Schlagwort-Archive: Running

2024

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End of October is the usual time to draw the line. To sum it up.

Although the year is not over yet the yearly circle is closed for me. Starting November it usually is the time to start the preparation for the Legends Trail happening late February the following year.

The new circle starts right now.

Numbers:
In 2024 I ran 38 Marathons+ distances so far. With a handful more to come in the remaining of 2024 this will be the highest number in the records. With 600 missing km the chances are quite good that I will beat the 5000 km/year for the second time ever. All this wouldn’t have been possible without losing my job in February 2024 and the separation from the rest of the family. After all a quite difficult and painful process. Life is not as straightforward as expected; a lesson familiar from ultra running. Let’s see how this will turn out and what the future may bring. Together with Marek I immensely enjoy an interesting running challenge and this yearly review is a great opportunity to highlight the current standings on my end. The task is to run a Marathon+ on each and every calendar date available. Start date of the run = date for the entry in the sheet. Multidays/longer runs over multiple days count as one event. I guess no one else in the world cares but til end of October 2024 I reached 56% of all dates possible (204/366). This years highlight was the completion of February 29th – a rather difficult date. Focussing a bit more on the sheet and taking care that the longer runs are scheduled best possible certainly helped to increase this number. Whether or not it will be possible to complete it – who knows. But I am definitely looking forward to at least try it.

The Date Game – 31.10.2024

The year 2024 started with the our usual mAMa (matschiger Aachen Marathon) edition. With me no longer living in Aachen the future of mAMa is still in discussion at the moment. mAMa was followed by the first edition of the Teuflischer Biber Ultra – a great concept. I only managed to complete 1.5 of the 6 60 km loops but I think more is possible. If all goes well I will attend the next edition in 2025. Legends Trail 2024 was another huge test for body and mind but it ended with finish number 4. In March 2024 I had my go on the qualification run for next years LOTR Slam.

These slam projects really evolved in a small group of runners. After the Titanic Slam and the Marvel Slam this is already Slam number 3. We changed the concept a bit so that 2024 is the qualification year (you have to run a certain GPX within 2024 to access the 4 challenges in 2025). That keeps the concept alive but relaxes the time schedules a bit. So far we have 15 runners who completed the entry challenge – the Dead Mashes run (209 km). I am very pleased by the enthusiasm and the discussion in those underground Facebook chats. Proud to see how them undertake the Dead Marshes track – which happens to my GPX. Looking forward to see how those 14 and myself (or more – two more months to complete the entry challenge) will try to schedule 3×100 mile runs and a special surprise into our running agendas 2025. But I am certain that there will be finishers.

In April 2024 it was time to visit the loops again – Legends Backyard Ultra in Belgium. The aim was to qualify for the 2024 Team Germany at the World Team Championships in Backyard Ultra in 2024. The 36 loops were enough to achieve that. Huge thanks to Michael from the Biber Backyard Ultra Team for the support – both at the LBU as well as at the World Team Championships. To have a crew is crucial in this strange running format. To recover from all these loops it was time for a long trail adventure. Claudia and I tried to run the Westweg and managed 210 km. Although we did not manage to complete the whole Westweg it was a great time out there with the most spectacular polar lights night I ever saw. During the summer I tried to maintain some running abilities and attended at the 24h Lauf Dorsten (100 mi). Last but not least B. and me finally had the chance to run together and to complete the 100 mi at the Breckerfelder Flower Power Ultra – which was the last test before the Backyard Ultra World Team Championship with the German team in Nürnberg.

All in all 7×100 mi plus runs in 2024 – increasing the count from 35 to 42.

Apart from all these official runs 2024 was a great chance to expand the part of running/exploring I enjoy most. With Marek I have been trying to complete as many new tiles from @statshunter as possible. The side effect of this was that Marek could also increase his plaatsnaam bordjes count for his private challenge (collect all towns in the province Brabant in NL and take a picture of the town sign). My statshunter page looks like this – looking forward to to hunt more tiles in the next years:

Statshunter status 31.10.2024 – max square = 24×24

Another key figure in 2024 was Maarten – thank you for all those countless hours of madness – both underground and in the marshes. Lets try to conserve this in the future.

