Chasing the perfect trail (cont'd IV)

Every summer I try to escape Berlin to spend some time in the mountains. This summer was quite intense with work and unfortunately, I haven’t gotten rid of the problems with my calves, so I needed to stop training for a couple of weeks here and there this year. However, Lucas got us a spot for the Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails – a trail running team competition in Bad Hofgastein (Austria). We took this event as the start of a short holiday in the Austrian mountains this year.

Special thanks to Lucas and David for such a fun trip and for letting me run the shortest distance at Infinite Trails ;-)

Please, don’t try to do this without proper training, planning, equipment, etc. but feel free to ask me any question about the trip.

Equipment

You might know the picture of my equipment already – it was again very similar compared to the years before (see pic from 2020, from 2019, from 2018, from 2017). This year, I took a smaller running bag with me for the race and also a climbing set (Klettersteigset) for our trips in the mountains after the race.

*Looks nearly the same compared to the years before*

The route and the journey

On Friday afternoon, Lucas and I took a bus from Munich to Bad Hofgastein together with other Adidas Runners from London and Munich. Saturday was race day and we took part in the team competition. This means: 3 runners, 3 distances, 3 unique route profiles - as a relay team we needed to run 99km and climb 7,600 vertical meters in total. We decided that I will run the S-track (21km, 1900hm), Lucas will run the M-track (35km, 2700hm), and David the L-track (44km, 3000hm). After arriving in Bad Hofgastein, we checked out the route and went for pasta dinner with David a bit later.

Saturday – Race Day Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails

The start for all of us was at 7.00 am on Saturday morning, so we got up at 5.00 am for a short breakfast and to pack our race gear. The race required specific items of equipment that we must wear or have with us such as a first-aid kit, a waterproof jacket, and a GPS device. When we got up it was still dark and pretty cold (below 10 degrees) but the weather forecast was promising.

*Running a few meters after a long uphill*

Just before the start, the sun was rising and at exactly 7.00 am we went off together with a few hundred other runners. The first 10km were basically just uphill and the last time I was running in the mountains was one year ago, so I knew I should be careful and not start too fast. We went up for the first kilometers and after 20-30min I was running together with a group of 4-5 people up to the first refreshment station. From there on, I overtook a few more people on my way up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really enjoy the beautiful view over the mountains now that the sun was shining.

The last uphill was very steep and my legs were already really sore, so I lost a lot of time going up to Gamskarkogel (2467m) where we reached the final peak. I ate an energy gel and from there on it was only going downhill. At the last refreshment station, it was still 7km to go but I was feeling quite weak already. I ate another energy gel hoping it would help and it did. From there on, I was running the last kilometers only by myself down to Bad Hofgastein. After 2:58h I crossed the finish line extremely happy since I didn’t think I could run under 3h with so little training. Lucas finished in 4:01h and David in 5:33h and so we came 9th overall in the team category. I’m still blown away by some of the athletes who were running up and down at an incredible pace.

After the race, we spent nearly 10 hours at the Alpentherme in Bad Hofgastein where the after-race party was. It felt really good to meet old running friends and other athletes I have only read about in the news such as Anna Hahner. What a day!

Sunday – Rest Day

Waking up on Sunday just hurt, especially my legs. At least we could enjoy the large breakfast this time. Before leaving the hotel, we watched the Berlin Marathon cheering for Bekele to break the world record. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it but so much respect for still finishing the race even though he wasn’t feeling great. Also, good to see that these large running events are possible again.

To shake out our legs we decided to do a hike around the waterfall in Gastein. Here are a few impressions:

My highlight was a proper Austrian lunch on that day. Not surprising but the way down to our hotel hurt so much more than the way up before. The Sauna and pool helped us to relax a little bit more in the evening.

Monday – Graukogel (2.492m)

After breakfast, we decided to hike up Graukogel, a mountain not too far from our new hotel. Our legs were still sore but better than the day before.

The first half of our way up was beautiful through a dense forest. In winter this area is part of a larger ski area called “Ski Amadé” and we went up one of the ski pistes. We also crossed a few mountain houses where one house was probably closer to a farm with lots of animals such as these two pigs (great shot by Lucas!):

The rest to the top was much steeper and the mountain was only covered with stones. Within 3 hours we reached the top and started our way down where we came by a nice mountain lake. The rest of the downhill was through the forest until we reached our final destination.

*David on his way to the top of Graukogel*

Tuesday – Hochalmspitze (3360m)

Tuesday was the highlight of our trip because we wanted to hike up to Hochalmspitze. With 3360m it’s the highest mountain in our area (Ankogelgruppe in Kärnten) and partially covered by glaciers.

We started early in the morning and drove to our parking spot. From there it was less than an hour to Gießener Hütte. The uphill was quite steep but slowly the muscles in our legs were feeling good again. We continued to hike up further in the sun but the higher we went, the cloudier it got. This was our view less than two kilometers to the top:

For the last kilometer, we needed our climbing set. Luckily it didn’t snow, otherwise, it would have been very slippery. After a couple of hours, we reached the top at 3360m.

From there we went down on the other side of the mountain. One part was a steep climb down from where we crossed one of the glaciers. We went further down until we reached the Gießener Hütte again and then back to our parking lot.

Wednesday – Reedsee (1831m)

The Reedsee, apparently “one of the most beautiful lakes in the Alps”, is located not more than 10km away from our accommodation. Unfortunately, the weather was bad and it rained a lot. Waiting didn’t help and we started to hike the first very steep kilometer and then started running towards the forest. After a few kilometers, we needed to hike up ca. 800 vertical meters to the lake. The forest was really nice and probably would have been even nicer if it wouldn’t have rained so much.

Within only 1.5 hours we reached Reedsee and it looked like this:

As a comparison, this is how it can look like in autumn if it does not rain:

As you might see in the picture, there is a mountain house at the end of the lake – must be super beautiful to stay there in summer. From Reedsee we went the same way downhill and ran back to our hotel. We finished our trip with a proper Austrian dinner.

This trip was again different than in the years before. I was taking part in a race again after more than 4 years without any competition and it felt great. Also, I’m very grateful just to be able to do these kinds of runs and adventures even though work was hectic this year. Here is to the next one!