tom wagner
               mountain ultra trail runner

Blog Post

100 miles = 173 km

thomas.wagner • Mar 31, 2017

this was originally posted on the 20th of April 2015!

Istria 100 Miles – mein erster und gleich längster Lauf der geplanten Saison. # 144. 100 Meilen oder besser gesagt 173 km und 7000 positive Höhenmeter gab es quer durch Istrien zu bewältigen. Start in Labin, entlang der bergigen Ostküste (Ucka Gebirge) und über Buzet bis nach Umag. Der erste Teil hatte es in sich, weil er technisch anspruchsvoller war und den Großteil der Höhenmeter beinhaltete. Der zweite Teil war „laufbarer“, aber hatte auch seine Tücken.

Eine geniale Strecke mit Verpflegungspunkten meist in den historischen Dörfchen auf den Hügeln selbst (und nicht unten im Tal). Perfekte Organisation und Ausschilderung; denn sonst hätten wir in der Nacht bei dem vielen Nebel keine Chance gehabt den Weg zu finden. Start des Rennens war um 19:00 am Freitag; anfänglich war es ok, aber vor dem höchsten Punkt der Strecke (Vojak, 1394) wurde der Nebel so dicht, dass man teils nur mehr seine Füße sehen konnte. Bin lange mit Francesca Canepa (ITA) und den Vorjahressieger Jay Aldous (USA) gelaufen. Der Slovene Marjan Zupancic hat gleich von Anfang an ein sehr hohes Tempo angeschlagen und ich musste ihn am ersten Hügel ziehen lassen; nicht aber ohne ihn zuvor mal einzuholen und blöd zu fragen wer alles vor uns sei. Seine Antwort war einfach: just me!

Gut, somit wusste ich wie es um mich stand. Irgendwann Richtung Vojak rauf holten mich Jay und Francesca und ich reihte mich hinter ihnen brav ein. War eine lustige Truppe die sich da den Weg durch die Nacht, den Nebel und all diese vielen vielen Steine gebahnt hat. Danke!

Ab km 73.5 hat Jay dann die Labestation schneller verlassen und Francesca und ich auch jeweils alleine. Schön langsam wurde es Tag und der Nebel war dahin. Bei km 101 (Hum) konnte ich mich auf Platz 2 setzen.

Dafür aber kam eine Kaltfront herein, die ordentlich Regen, Wind und Kälte mit sich brachte. Bei km 130.7 (Motovun) war der Wind schon echt kalt und eine Regenhose musste her. Die gute Bonatti. Gut so, weil noch vor der nächsten Labestation regnete es richtig stark. Es war nun nicht mehr so technisch zu laufen, dafür aber durch den Regen teilweise sehr matschig und die Schuhe hatten das 5-fache an Gewicht. Marjan war 1 1/2 Std. vor mir, Francesca eine ½ hinter mir. Der dritte Mann etwa 45min. Also konzentrierte ich mich darauf alles Flache und bergab zu laufen; bergauf schnell mit den Stecken nach oben zu gehen. Danke Leki für diese Waffen. Die Oberschenkel waren eigentlich seit km 80 müde und die vielen vielen Steine erlaubten wenig Erholung. Anyway, Platz 2 will man dann doch nicht mehr hergeben und so ging es von Checkpoint zu Checkpoint, wo mich meine 1-Frau Crew Silke immer wieder aufpäppelte. Verpflegungspunkte/-stationen und die Helfer waren super; die Nutellabrote einfach perfekt!!! Aber ohne Crew wäre mir wohl die trockene Bekleidung ausgegangen. 2 Paar Schuhe, 3 Paar Socken, Leiberl, Regenhose, 3 Paar Handschuhe… Jetzt hieß es dann „nur mehr“ einen Fuß vor den anderen zu setzten.

Der rote Boden war zwar schwierig zu laufen, aber die Landschaft einfach toll. Läufer von der 110km Strecke waren nun auch immer wieder anzutreffen und es motiviert und lenkt ab wenn man den einen oder die andere sieht und kurz hallo sagt. Irgendwann dann Buje, km 158.8. Jetzt ist es nicht mehr weit. Noch einmal die Zähne zusammenbeißen. Der Regen war wieder vorbei und es war nicht mehr ganz so kalt. Bei km 161 dachte ich mir dann nur, dass nun eigentlich ein 100 Meiler vorbei wäre. Naja, die 12km gehen jetzt auch noch. Als es dann nach Umag rein geht, steht der Betreuer von Francesca da und feuert mich nochmals an. Den letzten km geht es durch die Stadt und es läuft sich erstaunlich gut. Zieleinlauf in 22:57. Sehr cool. Ich hab noch die 23Std-Marke geknackt. Super müde und k.o. aber eben auch super happy und zufrieden. 2. Platz auf so einer Strecke und ohne wirklich die Strecke zu kennen. Zufrieden. Sehr.

