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The GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN is not for the faint hearted. Reaching the finish line of the eight-stage race across the Alps will take every scrap of your being. Get a taste of this epic adventure with the eight images below! The 11th edition of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN finished last week and Suunto was the official time sponsor. The eight-stage, 268 km race across the Alps from Germany to Italy is a gruelling test of endurance. Because it crosses exposed and sometimes isolated alpine terrain, competitors must race in two man teams for their own safety. Trail runner and ski mountaineer Philipp Reiter, along with teammate Iker Karrera, won the race in 2012. This year, due to an injury, the 24-year-old German could not compete so instead he photographed each stage of the race.“Crossing the Alps from north to south is a kind of a dream,” he says. “For eight days you’re in your own world.”  Click here to see this year's results. Stage one: Oberstdorf, Germany to Lech, Austria Distance: 34.60 kmVertical ascent: 2083 mVertical descent: 1469 m All good times and smiles on day one. © Philipp Reiter “This year the first stages were really hot, 36° C, so a lot of people became dehydrated and some collapsed,” Philipp says. “The race medical team had a lot of things to do.” Stage two: Lech, Austria to St. Anton am Arlberg Distance: 24.70 kmVertical ascent: 1899 mVertical descent: 2040 m © Philipp Reiter “People are used to running, but not everyday for that long,” Philipp says. “You have to make sure your body is able to deal with the distance and vertical gain for eight days.” Stage three: St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria to Landeck, Austria Distance: 39.60 kmVertical ascent: 2658 mVertical descent: 3133 m © Philipp Reiter “In my experience, stage three is really tough because you are feeling exhausted from the first two days, but know there’s another five days ahead of you,” Philipp says. Stage four: Landeck, Austria to Samnaun, Switzerland Distance: 45.70 kmVertical ascent: 2861 mVertical descent: 1829 m © Philipp Reiter “It’s funny, because each day when I get up in the morning I don’t know how I can complete the stage because I’m so tired and sore, but once you start, you just keep going and it works,” Philipp says. “It’s interesting to see how much the body can achieve.” Stage five: Samnaun, Switzerland – vertical sprint Distance: 06.23 kmVertical ascent: 731 mVertical descent: 60 m Landie Greyling (above) and husband Christiaan Greyling won second in the mixed category this year. © Philipp Reiter Stage five is the so-called “rest day” of the Transalpine Run. However, to keep the muscles warm, it includes a 6 km uphill sprint! “Sometimes you run in the snow and it’s freezing cold,” Philipp says. “Then the next day it might be 36° C. The weather can change quickly. Everyone has to carry mandatory safety gear.” Stage six: Samnaun, Switzerland to Scuol, Switzerland Distance: 37.10 kmVertical ascent: 2064 mVertical descent: 2698 m © Philipp Reiter “It’s crazy – competitors spend their holidays crossing the Alps,” Philipp says. “These guys pay to run over the mountains and are out for about 10 hours a day and have no real recovery time.” Stage 7: Scuol, Switzerland to St. Valentin, Austria Distance: 37.80 kmVertical ascent: 1633 mVertical descent: 1369 m © Philipp Reiter “To train for this race you have to keep training everyday for a longer period,” Philipp says. “It’s not just physical fitness but also mental preparation.” Stage eight: St. Valentin, Austria to Sulden, Italy Distance: 42.60 kmVertical ascent: 2381 mVertical descent: 1934 m © Philipp Reiter “There is a party at the end, but people are so tired and after two beers they’re drunk,” Philipp says. “What’s unique, is only finishers get a finisher’s t-shirt – the rest get destroyed.” Main image: © Philipp Reiter

