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*** The Final Chapter*** Patrick Large - Zugspitz Ultratrail ***RACE REPORT***super long/unedited***

Patrick LargePatrick Large
edited June 21, 2019 9:47AM in General Training Discussions
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Race Week:

I woke up on Monday morning and I was already nervous. And why not- It was race week!! Not only was it race week, but this would be by far my hardest test to date. It was also the final chapter in my "come back" (if you want to call it that. I’m not sure I was ever here and not sure I ever left!), but I had a lot of eyes on me and it was a very weird feeling to say the least. As a middle of the pack(er), nobody is ever that concerned with me. I am not going to set a course record nor am I going to be sprinting down the chute because in 30 second I will be over the time limit and DNF. This time was different, I had put myself out there so hard. Between being involved in EN forums, Strava groups, having my #RoadToZugspitz thread as well my fundraising efforts... oh man!!

Between Monday and Thursday morning, when I would eventually leave for the race, the week was same ol' same ol'. My nerves calmed down, I got in a nice run, and I prepared. I have never written a "Race Plan" in my life, but I found this super helpful. I felt that it was more for me than anyone else, but some good suggestions came out of it. While I was writing my plan, there was a big question mark, the weather. The forecast was for warm weather, but also there was a lot of snow. AND the forecast for Saturday and Sunday, during the race, was THUNDERSTORMS!!! (more on that later). All I could do was pack for both scenarios and then it would be a game time decision in terms of what I would get suited up in. 

There was a pretty extensive mandatory list of supplies that needed to be carried. Since this was my first sanctioned ultra I had no clue if this is normal, a European thing, or a Zugspitz thing. And to be honest, I am still not sure. Here is a list of what everyone needed to carry.

  • Closed trail running shoes: this is pretty obvious
  • Labeling of a competitor’s food / beverage supplies: all of your nutrition had to have your start number on it (with sharpie). They did this as a way to control/deter littering
  • Foul-weather gear: Minimum a rain coat
  • Warm clothing (long-sleeved shirt and running pants) as insulating layers underneath the rain gear (in case of bad weather conditions which may set in suddenly in high mountain territory); basic rule: it is not allowed to see any skin!
  • Gloves and a warm hat
  • Functioning headlamp /replacement batteries: yes you may need them... and probably will
  • Drinking vessel- There are NO CUPS at aid stations. Unlike in triathlon or road racing where aid stations are just littered with shit... there is none of that- ZERO
  • Water tank containing at least 1,5 liters: for obvious reason. Aid stations are 10k apart and it took me a little over 3 hours to reach my first
  • Emergency kit: yes, that's right! I didn't know this was a thing, but it needed to include a space blanket, safety whistle, bandages, wraps, and a whole ton of other stuff
  • GPX watch with course saved: This definitely wasn't needed as the trail was well marked.
  • Mobile phone with Medical Crew Number: everyone needed to carry a phone with the emergency number programmed in as a speed dial.

Thursday morning the alarm goes off at 4:00 AM. Traveling to Garmisch where I was staying was pretty uneventful. I took a plane to Munich and then a bus from Munich to Garmisch. The closer we got to Garmisch, the more the mountains just seemed to appear out of nowhere. It was very cool extremely intimidating. I arrived at the guest house in the early afternoon (a guest house is the equivalent of a "bed and breakfast" in the US). I do my last 30 min run, get showered up, and just hang in town checking out the sites. The 1936 winter Olympics were held in Zugspitze and there are buildings and stadiums still around. My run was up to the ski jump and back... it was pretty cool.

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At this point we are getting updates via the ZUG website and Facebook and were notified that the course was shortened just a bit to 100.4k (it was originally 103km). They cut out a peak at km 27 and made a detour. There was too much snow on that peak and was basically un-runnable. I am not sure I was too upset about this.