And 2025? Lets see.

A lot of plans have been made. The first focus will be on the Legends Trail 2025 – the last Legends Trail in the well known format. It would be a dream to finish this beast once more.

Backyard World Team Championship 2024

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WICHTIGE LINKS:
Internet-Auftritt TEAM GER
Instagram TEAM GER
LIVE COVERAGE DACH inkl. Links zu den LIVE-Daten weltweit
Laufend Entdecken Podcast mit Teilen der Teams GER/AUT
Live Ergebnisse GER
YouTube Live WW

00Days
00Hours
00Minutes
00Seconds

Es wird Zeit…

Viel haben wir im Team miteinander geschrieben im Vorfeld – am Samstag sehen wir uns endlich persönlich. Nur um uns ab 1400 deutscher Zeit dem Backyard-Format zu unterwerfen. Eintauchen in hoffentlich endloses Rundendrehen. Ein großer Dank geht schon jetzt raus an unseren Host vom TSV Katzwang 05 – super Vorbereitung, uns wird es an nichts fehlen.

Weltweit sind 63 Länder am Start – mit den jeweils 15 besten Läufern im Backyard Ultra Format der letzten 2 Jahren (August 2022 bis August 2024) des jeweiligen Landes. Insgesamt über 900 Athleten starten zur gleichen Zeit in 63 unterschiedlichen Rennen. Es muss ein Fest werden als Zuschauer.

Hier ist Team Germany 2024:

Team GER 2024

Wenn Ihr nicht vertraut seid mit dem Format – hier ist eine sehr gute Erklärung vom belgischen Backyard Ultra Account:

How does it actually work?

Für die Zahlen/Statistik-Fetischisten – hier ist Euer Link. Alle Backyard Ultra Zahlen zusammengefasst. Vermutlich sogar mit einigen Live-Updates während der WM. Einfach faszinierend. Team GER liegt vor dem Rennen auf Platz 14 – hoffentlich ist diese Platzierung nach dem Event eine besser!

https://www.backyardstats.com/home

Für mich persönlich geht es darum die Zeit zu genießen. Und danach noch ein wenig weiter zu machen. Ziele gibt es nicht in diesem Format. Obwohl: eine PB im Backyard, eine PB was den längsten Lauf angeht (281 km) und ach – warum nicht – eine Quali fürs Team 2026 wären schön. Nur wie viele Runden Letzteres bedeutet ist ja mehr als ungewiss. Also: immer weiter!

Viel Spaß beim Verfolgen – sowas hat es in der Größe noch nicht gegeben. Ein Format aus der Hölle erobert die Ultra-Welt. Bald wird es die echten Lauf-Rekorde auf der ganz langen Distanz gefährden, wer hätte das für möglich gehalten.

Wie wunderbar ein Teil davon sein zu dürfen.

#justonemoreloop

Dead Marshes Loop 1 // June 2024

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Things sometimes don´t go according to plan. We did not manage to finish the 208k of Dead Marshes; somewhat around 80k most of the group decided to stop after loop 1 // 120k. The rest of the group took a while with accepting this fact but was happy with the decision after a while. All in all a really nice experience out there with the those two. It really is different to attempt do ultras with the experts and even better to sustain through surprisingly dark moments on this shorter run. Everyone stayed calm when things went sideways in an unexpected way. We have seen the all shades of that darkness – although we expected it 100k later.

I have to admit – to see Dead Marshes in the summer was a blast – quite different to my first attempt in March 2024.

Pictures by Maarten, Marek and me.

Maarten did his usual genius on the collected video impressions and formed another masterpiece:

Climb Score view from Runalyze

If you want to find out more about it – refer to the LOTR Slam pages here and here.

Are you ready for Legends Trail?

