The Swiss Irontrail

I ran the Swissalpine K78 in 2011 and 2012. Memory is a fickle thing, as we tend to forget/minimise any pain and suffering and just remember the good things. It was looking back with those rose-tinted spectacles that gave me the idea of running it again this year. I know I don't have so much speed and drive these days, but thought I'd like another good day out in the mountains, and I remember loving spending a few days in Davos in the run-up to the event.

 

Eek....the "new" route!

Unfortunately I did not look very closely at the details when I entered....I spotted that the name had changed to the "Irontrail" and it was now called the T88 instead of the K78....but as the event approached and I looked at the details more closely, I started to worry. Not only had the distance increased by a few kilometres, but it no longer started and finished in Davos (previously there had been a long, flat - well net downhill - run along the valley from Davos to Bergun, followed by a climb up and over the Sertig Pass and back to Davos) so I would now have to catch a train to St Moritz at 4am, and then climb more than 2.5X the elevation gain of the previous event (and descend even more). I think the fact that there was now a 24hr cutoff and compulsory kit to carry (including a headtorch with spare batteries) rather than it being a day run was a bit of a clue as to how much harder it would be.

The route elevation profile

My friend Richard had come out with me and was going to run his first "marathon" (the K43, which did actually start and finish in Davos and went up a valley, over the Sertig Pass and back to Davos), but he was entertained by how worried I was about the changes to the event. My big fear was that I wouldn't finish in daylight and I'd be running down mountains and through forests in the dark, but after we arrived in Davos, I developed new worries about the weather and the altitude. It was so hot....about 29-30 degrees during the week in Davos......and I would start at 1770m and climb 4 passes (2460 - 2780m) before finishing back in Davos at 1560m!!

Something the Swiss do very well, is that they include travel in the cost of a race entry - so not only did we get a lovely train trip up to the mountains, but we could also travel around the area (eg taking the train over to visit St Moritz one day and down to Klosters to try our hand at breadbaking in an outdoor oven on another day) - and the local tourist tax then lets you take lifts up and down the mountains (a bonus if you want great views and an attempt at a bit of  acclimatisation without exhausting your legs). This meant that despite my misgivings about the actual run, I really enjoyed having a few days up in the mountains, and the heat just made it more conducive to sitting outside eating ice cream and drinking cold beer whilst surrounded by amazing views. Whatever happened on race day, it was worth the trip and the unwinding from the stress of everyday life!

Taking the train from Davos to St Moritz
at a more sociable time of day earlier in
the week :-)

I found it very hard to sleep the night before the race, so my 3am alarm was rather redundant. Still, I crept around getting dressed and making porridge and coffee so as not to wake anyone else, and headed off to the station in Davos Platz. The racer organisers had put on a special 4am train for us to get to St Moritz (free with your race number), so I actually ended up sitting in the first class carriage. It was dark outside but the carriage lights were on full so I could neither sleep nor look at the views.....and so ended up snacking most of the way there. I heard little spoken except German (with a smattering of Italian), so couldn't really join in any conversations (not that I'm that sociable anyway!!). On arrival at St Moritz they had kindly opened up a couple of cafes, so there were places to keep warm after dropping off "finish" and "halfway" bags. It was starting to get light and the cloud was lifting up from the lake towards the mountains...beautiful!

Early morning mist rising above the lake
at St Moritz

Due to the number of runners, there were significant toilet queues and I found myself still waiting 5 minutes before the start. I cannot say that this stopped me from stressing as it probably added to it, but I finally made it over to the starting pen just as the 15 second countdown began. Suddenly we were off, running out of the station, down the road under the railway and onto the lakeside path. I had managed to do 2 lots of damage to my right knee the day before (once twisting it going up some steps, and once banging it off the corner of my bed) and it hurt as soon as I started running....so that I doubted whether I'd even make it round to the far side of the lake where we were due to head off into the woods.

I ignored it as much as I could...and then actually found that I'd forgotten about it as I was enjoying watching the mist lift up from the lake as the day dawned. By the time I reached the climb up away from the lake, it felt fine and I was starting to move up past people through the field. I didn't really feel much flow in my running, but I put that down to the altitude rather than any (ahem) lack of fitness/training. I tried to ignore some course markers I spotted (as they implied that I was near the end of a marathon....hence obviously for a different event) and just enjoy the trail as it undulated over the first hill and down to Pontresina.