Friday is check in, the expo, pasta party at night, safety briefing and mandatory meeting for athletes. I arranged for one of the shops at the expo to bring me supplies that I needed since it was based in NL and I usually buy all my gear from. I check in, pick up my gear, and head back to my guest house. This is the point, we get via Facebook the notice that the 100k and 80k races have been officially cancelled. WTF!! I was really disappointed as I am sure most people were. Apparently, the word from the Austrian side was that the weather was going to be bad. The weather can turn quickly in the mountains and a few weeks earlier they had a major hail storm with "golf ball" sized hail. At this point I just had to stay in my box and control what I could. I could not control the course being shortened, so I let it go.

Better safe than dead. In 2008 this happened https://www.thelocal.de/20080714/13051

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Now I am looking at a 14 vs. 24 hr race. I recalculate my nutrition and set it aside to be packed. I now don't need most of the extra shit I just bought for the 100k, but oh well. My two situations now are, do I prepare for hot or freezing weather? And what shoes do I wear, the smaller or the larger? I pack my Salomon vest with all I need, took warm and cool cloths and the smaller of the two shoes. I choose the smaller ones because they fit a little snugger and I thought if it really rains on us, I don't want a soaking wet shoe flopping around on my foot. I was in bed about 23:00 and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Race Day:

New Race Profile:

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Because the 100k and 80k races were cancelled and those athletes were now starting at the same place as a 65k, morning logistics were a bit of a cluster. (All of the races were originally scheduled to start at different points on the 100k route, but ending at the same place.) I took a taxi, to a parking area, then a shuttle to the original race start, just to take a bus into Austria where our race started. I was up at 4:00 AM and had plenty of time getting to actual start. At the start I checked my post-race bag, got all my mandatory gear checked and got into the starting area. I had about 45 minutes until the race actually started and I was ok with the wait. I met two Americans while waiting so I hung with them until the start. It's funny when you get away from bigger cities and very few people speak English, when you hear it, you gravitate towards it.

A quick note about my gear and nutrition. This is what I went with.

  • Shoes: Altra Timp
  • Socks: Injinji 5 toes (yes weird as hell, but they work)
  • Patagonia shorts (amazingly light, quick drying, with super functional small pockets)
  • Under Armour sleeveless dry fit shirt
  • Zoot Arm sleeves: I am not even sure if they make these anymore. They are SFP 50+ and use the Icefill technology so when they get wet, they get cold! It feels so nice
  • Arc'teryx light weight running hat
  • Accessories: Garmin Foreunner 230, Leki Micro Trail Pro poles
  • For nutrition: Tailwind individual packets with and without caffeine, Overstim bars (all natural, vegan, few ingredients, think LaraBar), snickers bars
  • In my vest: Salomon Adv Skin 12 (With pole quiver): Rain jacket and pants, warm hat, gloves, cold weather arm sleeves, Advil, map, DJI pocket (for video), and the rest of the required equipment. I also carried 4x 500ml soft flasks with tailwind mixed in as well as a 1.5L bladder in my back (just water).

AND THEN THE GUN GOES OFF:

As per my plan I was running aid station to aid station so I will recap the following way.

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The first aid station is 14k from the start. There are 3 times as many people who are starting than expected. As you can see by the graph the first 4k was fairly flat on a dirt.

Starting at 4k we started to climb. It was fair manageable climb of rocks and gravel. Nobody is running, and most people, including myself have their poles out. At probably the 6k mark is where the sign is posted and reads "Start of Dangerous Section". And I shit you not, think of any ski area that you've been too... now think of the steep but wide opened blue. Take the snow off, stand at the bottom, and hike your ass up!!