Danke an meine Crew (ein unbezahlbares Burtsltagsgeschenk sich die ganze Nacht meinetwegen um die Ohren zu schlagen!) und danke an die Organisation und die vielen Helfer an der Strecke. Einfach perfekt organisiert. Danke.

BTW: es war kein einfaches Rennen; 94 finisher / 93 DNFs. nur die ersten 3 blieben unter 24 Std. (Marjan Zupančič in 21:08:50 h: saustark!; ich in 22:57:48 h und Francesca Canepa in 23:39:47 h: Chapeau!)

Geht mehr? Ja, ich denke schon. Aber die Verhältnisse sind mir entgegen gekommen und ich hatte auch (ausser einer großen Blase am Ballen) keine Probleme, weder Krämpfe noch Magenprobleme. Also alles in allem schon eine sehr positive Bilanz. Das Training scheint zu passen, danke Seppi.

Sonntag dann die Siegerehrung bei Sonnenschein und danach eine Pizza. Nachdem die am Abend nach dem Rennen so gut war, musste ich gleich nochmals zuschlagen 😉

BTW: almost all fotos from the official fb-page of 100 Miles of Istria. Thanks so much for sharing!!!

BTW2: was hab ich denn so mit mir rum geschleppt bzw. was hab ich angehabt:

  • 2 x Sense Ultra 4
  • Sense Ultra Set 3L Rucksack/Veste (ein Packwunder, ich liebe die großen Taschen vorne unter den Flasks, perfekt für Gels, Smoothies und Co!)
  • Leki Stöcke (a la Speedsticks)
  • Rettungsdecke, Blasenpflaster, Verband, normales Pflaster
  • Bonatti Regenjacke (noch a bissl weniger als die 2014er, und somit echt keine Ausrede mehr bei einem Lauf nur was Winddichtes einzupacken. War ich froh!)
  • Bonatti Regenhose (bin glaube ich noch nie so lange in einer Regenhose gelaufen, aber durch den kalten Wind einfach super fein)
  • Shorts, Tights, Buffs, 2 x Handschuhe, Langarmshirt, leichte Windjacke (zusätzlich zur Regenjacke)
  • Petzl Myo (2015er) und Nao (2014); bei dem Nebel ist ersteres die bessere Wahl!
  • Und falls man dies zur Ausrüstung zählen darf: activePatch4U x 4…

