Transalpine Run – DAY 5 Written on September 9, 2009, by andys.
Transalpine Run – DAY 5
Length: 6.2km
Climb: 936m up
Andy & Tom: 2nd team / 1st overall (Tom 3rd + Andy 5th individual)
Ben and Angela: 1st mixed team (Ben 7th + Angela 14th and 1st lady)
Heart rate: ave = 165bpm / max = 174 (for 41min30sec)
Rest day (sort of) today. Stage 5 was a short sharp climb up the hill above Scuol. This stage wasn’t going to make any difference to overall placings so the tactic was to just run it at a steady-to-fast rate whilst limiting muscle damage and fatigue. Felt surprisingly fresh considering what we’ve been up to for the last 4 days. All the same, ran up at about 80% effort, giving the lungs a bit of an altitude work out but not over stressing the legs. Tom put up a bit of a sprint finish in the last couple of hundred meters so he could get on the podium for the day (and win himself a random box of fish oils!), whilst I was happy to cruise in in 5th.
Pasta party at in the restaurant at the top of the cable car (hideous quantities of all forms of pasta on the planet from lasagne to gnocchi – I ate a lot of each), ice bath in the village fountain, interview with German sports TV, massage, pizza, sleep, and all set for a flattish 37km tomorrow am.
With a lead of an hour and a quarter it’s now very much a question of looking after ourselves, not doing anything silly, no ankle twisting and most of all enjoying the alpine running into Italy. Three more days to go – it’s starting to feel like quite a long race…
Andy
[...] and only ten seconds behind the stage winners. You can read Andy’s Stage 5 report by clicking HERE. Stage 6 on Thursday saw Andy and Tom get back to winning ways by covering the 37.02km (1332m [...]