The runnable valley floor section

I couldn't believe my ears as people called out that I was the first lady as I passed through Pontresina (surely they'd missed someone? or several people?) but I had little time to muse on this as the first of our big climbs started there. Pontresina is at 1805 so hardly above the height of St Moritz but we had to get up to Muottas Muragi at 2452 in the space of the next 5k, so although a lot of it was actually runnable, I admit that I did some walking rather early on in the event. We passed a hut on the summit and I grabbed a bar and a drink and faced the first dreaded descent. The next CP was at Samedan (1721m) and most of the height was lost in the next kilometre. The path was narrow, rooty and rocky, so although I tried to "run" down it, compared to everyone else I was practically strolling. A lady with poles flew past me and I only just managed to avoid getting stabbed, though I admired the ease with which she bombed down and out of sight. The descent seemed to go on forever, but finally I hit the valley floor and my pace picked up again. I chatted to a couple of guys as I caught them up, and we enjoyed the early morning temperatures and views.

Runners approaching Samedan

The CP at Samedan seemed to involve running through a large sportshall, after which I got lost trying to get out of the car park (I found myself roaming between parked cars and stumbling down a steep grassy bank in order to get back onto the actual course, but after that the views were familiar as we ran up the valley to Bever and then turned 90 degrees to the left along the route of the St Moritz-Davos trainline towards the Albulatunnel (it was tempting to jump on a train just before it went into the tunnel as the race route went over the top of the mountain range that the tunnel was carved through and we were to rejoin it on the other side. The sun had now been out all morning and the weather was really heating up, but as this stretch of wide trail was really runnable I caught up to the lady that had previously overtaken me. She kept looking back and seemed to be "running scared". I would always rather be behind someone than in front (well, not everyone obviously) but I was just moving a bit more quickly and didn't want to alter my speed so I tried to be polite and friendly as I passed by.

On rounding a corner in the trail, I almost fell over a water station and an arrow directing me off 90 degrees to the right....and straight up a hillside. After the first few metres this was definitely not runnable, and although  usually prefer ups to downs, I didn't enjoy this one right from the outset. Not only did I find it rather hot, and the direct sun rather strong, but I couldn't get my body to work up the steep slope. My legs felt like they had little power, and I couldn't settle my breathing into a rhythm. When the aforementioned lady powered on past me, there was little camaraderie as I had to jump off the singletrack trail to avoid having a pole through my foot. The handful of men that passed me were much more relaxed and friendly, and as for the next lady, Luzia, well, she went out of her way to give me advice on powerhiking. She lives in Davos and said that the mountains were her playground and I was so grateful for her encouragement. My problem was mainly altitude related as it felt like I had claudication in my legs. I have only seen this in more elderly vascular patients - pain in the muscles of the buttocks/legs due to limited blood supply - so it was rather weird (and not very pleasant) to experience it myself!!

The mountain trails were beautiful

It was only a couple of minutes after Luzia passed that I finally reached the high point (2462m), and was surprised to see the marshal there had "4 Deserts" patches on his sleeves. I really hadn't know what to expect - I guess I thought I'd be going straight down the other side to the trainline - but the trail undulated for some distance over a rocky plateau before dropping down steeply to the Bergun valley. I hadn't seen anyone for what seemed like a very long time (I guess there was no one close behind, and all those in front were much better descenders than me) when I caught up to a familiar looking male runner going through a gate across a farmyard. He immediately recognised me and reminded me of when we'd both run the Oman Desert race (what a small world it is).....but he seemed to be finding it a bit tougher than me, as though we initially stuck together and chatted, he soon dropped back.

The weather changed with alarming quickness, and by the time I reached the next CP (where I stopped for a wee while as there were both cakes and chocolate) I was already quite wet. I'm so glad that I still got out my waterproof jacket, as it significantly deteriorated after that. It could have been a lovely run down the valley but unfortunately the trail was only about a foot wide, and in many places was about a foot deep in water. I couldn't see what was underneath the muddy puddles so had to be rather more careful with my footing as there were rocks and roots hidden from sight. At times it was like running down a stream, and even the pretty sections through woods became a nervous slip/slide on wet pine needles and mud. I managed a couple of to and fro places with guys as I approached the lowest point on the route (1367m) but was over the moon to climb to the town of Bergun - the main aid station where there was hot food and drink, our drop bags, seats in a hall....and I could drop out and get the train back to Davos!

I was cheered into Bergun as the 3rd lady, but I myself was more cheered about the thought of getting in out of the rain, sitting down, eating and drinking something decent and looking through the contents of my drop bag :-)  I seriously debated calling it a day there, as I knew that I had to go over 2 more passes that were higher than anything I'd yet climbed, maxing out at 2738m (and as I'd already been struggling, I couldn't see that it would be much fun). However, after a can of redbull, a restock of my bags, some food (obviously including chocolate) and a look at the map, I decided to continue onwards. I thought that from Bergun onwards, the route would be the same as I'd done in 2011 and 2012 (I remembered some stunning scenery) and worked out that even if I walked the whole thing, I wouldn't finish too long after nightfall (we had until 6am on the Sunday to finish, but I didn't really fancy being out long after darkness set in at 9pm).

