Snow, ice and hills

A week in Bavaria from Tuesday to be spent with Kate's cousins (David, Hanni, Jenni and Nik) meant training would have to take a back seat - or would it...?

Wednesday at Lake

A lovely flight on RyanAir to Munich and a 2hour wait for the hire car, 2+ hour drive in the snow meant no time for the normal Tuesday run, but the following day I did have the pleasure of being dropped off in the brilliant sunshine a few miles up the road at the Walchensee lake to run home along some trails for 6-7miles.  Relying on my "speirsy senses" I went on - sometimes belligerently to the extreme - at one point to realise that I was running up the bed of a stream through 12" of snow and not a path... Overall, the back doubles meant 9.6 miles done with only one 10 min mile in the middle of it due to the deepest of the snow I encountered.

Top of the peak with
view to the lake

Thursday:  I was encouraged by the potential return of my nav skills, so I looked at a map and targeted an ascent and loop near to a 1000m peak.  The snow was thin at the bottom, but got steadily thicker. I debated whether it was the hill or the snow that was making me walk - I tested them independently and it was definitely both.  This meant 2.5 miles achieved in just under 50 mins. Having followed the icy, snow filled footprints of the only other idiot to have gone up the hill before me, I went over the last false summit I had encountered and spotted a sign off to the left which seemed to go down a sheer cliff to Jachenau....  It turned out to be the quickest, MOST exhilarating, ear popping descent and leap of faith to trust myself not to twist an ankle or break a leg.  I tried to keep tabs on the markings on the trees to guide my way down. (I also debated the merits of carrying my phone, as once again, I had no clue where I was - but there was limited signal.)  10.7 miles, including a very long hill session.


Sunday: long run planned around Walchensee lake. After 2 days of glorious sun - a new layer of snow greeted us in the morning. I parked the car at the lake, promptly realising that I was stuck in the snow.  Getting on with the run seemed the best thing to do and to hope for the best later. There were 3 different stretches around the lake...

Sunday at the lake

(1) snow covered road where the only thing I saw was the snowplough clearing the roads
(2) a wet road north where I realised that I'd had a limited breakfast and the fondue and schnapps from the night before was probably not the best prep
(3) snow road and trails and making fresh tracks in the 10cm of snow, within which one wrong turn meant a tumble over rocks or logs (can't tell which as were all covered in snow). 

The car was eventually a welcome sight and managed to dislodge it and so avoided another 5 miles run to get help (no phone signal again).. One 9:40min mile when off-roading with 15.2 miles done in total.



Total of 35 miles for the week, excluding other hill sessions with kids to do the sledging.

Not a yard skied all week by me with no regrets at all...  having had a superb week with the kids who learnt to ski, with excellent and appreciated hospitality from Kate's cousins the Warhams.  Monday rest and back on Tuesday for dullsville roads in Harpenden.