By thomas.wagner 04 Jan, 2023
everyone is familiar with those indexes / indices, right!? and so what!? top 1%? ok, sounds cool. nothing more. grateful that I live a life where running is a fun side hassle that allows me and my fam to explore some awesome places. speaking of awesome places: sooo excited to toe the line at Western States Endurance Run 100 Miles this June. so better focus on the training and once again apologize for not being very active on this / my site. but I will keep trying... best and happy trails, tom
By thomas.wagner 07 Apr, 2022
... 20 to keep you in the race...
By thomas.wagner 19 Jan, 2021
pretty cool to see your own self on a cover of a trailrunning mag, right!? honored to make the cover of the current issue 01/2021 of the Trailrunning Szene ;-) ...potentially not only the cover is a good one but also the content; go check it out!
By tom 01 Jan, 2021
...there is actually a load of cool gear out there and I'm fortunate enough to be able to play with much of it; but actually my gear of the year 2020 is a pretty simple, but pretty important one. No; its not a shoe, but likely an even more important piece of gear for a (trail)runner: a handheld! Some sort of a bottle with some sort of a strap to attach it to your hands.
By thomas.wagner 11 Dec, 2020
I’m actually pretty bad in bragging about myself. Anyway, I was nominated for the Austrian Trail Awards due to my 2020 performance; especially because of winning the Chiemgau 100 Miles . Nothing too special IMHO (a german version of a race report from the local press can be found here ). By actually thinking about it a bit more in detail, this individual win in this strange period of COVIDian times simply could imply a bit of luck that day on my side and not many other runners chasing that win… …maybe. But there is actually a bigger picture to look at. Not only 2020 in itself and not a single performance for sure. So, as I am anyway super late in writing a “race report” about the Chiemgau 100 (s)Miles, I thought I might as well use this “opportunity” of being nominated for the Austrian Trail Awards ( find out all about the nominated girls and boys here ) and dig a little deeper why this performance is at least in my opinion not only luck but maybe also some hard work over years; actually decades... Running 100 miles during COVIDian times can actually be seen as sort of the most appropriate way to practice “distancing”. Starting blocks during the Chiemgau 100 aren’t introduced in 2020, but are a way of allowing us runners to choose the right time window for the first “loop” to be ready for the second part that aligns with the 100 km course. Every full hour between 2 (this year 1) PM and 8PM, a small group of runners departs… At 7PM, it was only 3 of us. And no, we did not take it slow and easy really; although Flo (the winner of the 2019 edition) and I at least tried to convince the other one of that. So the night was sort of “hot” already and the next morning did not bring us any cooler temps really. In the end it turned out to be a pretty hot day and thanks to my crew chief a lot of ice in my hand bottles, in my neck bandana and under my hat made me keep moving forward. Long story short, after 22:09:32 h I made it back to the start line in 1st place. Super happy about it! So grateful about another 100 miles victory; about another awesome long day out on the trails. That was now number 7 in total and besides a win (my 100 miles PB in 19:49:43 h) and then course record at the 100 miles of Istria in 2016; it was my 6 th win here at the Chiemgau 100 Miles. And this is where likely luck does not explain the whole story anymore. My first win was back in 2011 (a decade ago!). Again in 2012 (tied with Lars Donarth), 2015 , 2017 , 2018 (still the course record in 21:19:44 h) and this year, 2020. In 2014 , I managed to hold on for a second place behind Rudi Döhnert. And yes, I also DNFed at this race once; after ~100k in 2013 . Figure 1 shows my times over the course of a decade (!) running/finishing the Chiemgau 100 Miles. And although this is not how trend analysis should be done properly, it is at least reasonable to argue that I did not get much slower over the course of a decade. That’s sort of cool and please allow me to be a little proud about that “trend” ;o) ...I will do my very best to keep that trend alive in the years to come. Long may you run !
By thomas.wagner 22 Sep, 2020
super excited to join this group of atheltes and learn from the past! for more details see https://alpfronttrail.com/
By thomas.wagner 10 Aug, 2020
Matthias Krah and I, after finishing / winning the 100 km and 100 miles, respectively. Super happy with the long day out (22:09 hrs) and likely will take a day or two to process it all. ...a little "report" will follow asap! in the meanwhile, happy trails to all of you! photo credit and big thanks to @summitsforthesoul (Florian Schütz)
By thomas.wagner 23 Jul, 2020
...this will be awesome! virtually AWESOME ! HERE is a link to the detailed programm! ....don't know how I made it into that list of all this badass athletes around me ;-) Go an check out the line up and register early! will be great fun to listen for sure and I'm sure that the one or the other thing can be learned from any of us! keep running single tracks and keep showing up! happy trails in the meantime and stay healthy!
By tom 20 Jul, 2020
...there might not be much going on concerning races and the like; so enjoy being outdoors, train for the sake of training and breath cool air up high or sweat a lot down low. ...maybe try an FKT (fastest known time) or simply explore the playground near you. Eventually we will be toeing the start line soon! fingers crossed that this will be rather sooner than later. In the meanwhile, run to add life to your days! happy trails!
By thomas.wagner 29 Mar, 2020
