Ultra Trail Vipava 50 K or The Loop Is Done

in Ultra Running2 years ago

image.png

Saturday, May the 7th, 2022, Vipava, Slovenia. Time to finish an unfinished business. At 7:30 we are on a start line of a 50 K trail run. A lot of hills and forest trails await us, including the climb to Mount Nanos. Another walk in the park.

Yet, this walk has a prelude. On the weekend of 29th and 30th of October, I was here already, at the 100 K trail run. I DNFed at kilometre 54. Read the whole story about Ultra Trail Vipava. After that, I immediately submitted my entry to the second half of the loop, and devised a running training plan, and followed it, more or less successfully.

The real test came yesterday. It was a cloudy and moist day, actually warm enough for a pleasant all day long run and hike. It seems we would be lucky enough to avoid the rain. All was set for a great day.

During the trail run, I took several photos and I'll let them tell most of the story. It was divided into two parts. The first, the southern part was run on the rolling hills in lush greenery on great forest paths and between wine yards.

The second part was all about climbing up to the top of Nanos mountain range. More rugged terrain, strong gusts of bora wind, fog at the top. Then long stretches of downhill running on slippery rocks and tarmac roads.

The run was nicknamed Gladiator and my bib was 470.

image.png

We started in the village Vipavski križ and ran up and down the hills on the south part of the valley and through the wine yards.

The morning fog was starting to disperse as we progresses on our trek.

The overall feeling was great.

What a beautiful planet.

Wine yards and meadows, bush trails, all so alive and green.

Beautiful scenery of still dormant villages down below and more hills in the distance.

Even with these rolling hills the total climb in the first half was 1100 meters. Quite a lot.

Nanos mountain range in the distance across the valley. The highest point of the course was some 13 kilometres of trail away.

A view from Socerb, the highest point from this part of the trail.

The refreshment station in Podnanos was lively and crowded. The volunteers were friendly and helpful as always. Thank you very much for all your goodwill and positive energy, friends.

From Podnanos it was mostly uphill, a long climb on an open rigde to Nanos. I didn't take many photos here since it was very windy. Despite the saturated air it felt dry and quite cold. I pushed through it with short sleeves. Somehow, I was too lazy or unwilling to change the shirt.

A fellow runner has said here: "It's like cryotherapy!" She was right.

This area is beaten by the bora wind all the time. It's unhospitable yet strangely beautiful.

There, behind these hills was the top, hidden in the clouds.

No photos of the top either. There's a mountain hut and an antenna station yet I didn't feel like taking photos. There were more pressing needs like food and drinks and getting away from the wind.

From now on it was mostly downhill on technical and slippery paths or on forest roads. 19 more kilometres to go on beautiful yet demanding trails protected from the wind.

Believe it is hard to run down in a presentable manner after 40 kilometres of claims and descents,

So, no photos from this section neither. The next on will be ...

... in the finish. Yes!

Eight hours and a quarter, 2400 meters of total climb, excellent trail. Satisfied!

Even more, tapped beer in the finish.

Now it was time to celebrate, mingle with friends, and runners, talk about the adventure of the day, have some more beer, and cheer for all who were crossing the finish line, ... The usual stuff one does at these events :)

It was a great day.


Map with basic data of the run

Altitude profile

The official split times.


Tagging those who showed interest and support the last time I was talking about Vipava Trail: @manuvert, @browery, @thebigsweed, @rthelly, @merthin. I did finish this loop :)


Better and better
:ervin :lemark

Sort:  

That's some pretty high elevation, awesome run.

Thank you. It was a lot of knee biting, yes. Not any really steep climbs so the majority was in form of long and gradual climbs, maybe even harder because of the distance :)

!invest_vote

@ervin-lemark denkt du hast ein Vote durch @investinthefutur verdient!
@ervin-lemark thinks you have earned a vote of @investinthefutur !

Great to see you keep up your good habit of posting and running. I am wondering, how many km you run on a year basis? More than my car !LOL

Thanks. Not a lot, really, compared to some real ultra & trail runners.

This year's numbers are:

monthdistance (km)
Jan301
Feb269
Mar300
Apr229
May (so far)103

!invest_vote

Still, with this gas prices soon more than my car.

@ervin-lemark denkt du hast ein Vote durch @investinthefutur verdient!
@ervin-lemark thinks you have earned a vote of @investinthefutur !

What a run/walk/climb. As always I like to change the Km into miles as it gives me a better picture of the journey. 33 miles is unbelievable. The photos you captured along the way gives your followers a great picture of the beauty of the land. Having no rain during this run had to make the trek that much more enjoyable.

I'm six days postop from total knee replacement of the right knee. Despite the entire leg looking like a tree stump and being black and blue from the crotch to the tip of my toes I'm already gearing up for the left knee being done. The doc told me that in about three months from now I should be ready for the next replacement. The next one will be the last one as both hips and knees will be new.

I will never be able to do what you do, but just walking at a good pace for a few miles, without pain, will be total victory.

Thanks for the mention my friend!

Thank you.

That's great to hear, that your replacement ops are on the schedule and that you are doing fine, as fine as you can :)

Sending some positive energy that your right knee recovery is swift and that the left one will be replaced as smoothly as possible.

!invest_vote

@ervin-lemark denkt du hast ein Vote durch @investinthefutur verdient!
@ervin-lemark thinks you have earned a vote of @investinthefutur !

Well done! I thought my half was hard, but that run looks epic. I hope you take some time to recover. Beer at the finish is a great idea.

!PIZZA

Thanks :)

I did take some time off - slept till 11 on Sunday morning :)
And went on a short run in the evening. Keeping the streak ...

!invest_vote

I've not managed any streak and definitely not running today :)

:) It's your decision :)

@ervin-lemark denkt du hast ein Vote durch @investinthefutur verdient!
@ervin-lemark thinks you have earned a vote of @investinthefutur !

beautiful scenery and a weather I like
!ALIVE
!HBIT
!BEER

Success! You mined .9 HBIT & the user you replied to received .1 HBIT on your behalf. mine | wallet | market | tools | discord | community | <>< daily

:) Thank you :)

!invest_vote

@ervin-lemark denkt du hast ein Vote durch @investinthefutur verdient!
@ervin-lemark thinks you have earned a vote of @investinthefutur !

@ervin-lemark! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @merthin. (2/10)

The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.


The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the person sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.


Hey @ervin-lemark, here is a little bit of BEER from @merthin for you. Enjoy it!

Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your BEER.

Yay! 🤗
Your content has been boosted with Ecency Points, by @ervin-lemark.
Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform!

Support Ecency
Vote for new Proposal
Delegate HP and earn more

PIZZA!

PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@steevc(3/5) tipped @ervin-lemark (x1)

Learn more at https://hive.pizza.

Wow, very impressive! Nice you were able to complete the second part. The scenery looks just as beautiful as the first part you showed us last time.
Congrats and have an awesome and relaxing week ahead!
!ALIVE

@ervin-lemark! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @manuvert. (2/10)

The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.