Lavaredo80k

Too beautiful a run to quit

Recovery post Madeira skyrace was really good. I managed to bank some good training sessions amongst seeing family, and attending a medical conference in Glasgow. After events I don’t stick to any specific recovery protocol. I listen to the body to guide me. This may mean a bike ride or swim on days 1-3, then a long hike or an easy run. The ability to run hard again, I.e. race pace or above, varies, but you know when it starts to feel acceptable again for the body. Running too soon, or too hard, can definitely set you back or lead to injury. By the weekend following Madeira I felt pretty fresh again, and ran up some hills in Scotland on a beautiful day, even managing to get a bit sunburnt. Who’d have thought the one sunburn on this trip would be in Scotland! I was also lucky enough to be staying in a hotel right next to the conference with a pool, gym and sauna, meaning everyday I could put in some quality gym time, followed by a sauna/ pool. A daily routine of consistent sleep, good food, exercise & sauna doing wonders. The body started to feel fantastic and ready to race hard. Lavaredo80k was set to be the longest duration running race I have ever done. My prediction was around 8hrs15mins. My longest being Old ghost ultra in 7hrs9mins and 7hrs16mins previously. Long enough you want to make sure the body is firing on all cyclinders, especially so as Italy was still in a heat wave with very high temperatures recorded on parts of the course. 

The travel over was not ideal. I would normally advise not arriving the day before a race, but the way the conference and flights worked out that’s the situation we had. Driving from Venice, registering and pre-evening planning made for a long day and late night, with subpar carb load.  However, despite this I was ready to go. 

The Dolomites are such a spectacular place. Lavaredo encompasses fantastic alpine forests and trails, meandering up and down valleys, across streams, through rocky tunnels, along roads & trails established many centuries ago, running beside huge white rocky stacks shooting up into the sky, at times appearing otherworldly. The Dolomites pack so much beauty & close to perfect trail running into the area. Very few places rival this for number 1 in the world for a long run day out. I had great memories from my brief visit in 2023 where I won the European Xterra trail championship. It left me wanting to stay and explore much more - a big reason for being back now. 

The 80k started at 7am, where it was already 20 degrees. Starting in a mountain valley just off the road in a forest clearing. Again, I love that feeling of standing on the start ready to go. No nerves at this point as there is nothing you can change now. Things are suddenly simple: complete the course, experience it, have fun. A last minute announcement 2 mins before the gun: “by the way, we have placed another water station at 10k due to the heat”.  Good to hear :) 

The first climb of 1300m up a stunning valley, criss-crossing streams, summiting to the famous limestone stacks with the sun glinting off them, was a lot of fun. I positioned myself within the front pack. The effort felt harder than it should have been, so I dropped back a few places, instead opting to hike with my poles anything steep. The legs did not feel springy as they did yesterday or the day before. In the first descent, I felt weirdly lightheaded. Troubleshoot: I have drank enough: having just filled up at the 10k extra water station, I have fuelled enough, I have caffeine and sodium on board, I am not at super high altitude (and never been affected by altitude before). Strange.  I dropped back further. Once I eased my effort, everything felt ok. When I tried to push, I felt lightheaded again. 

This next section had a quite a lot of complaints from participants and a big reason there was over a 1/3rd drop out rate in the 120k race: a 16km segment with no water, dropping down low into the exposed valley, with no accessible streams, in now already high heat of the day. At this point someone fell in front of me and lay screaming on the floor. I stopped and could tell this was a broken ankle. I gave paracetamol from my pack, strapped the leg and we arranged another runner to alert the next race official. By the end of this I was definitely overheating and all out of water. Meeting Amanda at the first crewed aid station 30mins later at 26k in I told her: I think something is wrong with. I am going to continue but will likely not be competitive any longer and may drop out at the next time I see her at 56km.

