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Run the Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails 46K in Austria
Alexander Walker, BITR contributor
Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra, Adidas Terrex apparel and running vest
As part of the Adidas Terrex mentorship program, I will be training and running in the Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra, a premium race day shoe featuring a dual-layer Lightstrike Pro midsole, Peba EnergyRods, Continental rubber outsole, and aggressive rocker geometry.
Like a war, the path towards running improvement is long and grueling. This is the final chapter in my story of my journey towards a 27-mile trail race in the Austrian alps, my first marathon distance race on any terrain, road or trail.
The program took place virtually from June to September, and featured trail running athletes from the TERREX team mentoring hand-selected program participants to improve their skills and experience taking on the trail. By the end of the program, participants will have the opportunity to show off their new skills in the Infinite Trails race. The program concludes here, with my report of the an on-the-ground Infinite Trails race experience in Austria.
For the first two correspondence into the Infinite Trails War Journal, check out the July entry and the August entry.
I have had the tremendous pleasure of being a part of the Adidas Terrex Trail Mentorship Program over the course of this summer, a hand-selected program that seeks to improve participants’ skills and experience taking on the trail.
The program culminates here with the Infinite Trails Race in Gastein, Salzburgerland, Austria, where our class will run various distances ranging from 10K to 45K. I will be participating in the 45K distance– the longest I have ever run. I have chosen this distance for a few reasons, but the number one reason is a throwback to my mantra from my college days: you should do it because it will be funny. Give the people the content that they want! Run a trail ultra before you run a road marathon!
To help me in these endeavors and keep me from looking like a real joke, I have been paired with an excellent coach in Corrine Malcom, an accomplished trail runner and Adidas athlete but undoubtedly her true feat of endurance was her recent live commentary of the 2024 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Corrine got to know me, my style and how running fits in my life and has built a plan that pushes me to get in extra miles, practice hills, practice vert, increase my strength, but in a way that doesn’t uproot my life. This is the first time I have used the TrainingPeaks app, and I’ve found it to be very helpful for managing my training plan.
From May until the first week in September, I stuck to my training plan, I hit my workouts, I did my strength sessions, and I practiced with all my gear. I did what I could, but in the back of my mind something told me nothing I could do in Maryland would really prepare me for what awaited in Austria’s Gastein Valley, running the longest distance I had ever attempted.
If you’ve been following the journey so far, I had the amazing opportunity to represent Believe In the Run in Adidas Terrex Trail Mentorship program: a summer of coaching and seminars in mindfulness, nutrition and more to get our crew ready to take on the alps. Until arriving in Bad Gastein, I had only seen my cohort from the program in tiny zoom window. I was excited to get together and experience Infinite Trails.
Adidas Terrex allowed us to live the dream of participating like elite athletes by outfitting us in the gear as described in the previous training articles and mentioned at the end of this one: clothing, vests and shoes meant to elevate performance and focus on the experience. Emblazoned in the orange, black and white of the current Terrex season’s palette, the gear really helped me get in the mindset for our race and feel like I was part of something. My similarly dressed cohort for the week were the winners of a Strava elevation challenge and represented the Mid-Atlantic (Pittsburgh, NYC, Baltimore) and more exotic locales (Germany, Spain, Turkey, South Africa).
I was also ready to spend some up close and personal time with the true Terrex Elite Team, including coaches Corrine Malcolm and Eric LiPuma, more on that later.
As the Infinite Trails racer may be faced with uncertain weather conditions, I have been kitted out with performance wear for every possibility to complete my mandatory gear list. This season’s line features a bold black, orange, and white motif, perfect for our hometown team’s (Baltimore Orioles) playoff push.
The piece de resistance of my Adidas kit is the Agravic Speed Ultra, which until this year had only been seen on the feet of Terrex’s elite athletes. On my training runs, the shoe feels fast, agile and ready to take on anything. The summer months in Baltimore are typically pretty wet and sticky, and I was impressed that my feet and shoes both survived a particularly sweaty run on a humid morning in Loch Raven Reservoir with fellow BITR reviewer Matt Kucharski. We absolutely wanted to give up, but the Agravic Speed Ultras stayed true.
To tell the story of how Infinite Trails was born, I will pull comments from my conversation with Race Director Mike Hamel, a former Olympic mountain biker whose commitment to a thoroughly fun and memorable experience was apparent long before I met him in person. Mike is one of the most public faces of the race, and gave perhaps the most in-depth briefing I have ever received on anything (which both made me feel prepared and slightly terrified of what I needed to overcome to survive the 45K distance).
Mike explained that Infinite Trails grew out of a deliberate effort by Adidas Terrex to establish a completely sustainable race even. The idea was enticing to others as well– similar to the Olympics, a dozen locations across Europe (including Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France) competed for the chance to host. The Gastein Valley of Austria secured the bag, which included the ability to house all athletes in pre-existing accommodations, and the ability to take public transit (train and bus) to and from the event.
