead of him and the pain began to ease.
It took about 20 minutes before I felt normal again after such an effort. Very pleased to finish ahead of some good guys after a hard week of training.

C • Good read 1

Out and back from the apartment along the hilly trail going towards the town. Not pushing the uphills or downhills

On the cycle road down to the lake then up the valley and back with strides at the end. Felt easy today, legs moving well. Some scary looking lady was trying to catch me on the second half of the run. She started dropping back around mile 11 then took a short cut and continued to chase me down to the end.

Out and back to the start of the run

Steady trail run followed by a steep but runnable climb. Felt a bit tired to start with then got better after a few miles then by the top of the climb I was properly knackered. Pushed it pretty hard

Back down the hill after. Quite a tricky descent

Going up the valley from the apartment on one of the mountain bike trails. back the same way

Out and back on the path going up the valley, on the flattest bit. Uphill on the way out so hard to run very fast. Was a tough effort

On the Livigno cycle road. Went up the valley first then down to the lake and back. Strides at the end. Legs feeling good

Over the Livigno pass, down the other side and back. Solid head wind on the way out

Long run from Livigno. Ran down to the lake then up up to Monte Neve and found some nice trails contouring the valley. Amazing weather and some of the best running possible