The local support was brilliant (even
when the heavens opened)

The next section consisted of a very long gravel forestry road that just seemed to wind up and up into the mountains. I was to and fro between 3rd and 4th places now but it was quite sociable as we chatted every time we passed each her (her moving more quickly on the steeper sections....aided by her poles, and me when it was flatter and more runnable). We also bumped into a guy that I'd been chatting to on the run into Samedan when we stopped and filled our bottles up in a large watertrough. The weather had changed again, so it was back to waterproofs off and tucked away in our packs. Either my memory failed me, or the route had significantly changed from the original K78 (I'd like to think the latter), as I was on the opposite side of the valley from the one I remembered. The company had really helped me, but I was moving more quickly than I felt I could sustain, so I let them disappear off ahead of me as I gasped my way higher and higher (though I did regret that when I had to work my way through herds of cows on my own).

I nearly cheered with relief (except that might have taken more breath than I had) when I saw the Keschhutte in relief on the mountain up ahead of me (as it marked the first of the 2 high passes), but then I almost cried with disappointment when I saw that the route did not go straight up to it, but first descended to a CP on the valley floor and then climbed back up the other side again. I felt like I was crawling up that last climb, and several men poled past (and a lady doing the second leg of the relay), but I felt better as I started to recognise some of the rocky plateaus. It was a lot chillier higher up and then sun kept disappearing, but I was too lazy to put more layers on....instead I forced myself to run short sections. This must have been as much, if not more than others were doing, because I caught up with the relay lady and my Samedan mate just as they were leaving the chocolate and drinks at the Keschhutte.

Coming down into Sertig Dorfli
in better weather a few days earlier

My legs did not want to obey my brain much after that but I did manage to run a couple of miles across the undulating plateau to where we joined the K43 to climb to the highest point of both routes. I passed a few K42 runners on this stretch but guessed that Richard was miles away over the summit and heading towards the finish. There was a small amount of snow to scramble across and around, but as the CP was just before the top of the climb, the pass itself was a bit of an anticlimax. Some people were stopping to have their photos taken, but I knew I wouldn't be very good on the next stretch so just wanted to get it over and done with. My memory didn't fail me this time...it was a rough rocky steep trail down, but I managed to talk myself into staying focused and steady enough that I had no accidents, and was glad to be on firmer terrain heading (still with cows trying to block my route) towards the final checkpoint of Sertig Dorfli (the route descended about 900m in 5K so you can see why I wasn't exactly loving it). I overtook the relay lady as I could start to get my legs turning over on the old road down to the village, and heard the announcer calling out my name as 4th lady and 2nd V40 as I came into the CP (as both routes had combined, and the relay runners had swopped at Bergun, it was hard to work out who was in which event).

The final few kms through the
Davos woods

Richard and I had had a nice easy run down the last 11k down from Sertig Dorfli back to Davos itself a few days earlier, but there seemed little easy about it this time. Every incline seemed like a mountain, so I did take a few walking breaks.  It definitely took a lot longer than on the previous occasion, but as I looked at my watch heading into the final few kilometres, I released that not only was I well within my 15 hours "get in before dark" target, but that I was going to be comfortably under 12 hours. I knew that I could push the pace down the final forestry road, and so overhauled a few poor souls, and even managed to keep going up the short sharp sting in the tail that I remembered so well from previous years. Another quick glance at my watch shocked me to see that I'd run a 7:30 mile and if I pushed the last mile and a half I'd also break 11.5 hours for the course. I have no idea how I managed to squeeze a bit more out of my legs for a 7 min mile, but was over the moon to finally see the gate and entry into the running track up ahead of me.

Anyone on the podium seems to
"win" a sunflower?

Rounding the corner to the finish gantry!!

Half a lap of the track was all I now needed to do, so I did it with a smile on my face, coming in just a couple of minutes after Richard had finished his race (he was still in the finish area, as he said he'd no sooner crossed the line and grabbed a drink, when he turned and saw me run onto the track!). I was so happy to see he'd finished and was still looking (relatively) cheerful, as he had certainly opted for a very tough first marathon, but we celebrated with well-earnt beer and raclette halfway back to our accommodation!!

(Luzia won - I was secretly pleased that she'd passed the girl with the poles - but took the time to congratulate me on not only surviving and finishing, but to also have done it in a half-decent time - what a lovely friendly runner!!)