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| Cromagnon 2014 map 130km |
Direct link to the original article in Italian, here
The 2014 ultratrail du Cromagnon is also over(month of june). The new route, despite being very scenic, proved to be very hard, especially in the part following Breil. In fact, from the beginning up to the 80th km everything flowed quite well with a path suitable for the typical ultratrail pace. The last 50 km, on the other hand, were quite another thing, partly because the tiredness arrived there was already high, but more than anything else it was the development of the itinerary that made everything very hard. After all, we know that ultratrailers do not give up in the face of difficulties, on the contrary they seek them by overcoming them!
Of course, seeing 3 three races develop concurrently on the same route was psychologically very disorienting. In fact, observe some friends already calm for having finished the 74 km of the newly born Marguareis with just 34 members. Then with the new CRO relay we saw athletes stop and others leave fresh just when things got very hard for the starters from Limone! Without considering the entry of the 57 Neander competitors in the final 50km who whizzed fast for the last stretch with their legs still good. All these characteristics that made the psychological tension high, adding stress to the pure distance.
The queen, however, is always only one Cromagnon, and the only factor of being there made the 340 members feel privileged, even for those who tried but failed to complete it. In fact, there were only 197 finishers.
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At 4.00 in the morning, after a sleep in the car or in a sleeping bag for those who have done like me arrived there since Friday, one of the pioneer races in Italy for ultratrail started: The Grand Raid International du Cromagnon 2014. All in a new guise that is even more attractive than in the past. This year several characteristic villages of the Roya Valley crossed each other.
The effort was unmatched in comparison with other competitions of the genre and for those who want to really test themselves the Cromagnon is just what it takes!
It is not so much to describe the race that I write these lines but to submit to the reader the latest tests that I am always carrying out using the technique of the weekly mono-training for the ultratrail. Of course if I wasn't happy with the results I wouldn't be writing. Monotraining is already widely tested since all my races from 2006 to today have always been prepared with this strategy. Work also done on many other athletes. With the Cromagnon, however, I wanted to put into practice the so-called 'decisive proof', so this year I wanted to take part in this new longer and more tiring version of 130km.
What to write ?! Achieved feat! So with 24 hours and 40 minutes of travel I arrived in Cap d'Ail on the finish line beach with the sea in front ... Nothing more beautiful. The satisfaction of the arrival and the pride of having proposed a method that works so well for the preparation of this adventurous sport gives me motivation to spread even more a sustainable training, aimed at extreme distances on foot ...
Reporting some data. This year I started training in March, with no more than 15 outings behind me, considering that on some occasions I had to skip training for various reasons.
Overdoing it in this specialty, as in many other extreme disciplines, is usually the norm that most of the time leads to a chronic state of over-training even before arriving at the day of the event. Just a detail that comes to mind right now is the image of a Cromagnon participant shown here, with his feet smashed even before the 30th km. Obviously this person had ruined himself in training to be in that state, with absurd excesses without giving any space to organic recovery. Exaggeration in sport has its price! Certainly the athlete injured due to his excesses and mistakes could not even taste what it means to finish 130km in the mountains because he had to stop much earlier ... A real shame.
Practicing long distances only once a week to give space for recovery will always allow a complete 'recovery' from any micro trauma due to the previous training, avoiding chronic pre-injury accumulations. This scheme allows you to manage colossal itineraries in a few months without damage and in a sustainable way. After all, the beauty of practicing a sport is to do it in respect of health for a period comparable to the length of the athlete's life. It is of little use to exaggerate for a few years by gaining time on the journey in a forced way, and then stop ruinously for reasons of physical ususra! The work of my book is oriented precisely towards this theme.
Thanks to the help of a friend, now the book 'Ultratrail with weekly Monotraining' is translated into English, I apologize for the approximation of the translation but it is a precious gift that was offered to me and I hope that the concepts are all understandable . All the material and EBOOK is available at this link: http://www.bertinettobartolomeodavide.it/ultratrail/index-ing.html
Hoping you enjoyed it, I thank everyone in advance for reading.
Davide
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UltraTrail eBook
