Fraser Darcy

The show is now on the road and live from Austria. What a start it’s been. As per any overseas travel there was a lot of sitting around waiting and people watching as I transited from Adelaide>Perth>Dubai>Munich>Innsbruck. Three flights, one airport shuttle bus, two trains and one metro bus to my apartment. Without any luggage left behind too. I was pretty fatigued through the first half of the travel but slowly started recovering between Dubai and Munich due to engaging in all the offered flight food and chance to nap. Having a purpose for my travel made all the slight frustrations encountered along the way (delays in take-off, annoying passengers nearby, hot airplanes etc.) okay but I did wonder how people travelling on a holiday feel when they know they’ve got to put up with shit like this to start and end their trip. A holiday at home sounds more appealing to me. But then you wouldn’t be in Innsbruck either. Which is fucking awesome.

Yeah my Europe travel history is non-existent so I have nothing to compare it to but hopping off the train in Innsbruck and seeing actual old European buildings, everyone riding a bike without a helmet, lots of European cars and the mountains engulfing the town was pretty special. Quickly enough I was in the small suburb of Goetzens (‘oe’ means an o with two dots above it (an umlaut) and I can’t figure out how to type one…) and checking into an apartment I’d treated myself too. Goetzens is slightly higher than Innsbruck and to me feels like the Quorn to Port Augusta. Same same but different. Being higher gives it a nice vantage point to looking at the mountains but the suburb is also positioned neatly about 15km’s along the route I’ll be racing on Thursday meaning I’ve got good access to more of the course from my accomodation.

This fact came in handy straight away as I ended the 40 hours (measured from when I left my Eden Hills residence in Adelaide to checking into the Airbnb) of travel and had a couple of hours of daylight left. I nipped down to the local grocery store, grabbed a bunch of staples that is almost like a reflex action for me (tuna, pasta, wraps, oats, milk, some veggies, some cheese, couldn’t find bread) and dropped them back ‘home’ before ducking out again for my first jog on the course.

Getting over the fact my legs and body were trying to combobulate themselves still the run was pretty good. I saw some cows with actual cowbells on them (apparently cows are dangerous here too according to my Airbnb host), crossed a creek with actual water in it, stretched out the legs and saw a billboard for the race I’m in. All in about 6km’s. Afterwards, some rest, some dinner, some life admin sorting out plans for the week and then a long awaited sleep horizontally. Interestingly though, either my Airbnb has skimped out on a proper quilt or most European family homes only have a quilt that is about the size of an adult plus a bit more. And no top sheet. Not to worry, I was comfortable and slept well enough for day 2’s adventure.

An adventure it was! Breakfast, coffee, check the newspaper, load the vest up with supplies and then out the door for an intended 25km along the course.

To start with I was heading straight up a ski resort and the climb was long and steep but not too bad. I ran up 90% of it, only stopping to hike at the top where it was a bit undefined and I thought practicing my hiking mode wasn’t a bad thing. That climb was done in the first hour and a bit and things were classified as going well. I’d taken a few detours here and there as I followed the map on my watch but it was pretty straightforward. After the little bit of walking the route flattened up somewhat so I started running somewhat. My stomach was still sorting itself out evidenced by a few ‘exhaust’ stops. But still running so still good. However, the more I ran the more I started to encounter tricky terrain through snow and mud that will take some time to get through on race day. Today was not race day though so I took it easy and made it about 1hr 40 mins in to another top of a ski run. The altitude was around 1900-2000m here and I was a bit cold. Continuing on I was fortunate to pop back into the sun and had an enjoyable couple of km’s towards my intended turnaround point. Unfortunately those couple of km’s aren’t on the course so I had to come up with a new plan to loop back onto the actual course. Unfortunate yes but extra training I guess.

The little detour in my route did however spit me out right at the same time as two Japanese fellas came running up behind me. One of whom was Ruy Ueda AKA a Red Bull sponsored big dog. Feeling pretty tired (I was at 2hr 10 mins with not enough food and water with me) I watched them run, jumped on the back of them, felt OK at their pace then slinked back into a walk. A part of me thought, ah shit, these guys are looking pretty fresh they’ll be strong on race day… The optimistic part of me thought, hey it’s your first big effort on the course, be conservative and smart considering there’s still a bit to get home and you don’t have much food/water with you and you just completed a 40 hour travel mission to a new environment. I ended up having a quick chat to them as they turned around at the top and came back down and hope to chat to them again because it’s cool (and possibly helpful) to build relationships with other good runners but also because it helps to build my familiarity around the event. And familiarity is what this week before the race is all about.

As I dropped back down the steep hill I started the day with I felt like my 3-3:30 hours on course was perfect for building my familiarity with the Austrian Alps. I felt a bit hot and bothered at times towards the end and my legs a bit cooked but aerobically I felt strong. My experience so far has already provided some good intel too for the race but also for my future running aspirations. Instead of viewing the alps as an intimidating beautiful piece of geography like I did when I hopped off the train, having been here for almost 24 hours I now look at them slightly more comfortably. I’ve long had a theory that viewing ourselves like a coordinate on a set of axes is best to help eliminate the emotions from the facts when evaluating a set of circumstances. My usual set of axes are at home in the Flinders or in the Adelaide Hills but I’ve also spent a fair amount of time in other parts of Victoria and Tasmania. Essentially, I’m comfortable in different surroundings I’m familiar with. These alps are a new set of axes and with time I will be more familiar with them. Reading a book out on the balcony and listening to the tennis on the couch while I stare out the window towards the race area later in the afternoon I consider activities and time just as valuable in building my familiarity. They’re also helpful in resting my legs rather than getting out for an arvo run or doing something else. But the more I set my axes to the Austrian Alps the closer I’ll get to being able to deliver my physiological and psychological best effort on race day which is the ultimate goal.

Anyway, the picture so far from Austria is that the process of adapting to the Alps is underway and over the next few days I’ll be checking out the rest of the course. I’ll pack some more food and water for tomorrow, manage my effort still to save some in the tank for race day but also just try and generally enjoy my time here because that will help too on race day.

P.S On an arvo walk to check out the tennis club and soccer pitch in Goetzens and kick the foot (like I sometimes do in Quorn when I have time) I came across this bloke whipping some big logs around which I thought was pretty cool and if you don’t well you’ve either seen it before (lucky you) or you have no ability to comprehend how heavy these logs are and how easy he’s making it look…

Danke schon and Tschuss.