It climbed 300m in the first 5km. Some time about the 3rd km, there was a feeding station. I hung around there for a while getting some coke, at which point I lost Philippe never to be seen again until the end.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Montée des Jonquilles
Last weekend I was intending on doing the Montée des Jonquilles on Sunday - it is where our ex-cleaner Martine lives. It was only while finishing lunch at about 13:00 on the Saturday did I look up the time I needed to be there. 14:00 Saturday..... Crap, there was nothing else going on so I got changed and headed out. I arrived and was signed up with 5 minutes to spare. Just long enough to say hello to one of the wife's colleagues, Philippe before the off.
It climbed 300m in the first 5km. Some time about the 3rd km, there was a feeding station. I hung around there for a while getting some coke, at which point I lost Philippe never to be seen again until the end.
As I was so late signing in, there where no safety pins left. I stuffed the number into my key pocket. It worked, but every 5 km I was asked to stop and produce my number, so I lost some time there. I would have been happy with my position had it not been that I was soundly whipped by Philippe (8ish minutes). Otherwise a great day. (22km with 730m elevation gain)
It climbed 300m in the first 5km. Some time about the 3rd km, there was a feeding station. I hung around there for a while getting some coke, at which point I lost Philippe never to be seen again until the end.
More on training.
I was in my local Decathlon yesterday and I saw there is a CycloSportive that remarkably runs right around/through my running region. Actually it starts out near my house, passes close by then heads up to where Gareth and myself did a wee training ride for the FW last year (Not that it did me any good)
Basically Gareth, we did this minus the flat bits at the beginning and end.
If anybody is up for it, then it is on the 7th April. If the weather is good then I will probably enter - just because it would be rude not to. [There is a 75km version which I will probably do if nobody else joins me]
At E18/23 the price is not going to break the bank.
http://www.labisou.com/
What would you do?
This week has been a complete washout, as was the one before. The kids
have been ill with flu and that meant I was unable to do just about
anything (And it now seems like Owen's teacher has the same and is off -
so he will not be in school tomorrow!)
I had been eyeing up a 21km trail run on the Mont D'Or and decided as I
had not been out all week would give it a bash and see what happens. It
is quite well known round these parts and they where expecting 1000
people for both the 10 and 21km races. Anyway, Friday night I went
online to sign up and woe, they had closed the online subscription. No
big deal I thought, will just sign up on the day. ..... Crap, in big
letters, there is a no sign on the day of the race. I would need to
drive over on Saturday to enrol.
The more I thought about it the less I liked the idea. Driving 2 hours
to pay and then another 2 hours the day after to run... You gotta be
kidding me. So this is where the first question comes from.
What would you have done?
This is what I did. I decided I would bandit run the thing. 2 hours
extra drive was just not worth it to get listed as a entrant. I could
just eat the food on the way round, nobody would notice I was not
wearing a number.
Sunday morning, 7AM arrived and my good wife who had been coughing and
spluttering for a few days had developed full blown flu.
What would you have done?
I was the gent with the bald spot and stayed here and looked after the
kids (sigh)
Ok, I did get out for 45 minutes and discovered (slowly) some new
trods/beast tracks.... I saw a sign at one point. A red triangle put
there by hunters telling me to be careful as they where hunting in the
area. Humm I thought.
What would you have done?
I continued on. At one point a couple of hunters in camouflage kit and
big guns (and bright orange bibs) told me that there was hunting nearby
and I should be careful. Then I thought "How the bloody hell can I be
careful THEY have to be careful" I mean, what more could I do I was
sporting a florescent yellow rain/wind top and grunting like a bastard
300m vertical in 7km is reasonably tough on slipy shit.
So tell me what would you have done?
have been ill with flu and that meant I was unable to do just about
anything (And it now seems like Owen's teacher has the same and is off -
so he will not be in school tomorrow!)
I had been eyeing up a 21km trail run on the Mont D'Or and decided as I
had not been out all week would give it a bash and see what happens. It
is quite well known round these parts and they where expecting 1000
people for both the 10 and 21km races. Anyway, Friday night I went
online to sign up and woe, they had closed the online subscription. No
big deal I thought, will just sign up on the day. ..... Crap, in big
letters, there is a no sign on the day of the race. I would need to
drive over on Saturday to enrol.
The more I thought about it the less I liked the idea. Driving 2 hours
to pay and then another 2 hours the day after to run... You gotta be
kidding me. So this is where the first question comes from.
What would you have done?
This is what I did. I decided I would bandit run the thing. 2 hours
extra drive was just not worth it to get listed as a entrant. I could
just eat the food on the way round, nobody would notice I was not
wearing a number.