Hosting Infinite Trails also means a strong commitment from the residents of the Gastein Valley, and over 300 local volunteers are needed to make the event a success. Many of the folks who are involved in this effort are not runners themselves, but their support and encouragement were necessary for us to carry on and have fun with the course.
The pursuit of sustainability extends to registration, where– prior to the race– each participant is invited to donate and participate in a tree planting session. More mature mountain trees are also used to create the finisher medals, each one decorated and presented to racers by local children.
To keep things manageable and allow Infinite Trails to continue, the field is limited to 1600 participants across all of the distances, both individual and relay. While I never felt totally alone on the course, this kept things from getting too bunched up during the race and took into account the wear and tear on the environment. While it was clear that the racers had taken over the town for the week, it still felt like an intimate atmosphere where you are meeting people from all over the world but actually getting a chance to get to know them.
Encouraging the commitment and growth of this community is an important aspect to Mike and the Infinite Trails team, and to incentivize participants coming back year after year, there is a significant discount to registration fees for returning competitors.
To top it all off, The Gastein Valley has a centuries old tradition of health spas, and the Alpentherme thermal pools form a central focal point for recovery and celebration pre- and post-race (including a 10/10 waterslide experience).
As an official welcome and kick off to race weekend, we all met up at the sporting goods store on Thursday night for a shakeout run. Contingents from all over Europe, the UK and USA gathered, as well as a sizable crew from Capetown, South Africa. As with all good shakeouts, I used the opportunity to get some of the pre-race jitters out and excitedly chat with some new friends. Major highlight amidst the camaraderie was running through a dimly lit mountain tunnel!
That night, we joined the Terrex team and a number of runners to pack out a local bar for a movie night that focused the spotlight on Terrex athletes. The standout short film “100 Reasons Why” detailed the Terrex team’s performance at the Western States 100 Miler. This documentary is maybe the only thing that has ever convinced me that running 100 miles through the California desert could be cool and fun.
The film so lovingly captures the dynamics between the team, the varying motivations and goals converging together to make the Terrex team the best versions of themselves. My day job is software sales, and endurance sports are always used as the metaphor of goal setting and pushing through adversity. There, in the bar, we were all gathered to witness the series of small triumphs that make all the training and the missteps worth it.
As the cherry on top, the team featured in the doc were there in person to answer questions from the crowd and react further on the experience. This was an awesome way to be able to involved the Infinite Trails community in the Terrex journey and I think it did a lot to define the brand’s identity– focused on the performance and the joy of its athletes.
As a companion to this written piece, you can also catch my interview on The Infinite Trails experience on the first 20 minutes of this episode of The Drop Podcast.
A typical American complaint about Europe is the lack of centralized air, and of window screens. The night before the race was pretty warm; combine that with classic pre-race jitters and folks having a nice little Friday night in the village while my windows were open, and I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep prior to the race. As a father of a toddler, I have learned to function with much less sleep, so when the 4:30 alarm clock went off, I was ready to suit up for battle.
As a nod to the greatest running crew in the greatest city in America, the Faster Bastards, I donned my all-black Terrex kit and headed down to meet my team. The majority of us competed in the 45K, but we had a couple teammates tackling the 30K loop as well. As Austria seems to have plentiful DJs, the EDM was bumping and “the vibes” were strong.
As we started out through the chute, it was exciting to run through Bad Hofgastein and up into our first switchbacks. I reminded myself temper the excitement; in the wise words of Corinne Malcom: “No one’s winning the race on the first climb.” This was a long day and a long way to go, but our spirits were high as we started to climb above the mist.
As we made our way into the mountains, the creeping feeling that I perhaps had bitten off more than I could chew started to sink in. It was clear many of my fellow competitors had significantly more Alpine experience than I, a boy who grew up in the flattest state in the union (Michigan), who currently resides at essentially sea level (Baltimore). I decided early on that it would be a much better decision not to be maimed, severed, killed or worse, than try to shave off 15-20 mins from my finishing time. In order to avoid not tumbling down a sheer cliff face, I allowed other racers to go ahead of me.
We were about 90 mins in when the first of the elite runners attempting the 60K distance blew by me, the first salvo in a series of humbling experiences. Shortly after, I had to pull off on a switchback and hunker down in the mud to remove a sizable rock from inside my shoe. This is probably my only trail experience where I really could have benefited from gaiters, as this was not the only time i had to stop to excavate gravel.
All of that said, my spirits were renewed as we ran through the town of Bad Gastein, with lines of specatars cheering “Bravo! Yavol!” and ringing cowbells. Anytime it was nice and flat I tried to take advantage, and made up some time going through populated areas, taking that endorphin boost from the cheering crowds.
Bar none the best aspect of the race for me were the aid stations, where I sampled a good deal of Power Bar offerings not generally available stateside. It is perhaps fair to say that I had the most “wing it” nutrition strategy within my cohort. I had brought a good deal of gels from home that I felt comfortable with (Gu because I have a pretty strong stomach and am kind of a garbage person). The other part of my nutrition was decidedly Rambo-like: to “live off the land” and use the real food, gummies, and bars that were provided in order to save weight and space in my vest. Of all the things I ate and drank however, it was the Coca-Cola boost at each aid station that helped propel me to the next one, the true ultrarunners delight.