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Since there were so many people who started with me there was a huge traffic jam. I think I stood still for 3-4 minutes waiting for people in front of me to move. Think de-boarding a plane when everyone stands up in the aisles and NOBODY MOVES. Yup that's the scene. Once things got going the hike is manageable but tough as shit. Nobody is talking, we are all just grinding it out. As you can see by my pace it was a march. 713m of climbing in 4k or 2,339 feet of climbing in just 2.5 miles

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At the top of the climb there is a flat section where people are resting taking pics, eating, etc before the decent. Besides the obvious fatigue in my legs. I was feeling really good. The climb was hard but at only 6,800 ft I was breathing as if sea level. I rested for a bit, got some tailwind, and was on my way. Now this is where I thought to myself "THIS SHIT IS EPIC". Now think of your average blue square (an easier one) fill it will ankle deep slushy snow, and run your ass down!!! Man- this was so tough. Bodies were flying everywhere. One of the techniques that people used was to actually sit on their butts and just go for it and bomb all the way down... so sledding but without the sled. All I could think about was "if I try that I am going to rip a hole in my shorts and my ass will be out the entire time." Well shortly after, I had no choice, my feet slipped out from under me and I was on my ass sledding down the hill. I finally stopped myself, worked my way to an actual trail, and started to jog. By this time my socks and shoes were soaked (thank god I chose the smaller shoes) and still super slippery. So not too long after, again, my feet slipped out from under me and BAM!!! My ass was right in the mud. At least I wasn't the only one with mud on my back!!

I finally made it to the first aid station, V5, (I think 3:08). As per my plan, I first check the body... (all things considering) I felt really good. I filled my bottles again with tailwind, grabbed some food (mostly fruit, unfortunately nothing salty like chips, gherkin, pretzels, etc.) and was on my way.

As you can see by the chart below, the next 30k were all rolling hills.

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The follow 30K was pretty much identical to what I trained on in NL. Rolling dirt trails and windy... I was in my happy place :) 10k to my next aid station, V6, and I was a bit behind fueling. I didn't feel bad, but my bottles were still pretty full and I didn’t have pee. Actually, it had been a LONG TIME since I pee'd... that was a little concerning. Again, per my plan, checked the body, topped off everything, ate (again, mostly fruit, unfortunately nothing salty like chips, gherkin, pretzels, etc.) and was on my way. Nothing special between V6 and V8; I was just chugging along. People were moving along, but at a slow pace. A lot of them walking, I assume to conserve energy? I ran with different people for a while, chatting it up, trying to make the time pass. As I write this now, I realize that I was passing a lot more people than passed me. I never really thought about it at the time. After this was the last chapter in my journey, not a race.

On the nutrition side of things these 35k were interesting. I was feeling good, although I was definitely behind on calories and sodium. I was basically a human salt lick. I had some muscle fatigue, but my energy wasn't low. I am pretty sure I am running in solid Zone 2. I started to getting a bit hungry. Like stomach growling hungry. I thought that wasn't a good sign. I also realized (a bit late) that my body doesn't want real food. I didn’t get sick, I just didn’t want it. I realized that I will never eat it, so I will never take it again. I started to drink more tailwind and made sure that I emptied all the bottles I had between stations. I never felt thirsty or had to pee... something I thought about the whole 35k, but again, I was never low on energy. When I finally pee'd, my urine was dark, but nothing worse than any of my training runs. At V8 I discovered they had cucumbers and tomatoes with a huge plate of salt. I almost got sick I ate so much but I guess I was making up for lost time.

V8-V9

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This was a very tough section for me. Although we ran less than 10K, we climbed 800m or 2624 ft.

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It was also a technical assent in the forest and there was no real way to gauge how far you had actually gone. As you can see by the above my pace shows the struggle. The one thing that kept motivating me to move forward was V9. I knew after that I had one big push above the tree line and then it was all downhill (literally) from there. At this point my pace became "KMF (keep moving forward)" and "one step at a time". I was basically hiking alone with people in view ahead and others behind. I would occasionally pass someone and they would pass me. JUST ONE STEP AT A TIME!!!

SO- V9 (and the last push)

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I arrived at aid station V9 and I am fully depleted and cold. My shirt is soaked and it is cold. I wish I had brought my long leaved warm shirt... it would have been money right about then! I stripped my zoot sleeves, put on my bioracer warm sleeves as well as my rain coat. At least it would block the wind and keep the heat in. I refilled all my soft flasks and my bladder.