A few thoughts (and maybe recommendations) about a number that seems to show up in three of my “passions”: 80 / 20 A ratio that might be relevant for three of my passions: coffee, hydrogeology and running long... 1) Coffee : 80 % bio arabica / 20 % bio robusta Right now, we do have some additional time to think about things in our live, we didn’t before. Not saying that I’m working any less hours. However, the home office actually demands a different work flow and required this week a sort of emergency order for coffee to keep me working. This is actually when the 80/20 ratio sort of appeared in all these three “disciplines”. I ordered four different coffees (250g each, whole beans) at a local roastery called “Paul&Bohne”: one was a 100 % arabica, one a 50/50 arabica/robusta, one 90% arabica, 10 % robusta and the final one, the “Lendblend” was a 80/20. And I must admit, I like the 80/20! A personal preference - nothing more, nothing less. 2) Hydrogeology : 80 % older, longer stored water / 20 % event water Currently, I’m working on a project about a soil substrate map of Styria (Austria) we try to complete somehow despite all the necessary measures necessary during COVID-19. But usually, my research focus is more on spring catchment characterization and there is a manuscript currently under review (“Active rock glaciers as shallow groundwater reservoirs, Austrian Alps”) that I check its status on a regular basis. Long story short: springs may react on recharge events differently. Some show basically very little fast response on event water and the spring hydrograph is rather dampened. Other springs, like many karst or rock glacier springs do show a much higher variability in spring discharge usually related to preferential flow paths. Interestingly, the percentage of event water (fast flowing through the aquifer after storm or snow melt events) in at least some of these catchments is ~20%, meaning that older, longer stored water (with usually higher mineralization) is ~80% of the runoff. This is definitely not a number that holds true for all spring catchments, but at least some I had the chance to study (Wagner et al. 2016, Winkler et al., 2016). 80/20, but others are more like 60/40, but basically never 100 % event water. However, during drought periods (or actually periods of no to very little recharge) spring flow or actually river runoff might be 100 % groundwater contribution… We might come back to this when there is time to think again about our climate crisis and not the COVID-19 anymore. Ideally, the latter might show that we can live with a little less (add here travel, meat, etc.) than we used to… 3) (Ultra-) Running : 80 % slow runs / 20 % high(er) intensity Just reading the German version of “Training for the Uphill Athlete – A manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers” by Steve House, Kílian Jornet and Scott Johnston that I bought for Silke because she didn’t like to read the English version, there is an obvious focus on establishing an endurance base, meaning we all should have a good base built before even do the faster, high intensity stuff. If we did a good job in building this base, we need to keep the balance between the “slow” runs and the “intense” ones. And yes, this ratio is 80/20. When you think about what “polarized training” suggests (there is reasonably strong evidence that it is very beneficial for endurance athletes (Seiler, 2010) and potentially for recreational runners too (Munoz et al., 2014) to train that way), you should spend a lot of time (80 %) below your aerobic threshold (AeT), and only a 1/3 of the remaining time between AeT and lactate threshold (LT) and the other 2/3 remaining above LT. I must admit, I like the 80% but often have a hard time to push really hard during these 13% (or actually two high intensity sessions a week). So hopefully race season is coming soon again to get that percentage up again. So what should this 80/20 ratio tell you ? …definitely no “conclusion” here from my side, just simply an observation of me (coffee), myself (hydrogeology) and I (running long) that the ratio 80/20 might be a “good” one… ...maybe right now, all these "passions" do not really matter that much and we should all use 80% on " family time " and reduce intensity (unnecessary stress) in our lives in general to (below) 20%!? Fingers crossed we all will be out on the trails soon again, enjoying our coffee at a campsite, and not having work and hobby getting too close to each other as it is right now, where home & office is the same and it is hard to disconnect from work. Stay healthy and stay positive. And if this post did not make any sense to you, at least it might have distracted you a little from the current situation… Happy home and hopefully happy trails soon! Cheers, tom References: House, S., Jornet, K. and Johnston, S., 2019. Training for the Uphill Athlete – A manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers. Patagonia Books, Ventura, United States. ISBN: 978-1-938340-84-0 Seiler, S., 2010. What is the best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 5(3): 276-291. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.5.3.276 Munoz,, I., Seiler, S., Bautista, J., Espana, J.m Larumbe, E., Esteve-Lanao, J., 2014. Does polarized training improve performance in recreational runners? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance 9(2): 265-272. https://doi.org/10.1123/IJSPP.2012-0350 Paul & Bohne: https://paulundbohne.at/ accessed 25.03.2020. Wagner, T., Pauritsch, M., Winkler, G., 2016. Impact of relict rock glaciers on spring and stream flow of alpine watersheds: Examples of the Niedere Tauern Range, Eastern Alps (Austria). Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences 109(1), 84-98. https://doi.org/10.17738/ajes.2016.0006 Winkler, G., Wagner, T. Pauritsch, M., Birk, S., Kellerer-Pirklbauer, A., Benischke, R., Leis, A., Morawetz, R., Schreilechner, M.G., Hergarten, S., 2016. Identification and assessment of groundwater flow and storage components of the relict Schöneben Rock Glacier, Niedere Tauern Range, Eastern Alps (Austria). Hydrogeology Journal 24, 937-953. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-015-1348-9
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