Trient

I was excited.

Then Be- Beth, um, and I went and did some, some recon from, uh, Trient to La Tour, and it took a really long time.

[laughs]

And I was like, "Was this a confidence-building exercise?" [laughs]

Yep.

Yeah.

So the first long run I did from Trient into Chamonix, so that was like-

Okay.

Um, but I was like, "Nah, I don't give a, I don't care about that.

I'm just, like, I'm just doing my race." Um, and but then when you come to the next stage, uh, station and you hear that, "Okay, they are 11 minutes behind," and then they're out in the course, like my teammates, and they're saying, "You're nine minutes behind," and the next one is seven minutes, and then after, uh, Trient I heard that, "You're four minutes behind." So always getting the splits and knowing that it's getting shorter and shorter, of course, that gives a motivation and a confidence boost to know that, okay, I'm actually catching people in the pace I'm going.

Like nobody's running or nobody in the front is running, uh, faster than me.

No.

Here there was Otto to be reckoned with, for the excommunicated emperor had hurried back into Germany when he heard of Frederick's election, and his remaining supporters had rallied around him.

Frederick advanced into Bavaria as far as Trient, and then received alarming news of Otto's proximity.

It was impossible for him to advance further in that direction, and equally impossible to a youth of Frederick's mettle to slink back into Italy.

He chose the only remaining alternative, turning sharply aside to the west, and commenced an arduous march through the almost untrodden passes of the Alps.

I think, like, we can also start considering maybe, at least in my feeling, I executed up to about 100.

Uh, until Trient, I felt like, thing-- I mean, actually, like, Bovine climb was a little, that was kind of my worst climb, I thought.

But in between there and there, like, we're, we're talking about, like, 130, 140K where I was really able to get the most out of myself.

So we're kind of close to, to finishing it off, right? Like, if I can get somebody to come with me and, like, you know, just get a little stronger, like, maybe I can carry that through all the way to the end.

So, um, I mean, that kind of stuff gets me pumped because then it's possible.

Yeah, we can push harder at the end.

So if I'm hearing you correctly, if I'm comparing, for example, your gap pace from the start in Cham to maybe Les Chapieux, and then also looking at, for example, Trient to the finish, it's, uh, that is not a fair comparison.

Like, I sh-

So it's a big deal no matter what.

The big course alteration that happened before the race kicked off was they were gonna all of a sudden descend all the way down to Martigny, um, before climbing up out of that hole to get back over to Trient.

It is, that climb is really nasty.

You've got also a little bit more road than usual down there, too, which is, you know, hit or miss depending on who you are and if you want to, if you want that k- type of turnover.

And to be here healthy I think was a really big deal.

So again, the core four did exactly wha- what we expected them to do, but we had some interesting Athletes mixing up Helen as well, an, an unfortunate, um, a scary DNF.

Actually, she passed out on her way towards Trient.

Um, so she's okay, but had, had a scary, a scary kind of moment that ultimately ended her day.

Blandine looks way too good for anything to change."

Dominant victory, not quite as dominant as Ben's, but I, I feel like for whatever reason, even, even, like, around Grand Col Ferret, Trient, Vallorcine, I felt like she had sort of put it in the bag, even when I factor in those falls.

I would say her finish had to have been the most highly emotional, and maybe the other runners are too tired or they're internalizing it, but outwardly, like, maybe it was surviving the course, maybe it was something else, but it was, um, I mean, you could see it.

Yeah, and it's, I mean, also years, years of trying to figure out UTMB, 'cause this isn't Blandine's first-