The pic below shows V9

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The lady in the pic above saved my life... she was the one who ladled out 3 cups of soup. It wasn't hot or even good. It was just a tad above lukewarm, made from some weird looking powder, but probably had a week’s worth of sodium. It tasted like ramen noodle broth.

So, with quasi warm cloths and enough sodium for the week, I set off on my LAST climb of the day. It was a whole 2k and it was brutal. Check out the pace!!! Remember these are km per minute NOT miles per minute :) 

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I am looking at 1,017 feet of climbing in 1.25 miles... and for the first time of the day my "Why" came into full force. I kept telling myself "This is NOT pain, this is pleasure. The pleasure is knowing that because of what I am doing a whole lot of children in Malawi are going school and a chance at life. THIS IS NOT PAIN THIS IS PLEASURE!!!"

Oh yeah, this section also had a shit ton of snow so they had to install climbing rope anchored into rocks so you could help yourself up.

I make it to the top and am elated. I am whooping and hollering like a fool. I tell every other competitor up there with me, "come on fuckers, let’s get after it, there's beer at the bottom". It's about 5k to V10 which is the last station on the course. The scenery that I am running through is beyond words, it's the most amazing place that I have ever run and my mind is blown. So that's the good new... the bad news is that I've got to descend 1000ft+ in 5k on a dirt/gravel road. My quads are blown and I can already feel that I'm going to lose some toe nails. I do the best that I can; I run the flatter descents and brace myself on the steeper ones. I became the strongest heel striker in the history of running trying to keep my toes from jamming the front of my shoes. If I had the larger pair of shoes on, this wouldn't have been an issue :) So I grit it out and make it to....

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I am pretty much fueled and just want to be done and there is only 5K LEFT. I rest for just a bit and take off with "Seattle" (one of the Americans) and a few others. OK- this might be the biggest kick in the nuts of the entire race. My quads are trashed and toe nails are fucked. And I have to descend 2707 ft. (825m) on super technical forest trail and the sun is setting. OMG I am fucked! 

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So, on we go. There is a line of maybe 20 of us. A slower runner in the lead, "Seattle" behind him, and I am in third spot with maybe 15 people behind me. After a short while, the slower guy moves over and Seattle takes the lead with me right behind him. A little while after that, the guys behind me are breathing down our necks so Seattle and I move to the side and these fuckers behind us descend like it is nobody's business. It was amazing!! People who can bomb technical downhills are so badass!! It wasn't long until Seattle left my ass in the dust and I was alone and people were slowly coming up behind me. Seattle ended up besting me by 7 minutes.

Eventually I saw a sign which read "3KM TO GO" and I was getting pumped. At this point I stepped aside to let this woman pass me. She wasn't moving all that quickly, but a little better than I was. I fell 3 times between the "3km to go" and "2km to go" signs. None of them were bad, but they must have sounded bad, because the woman who passed me looked back every time and was like "fuck that guy is losing it". At the 2km to go mark you come out of the woods and are on the road. It was a relief because it was getting dark and I didn't want to stop and take the time to get my headlamp on. Once on the road, I started running again. It wasn't fast, but I was running. It's amazing the difference in the muscles that are used when climbing, descending, or just running flat. I was shot, but my "flat road" running muscles were not.

In true David Goggin's style, I was "taking souls" those last 2k's on the road. I caught and passed that woman again and caught up to and passed another fucker just before the chute, maybe 200M from the end.

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Per usual, at the finish, a volunteer put a medal around my neck and I moved on. I immediately went to a tent with some stools, sat down, put my face in my hands and just lost it. I usually cry at the end of races, but this was a breakdown. For those of you who know how good it feels to finish an endurance race, you understand how I was feeling, but this time it went to fucking 11!

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