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„There is a button on your tracker. When you press that button for 3 seconds you will feel it vibrate. Once you do that we consider this to be a REAL emergency and we will try to be at your position as fast as possible. On your number and hopefully in your phone there is a phone number. If you have a problem, or another runner has a problem you can call this number and we will try to help you. Please do not call if you are hungry, feel tired or feel lonely.“

A wise man.

„Are you ready for Legends Trail“ was one of the most asked question in the last 3-4 hours before the start of 2024 Legends Trail. The question came from runners/volunteers/crew members. The only honest answer – and the answer I gave – is „no„. My opinion is that one is never truly ready for such a challenge. One reason is that the amount of uncertainties is enormous (and its impossible to prepare for the unknown) and the other reason is that Legends Trail is a really long race. Really, really long. For the shorter distances you can take measures such: at this point in race I do this or that and that will safe me for a certain amount of time/distance until I do the same thing again. If that does not work I have here a plan B/C/D/E/F – one of those plan will ultimately do the trick and will make me finish.

Most runners (including me) try to apply similar strategic breakdowns to the Legends Trail – simply to make it a bit more manageable in the head before the race. Although that might be an important first step to do to not already freak out at the start line most of us secretly know that this is not worth for the whole thing. The amount of plans you may need during Legends Trail exceeds the letters in the alphabet and then there is the unknown hovering above the runners as well. Waiting to strike.

Lets take one step back and have look at the question from a different perspective. If the question only means: „Are you prepared for Legends Trail“ the answer should be a different one. The answer should be: „I did everything under my control to prepare myself„. This preparation should include running, gear and mental preparation. And this preparation is or at least should be the basis for even thinking about starting

With regards to running everyone has very unique strategy but there are two general thing to take into consideration:

1. Go out when the conditions are the baddest you can think of. Because that’s a very likely scenario at Legends Trail. And you don’t want to be surprised by wind, rain, cold, hail, snow or ice.

2. Know the nights. Really know them. Embrace the darkness. Know how and when to sleep rough. If all goes down the drain at Legends Trail you may stand in pouring rain at freezing temperatures, shivering as hell already, but deadly tired with nothing else in mind than the urge to sleep. You may want to make sure to know every step you need to do in exactly this moment which safes you and prevents the DNF. Because the DNF will seem like the only way out of this situation.

With regards to material and equipment the considerations of Maarten „BEN JE KLAAR VOOR DE LEGENDS TRAIL?“ are worth reading. Also his Material Checklist and his blog about feet and how to keep them operational should be must reads. The topic feet (an important one) and other packing considerations are also addressed here. Not everything is a 1:1 adaption but there is inspiration and there are successful strategies out there to copy from and to adapt so that they work for your individual needs. What also applies here: know your stuff. You may find out that you work best if you change shoes, you may find out that you want to wear multiple layers of socks, you may find out that waterproofs kill your feet – just make sure you find out BEFORE Legends Trail. Another advice would be: do not freak out at the CP sitting in front of your drop back. I don’t know to whom I talked about it lately but he/she mentioned that he/she wanted to change to new clothes at one of the CPs and ended up to put on the wet base layer from the stretch before just because it was too „complicated“ to search for a fresh and dry one in the drop back. Stupid but it happens with a fucked-up mind. Live with it and don´t let it kill your race.

Well. Nothing really to say about the mental preparation. That’s an individual thing. My mindset is to be humble and thankful for the fact that I can take part in these kind of adventures and to embrace every step during it no matter how painful they may be. And I know that there are people both at the finish line and watching the dots which I don’t want to disappoint. I own and embrace a deep desire to make them happy. That does the trick for me. Make sure to find your best motivators and strategies as well.

With these point you should be prepared for Legends Trail (as good as you can do) so why are you not ready?

Because Legends Trail is absurd. Its a challenge which is tough from the very first step. Relentless climbing in ever changing but never easy conditions. Topped with most of the time interesting weather in the Ardennes in February. The energy the average Legends Trailer takes with them lasts roughly one day. The first night is considered to be kind of ok given the conditions and the first day is mostly fine as well. At the end of this time period (mostly around CP2) the energy is used up. It was a rough and very difficult 100-130 km ultra and its time that its over. Although perfectly normal feelings, this is the point in Legends time when the race slowly begins to start.

