Laughs
This real-time blog follows Till and Wolf on their — hopefully successful — journey to competing in a cross-country marathon race. Neither of them has cross-country-skied before, and they only have ten days to get ready for the event.
- Related: From Zero to Hero, a Real Time Experiment: Can You Train For a Ski Marathon in 10 Days? — Day 1
Day 5: Hills and Descents
Wolf’s training may have gone out the window. He has decided to just wing it on the day. We will see how that goes…
Till however — as triathlete — is taking the experiment rather seriously and focused on hills and sprints today. Unfortunately the Engadin Ski Marathon ends with a steep hill a few miles before the finish line. Till was keen to practice the last climb and subsequent descent into the finish line. It is an undulating stretch of cross-country tracks on the last few miles. Impressively, Till managed to reach a top speed of 21 miles per hour (33.7 kmh) on the downhill section.
Unfortunately the impressive downhill speed came at a price: a sprained thumb from a fall at peak speed. At least it was not the hip again, but we can now add a taped thumb to the treatment plan.
Day 5: Training Summary
Till:
Distance: 10 miles (16.1 km)
Pace: 6:43 Minute/Mile (4:45 Minute/km)
Elevation Gain: 197ft (60m)
Damage: sprained left thumb
Lessons learned: what goes up must come down .. sometimes at great speed and risk of injury…
Day 6: Rest Day
Day 6 was a rest day for both Wolf and Till. Well, as much as adolescent men can rest. The boys did go alpine skiing for the day, but gravity certainly does most of the work, so we’ll call it a rest day.
