Tor des Geants Race Report - Part 2

Valgrisenche to Cogne

This is a much-feared section of the course. In a little over 50km, you cover 16,000 feet of climbing over the highest altitude part of the course. There are 3 major mountain passes, with the third one at 3,300m (almost 11,000 feet). The majority of this section would be at night for me, and most people report feeling terrible at Cogne. My primary goal was to manage this section well and arrive at Cogne actually feeling good. That would be a tall task, but it was a good mindset going in.

The first climb up Col Fenetre was fantastic. A big, long climb was just what I needed to settle into a nice groove. Even better, we were deep into the wilds of the Gran Paradiso National Park. The night sky was crystal clear with stars everywhere and a full moon reflecting off the glaciers. It was a magical night, and I was just loving it.

As we ascended, I put on my warm hat and gloves. We crested the top of the 5,000+ foot climb and were faced with a sheer wall of a descent. It was wild and took all of my focus to get down safely, descending 2,000 feet of rock and scree in the first mile. Only at Tor would you have a descent this ridiculous. As it mellowed a bit (only 1,100 feet of descent per mile) I tried to save my legs as much as possible coming into the Rhemes aid station. I rolled in at 11:30pm, having run a great split, and I was delighted to see the omnipresent Christophe again! He had more food for me, and I fueled up well here.

Then it was back into the night for bump # 2 of the evening, Col Entrelor. I honestly don’t remember a ton about this climb. I continued to feel good and move well, and I was really enjoying the evening. I think there was a small bivouac aid stop at the top. This descent was more gradual than the previous one, and it took a while to wind down to Eaux Rousses. Christophe was here AGAIN, apparently determined to sleep less than me.

I ate some food and then went off to the other tent for a short sleep. Even though I still felt alert and strong, my plan was a short sleep on night one, as I figured it would help establish the nighttime sleep routine and pay some dividends down the line. I laid down for 25 minutes and slept for perhaps 10-15 minutes. I am glad I did and think it was worthwhile.

Night life in the Tor

Now it was time for Col Loson, the big beast. I passed a LOT of people on this climb. Everyone seemed in fairly rough shape, but I just merrily hiked along through the nightime Italian Alps wilderness. Towards the top of the climb, I would turn my headlamp off for stretches, enjoying the full moon lighting my way up to 10,800 feet. In retrospect I perhaps pushed a bit too much in this stretch, but I just felt good and was rolling with it.

I crested Loson around 6:45am with dawn breaking. Seeing the red and orange sky from the high point of the course was just so special and memorable. I stopped to enjoy it and snap a few pics (which of course don’t do it justice) and relaxed for a few minutes while drinking some tea at the bivouac on top of the mountain. It was a civilized moment in a very uncivilized race.

What. A. Sunrise.
You can see the bivouac aid station towards the bottom left.

I descended to Refugio Sella, getting hungry after the night’s efforts. I stopped here to eat a bunch, getting a nice breakfast with the new day. I think this was also the first time I used the toilet that has running water but is level with the ground. Using these on tired legs required serious acrobatics that became more hilarious as the race went on.

It was a monster 6,000 foot descent down to Cogne, getting warmer as the sun rose and as I descended to lower altitude. I got to Cogne almost an hour up on splits, and I actually succeeded in my mission of feeling pretty decent!

I reunited with Christophe and my treasured life base bag to transition into day two. I brushed my teeth, put on sunscreen, cleaned my feet, and changed clothes. I tried to eat food, but that’s where I struggled for some reason. I was hungry, but food wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. I tried a variety of options, but nothing was really sticking.

A wee bit of rest at Cogne between eating

Not getting enough food here was the first big mistake of the race. I should have taken more time here, doing what it took until my stomach accepted more food. Or maybe I should have jumped into a little store in town to see what looked good. I also should have thought to buy some other food options before the race that Christophe could bring here given restaurants were all closed.

Despite feeling good after the night, somehow I was still going into day two compromised and not at my best.

Cogne to Donnas:

In the game of “which Tor section is not like the others”, this one clearly wins. You start with a classic 5,000+ foot climb but follow that with an 18 mile, 9000 foot descent to Donnas, which is less than 1,000 feet above sea level. Despite looking easier on paper, I knew that this section would be deceivingly hard. That much sustained descent is very difficult at this point in the race, and it can be brutally hot and exposed if you do this section in the heat of the day, which I would be.

Given I wasn’t feeling tip-top after Cogne, I decided to dial back the effort for a bit, setting out of town at a brisk walk. After a mellow 4 miles, we arrived at a small aid station. After this aid station, the next refugio was closed this year, meaning we would have a VERY long stretch to next aid. I again should have stopped longer here to eat, but I pushed on quickly as nothing looked appetizing.

It was around this time that the enormity of what I was doing started to hit me. I had already done 70 miles with 30,000 feet of climbing. It would be at least two more full days and nights before Jen would arrive on course to meet me. And I would STILL have a lot of Tor left after that. My mind was officially boggled.