And no one is really ready for this second night. A night meant to break the runners, to finally crack them. To strip them down to their pure will and mental strength. One needs way more than those 100% to make it out of this second night. And there are still 24-30 hours left of Legends Trail at this point. Undoable.

Legends Sunday is usually a fragile construct. On the one hand its daylight (which makes things considerably easier) on the other hands the finish is too far to feel realistic and to pull you mentally. Its a demanding battle of attrition against Legends Trail and against yourself. And the worst is yet to come: night 3. If night 2 was already something one was not ready for – night 3 is the ultimate trip.

Things tend to break apart in night 3. Just like that. From one second to the other. The ability to orientate and to navigate is gone, the urge of sleep is overwhelming beyond description, your tired brain paints things into the forest which seriously distract you. You may see runners staring at stones. For minutes. You may find them wandering off track. You may find them crying, you may find them lying down with hypothermia, you may find them talking to themselves. Nothing prepares you for this. In night 3 everything finally collapses. The worlds disappears and you are not quite sure if the world may resurface. The only hope is daylight on the morning of Legends Monday.

Day 3 (aka Legends Monday) is the saviour, the ultimate relieve. You may be unprepared for the fact that you are not longer able to control your emotions. Every ever so tiny encouraging or beautiful thing you see or encounter may make you burst into tears. But in a good way. Close to the finish with the main effort behind you its an absolute astounding feeling. These moments as well as the moment of finish are the moments you came for. And they are beyond description but more than worth the effort. They truly belong to you and they will last. Most describe them as something which becomes part of their identity.

In the Trailmagazin Podcast Tom (LT finisher from 2024) is being asked if the race director of Legends Trail is just inhuman and cruel. Tom´s answer fits perfectly as he says: „I think its quite the contrary“. I truly believe its exactly this. Legends Trail is designed to confront runners with the DNF – to push them on the edge of their limits and then continue to push further. Only by doing this, certain abilities, certain mindsets are revealed. The lucky few escaping and being able to finish Legends Trail have gone further than they thought they could. Its deep in the DNA of Legends Trail to reveal exactly this in the competitors. To be able to great these people at the finish line and to live with them through their emotions must be a truly satisfying moment. My believe is that Tim is truly worried about if the Legends Trail is difficult enough to push us that far but that he truly respects and admires the ones he can congratulate at the finish.

No, one is never ready for this. To a certain extend you go there empty handed but you if you manage it its truly unique.

Run Throughout The Year #rtty

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Simple rules are always great. So the challenge from cockbainevents.com must be brilliant:

But, well. Turned out that there are some twists to it. I was absolutely unprepared for the fact that there are months not offering a 50 miler per default. Race months fine – don’t even need to to think about them. But what about the others? Strange. Another striking finding was that 50 mi are kind-of-longer compared to a standard long run (around Marathon). And, even more surprisingly, substantially longer. Like almost double – a distance which requires some determination to get it done outside of races.

Taking all that together this challenges requires just as much determination, dedication, consistency and grid to make it unpleasant. And I think that’s exactly what Mark had in mind. All is well. Clear recommendation. Its just that tiny amount of uneasiness that makes it extremely annoying.

MonthRunLinkDate
February 2023Montane Legends Trail (275k)https://www.strava.com/activities/859238081517.02.2023
March 202324h Sittard (163k)https://www.strava.com/activities/874164589218.03.2023
April 2023Venntrilogie (108k)https://www.strava.com/activities/894399349922.04.2023
May 202350 mi LKS (80.8k)https://www.strava.com/activities/902979572607.05.2023
June 2023Biber Backyard Ultra (140k)https://www.strava.com/activities/919805043203.06.2023
July 2023Schinder Prison Break (241k)https://www.strava.com/activities/941973471207.07.2023
August 2023Hinweg + Monschau Marathon K70 (100k)https://www.strava.com/activities/963932598713.08.2023
September 2023Infernal Trail des Vosges (208k)https://www.strava.com/activities/981806987007.09.2023
October 2023Tour Nordeifel (50 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/9966830373/03.10.2023
November 2023Hohe Mark Trail (100 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/1014817308601.11.2023
December 2023X-MAS-50@Lousberg (50 mi)https://www.strava.com/activities/1043504066825.12.2023
January 2024mAMa 2024 + Warm-Uphttps://www.strava.com/activities/1055173922313.01.2024

