Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Day 3. Even bigger than yesterday.

Started in cloud, and took it fairly easy up the first huge climb. Aid station was indoors at a ski chalet! Felt good on the steep descent, but it was easy to get lost in thick fog.
I made the second aid station deep in the valley in good time, and was able to have some coffee and a bite of cake. I met up with Ukai there again but he took off. The next climb was gradual but very long, and I felt strong going up, moving up well in the field. I caught Ukai there. Again, pea-soup fog at the pass, and a long run down.

Sam AKA Hong Kong Strong caught us on the descent, despite doing CCC last week as his "taper". I had to switch to French when I ran with Charlotte for the last 10k. We ended with 4K of road, Ukai the bullet train passed me on the final short climb, but we all finished within minutes, to much high-fiving.

More climb, more distance but felt a bit easier and I moved up to 40th overall on the day. 6th in my category. Still pretty tired by the end. Stomach was just starting to grumble, and took a few hours before I could eat some great Pizza with Bash.

C • 6th! 1

Day 2. Our wedding anniversary! Coffee in bed for Bash.
This was the day that started with the monster climb out of Zermatt and over the highest pass of the race. I felt surprisingly good as we chugged up through low cloud for 2 hours. Once we popped out it was a spectacular bluebird day under the Matterhorn. I continued to feel strong on the climb, and moved up through the field, probably thanks to the days we spent here before the race. We crossed the glacier and I met Ukai ( the strong Japanese runner we saw at breakfast) up on the high pass.

Down into Italy and the main CP for the day, where I was able to eat 2 pieces of cake. Ukai took off as I searched for the WC. Some barren glaciated areas, then over a lower pass into a lush alpine wonderland with jaw-dropping views. I met up with Tom, an American who lives here and climbs like a mountain goat. The 3rd CP at Rifugio Ferraro was astounding, with a patio over a massive drop commanding the valley, in a lush forest with a creek. Magical views of villages crammed in narrow valleys, waterfalls, forest... Hard to leave- It would be fantastic to stay there on a hike some day.
This would be a tight cut-off for some runners, but I had 2 hours so could relax after.

Good thing, as I started to feel the day and the heat, so I backed off , dunked my head and took some more video. The final pass was a tough haul, and Tom caught up again after I had lost him on the descent.

I made it into town after a solid day, and staggered up with my bag to our hotel to clean up and practice my Italian before Bash arrived.
I met Bash with Anniversary apple strudel at the finish, and we had the best meal of the race for dinner.

Big day, really tiring. Ukai met me at the finish- he'd been in for about 10 min, and Tom came in a bit later. I'd moved up to the top 1/3 overall, to my surprise.

C • Nice work 4

UTMR day 1.
Started dark and early. Plan was to start easy then back it off, and feel good all day.
My stomach wasn't 100% but a detour to a fortuitously placed WC put me in dead last but feeling much better.
Caught up with Bash, and met Wolfgang from Italy who set an excellent conservative pace. Between my German and his English, we did best in Italian. Kept HR really low, and had some amazing views as we ran above the clouds. Some really mysterious bits in fog and Lord-of-the-Rings terrain.
Some long technical stretches that had a lot of nervous runners jamming up traffic, but no rush. Got some great footage on the GoPro.
We crossed the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, around 0.5km, which saved some nasty descending and climbing.
I eventually left Wolfgang and that part of the pack, and ran the easy descent gently by myself for around an hour.
Some avalanche slopes had concrete shelters and bunkers. Finished up running with Dora the Dutch neurosurgeon on a cruise to the finish. Probably bottom 1/3 or so.
Felt great 100% of the day- maybe being in the back of the pack is the way to go!
Saw Bash finish strong.

C • Bridge! 3

UTMR starts tomorrow.

I am racer #533, and Barb is 518 in the 4-stage race.

For the dot watchers, you can track us at :

1. Official race timing from Racematix - https://www.racematix.com/site/#entry:grp/Ultra-To...

2. via GPS tracker - http://live.opentracking.co.uk/monterosa4stage17/

Clear bluebird day! We went up to Kleine Matterhorn glacier paradise via cable car to breathe some thin air and scout out the route a bit.







We also did a bit of hiking part way down, where we could see the start of stage 2


... and the pass over to Italy around the 15 km mark


Back in time for coffee on the balcony.

C • Wow. Just wow!! 1

Low cloud and fog in Zermatt, so we did an easy trot up to Zmutt for lunch.
I could feel the altitude even at a light jog uphill.






Even without mountain views it's very Swiss.

Easy jog down after lunch.