SEVEN THOUSAND CALORIES IN ONE DAY – MAURER’S START DAY

Logfiles from Christian Maurer (SUI3) on the first day of the race give an indication of just how hard the Red Bull X-Alps is.

Beginning the 818km adventure race at 11.30am in Salzburg, Austria Maurer raced the 6km up to the summit of the first turnpoint, the Gaisberg, quickly reaching a Training Effect (TE) of 4.0.

The screenshots show his heart-rate rising to a maximum of 180bpm as he hiked up to the 1272m high peak before dropping again while he prepared to take off and then fly.


After his first flight, the 26-year-old Swiss made a two-hour hike and took off again, thermalling up to 2162m. “He was working hard,” says Eddie Fletcher, Suunto Ambassador and top coach. “His heart-rate reached a maximum of 186bpm!”


Maurer’s second flight ended just before dusk on day one at 810m near turnpoint two, the Watzmann peak in Germany. Since the Red Bull X-Alps never stops, Maurer’s logfile shows he carried on hiking, reaching another highpoint at 1164m and then walking downhill in the direction of turnpoint three, the Grossglockner, Austria.


“In total he consumed 6933kcal during the day,” says Eddie. “His energy consumption ranges between 5kcals/min to 22kcals/min, which come in short bursts but are equivalent to 1320 kcals per hour! It works out that he burned 660kcal/hour on average.”