10 years

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Back in 2014 we had no idea:

2014 – Limburgs Halfzware 75k

Back in 2015 we asked ourselves some questions:

Limburgs Zwarste 2015 – 100k

Back in 2016 we started to explore…

2016 – random fun

Back in 2017 we met new friends:

2017: DCUrbN 100k

Back in 2018 we tried new things:

2018: TTdR 230k

Back in 2019 we received some Dutch Bling Bling:

LEO180 2019 – 210k

Back in 2020 we explored the darkness:

2020 GR Hageland – 150k

Back in 2021 we figured daylight is also ok:

2021 Krönungsweg Bonn-AC 140k

Back in 2022 we started to conquer the unknown:

2022 The Mystique – 200k

Back in 2023 we started to relax:

2023 Biber Backyard Ultra

And what is next? After thousands of shared kms we rarely meet to run these days. But when we meet its for something big, something new – its for an adventure. On, on we go. Hop hop don’t stop!

2023

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After the pandemic years 2021 and 2022 with the two Slams (Titanic Slam in 2021 and Marvel Slam in 2022) it was finally time to get back to a „normal“ schedule in 2023. Whatever that would mean.

February 2023:
As a kind of tradition the long-distance running year started with the Legends Trail in February 2023. It was the usual fight with the elements and with the own body – but at the end it was finish #3 at the third attempt. Maintaining the 100%. Its a race hard to describe but the final thoughts from my race report in February summarize the 280k of emotions quite well:

And then the moments were there. The moments I envisioned before and during the race – the moments I came for. Not just a usual Monday – the Legends Trail Monday. All efforts of the past long hours were meant to reach exactly this: the final 10k of Legends Trail with enough time that the finish is safe. As if nature wanted to join the party a glistening sun flooded the hills of the final stretch. It’s a bit like dream walking. Shook by the emotions of the upcoming finish. Deeply connected to the surroundings. Unbelievable thankful for being able to reach that point and to be part of this story once more. One of the last hills brought a nice view and standing there in the warm sun was an amazing feeling. It could have last forever but it was not done yet. There was a finish waiting, there were people waiting – time to ultimately finish it off – time to also tick-off the last kilometres of Legends Trail 2023.

LT 2023 – The Bus. The Walk. The Paradise.

March 2023:
As a Legends Trail cool-down I decided to enter the flat 24h race in Sittard. A nice and boring course – no excuses at hand for any break. I secretly hoped for a PB (>166k; something in the range of 180k should be doable for I hope) but at the end there was still some tiredness in the body so the mind could not push and required some breaks. I DNFed with a 100 mi attempt – at least the minimum goal was achieved.

April-June 2023:
In April we seized the chance to test out the new hiking trail Venntrilogie, in May we met for a running weekend in Sauerland and finally the first Backyard of 2023 in June – the Biber Backyard Ultra. Tough track for a backyard and mind and body were not really ready that day so it ended early.

July 2023:
Summer. Usually a time unsuited for running. But it was time to collect another long distance and the Schinder Prison Break offered a new format for me and a new chance for some decent running. Even better: as it was an escape running event it involved a lot of planning of the best track on the computer before it even started. Something I really love. The event itself was a great journey. The first night I was alone with my backpack but then I was accompanied by a great crew. The greatest crew. Car support, running without backpack, meeting my friends. It made running in the heat much more comfortable (although it was still a real torture). 48h of escaping and 241k – it was a nice adventure.

Prison Break 2023 – without crew you can’t conquer the desert!