 I then spent the next 30km of the race thinking exactly that. That I’d be dropping. This made so many decisions change. I would take longer to cool down in rivers, I stopped regularly to do so, I would choose to pole hike uphill, and then not to run hard downhills. My racing mindset had changed to just a long run enjoying the scenery. I still kept moving well. No niggles. Fuelling and hydrating well. I tried once or twice to run a bit harder but again didn’t feel great. I had no idea what position I was in, but figured my time goal and front of the race was well gone by now. 

A lot of the running is non-technical glorious mountain and forest trail. Some sections lead into a few kms of exposed heat with white rock underfoot and all around, turning the area into a pressure cooker with heat waves radiating upwards. Most people were not running these parts as the localised temp here was approaching 40degrees. Up and over another pass to the aid station where Amanda was waiting. I was aware I was enjoying myself and passing people, and having no real issues. Checking in with Amanda the decision was therefore made to keep going. I may be an hour and half slower than I predicted, and my goal out the window, but why drop when I am still having a great time and lucky enough to be running in this beautiful place. 

Those final 23km it cooled somewhat due to cloud cover and significant amounts over 2000m altitude. I sped up. I almost felt like I should have all race. Almost, but again climbing was tough (usually my strength in these elite international fields). More climbing and some technical running, no one passed me and I did a lot of passing. The final 10 k is a relentless steep descent, absolutely pounding your quads into mush. I decided here to run hard with what I had left. This long descent I later learnt decided a few podium spots due to its brutality. 

Coming into cortina, you are directed straight through town with people lined up cheering and others at dinner tables out on the street in the nice afternoon temperatures. Eventually crossing the finish line, I learnt I was 22nd. Actually way better than I thought for the amount of walking and hiking I did, spending time helping with the broken ankle, and those 30k of taking it way too easy with multiple stops. It is amazing how much time you can leach away like this. 

Another euro post race meal/beer and a drive back to the accommodation, the whole time trying to make sense of what just happened. Looking at my data I found out that my heart rate for most of the race did not rise above my zone1-2. Going to bed that night still thinking was this all due to my poor carb load and travel? I fuelled around 85g/hr during the race and apart from that one section, kept on top of hydration and cooling. 

The next day things became a lot more clear. Sore throat, coughing up phlegm, fevers and shivers, body aches all over.  It now made sense. Flu like illnesses like this don’t come on so quick, I must have been carrying it asymptotically all day yesterday. My body throwing all its resources into an immune response, whilst I was forcing it to run 80k up and down mountains in the heat. No wonder my cardiovascular system was trying to shut things down. A similar thing happened once before to me in a 25k race trying to run hard  during the asymptomatic stage of an illness & resulted in weird HR and severe lightheadedness and a resultant DNF, to then find out the next day I had COVID.  If I’d had these symptoms the day before or day of the race I definitely would not have started! 

I’d been around strangers all week at a conference and hotel gym/sauna, but my money is on the very sick looking man next to me on the plane. Unfortunately the mask didn’t prevent me catching it. 

This illness has been a real nasty one. Potentially because I lowered my immune system further by the poor sleep of race day and then running the full race. Trying to be a tourist in the Italian heat wave was pretty challenging, when I constantly felt like I should be curled up in bed 😂. I’ve just arrived back in NZ a week later and it has now lead to a secondary pneumonia. The first time I have needed antibiotics for anything in about 10 years! 

Despite this. I’m glad I finished the race. I hate quitting. My rule being only to DNF when you are causing yourself to have an injury. Turns out running easy for almost 10 hrs is a fun thing to do. Creepers and the prodigio pros absolutely fantastic combo for no feet issues. I think if the trails weren’t as amazing and scenery as stunning, I would have certainly dropped out. Coming in 22nd was not the result I was capable of. The fitness & lead up races had me feeling pretty set for a great result. Sometimes getting sick is unavoidable and it can hit at the worst possible time. Coming a long way to compete in a race and for this to happen is a bit painful. But the memories and experience were still incredible and I feel lucky to be able to do this. Hopefully I’ve not hit my body too hard and it can recover well. 

There are some absolutely phenomenal races and adventures in the Dolomites. I highly recommend adding to your list if not already on there. 

Recover, reassess, and onto the next :)