Many times adventure or endurance sports can be solitary pursuits. When we share our experiences and challenges with others, we are strengthened. As a new edition to our efforts to help build connections, we will be sharing stories from inspiring groups around the world whose love for sport and adventure not only build camaraderie amongst themselves, but also serve to invigorate and motivate all of us together. In Suunto’s home country of Finland, trail running has moved from niche to mainstream with incredible speed. Races that had only a handful of runners two years ago, now sell-out to their capacity in hours. Located all over the country, trail races are a natural extension to the almost inherent connection Finns have with nature, from orienteering to cross-country skiing. Vast expanses of forested wilderness and rolling fjells provide countless opportunities to explore. The Nuuksio Classic trail marathon is one of the most popular races on the calendar, happening the first weekend in September. It is held on the beautiful and varied trails and grey rock of the Nuuksio National Park just outside the capital, Helsinki. We joined a training run in Nuuksio as runners from all walks of life and levels of experience were preparing for the marathon and getting to know the trail. For many of these runners, race day is the opportunity to challenge oneself and celebrate accomplishments, but the real transformative value of running and community come through the daily training, the scars, the group runs, the early morning miles and getting lost in the forest on a new (or old) trail. As Ali Leivo, an avid trail runner and community stalwart, says, “while the Finnish trail running community is small, it is like a family. I could shoot off to anywhere in the country and someone would welcome me, not only on their home trails, but into their homes as well.” This community often congregates, and reunites in some of the most iconic national landscapes, prepared for the challenges ahead and sharing their collective energy with one another. Community encourages us to explore, both our wondrous natural world and within ourselves. As we embrace new connections, our energy combines and propels us forward, and when you are running in the wild it’s always nice to know someone’s got your back. We’ll return soon with our next instalment of community events. Stay tuned!

The best way to recover is different for each individual, says ultra runner Gediminas Grinius. He favors a good night sleep, yoga and beekeeping. Ultra runner and Suunto athlete Gediminas Grinius hardly has a moment to spare. He works full time, is a husband and father of two and trains to compete in some of the world’s toughest ultra marathons. The 35–year-old recently won the 125 km Trangrancanaria Ultra Race, breaking the race speed record set by fellow Suunto ambassador Ryan Sandes. More recently he placed fourth at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. With so much training for ultra marathons it can be challenging for him to retain enough energy for his job, wife and two sons. This makes good recovery essential for Gediminas. Read more recovery tips from Suunto's ambassadors! “For me, the best remedy is sleep,” he says. “I need between eight and 10 hours of sleep a night to feel good each day. “It's the best and cheapest thing that all runners can do to recover.” He and his wife also do yoga a few times every week. Running for long distances in the mountains has sometimes been stressful for him, but yoga has taught him how to relax. “First I started to do yoga just to improve my flexibility,” he says. “But I found out it's not really flexibility, it's more about understanding your body and learning to relax.” To also help him unwind from his busy life, Gediminas keeps bees. There are about 20 beehives around his house in Lithuania. Bee keeping is like a form of meditation to Gediminas. It’s also a great source of energy. “After training I take two big spoons of honey,” he says. “It's great quality carbohydrates mixed with amino acids. “The pollen is a super food, rich with minerals and vitamins. “It's better than any other nutrition supplement that you can find.”