August 2023:
Another transition month – connecting two long events. The home event – the Monschau Marathon – offered a good chance to squeeze in a long run. I never ran the K70 distance before and with a midnight start in Aachen it nicely added up to a 100k training run.

September 2023:
Showtime again. This time further away from home and for the first time in the lovely Vosges region in France. 200k Infernal Trail des Vosges was a well organized event. A bit too big and too commercial compared to what I usually run but a great team and great supporters at start/finish and the various CPs. A midnight start with a burning Infernal logo, a really spicy track, over 10k D+ of elevation gain and a brutiful landscape. On top of this – again hot weather. A tough one – 50 hours of fighting and it was done. It was satisfying to see that these things are doable backed with the experience of the last years. All in all a great trip – thanks to Claudia for the support.

The Vosges@Infernal Trail des Vosges

October-December 2023:
The final period of the year. Plans were made and could not executed. As an alternative and to get another long run in I chose another hiking track which is fairly new on the map of NRW and in a region I’ve never been before. It was a nice run on the Hohe Mark Steig but also pretty lonely and tough in a most of the time empty stretch of land.

In total 5×100 mi+ runs in 2023 – 2 less compared to 2022. Around 3800 km in 2023 – also less km compared to 2022. 72k of D+ in 2023 in total. A difficult year in many aspects but a year with great moments while running and some rare shared moments with good friends.

DateTime[km]#
Legends Trail 202317.02.202366h 56m275,0031
24h Sittard 202318.03.202324h 0m163,0032
Schinder Prison Break 48h 202307.07.202348h 0m241,5933
Infernal Trail des Vosges 202307.09.202350h 14m215,8034
Hohe Mark Steig 202301.11.202328h 36m161,0035
Sum1262h 29m6.676
Average36h 4m190,75
Updated List of Ultras – +5 in 2023
Statshunter as of December 2023 #tilehunter

The picture of the year can only be the one below – curious what 2024 may bring?!

Hydration while running – so important!

Hohe Mark Steig 2023

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The Hohe Mark Steig is the main hiking route in the Naturpark Hohe Mark. Its a pretty recent addition to the hiking trail network and was opened during Corona times. Next to the main route there are tons of shorter side/theme/connection trails. The 6 main stages of the #hohemarksteig from Wesel to Olfen add up to roughly 140k (I started at the train station in Wesel). There is an extra section called „Wasserroute“ looping back from Olfen to Haltern am See. All in all it added up to somewhat around 160k – and we all know what that means.

As it was a last minute decision I parked the car in Haltern to be able to have one supply/safe spot after 94k and a secured ride home. After the usual DB experience in the trains between Haltern and Wesel I start around noon from Wesel.

Here is the story of the run:

As a start into the run season with very view CPs I decided to go all in with gear. This means 3-4 L of liquid, 1-2 kg food, a bag of additional/replacement clothing, first aid equipment, a certain amount (ok a rather generous amount) of electronic (power banks/cable). All in all with backpack 10-12 kg.

The Hohe Mark Steig connects like a band the interesting areas in the Naturpark Hohe Mark. As there is a lot of connection needed long stretches of the Hohe Mark Steig are broad and straight forest/open field stretches. Also lots of km following canals/rivers both „on Deich“ as well as on asphalt are included. This is worth mentioning for the pure trail guys – nothing for you. The best description would be the german race category „Landschaftslauf“. All in all a wide open, empty and flat area and the Hohe Mark Steig connects it well. The smaller areas like the Venn part at the beginning the Hohe Mark forest as well as „Die Haard“ forest are nice to visit (for whatever reason some of them were pretty dark so don’t ask for too many details – I may have missed them). If you are interested in visiting the area but not interested in running it all I would plan 2-3 loop tours starting in Haltern covering Die Haard, Hohe Mark and the lake area. Should be easy to squeeze those day tours out of Hohe Mark Steig and all of those connection trails/theme routes. Also Wesel and the Venn area would make a nice day hike. Lastly to those real ultra runners: go grab an FKT. With support this should be a really fast 100 miler!

