Two weeks to go: Red Bull X-Alps athletes prepare for the toughest challenge of their lives July 4, 2011 There are just two weeks to the start of the Red Bull X-Alps in Salzburg on July 17, and if the 30 athletes are not ready now, then they will have a very tough job competing in the 864 Alpine hiking and paragliding adventure race.

As well as superb flying skills, each athlete needs a high level of fitness and endurance, a well-planned strategy and an intimate knowledge of the route. For example, finding a good take-off point is one thing, but they must also know how quickly they can hike up to it and should the weather change, where an alternative launch opportunity could be.

Winner of the 2009 race, Christian Maurer (SUI1), is preparing more meticulously than ever. The 28-year-old Swiss has practised how fast he can pack away his equipment after landing and can now make the transition from paragliding to hiking in under four minutes. This requires folding and stowing away the glider, converting the glider harness into a backpack, grabbing his food, drink and Nordic walking poles and changing clothes.

In recent weeks he has attempted replicate the tough sleeping conditions that the athletes face, learning to get out of bed ready for food and action at 4am.

"We will do powernaps during the day," Maurer writes on his diary on www.redbullxalps.com. "It's hard for the body and the brain to make this change but it's nice for the soul to make the first flights by sunrise!"

As well as getting up early, Maurer and his supporter Thomas Theurillat have often trained in the dark.

"Walking in the night is a big challenge for us: (we have) to find the best way when it's dark, to perform as a team when both of us are very tired, to eat and drink the right things so that the body and brain can keep on working.

"And the biggest challenge? To handle the fatigue during the next day."

Maurer and Theurillat are certainly not the only team to be going deep into detail. Czech athlete Jan Skrabalek, competing for the third time, and his supporter Karel Vrabensky have spent the past month "flying, running and studying maps" to gain as much knowledge of the route as possible. The 36-year-old has checked out sections of the course, including the Grossglockner turnpoint where the first to pass it will win a special Glocknerkönig prize.

"What are we doing differently than in 2009? We are focussing more on the flying and course preparation," says Skrabalek. "I have studied the maps in detail and some parts we have visited to see it 'on-site'."

As for his training, Skrabalek has competed in a Paragliding World Cup event in Turkey - his first PWC in ten years - and ran half marathon and full marathon distance events. "I did the marathon at training tempo: just under three hours."

German athlete Michael Gebert is having a fourth crack at the Red Bull X-Alps and is determined to complete the distance. He too has gone over sections of the route in detail, including, like Skrabalek, the Grossglockner and taking in parts of the high Alpine road that crosses it.

Additionally he has enlisted the help of Swiss sports scientist Anna-Marie Flammersfeld to compliment his training.

"The training is much more efficient and you can see a lot more progress," says Michael. "At the end of the week you know exactly what you've doing for the past few days and this allows you to be more methodical."

"Over the past months, I worked on my endurance, strength and mental training. In terms of endurance, I did a lot of running in different intensities, a lot of higher-intensity interval training and at least one longer unit a week of about 5-6 hours. With my strength training I focused on strengthening the weaker and more heavily used parts of my body."

Gebert's mental training has also helped. "It works like this: if you are really stressed you should imagine you are in a wonderful place where everything runs smoothly and easily. If you practise this during a competition it will help you focus."

"Our goal is to reach Monaco. My supporter and me are well prepared both in flying and physically and I think we will achieve our goal."
Follow Gebert's, Maurer's, Skrabalek's and the other 27 athletes' progress on Live Tracking from July 17 on www.redbullxalps.com.