More fantastic running with Kilian (plus a slow motion overdose, but pretty to look at)

Gigathlon! Switzerland’s most spectacular multi-sport event. Every year, athletes tackle a weekend-long endurance challenge, and roughly every five years the event lasts for seven(!) days. Every day comprises swimming, inline skating, mountain biking, road biking and running; the daily volume easily compares to an Ironman race. You can either tackle the race on your own (Single men and women), as a Couple (at least one woman does at least two legs per day) or as a Team of Five (at least two women in the team).

I was aware of Gigathlon since 2007 when the last seven days race took place; last year I went to watch a friend race it on his own, and this year I participated in a Team of Five. Our slot was sponsored by the Swiss Air Force (thank you!), so all I had to do was travel to the right place and run around a bit.

The whole event took place in the canton of Valais, which basically consists of a long valley and lots of mountains next to that valley. The Teams of Five were based in Turtmann, a former air force base, in a tent camp. On my way there I met Markus, our team captain and cyclist, and Sandro, the mountainbiker, in the train; lots of chit chat later, we arrived in Turtmann and walked to the registration.

We picked up our swimming and skating ladies Ilona and Julia, registered and got our tents. The rest of Friday was setting up tents, bumping into people I knew, chatting, eating and enjoying the awesome camp atmosphere.

The Singles and Couples had to do their first leg already this afternoon: inline skating from Turtmann to Leukerbad, lots of uphill. Because they were based in Leukerbad, I didn’t see any of them on Friday.

We tried to figure out Saturday (who has to go where, when, how, bringing what) and went to sleep rather early. This is what Saturday looked like:

Inline skating from Turtmann to Sion, cycling from Sion to Crans-Montana, swimming there in a lake, running up to the Plaine Morte glacier where time would be neutralised until back in Crans-Montana, then mountainbiking from Crans-Montana to Leukerbad. The elevation profile of the day was this:

Skating would be rather flat, cycling hilly, running steeeeep and biking hilly again. And swimming very flat.

I got up in time to see the Singles and Couples leave one hour before the team skaters, got some breakfast, changed into running gear and left with Ilona to the train station.

Crans-Montana is at about 1400 metres above sea level. We arrived more than two hours before the first team would arrive, time enough to get to the transition area and understand where everybody would have to go to. Ilona was not happy about having to get out of the water after each of her four laps and having to run so far from transition to the water, but I happened to know that she is an excellent swimmer and would handle all that with no sweat.

I even found some coffee, chatted with friends and enjoyed what they call the “Gigathlon spirit”: a very friendly atmosphere despite being in a competition. The first Couple and Single athletes arrived, and soon after, the teams started to trickle in. Thanks to a tracking device we knew quite exactly when to expect our cyclist, which was a good thing considering the sheer mass of teams. Here are the team swimmers waiting for their turn:

The one in front (bent over, only muscles visible) is Ilona putting on her wetsuit. A few minutes later, Markus arrived and Ilona was unleashed. She is one of the strongest open water swimmers of her age in Switzerland, and it was a pleasure watching her dart past “normal” people seemingly effortless. Swimming was four laps in this scenic little lake:

A bit more than 40 minutes later, Ilona had finished her three kilometres (that’s conicidentally about twice as fast as my open water swimming) and I got a wet timing chip to carry up to Plaine Morte.

I had done the course once before, so I knew roughly what to expect. I wore my (super heavy) Salomon trail running shoes, and because it was mandatory to bring a rain jacket I ran with a backpack, whick I got specifically for this race. But it’s so awesome I’m sure I’ll use it often: the Salomon XT Advanced Skin 5 Slab Set. It’s rather minimalistic, so with the drinking system, a jacket and kneelings, it was full.

The first two kilometres were on concrete and in the village; from then on it was paths, trails or less. I knew that it would be possible to run for about the first eleven kilometres, and after seven kilometres there would be a little downhill part. The weather was absolutely perfect and I could enjoy most of the run. Because there were a lot of Single and Couple athletes saving energy by power walking instead of running, I kept passing people. Occasionally, somebody would pass me, and some people had an amazing pace and were gone in no time.

At aid stations, I usually took a cup of iso drink, a cup of water and a gel. I don’t use much gels ever, but this race would last longer than most of what I do, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt. (And it didn’t.)

After about one hour, I reached the downhill part. It was fairly technical, but lots of fun to run. I have to find a race that consists of this kind of trails exclusively! Passing people was quite an effort because you had to run next to the trail, but still doable.

Once the downhill fun was over, the tough part began. We were at 2’200 metres above sea level, and the path was a rocky something with some inclines so steep it was not possible to run any more. At least not for me. It’s a strange feeling to be forced to walk when you want to run, but you simply can’t!