My energy was plummeting on the climb, and I was starting to bonk hard. I sat down twice to eat and regroup. I realized I must be behind on nutrition and set myself an aggressive schedule for eating, drinking, and electrolytes. I was taking in a lot of Long Haul, Spring Energy, and Gu Roctane Caps, rapidly blowing through my nutrition for this section. I worried about running out of supplies before Donnas, but with feeling this bad it was a gamble I had to take.

Not feeling my best climbing out of Cognes, but at least I was in good spirits!

It was finally starting to work, and I was snapping out of my funk when Brit runner James Ellison caught me. It was fantastic to have some English-speaking company after a long time on my own. We caught another guy in front and were working together as a trio. Unfortunately, just as things started going well, I was running out of calories and fluids. It sounded like it was the same for both of them, too.

I was worried about moving slowly on this section and getting behind on my splits, but it seemed like everyone was getting rocked, and no one was in sight as we looked back. We came to the closed refiguio and could just stare wistfully at what would have been a glorious aid station in past years. I dreamt of cool alpine water, and who knows, maybe even some ice cream?

Instead, we were served a steep and exposed climb to crest Col Fenetre, followed by a steep and technical descent. Things were getting grim with the lack of hydration, and I had been bone-dry for a long time now. I saw a building in the distance and dearly hoped it was the Dondena rifugio. The runner I was with confirmed it was. Alas, when I tried to go inside, I was informed it was indeed not an aid station on the course. They had a running water pump, so I at least was able to refill before trudging towards Dondena, which was still an hour away.

Despite my zero star rating of this section, I suppose it wasn’t all bad …

The heat was blistering in the exposed sun, and I struggled on this incredibly runnable section. By the time I got to Dondena, my stomach was so empty that I didn’t want anything, and it had been almost 5 hours since last aid. James got there soon after I arrived, and we ordered some soup that took a while to prepare. When it arrived, we both just kind of looked at it and struggled to get a few sips. I couldn’t find any other food that looked good. We both decided we just had to keep moving, with James leaving before me and at least looking better than I felt.

I knew I was in trouble as I headed down, down, down to Chardonney. I messaged Christophe, and he was going to start the long drive from Courmayeur to see if he could meet me early. I got to Chardonney and knew I needed a serious reset. Remember that show the “The IT Crowd” with the running joke “did you try turning it on and off again?” One thing I told myself before Tor is that if my body wasn’t working, I’d try turning it on and off again, and that was the plan now.

I laid down in a reclining chair for a few minutes to reset the system. I made myself a few cheese sandwiches that went down ok. A fellow runner was kind enough to share some extra chips he had. I felt like I needed salt, and lots of it. I got some soup broth, but it just didn’t taste salty enough. Jen is far wiser than me, so I thought to myself, what would she do if she was here? She’d say “Will, just ask them for some salt, you silly man.” Ah, the simple answers are always the best ones.

I asked for salt, but surprisingly they didn’t have any. So I asked what they used to make the soup. They had a salty powder they were mixing with hot water. Perfect. I started to dump that into my soup, mixing my own salty brew. Bit by bit, I was coming back to life. I spent around 45 minutes here bring myself back to life, and it was time to leave this lovely oasis. I headed out towards the next aid station, the last one before the Donnas life base.

I felt better and was actually running again. But this section turned out to be quite slow going after the first bit, winding in and out of farms, steep wooded trails, and cobblestone steep road. There wasn’t much that was runnable despite being mostly downhill. My savior Christophe managed to catch me at the next aid station and resupplied my depleted gels. He also brought some amazing focaccia bread, and I had another of the spicy ginger beers. It is weird what the body craves, but these just hit the spot throughout the race, and I only wish I’d bought more of them.

Night fell on the last stretch into Donnas. I was running pretty well into town, now 98 miles and 35,000 feet of climbing deep after 35+ hours on course. The last section did not go well and was around 2.5 hours slower than I planned. But that was ok, and I couldn’t let it bother me. You have to take the time to work through low points on a race this long, and I think we all suffered and were slowed by the long, exposed section without aid. I knew before the race that the wheels would come off many times during TOR, but success would come from how well I put them back on.

We passed by this amazing medieval castle, lit up in the night, and it was warm down at 1,000 feet. While I originally planned a 1h10min stop here, I decided it would be wise to take a bit longer and get some sleep. The next section was notorious as the longest and toughest of the race, and it was best to go into it feeling strong.

Feeling good again at Donnas!

I showered, took care of my feet, and changed shoes and socks (this was my only shoe change during the race). I drank a protein shake, which I did at each life base and maybe 1-2 other spots. I ate some pizza and went down for a nap. It was fairly crowded and noisy here (which is why I originally didn’t want to sleep at Donnas), but I managed close to an hour of sleep.

I finished the pizza, ate some avocado, and prepared for the next section. I spent a little over two hours here and was pleased with how much I got done. I set off into the night at midnight, feeling recharged and ready for what was to come.