Trail running in Galtur & other Austria activities wearing the Inov-8 Roclite G 275

Last summer Sarah Hannibal ran the Silvretta 3000 and reviewed the
Inov-8 Roclite 275 trainers. This is a follow up with more trail running in Galtur, Ischgl, Silvretta and Paznaun Valley plus additional activities in Austria wearing the Inov-8 Roclite G 275.

It has been a year since I started training for the Silvretta run 3000 in Inov-8 Roclite G 275s. After the race and a summer of trail running in Galtur and wider Paznaun Valley, I was keen to keep up my endurance condition over the winter.

New challenge and other Austria activities

Although I had no specific goals in sight, the idea of trying the hard route of the 2020 Silvretta 3000 race (42.2km and over 1800 vertical metres) had started bubbling at the back of my mind. In December a chance meeting during a night out in Ischgl lead to a new goal for summer 2020 being established, competing in a Swimrun.

Swimrun’s are traditionally done in pairs tethered together by a 10m rope. Since my new found Swimrun partner is a marathon running/ironman ninja, I knew I had some work to do.

Soon after the Swimrun goal was set, I started to go on longer runs in the mountains. Mainly on the winter walking paths, which we are lucky to have plenty of in Galtür.

Winter trail running in Galtur

My first winter run was on a nice sunny day, I had been working from home and decided I needed to get out. So without too much deep thought, I got dressed, put on my Inov-8 Roclite G 275 trainers and headed to the start of a valley where I knew I could run in the last sun of the day.

As it was a winter walking path, the snow was nice and hard, so there was no issue with wet feet from wearing shoes which aren’t waterproofed. I was also more than pleasantly surprised by the grip which the shoes offered on the snow.

A few weeks later, my Swimrun partner was back in resort and we went on a run to test our running pace compatibility. On paper, I stood no chance against someone that runs sub-3 hours marathons, but thankfully altitude and snow are good leveller.

We headed up the winter walking path to Kopssee, a beautiful reservoir that you can see from Galtür ski resort. It was a clear evening and the colour of the sky as the sunset was simply breathtaking.

Wearing the Inov-8 Roclite G 275 in snow

As we headed back down, we decided to take an alternative route and ended up on a road which had not been piste bashed since the recent snowfall.

Running nearly 2 kilometres through snow that varies between knee and midcalf deep is not the easiest. To start with I was jealous of my Swimrun run partner’s choice of footwear (fully waterproofed and including gaiters).

I was fully convinced by the grip the Inov8 Roclite G 275’s give on snow. However I was genuinely surprised that despite my feet getting wet from the snow, they never felt squelchy and my feet at no point were cold.

It was beginning to seem that these shoes may be a reasonable choice for the swimrun. In this race you swim and run in the same kit, ie. you have everything on all the time.

Trail running in Galtur spring snow

More recently I went on a hike/tail run, of which there were several kilometres going through soft, wet spring snow. Once again, it was clear that my feet would get wet as the shoes were not waterproofed. But my toes were never cold.

Once past the snow, despite the fact my socks and shoes were soaking, they didn’t feel it and running in them was no issue. I had been rather worried about getting blisters when the shoes were wet. This put those worries to rest.

Unfortunately due to the Corona pandemic, Silvretta run 3000 has been postponed to 2021. The Swimrun is currently scheduled for the end of July. I hope that it goes ahead and if it does, the Inov-8 roclite G 275 trainers will be carrying me around the course.

We hope you found this update on trail running in Galtur and other Austria activities wearing the Inov-8 Roclite G 275 useful. To find out more about Inov8 trail running shoes head to: www.inov-8.com