Sunday morning, 7AM arrived and my good wife who had been coughing and
spluttering for a few days had developed full blown flu.
What would you have done?
I was the gent with the bald spot and stayed here and looked after the
kids (sigh)
Ok, I did get out for 45 minutes and discovered (slowly) some new
trods/beast tracks.... I saw a sign at one point. A red triangle put
there by hunters telling me to be careful as they where hunting in the
area. Humm I thought.
What would you have done?
I continued on. At one point a couple of hunters in camouflage kit and
big guns (and bright orange bibs) told me that there was hunting nearby
and I should be careful. Then I thought "How the bloody hell can I be
careful THEY have to be careful" I mean, what more could I do I was
sporting a florescent yellow rain/wind top and grunting like a bastard
300m vertical in 7km is reasonably tough on slipy shit.
So tell me what would you have done?
Winter running spiked shoes Inov-8 v's Ice Bug
In reality, I have no idea how good/bad Inov-8 shoes are. However given the design seems very similar to the IceBug I bet they perform similarly.
I have noticed in the shocking muddy wet weather we are having here they are superb. About the first thing I needed to do yesterday was run through a puddle (actually a small lake) and was surprised I did not have the flash of cold water over my feet. I found out later that was due to the semi-waterproof nature of the shoe. Of course they are not waterproof, they have a bloody great hole in them where you put your foot, but it does stop the initial cold shock.
There are actually a tonne of things I could say about running in the shoe, but the two most important ones are:
- They give an unbelievable amount of traction going downhill. I would estimate it doubled my speed yesterday. I could not have run down many parts of my run with my Brooks Cascadias (which I love and will not say a word against). I would have been gingerly walking/sliding down. It was a river of mud in places.
- They clip clop just outside my house with exactly the same resonance as when I was a kid in rugby boots on the tarmac leading to changing room. Almost worth buying for the memories they brought back!
On my slippy limestone they are really good too. Of course on the wet rock slab they are useless - but then so is just about any shoe I have ever worn. On the weathered broken up stuff they worked really well normally I slide about on this stuff when wet.
I seemed to feel the larger stones on the decent a bit more than when I am in other shoes, I am not sure what is the cause of that, but it seems to add to the stability. I only did 10km yesterday so am not sure if a longer run would have caused any discomfort.
The shoes are great very wet/ice/snow, they may well be good in the dry, but I will probably go back to the Cascadia for the feel of the shoe and because I do have to cross the occasional road :)
They cost a fair packet, but when you consider a lift ticket at E30-50 it does not take long to convince myself they where a good buy. They have got me out on 3 days I would normally not have poked my nose into and I have enjoyed the runs like a kid at school.
My only concern is when I switch back to normal shoes, will I have problem through lack of traction.
-- Colin Wilson Tel. (France 33) (0)474426309 Mobile (France 33) (0)616166213
Is this even possible.
I don't use my heart rate monitor much, but today's run (although not easy) looks like I had a heart attack on: Is this graph even possible?
Shoe Report
I am in Munich and it is cold. Real Brass Monkey weather, they are
expecting -10 tomorrow. Luckily enough I brought with me my lightest
shell gortex I have to go to work in. Given the expected temperature
drop, I decided I would go and find me a hat!
Oh I forgot to mention there is about 50cm of snow on the ground and as
I was coming to the city I brought my road shoes to run in during the
evening. Talk about being well prepared. As I was buying my hat I
spotted that the shop had a neat line in running shoes to I splashed out
and bought a pair of Ice Bugs (Anima). I had seen these in Norway when I
was there about two years ago and was too timid to try them on.
(http://www.icebug.se/Product.aspx?m=684)
I slipped slid my way back to the hotel, and donned my running stuff
along with new hat and new shoes. Roads that had been treacherous even
to walk in became fun. The shoes are great. (A bit noisy) It makes going
out in the ice and snow fantastic fun. Not sure what they would be like
on your wooden bridges Lee but they work fine on tarmac but are lethal
on polished stone hotel stairs. - The hotel staff found it amusing (in
their German none amused faces) that I was choosing to go outside to
run. Clip Clop.
expecting -10 tomorrow. Luckily enough I brought with me my lightest
shell gortex I have to go to work in. Given the expected temperature
drop, I decided I would go and find me a hat!
Oh I forgot to mention there is about 50cm of snow on the ground and as
I was coming to the city I brought my road shoes to run in during the
evening. Talk about being well prepared. As I was buying my hat I
spotted that the shop had a neat line in running shoes to I splashed out
and bought a pair of Ice Bugs (Anima). I had seen these in Norway when I
was there about two years ago and was too timid to try them on.