I took it easy trying to enjoy the environment as much as doable. Tried to reset the tiredness with a one hour car break from 0230-0330 in the night – repacked food and water as well and started on the last stretch.

All in all a nice little adventure. The feeling of remoteness, endless nights and disconnection with the world is back. Tempted to say finally. It´s the love and hate relationship between real discomfort and the feeling of wandering beyond which defines distance running for me.

Few more pictures:

General Remarks:

Last not least: the marking is really good for 98% of the way. Very view sections are not perfect. The marking did not match the GPX to 100% as well – but this may be my mistake. Also there – its really close and not a big deal. Only those who zoom in on their devices would notice. One thing though: they build up new shelters along the – many of them. Which is great. BUT: there is nothing in – only a small board at the back where you can stand/lean/sit sort of thing. NO bank to properly sit and sleep. I mean – that is clearly a missed opportunity. The official banks you find plenty along the way are nice and purple but only designed so that two people can sit on them. Most of them have no back and are way to short to lay down. Can it be that they are not meant to sleep on? Can’t be or?

After Dusk

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„We don’t have enough stories to tell in the dark nights anymore
– we used them up already.“

As if the #fenix wanted to confirm the waves of dark premonitions it gave the daily notification: „30 min to sunset„. Just like that. The darkness was approaching. It was bound to happen and yet – even after all these years – it came as an unpleasant guest to an already demanding party.

Nights are an unavoidable part of long distance running events. And they are a fascinating part of the game. By time and experience one gets used to most of the things happening but the interesting thing is – no matter how good one is in controlling the night challenges – it still can change the run/race dramatically. To name a few unwanted things bound to happen in those dark hours:

  • loss of the desire to eat and drink (which will reduce the performance dramatically if the regular drink/eat schedule is neglected)
  • even with enough food intake: the stomach will revolt on one point – too full or too empty or kind of right on spot – its just not made for 24h processing
  • no matter how good the beginning of the night may feel – the dead hours are usually those between 0300 and 0600
  • even with some sleep breaks – it gets a bit better but there is ultimately no escape from serious sleep deprivation side effects
  • with more than one nights in a run those nights are most of the times different – either they are getting increasingly worse or your body tricks you with a solid second night after a horrific first but is secretly planning on a third night disaster
  • the light cone of your headlamp will delete most of the third dimension from the world and will reduce your being to this small path of LED-lid surface
  • re-starting running after a safety-blanket-power-nap (#sbpn) really is the worst – all that shivering stiffness – takes some minutes of jogging to shake it off
  • despite the experience that talking/discussing is THE key for a bearable night performance – most of the time its ending up with running next to another lacking the energy to talk: silently grinding in the dark

f*** those stones really look like animals
are there humans between those trees over there – silently staring?
wow look – a sheltered place to finally sleep a bit: oh wait – its just some trees…
climbing these steep trails is a really really bad idea in dark nights
now everything is moving on the edge of LED circle
what are those animal eyes staring at?
is this dusk or just the emission of yet another distant city
we are just so fucked-up and lonely in this ocean of darkness

And yet: the night is dark for everyone. All of the others (if any) will need to endure parts of the above. Its just another challenge. Another hurdle to overcome. And it offers a possibility to make a difference. By not losing the battle against the demons and making it to the other end of the night there is a fair chance of gaining. Gaining some meters compared to the others, gaining some experience in endurance, gaining some places in the ranking compared to those who lost their nightly battles. It anyways feels like a lost battle at night – so its exactly the right time to push as good as possible.

And finally the #fenix again: „30 min til sunrise„. Adrenalin – followed by more adrenaline at the moment where light is fully back. For some glorious moments the world is whole and light again. Walking feels like running and all tiredness is forgotten for good. All too soon the hormones are used up and the suffering is back. But hey – its another day – its some decent hours of light – its some hope. Some hope to use as energy – until the sun sets again…

Lights in the Sky – Infernal Trail des Vosges 2023

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It was one of the moments I realized what I would be facing – in the first night approaching a climb I saw headlamps. But not somewhere in front of me but literally ABOVE me. I stopped for a moment hoping it was the moon or some bright stars shining through the trees but no: those were cleary moving LEDs. Seconds later the crawl started.