Being an athlete isn’t all glory and endorphin highs. Just ask champion ultra runner Ryan Sandes. He’s had to pull out of three races recently due to catching glandular fever and struggling to recover. Now he’s taking a break from running to allow his body time to fully heal. We caught up with Ryan and asked him a few questions about how he deals with setbacks. How are you doing after your recent setbacks?I feel pretty low and disappointed now, but I am focusing on switching off from my setback and not overthinking it too much as that just makes it worse. I am putting a plan in place to fix my health and that is all I can do. I have had a crap year racing, but I have had some epic experiences this year, traveled to some awesome places and it is important to be grateful for that! Check out Ryan's recovery tips for before and after the race! Ryan enjoys a soak after announcing he's taking a short break from ultra running to recover. © Ryan SandesHow do athletes often react to a setback, whether injury or illness? It is really frustrating and demoralizing at the time. You think back to all the hard training and effort you have put into a specific goal and then all of a sudden that all disappears. I always try to focus on the positives in the situation and remember that a setback is not the end of the world – it’s just a hurdle on the way to reaching my dreams. Find out how to use the Suunto Ambit3 to help you recover Are setbacks always a bad thing or can they be helpful in unexpected ways? I think it’s actually through our setbacks that we learn the most about ourselves and develop as people. It’s easy when everything is going right, but when you have a major setback it really tests you and when you come out the other side, it makes your achievement that much more rewarding. I find after a big setback I am more focused and determined than ever. Having unstructured fun is important for recovery. © Ryan SandesWhat do athletes often fear most about setbacks and is this fear necessarily true? It’s a common worry that if you can't train you will lose your fitness and not be ready for an upcoming race, but I believe often the body knows best, and the time off from training helps it to fully recover and get strong after all the training. You will often see an athlete come back really strong after an injury because they have taken enough time off. Read more recovery tips from Suunto's ambassadors! Setbacks can make you stronger, Ryan says. © Ryan Sandes If someone gets an injury, they can sometimes get training withdrawal– how do you recommend working with this? Sitting around with an injury is really frustrating and you get 'cabin fever' as you know all your fellow athletes are outside training. It’s important to focus on fully recovering and doing your rehab so you can come back stronger. If you can’t run and are feeling really frustrated then go outside for an easy hike to be outdoors, but don't push yourself otherwise you will just get injured again. What recovery really means – from a physiology specialist What to do if you lose your motivation because of a setback? If you are feeling a real lack of motivation take a complete break and focus on the fun element of your training or just having fun in general. This could be running for fun with no specific time or training goals or even just hanging out with friends and having a laugh. Take your mind off training and the setback to reboot your system and feel inspired again. Don’t take life too seriously and accept that you will have setbacks along the way. It's important to keep the big picture in mind, Ryan says. © Ryan SandesDo you have a favorite quote about never giving up? "If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again." - Joel Osteen

Training a lot and want to power up? Then try cooking up this recipe for high-energy almond and banana pancakes from skyrunning champion Emelie Forsberg.Eating healthy, nutritious food is essential for recovery after intense training. But it need not be boring! Suunto ambassador Emelie Forsberg spends her days running in the mountains and then making and baking delicious, energy rich food to help her recover. The morning after a big race, for example, the world and European skyrunning champion likes to enjoy a big plate of healthy pancakes. "After an ultra, when your body is drained and you've eaten a lot of chocolate or gels, I like to eat fresh and healthy, at least on the first and second day," Emelie says. "But pancakes are my standard breakfast the morning after a race, and yes, I think pancakes can be healthy. Especially my banana pancakes!" Who could say no to these? © Emelie Forsberg Emelie Forsberg's power pancake recipe! Ingredients: 3 organic bananas3 tbsp coconut oil3 eggs1 tbsp honey or 1 tbsp bee pollen ( If you don't have pollen, it doesn't matter, I just like the taste of it)200 ml oat flour100 ml almond flour100 - 200 ml almond/rice/soy milk1 tbsp honey + 1 tbsp pollen1/2 tsp salt1/2 tbsp cinnamon and cardamom if you like that1 tsp baking soda Method: Grind the oat and almonds to flour. Or, if you prefer, use bought oat and almond flour. Add all the dry ingredients. Mash the bananas and blend with the eggs, oil and the honey. Add the milk (or if you want the pancakes more solid you skip the milk). Emelie's favorite toppings: 1. Fresh strawberries, rasberries, blueberries or cloudberries2. Bananas and honey3. Good cheeses4. Whipped cream with jam or fruit

