We are in a train, a fast train, a night train, a train to Zell am See in Austria, where it all began, 30 years ago when my parents first hefted me onto my Dad’s back in one of Europe’s first kiddy-backpacks and set off up the trail. This one act laid down an inescapable path through walking, Alpine mountaineering, rock and ice climbing to here, full circle, returning on the road to Zell. Preparing for the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon, again. Preparing to finish the thing this time. Preparing to come home.
2 weeks of Tyrolean Traverses this time last year had been "One Hill Too Far", and the resulting knee problems denied us a good run at KIMM 2000. We struggled in vain to blame it on the force 11 gale, the rain, the course, bad luck, but basically we blew ourselves out and it was stupid. That was "Wahnsinnigen Part I" and we were determined to make the sequel work.
Not able to sleep at once thoughts roam over the year, not a good start, F&M decimated the hill life, and we were forced onto the road, but the knees were good, and we entered the LAMM in a show of defiance, and daring. We were not expecting the relatively easy ride we had. The Weight had been taken down from 14kilos including water to a relatively featherweight 9. We had our food and sleeping logistics much better organised and our conditioning of legs and lungs in longer flatter runs had clearly paid off. It was also a pretty straightforward course and good enough weather. Yet, we were amazed and encouraged.
And so we embarked on a summer of long runs in the woods and when we could we ventured onto the Malvern Hills, dashing up the side to wind ourselves as well we could. Also new this year was a sustained program of upper body weights and stomach muscle conditioning.
Now we were going Zell. Lakeside town overshadowed by the mightly Kitzstein Massive which houses some of Austria’s finest summer skiing, and surrounded by moderate grassy mountains in the 2000-2500 meter range, with long lovely grass ridges and steep forested faces. No distractions of rock-climbing or other schenanigans permitted this time. One week of pure work, in a joyous, lighthearted sort of way of course.
A stop-over in Köln to get onto the night train. We are looking for something to eat for dinner and breakfast next day. The healthfood shop looks promising and we hunt around for crackers, pate and cheese. Goats cheese.
Goats cheese that would haunt us the whole week, first impregnating the fabrics in our couchette sleeping compartment to such an extent that even liberal dousings of lavender oil did not fully cover the stench, then being sealed in three plastic bags and banished to the bottom of the food bag when I was unable to eat the whole thing in one go.
I tell you the stuff tasted wonderful, it just didn’t smell so good. I was alone in my appreciations… (but then I liked the Surströmming I ate in Sweden and that stuff is kept in sealed cans in a special "Surströmming hut" at the bottom of the garden. You eat one tiny little pickled fish with a whole unleavened bread, 3 potatoes and a whole onion just to even out the flavour, and that after a lot of Aquavit. Those Swedish guys like to bury their Salmon in the ground for a year before eating it, and they don’t keep that in sealed cans. )
So we’ve got snacks and we’re on our way. A great sleep in the train overnight and next morning - wow it’s Austria. And raining. But we’re from the UK and we’re used to that.
Day 1 – Arrive, shop and sleep
Arriving mid-morning gave us the chance to do a little shopping and exploring in town, picking up some new sports food packs called IsoStar Actifood. A very tasty fruit paste that is not too sweet. It is made with Apple or Peach fruit and contains actual pieces of the fruit that were a sure mouth pleaser. We found during the week that the combination of the hot-sweet rush of Squeezy, the mouth satisfying IsoStar and the longer action Ironman bars was just the thing. With plenty of Ultrabuffer to drink of course. Our Hostess is Frau Berner – they like bears, and she IS mama-bear.
Day 2 – Schmittenhohe - snow
The morning dawned a little wet and a lot gray, but being keen, we made a foray up to Schmittenhohe, the summit above Zell at about 2000m. We talked French philosophy and infinity set theory. Snow came and went. We rediscovered our reason for being as we trotted, bounced and played back down the other side of the hill, following tracks through forest and steep grassy slops and finally down the forestry track back into town. Aaah…arrived.
Day 3 – Lake – cloudy but dry
Expecting to do some more town things today, I got up early and went for a trot around the Zell lake. Gentle way of reducing any build-up from yesterday. The little trot turned out to be about 13k, but didn’t feel in any way hard. The mountain store in Zell turned out to be less than wonderful in terms of mountain running but they did sell us some Grödels. Why we don’t use these marvels in the UK to extend the range of our running shoes in Autumn and winter I will never know. Grodel
An excellent Kaisersmarrn in Zell. It’s a type of pancake-omelet specific to Austria and VERY filling and delicious.
Day 4 – Atzingerberg – cloudy but dry
Legs feeling a little tired today but good otherwise. Wondered up the Atzingerberg. Contours on the map were at 100m interval so we really had no idea that this was the steepest forest path in the whole region. Scrambling up in lovely pine soaked air, enjoying the fitness and the wonder of just being out there. Arriving at the top we took a turn that led us to a lovely Gemse(Chamois for those unitiated).
As we gazed at it and made rude comments about brushes for hats and shammy leather, it merely lifted its head smirked at us as only a Gemse can, as we realised we had become completely turned around, missing the rather obvious red/white flashes leading down the rather obvious huge dirt track. We beat a hasty retreat, leaving the Gemse in its smug superiority. Down along the forestry road and then a speedy descent into Zell. Running downhill on roads is usually where my knees start to complain, but I discovered an interesting thing.
While we have been learning some Qi Qong in general I have been applying it in various situations to help ease leg burn or get over hard times in the hours of running. By doing a good microcosmic orbit and strongly visualising the energies circulating in the legs you really can make an appreciable difference. Till now I have used it mainly to combat "leaden leg" syndrome on long runs, but now as I raised and lowered my arms with each breath cycle I found myself literally flying down the road with ease and my legs feeling better and better. Another aspect was the enourmous confidence boost. Ever since the dislocation I have been a little wary of running downhill but now I was really zooming. My legs seemed to be filled with sparkling water and I ended the descent with lighter legs than I had started with – AMAZING. More on that later. I am sure this is but a tiny twinkling of a glimpse at the amazing ground-covering feats performed by the legendary Taoist mountain hermits.
For info on the Microcosmic Orbit and the Tao http://www.universal-tao.com/slide_show/wisdom_chi_kung/
Day 5 rest – lovely
Wondered around town and rested legs.
Day 6 – Thumerbacherrunder / Schwalbenwand
Lovely 36k 1500m wondering why my feet ache/ phoning dinner or Hundstein. Daddy or chips.
Day 7 – Rest - lovely
Day 8 – Schmittenhohe dash
3:15 Round trip. Qi Gong again. Whooping at 14m/min uphill - 40 m/min – down. Cloudy but dry
Day 9 - Home via a stopover in Munich.
Having been quite pleased with our excellent training from rapid downhill descents, and feeling that we had really earned our Walshes, we looked up the results from the Snowdon Race. Those guys average 24 up, 43 down. We were sobered, yet saw we could be competitive at midfield. Amazing. Squawk. We ordered the Walshes anyway.
Then the pain set in despite the Ultrabuffer and we rested.
Lessons learned
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