Fraser Darcy

Okay now, things are winding down. No more hustle in the morning to get out for a run, got all day for it. Celebratory start to the day with the best sleep stats I’ve had in a while. The European daylight hours still had me up at 5:30am with the sun. It’s good to stay in a routine I guess. Breakfast, check the footy scores and then a fair bit of lazing around. Even did some schoolwork for a bit to distract me and stay on top of it. Felt like a typical Sunday morning lay-day that most people enjoy if they’re not a runner. But I am a runner so soon enough I had to whip on my cape running gear and head out the door.

Today’s adventure, a bus to the Mutter Almbahn (cable car) to spit me out on course after the big steep hill I ran up on Wednesday/Day 1. Doing this cuts off about 35 minutes of straight up climbing and means I can keep it easy and re-scope out more of the technical single track ‘on top’ again. Purchased my ticket, bumped into some fellow Aussies and then enjoyed the ride to the top.

Straight into the run I went, enjoying the fact I knew where I was going. Pleasingly my body felt a lot better too since I ran this section. The adjustment to the altitude and getting over the plane fatigue certainly makes a difference in my running performance. On the altitude too, I realised that by choosing to stay in Gotzens, at approximately 900m altitude I was getting an extra 1-2% benefit to staying in Innsbruck, at 600m altitude, for a few days. Also, by shifting from my base height of Quorn, 300m altitude, to Gotzens as my new base height, I’m theoretically preparing my body to perceive the altitude effects of being at 2400m (the peak elevation of the race) as instead being at only 1800m which having spent two winters working at Perisher I feel as if I’ve got a good response prepared for this level of altitude. Some of that reasoning is scientific (i.e. the relationship between oxygen and altitude is linear so thus the change experienced between 900m>2400m is smaller than 600m>2400m, hence I’ve gained an extra 1% adaptation over the Innsbruckian’s) and some of it is psychological too which is also important.

Back to the run though, bumped into another Aussie on the way up, quick chat, kept moving, kept grooving. Got to the scene of a wrong turn from Wednesday, didn’t take it, winning. Made it to the destination I wanted to get to, could’ve kept going but chose to save it for Thursday and also take advantage of the Team Italy train heading in my direction. Three of them in their blue colours bounding up the hill. Ironic too because on Wednesday it was Japaneeezy’s I bumped into at pretty much the same spot. That day I let them go ahead of me. Today though I was all about running with my new Italian friends. No english was spoken to tell me to piss off but instead I jogged behind them trying to pick up any European trail running skills. Two of the three ran the ups and one, the younger, walked a bit but had a good walk on him so didn’t fall behind. We all ran the snow sections pretty similar which was a good confidence boost for me as I was unsure if a careful jog across the snow is what these alpine locals do. But it is. So we’re all good. Unless they’re foxing me. They pulled off for a team picture while I kept going and enjoyed the rest of the run by myself. A good 8km or 60 mins. Felt like I could go further too but my timing was impeccable to catch the last of the Bombers game.

I had listened to the first quarter on the bus this morning where we kicked some goals pretty easily but also let them through too. We should win but we always know how to lose these games too. I’ve seen it happen too often. Picking up the game at the end of the run sure enough, we’re down by 6 points with 8 minutes to go. Classic. Phone’s losing battery too. Nicely though, Pappi Kym is texting me about the match as well from Italy. Good to be able to share the woe of being an Essendon supporter. Go to put my phone on charge and problemo, the cord doesn’t go in. 6 minutes to go, still down by a goal. Why won’t the cord go in? 15% battery left. Bombers kick a goal and a point. Ok, it looks all good, except for the phone. Kangaroos come back to level the score. Ah shit. Realise there’s something stuck where the cord goes. Three minutes to go. How do I get it out? How can we lose to North Melbourne??? Italians come over for a quick photo to send to some Australian friend I do not know. Brief chat about the race. Great. We kick a goal. Even better. Minute and a half to go. As long as I hear the Bombers win I can sort out the phone issue later. Although the shops are closed on Sunday’s and I speak very little German. Aussie mates see me and wander over, thirty seconds to go now, do I greet them or do I hurry away to make sure I hear the siren go. I don’t have to decide, the siren goes, Bombers win, I meet more Aussie team mates. Ah relief. Except for the phone. Doesn’t really matter though, life’s good, I’m in the Austrian alps feeling fit and enjoying running and the Bombers are winning. But still, I should probably fix my phone. Smash a can of tuna and enter the restaurant next to the cable car and thankfully a nice young staff member finds a needle and I get the little thingo out and the phone starts charging again from 4% (cutting it close!). As you can tell, this was a very exciting part of the day.

Journeying back home to Gotzens I realised how cool it has been to wait around at different bus stops admiring the local Austrian scene. The pictures below hopefully do it justice. Nice little flower boxes, lots of wood, ski resorts in the background. I also get to see different sorts of people driving places; vans with bikes, station wagons, farmers and their tractors and then this morning I saw a bunch of old tractors in some sort of procession/Sunday drive/Bay to Birdwood which was pretty cool. I’ve got just over one whole week of soaking this type of stuff all up before I bring the show back home. Another few days very similar to today’s adventure, then race day, then some recovery and bam I’ll be back in row 65 of a big Boeing with 300 other punters none the wiser about what we’ve all done. Isn’t that weird? Better make the most of it now I guess by doing my best.

P.S. Wood man took a day off today.