As I approached the third aid station, Mike’s wise words rung in my head: “I strongly advise you to stop at each aid station, to refill your water and electrolytes. You will need it, especially before the large climb.” Again, I was feeling good– how big a climb could it possibly be?! It was at this point in Infinite Trails that truly felt infinite: I spent the next 2-plus hours as not a trail runner, but a mountain climber. Hands on quads, straight up the mountain, swearing the whole $&*#-ing way. In my moment of darkness however, I found some friends. One of them, a returning racer from Capetown, empathized with my pain and gave me an understanding of how bad it was really going to get. Another new friend, a Londoner by way of Australia, helped keep my spirits high when I was low. each time we made it to a new height, it didn’t seem like we could go any higher, but it just kept going. To rub salt in the wound, it was at this stage in the journey that we encountered a number of pleasure hikers, easily navigating the same terrain.
During the final section just before we made it to the final summit, I honestly didn’t know if I was gonna make it. I felt myself bonking and I ripped a lemon gel, trying hard to get it down while I steadied my balance. All photos of me after that lemon gel, I look like a ghost, and you can sense that I left part of myself on that mountain. Just when I felt I couldn’t go on, a member of the Adidas Runners Berlin crew who was waving a flag and once again bumping EDM, dissolved the despair with distinctly euro vibes.
The worst part about climbing a really big mountain is that you also have to come down, and this involved holding onto ropes drilled into the rock. I decided to take some pressure off my legs and let my butt do the work of sliding down good portions of the descent.
I was elated and a bit Jokerfied when I saw my support team at the next aid station near the gondolas, realizing there was a much easier way to get to the peak. When I saw them, I started laughing and clapping, and while I knew I had a long way to go before I could rest, I once again believed it might be possible to make it through.
In my normal life, I think I’m a pretty strong runner and I train in a pretty hilly part of Baltimore. During Infinite Trails, I figured out that a lot of climbs weren’t runnable, and I paced myself. For the downhills, I managed maneuverability and speed and kept myself upright. I made a very conscious effort during the race to be present. And while I may have been huffing, puffing, and slowly dying, this was one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure of being in, and I hope the pictures do it some justice.
After up and down and up and down I had finally made it to the last two kilometers, passing through the town that we had spent the last week. The absolutely most diabolical part of this whole course however, was that instead of being able to run a quick straightway through the park and into the finish chute, I instead had to run along the outside of a small pond, feeling as though the end was so close and yet so far away. Through fueling, the strength of my training, or pure will, I was able to push on through and finish well, picking up speed and entering the chute alone. After crossing the line, I put my hand on my head and started to take in all that I had done.
To remind you all, before Infinite Trails, I had never raced more than a half marathon, and never run more than 21 miles, let alone with 10,000-plus feet of gain. While hours on the Stairmaster probably could have improved my overall experience, I was able to finish, and to do so in under 9 hours. What an amazing and memorable experience for my first ultramarathon distance and one I’ll never forget.
If you’ve seen any of the videos or promotions for Infinite Trails one of the things you learn is that the after party and awards ceremony is in a giant pool, and that it looks fun and insane. It was all those things. The energy and excitement helped to get weary bodies and tired faces smiling and laughing, and there’s nothing like hundreds of people belting out Oasis and dumping beer on each other. To be able to have a space to really chill and take in all the reflections, and party together was really excellent, and the after party is not one to miss.
Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails is deliberate. Every part of it is intentional and purposed. From its nascence, Infinite Trails was designed to be a race that uses the power of location, the people who reside there, and the environment to reflect the nature of the experience. Everything was so planned out and meticulous– from race briefings to the expo to the course marshals, you understood where you needed to be and what you needed to do, and this was facilitated for a sole purpose. That as a racer, you got to really, really soak it in, and focus on what trail running is about.
While you’re not going to catch me signing up for a hundred-miler anytime soon, I am different from this experience. I understand now the work required to put in a serious training block, I know some of the things I want to change with my approach to nutrition and planning. But what Infinite Trails reiterated for me is why I got into running in the first place. It’s to capture that feeling of pushing yourself, of being out there against the elements, and about experiencing a really intimate series of moments with other likeminded sickos. The bumps and bruises from my time in Austria have already healed, but the vibes never fade.
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To learn more about Adidas Terrex Infinite Trails, and to experience it yourself, check out infinite-trails.com.
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Alex is a former spy and current cyber threat intelligence analyst who runs with the Faster Bastards. Originally from Detroit, Mich., he has embraced the lovely grittiness that may be his forever home of Baltimore, as well as its unique accent. Alex is a devotee of counter-culture studies, ’80s horror films and innovative sportswear fashion. Alex is committed to promoting advancement in running lifestyle and culture within Baltimore and beyond.
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