(http://www.icebug.se/Product.aspx?m=684)
I slipped slid my way back to the hotel, and donned my running stuff
along with new hat and new shoes. Roads that had been treacherous even
to walk in became fun. The shoes are great. (A bit noisy) It makes going
out in the ice and snow fantastic fun. Not sure what they would be like
on your wooden bridges Lee but they work fine on tarmac but are lethal
on polished stone hotel stairs. - The hotel staff found it amusing (in
their German none amused faces) that I was choosing to go outside to
run. Clip Clop.
Recovery
I have been absolutely wiped out this week. Not physically, but
mentally. I don't know if it was the work I needed to put in on Sunday
and last week, but all week I have been falling asleep in the chair at
night (while working)
I finally got back on the horse and went for a jog in the woods today.
No problems, no niggles. My legs where a bit wooden but otherwise fine.
- while I have not been in the woods, the logging trucks have been in.
My god, they have destroyed some of the paths so bad I had to double
back a few times to get on my normal route. I was ankle deep in mud and
water a few times too.
mentally. I don't know if it was the work I needed to put in on Sunday
and last week, but all week I have been falling asleep in the chair at
night (while working)
I finally got back on the horse and went for a jog in the woods today.
No problems, no niggles. My legs where a bit wooden but otherwise fine.
- while I have not been in the woods, the logging trucks have been in.
My god, they have destroyed some of the paths so bad I had to double
back a few times to get on my normal route. I was ankle deep in mud and
water a few times too.
Horrible
Following on from Karl who is full of shit, Norma who eats her own body
and Graham's gouged out legs.
I have found the worst of all horrible..... This weekend it was raining.
I wanted to do some core work out in the Garden (wielding a chainsaw and
chopping, ah, lovely) but that was not on so horrible of horrible I had
to go out cloths shopping! Now that has got to be worse than Dave who
goes out and trains (who isn't beaten by girls?)
and Graham's gouged out legs.
I have found the worst of all horrible..... This weekend it was raining.
I wanted to do some core work out in the Garden (wielding a chainsaw and
chopping, ah, lovely) but that was not on so horrible of horrible I had
to go out cloths shopping! Now that has got to be worse than Dave who
goes out and trains (who isn't beaten by girls?)
Marathon Training
I have to make a "goûtée" (sp?) for Joanne and Owen when they come back
in after horse riding - they are on holiday (and for once they are both
eating like horses) so today it has been a sandwich with saucisson and
cheese. Who can avoid necking a tonne of that while making it? And then
there are the huge lunches. As you might guess the glycogen stores are
more than overflowing, indeed I think there is a fair layer of fat being
laid down for winter warmth. (and I have another week to go)
I certainly have not done what I am supposed to for the forthcoming
Marathon event my typical non-long run training schedule. I hope I have
done enough we will see next week. With the kids being off school
it is nearly impossible to get a decent run in and this is probably a
good thing as I am supposed to be tapering, ah, maybe I should be doing
that infamous inverse taper that Karl is no doubt doing.
in after horse riding - they are on holiday (and for once they are both
eating like horses) so today it has been a sandwich with saucisson and
cheese. Who can avoid necking a tonne of that while making it? And then
there are the huge lunches. As you might guess the glycogen stores are
more than overflowing, indeed I think there is a fair layer of fat being
laid down for winter warmth. (and I have another week to go)
I certainly have not done what I am supposed to for the forthcoming
Marathon event my typical non-long run training schedule. I hope I have
done enough we will see next week. With the kids being off school
it is nearly impossible to get a decent run in and this is probably a
good thing as I am supposed to be tapering, ah, maybe I should be doing
that infamous inverse taper that Karl is no doubt doing.
Winter Woolies
I forced myself out for my first winter run yesterday. In this UK
runners (particularly Scottish) runners have an advantage.
Here the weather has changed in less than a week from running in 20-25
degrees to -3 wet and windy. From wearing as little as possible to
winter woolies. (Ok, it is sunny today, but still -2)
While in the UK it sort of creeps up, you don't really notice that the
weather is cold and damp as you only really notice when you have a day
of continuous sunshine.
runners (particularly Scottish) runners have an advantage.
Here the weather has changed in less than a week from running in 20-25
degrees to -3 wet and windy. From wearing as little as possible to
winter woolies. (Ok, it is sunny today, but still -2)
While in the UK it sort of creeps up, you don't really notice that the
weather is cold and damp as you only really notice when you have a day
of continuous sunshine.
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