It would have been allowed to bring and use poles, but I didn’t because I knew that I wouldn’t need them for the first part. They would have been nice for the last bit though! I switched between running and walking now. We had to cross two short patches of snow, and finally I reached the Plaine Morte. There was a sign saying “Just 800 metres to go!”, and I liked the sound of that a lot.

I of course faked some runnnig for the finish and was super happy to see Markus with my bag of fresh and warm clothes. I have to ask him about the pictures he took at the top as I don’t have any. Overall, it took me just below two hours for 14 kilometres and 1’600 metres elevation difference.

I attacked the post run buffet, downed lots of water and iso drink and started eating a disgusting protein bar. Everything for my regeneration! To get an idea of the course, this is a Google Earth view of it:

The way down in the cable car was filled with being happy and conversations with other runners, non-running Team of Five members and eating my disgusting protein bar. Sponser, you have not outdone yourselves with that one yet.

Time was neutralised, so there was no need to hurry. Back down in Crans-Montana, I had to find our biker Sandro:

But surprisingly, that didn’t take long. I chatted with a few people and started to go back to Turtmann. There we had dinner, talked about organisation of the next day, had a laugh a Sandro (who was all dirty from biking) and went to sleep very early; I would have to catch the train to Zermatt early next morning.

Overall, we placed 60th out of a bit more than 800 teams after the first day; I placed 97th for the running leg. The fastest guy clocked 1:28 hours! But hey, Martin Anthamatten isn’t exactly nobody. Ilona finished 10th out of 849 for the swimming leg!

After a beautiful Saturday, Sunday promised to be even better: the whole running leg just next to Switzerland’s most iconic mountain, the Matterhorn!

Last Sunday, I was introduced to trail running. I wanted to break in my new trail running shoes, and what better way to do that than taking advantage of an absolutely perfect day (and a seasoned trail running pro). I took the train along Lake Zurich, and it promised to be one gorgeous day:

Fiola hopped in the train, and before long, we were in Einsiedeln. The plan was to either run back to Horgen or do a loop back to Einsiedeln. After an intense look at the map,

we decided to try and run towards Schwyz, with the backup solution of going back to Einsiedeln along the main street in the valley.

And then we hit the trails! At first, it was normal forest paths. We gained a lot of height and got lost here and there, but after some time the paths turned into small single trails, and they were just awesome to run. Not to mention the views we had, for example back to Einsiedeln:

Or towards the South:

I’m pretty sure the hikers we met thought that we’re crazy. But it was so much fun! I was happy with my shoes. They’re a bit heavier than my road running shoes, but much stiffer and with a much better profile. Trail running requires much more focus than street running, you basically have to watch out for every step where to put your foot.

Fiola demonstrated that there is a learning curve by running about twice as fast downhill as me. After a while, I gained a bit more trust in the stability of my new shoes, but there was still a bit of catching up (me) or waiting (Fi) involved after every descent. Turns out she noticed as well ;)

To capture my first proper trail run, a photo shoot was appropriate. Not on single trails anymore, but still with weather to show off with. Take one:

No, not good enough. Now, where do you delete a picture… push here… ah, okay… ups…

I was sent back and forth. Seen here: the front pouches of the backpack I was wearing, and in the background a hiking family.

Next try:

And a last one:

We thought that among all these shots there simply had to be a good one. Here’s all the back-and-forth running I did (note the daring cross-country short cut before):

And as a little revenge, I took a pic of Fi when we were about to continue:

We decided to turn around and run back to Einsiedeln, as Schwyz was still far away. After a bit more than three hours, we were back. This is what our loop looked like:

Unfortunately, Garmin decided to use Bing maps with Garmin Connect from now on, so in the near future, there won’t be any pretty Google Earth shots of my runs. Boo. (I could install Google Earth and export my runs, but I’m too lazy).

We played tourists, had a look at the famous abbey and got some coffee and sweets. All in sweaty spandex, of course.

To demonstrate how super hard core trail running is, let me show you this:

Leaping across a giant chasm (haha, I wrote “spasm” first…), I almost cut my hand off while landing. Or something like that (maybe a bit less dramatic, but there was a gap in the path).

Fi, on the other hand, had some old (and real, as opposed to my scratch) knee trouble flaring up that day. Not cool! Get better soon!

On the way home, the view of lake Zurich was still pretty. And I have to think of new trail running adventures.

Trail running career starting in 3 – 2 – 1 – tomorrow!

My new babies, the Salomon XT Wings GTX. I was actually looking for the version without Gore-Tex, but a) I would have had to wait for a month and b) Winter’s coming and it’s going to be cold and wet, so why not.

After a bit of poking around I realise that the successor has been on the market for a while now, so at first I was like “hmpf”, but then I read reviews by people who have used them both, and I was like “okay”.

They will be broken in with a run from Horgen to Einsiedeln (or the other way around?) tomorrow. I hope the weather stays like today (i.e., perfect)!