L´ Infernal Trail des Vosges is an (ultra) trail race in the Vosges mountains in the North-East of France. Covering distances from 15 to 200k this event is for everyone. And apparently everyone accepts the invite. The tiny town Saint-Nabord turns into a huge trail running festival for a whole really long weekend in September (2023 was the 15th edition of the event). Some of the shorter distances have more than 500 participants – a whole runners village/expo is built up – a sound system, light shows, fire work – you name it. Normally nothing I desperately hope for but the vibe was great – festival feeling. 700+ volunteers work relentlessly to run the village and all CP along the course. Although you don’t get anywhere with English they do their best to care about you and whatever which you may have. Big shoutout to orga/volunteers – this was an amazing job. Magnifique!

Luckily the #IT200 as the longest race starts first – so the hustle and bustle was not too bizarre at the start. I am lucky to have great friends and could take the train to Freiburg where I was picked-up and brought to the start (and picked-up after the finish on Sunday). What a service – thank you! Midnight start is not my favourite kind of thing as it just adds more sleep deprivation to the story. We arrived in Saint-Narbord 3 hours before start – enough time to place the drop-backs, check the backpack, make it through the kit check into the huge start area to wait for the start.

What a start it was. After a few probably useful information in French which I did not understand we were ask to quiet down and epic music was played culminating in the countdown to start. A proper firework, more music and a burning L´ Infernal logo sent us off into the Vosges night – pretty emotional for a start.

Although I obviously checked the track, the total distance and the elevation gain quite a bit upfront to the race I was unsure how this would actually feel in reality. The first climb made one thing really clear: it was going to be brutal. From the LegendsTrails runs I am used to ridiculous climbing but the Vosges are higher and steeper compared to the Ardennes. Overall it was a bit less technical (e.g. there is no Ourthe part in IT200) – but only a tiny bit. There were Mountainbike parks, ski slopes, senseless up and down on small rivers, straight and direct climbs with more than 30% slope – both up and down. In summary: a real brutal and pure ultra experience. And it never stopped – there was no mercy with the runners at all. One hit after the other. Something which drains you both physically and mentally until you are stripped-down to your core with nothing left. To continue in this stage is what ultra is all about. On top of this the weather added another difficulty with bright and sunny days with 30°C on Friday and even a bit hotter on Saturday. Heat can be a real problem. Nothing you need on top of the above described.

On the other hand: Vosges – how beautiful are you? Superb landscape, fantastique views! Not too many people out there – a perfect area. It was a great journey through those valley and over all those hills/mountains.

The checkpoints provided the needed breaks from all of that. In addition to the CP there were some unmanned water points dividing difficult stretches – well organized. Always enough water and supply at hand even in hot conditions (although there were stretches where I consumed 2L of water). The strategy for me could only be: stay focused and don’t do mistakes. So I set the watch timer to one hour and took a salt pill every hour and made sure to drink enough. This saved me from heat damage and worked really well in the given conditions. The rest was the usual fight. There were dark moments with lowered motivation, there were critical situation especially in the third night (unstable running, deadly tiredness, loss of focus, being chased by hornets) – but I was awaiting and embracing them and therewith taking their force away. At a few checkpoints I closed my eyes for 10-15 min each: this helped to ease the moments of fatigue so that I did not need to sleep on trail.

Overall everything worked-out as well as I could possibly hope for. Crossing the finish line at 0214 in the third night after 50h and 14 min of travelling through the Vosges was a great relieve.

A nice finisher hoodie, a worn empty bottle of coke were the rewards of yet another great, rough and truly ultra experience.

Clear recommendation for everyone who wants to push beyond. Be warned – the elevation is really extraordinary outside of the real mountains.

not even complete – @runalyze gave it climb score of 10 🙂