We all know proper recovery is an essential part of any training regime, but what exactly happens in our bodies while we rest, how does it impact our performance and how can new recovery features released to Ambit3 watches support our recovery? To get the answers on the science of recovery, we talked with Tero Myllymäki, who leads the physiological analytics development at Firstbeat Technologies. Tero, can you talk us through how recovery impacts our performance? The role of recovery is not only crucial to an athlete’s development, but to overall health and wellness; without sufficient recovery, it is impossible to build one’s endurance and stamina. In sports, the whole exercise philosophy is based on the fact that while exercising, body balance, so called homeostasis, is placed in a state of imbalance which lowers our body’s performance level. By taking the time to rest (referred to as “recovery”), this performance level is gained back, and, thanks to this recovery process, it is possible to gain a higher performance level. What about the role of a good night’s sleep? A really important fact in recovery is the need for a good night’s sleep. Sleeping well at night is really crucial to recovery, since it is a repetitive, long period of time, during which all body functions can relax. If recovery is successful, all the stress caused by strenuous exercising, along with other factors in your daily life, is reset at night (while you rest), and the body’s resources are replenished. Body stress and recovery can be compared to batteries: you can only use them or charge them once in a while. Suunto Ambit3 watch offers two tests for measuring my recovery level, but what are the tests measuring in practise? Recovery is analyzed by measuring the body’s autonomic regulation balance through heart rate variance. At night, one would expect the parasympathetic (so-called relaxing body function) to be powerful and thorough enough to activate the body’s recovery processes. Recovery measurement tests determine how calm a person’s body is during sleep. How does this information benefit an athlete? Monitoring this recovery can make the time used in exercising more efficient, because it is good to know when you can exercise on full speed, and when you should take it more slowly and simply let your body recover. Recovery measurement tests will also tell you when you are training too hard, or when you should work harder, so that an athlete can measure the risk of exercising too hard, or not exercising at all. Recovery monitoring is a learning process for you; it enables an athlete to reflect on how he/she is feeling. What about muscle pain or flue, will the recovery test recognize these? Even though the autonomic regulation has regained normal levels, intense or abnormal exercises done by an athlete might cause muscle damage, as well as risk to the overall body energy levels. These situations cannot be monitored via autonomic regulation tests. Weakened muscle level recovery can be seen during the exercise, although you wouldn’t be able to see it in the recovery tests. Instead, the effect of diseases such as fever which affect the overall body regulation system, can be seen in the autonomic regulation activity, and, consequently, from the recovery test data. Can I analyze my sleep quality with the test? Sleeping badly, and/or waking up during the night can be regarded as a side-effect of the body refusing to slow down, and the heart’s autonomic regulation and/or parasympathetic regulations are weak. This also lowers the recovery levels. The quality of your sleep is influenced by many different factors, and sometimes it may indicate how a person feels about his/her sleep; other times, it may be a direct result of the electrical impulses in the brain which measure sleep phases. Recovery measurements won’t directly measure these sleep phases, but it can reflect on it by measuring autonomic regulation (how relaxed the body is).   Read more about the features: Tutorial Tuesday: Learn how to use Ambit3's recovery features   Tero Myllymäki, M.Sc., Physiology Research, Firstbeat TechnologiesMr. Myllymäki is responsible for physiological analytics development and research collaboration at Firstbeat. He possesses an academic background, and previously worked as a researcher in several multidisciplinary expert teams, combining physiology, psychology, and technology. His goal is to seek innovative solutions for providing meaningful and actionable feedback on well-being, lifestyle, and performance in daily life. Mr. Myllymäki has a Master’s Degree in exercise physiology from the University of Jyväskylä.   Get to know your recovery status with Ambit3 watchSuunto Ambit3 watch offers two ways to follow your recovery. The quick recovery test and the sleep recovery test both measure your heart rate variability to give you an indication of your recovery status in percent. The higher the percentage, the more recovered you are. The tests require a Bluetooth Smart compatible heart rate sensor that measures heart rate variability (R-R interval), such as Suunto Smart Sensor.   The quick recovery test is performed by wearing the Smart Sensor belt for three minutes and then checking the recovery percentage from the Suunto Ambit3 watch. Alternatively, you can run the sleep recovery test which measures your heart rate variability through the night to give you an accurate indication of your recovery status in the morning when you wake up.