Sunday 29 July 2012

Run , Run , Run

Well my past 3 days off have been epic. Tuesday morning I went up Flegere and did a quick lap of the Crouchue Traverse which took a couple of hours door to door then I decided to drive up to Trient in Switzerland and run some of the CCC out and back again. My plan was to run from Trient and run out to Champex 17kms away then reverse the route back to car. I got to about the 12km mark and in the distance could see a massive thunderstorm brewing so opted to turn around and keep running in the sunshine , was an ace run and was out for just over 2 hours. It did open my eyes to the difficulty of the CCC , when/if I get to that stage of it then I will have passed the 60km mark with 40km to go but the amount of ascent from Champex back to Trient is quite a lot and having run the last 30kms earlier in the season from Trient to Chamonix I know that that section is going to be a killer with two big climbs . 800m up to Catogne then an 900m descent then another 800m climb to Flegere and then a final 1000m down to Chamonix! All in the last 30kms. Also you cant just switch off when running trails like you can on a road , trails have way too many objects to avoid and you really need to concentrate on where your feet are going. Its a super tough thing to do as you can become lazy for just a second on a trail and then end up going face first as you have kicked a tree root or stone.

Thankfully I don't need to run up there.



Wednesday I opted to rest the knees and get on the bike so I went a ride up and over the Col Des Montets and then down to Switzerland and up to the top of the Col Forclaz , I haven't done much riding this season and found it tough going especially since it was about 33 degrees. I was pouring with sweat but it was an ace workout and I was out for just short of 3 hours and covered a distance of about 50 ish kms. I got home and then got the lift up Planpraz and made a rapid 900m descent back down to Chamonix to work on my fast footwork on the uneven trails.


Nearly Home
Feeling rather knackered on Thursday morning I just went out for a wee hours sprint on the bike then rested for most of afternoon and by 5pm was feeling pretty good so got the running kit on again and got the last lift up to 2500m and went an awesome run out over the Aiguilette Des Houches and then down the 1300m trail past Bellachat refuge back to my house. Was the best run of my days off as I had the whole place to myself. It was still hot even up that height and that late in the day but there was a slight breeze which made it great for running.

On top of Aiguilette Des Houches looking out to the Chamonix Aiguilles

It was a great 3 days training although I would have like to get up in the High Mountains for some climbing I knew at start of season that climbing was going to take a hit until after the CCC so its run run run until September now ,  then I can get the axes out and start to scare myself again.



Monday 23 July 2012

Back On The Trails

 After 2 days of Mountaineering I decided to spend my other 2 days off by getting on the trails so on Wednesday I got the lift up to the top of Brevent 2400m and ran across the ridge to the Aiguilette Des Houches , from there I then descended a path I have never been down towards Servoz , an awesome awesome trail , narrow but no rocks and it stays on the crest of a great ridge with brilliant views down the valley , from the bottom of that I turned left and headed around towards the Merlet(animal) park and then from there its another great trail back all the way to my door! Took me 2 and a half hours and apart from being a bit bogged down with the heat my legs were ok.

Beat that for a Trail

And that!

The Descent
The following day I decided to run the opposite side of Aiguille Rouge. I drove up to the Col Des Montets in the morning and parked my car up there then cycled back to the house(Only about 10 miles) I then got the lift up to Planpraz at 2000m and ran all the way to the Col Des Montets and my car via Col Cornu and Lac Blanc. It was brilliant and the 2nd section was running along a section of the CCC. If I get to that bit of the race then I know it will be nearly over , although I feel I may be slightly destroyed at that point IF I even get that far. Was again a great training run and was out for 3 hours this time. I really need to invest in a good watch that can track my distances as I have no idea what kind of distances I am doing on training really and that would probably help.


The last 30km of CCC is from just over the hill in the distance and on towards me and down to Cham.
I rested a couple of days and on Sunday on lunch break myself and Dorian ran from the Mid Station to Montenvers and down to Cham in a pretty good hour and 13 mins. On Monday I did a 900m downhill run to work on my technique on uneven and steep terrain and it went well.

Off now for 3 days and there is no one to climb with as they are all working or away other places , wish I could climb but I need to stick at running. Tomorrow my plan is to do a quick solo Traverse of the Crochue and then later on I am going to drive to Trient in Switzerland and run from there to Champex(17km) and then just turn around and run back again. This is a section of the CCC also. Champex is at the 54km mark(halfway) My plan is to run to Champex in daylight and then wait until it gets dark and run back to test my new head torch out and also just to get used to running with a head torch as I will be using if all goes well for about the last 30kms of the race. Wednesday and Thursday are undecided so far.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Crochue / Aig Du Tour

Well it has been a jam packed couple of days. On Monday I took my friend Laurent up to the Aiguille Rouge to do the classic Traverse of the Crochue. Its never difficult with only a 20 metre Vdiff chimney at the start and then its just a glorious ridge traverse which in some places is extremely airy. The previous week here was pretty horrible weather wise and it was raining on Sunday evening but with a 4 day forecast of blue skies I thought the Traverse would be ideal way to start the good weather spell.

The entire south side of the Aiguille Rouge was super dry but when we got up to the near the start and moved onto the North Side it all changed to about 10cms of snow and ice! The Vdiff chimney was slightly interesting without Crampons as was the normally easy little 8 metre down climb but down climbing was impossible with snow and ice filling all the holds so we agreed with the Guide in front that an Abseil was wise.
Interesting start
Brilliant Climbing
It was perfect Blue Sky Scottish Winter Climbing every time we moved onto the North Side and then nipping onto the South Side we were in Sunshine and dry warm rock. There was a British Guide just in front of us with a client and we chatted a fair bit along the route and he couldn’t believe the difference in conditions on both sides. It was like a long curved ridge in awesome snowy conditions.
North Side / South Side
Crochue Summit 2700m
Even though Laurent is not the most confident he was fine on it and thought it was a great little route. We then made a super fast descent down snow all the way to Lac Blanc and walked back to get the lift down to Cham.

Our day was not over yet and on getting back down it was time to gather our Bivi gear and go get some food and we drove up to Le Tour to walk up to the Albert Premier Refuge(2702m) where would be spending the night in our tent and then going to do the Aiguille De Tour the next morning. Our Bivi spot was just amazing and after a healthy meal of cheap Chinese noodles it was time to sleep.
Walking to the Refuge
View from my Sleeping Bag
We were up at 4am and had a coffee then set off at 5am. Its a 10 min walk to the edge of the Glacier and on arriving there I was amazed at the amount of people. Easily 40+ mostly guided parties all struggling to put on crampons and wearing enough clothes to summit Everest. I decided there and then that we had to get past them all.


Crampons on
The Aiguille De Tour(3542) via the normal route is a super easy outing and for that reason is the perfect peak to take clients for their first Alpine Day out. I wanted to get past them as I knew there was a pretty big Bergshrund to pass and a little scramble to the Summit and with this many people it could take all day trying to weave in and around them safely whilst going up and coming down. So I set off pretty much at full speed and by the bottom of the climb up to the Col Superieur Du Tour we had passed all but one party , who we then passed once over the Col.

Heading up the Col - Next victims in my sights
Some of the groups we passed , even more are out of picture
We then slowed and in no time at all we were at the Bergshrund which was open but had a pretty bomber snow bridge going over it , once over we then took off crampons for the scramble to the top. Like the day before the scramble was easy but it was proper iced up and crampons may have helped but we got to the summit just as a cloud hit us so no view but at least we had it to ourselves.

Just crossed the Col , Now in Switzerland
Summit
Just as we got back to our Crampons the masses had arrived , there were at least 15 people taking off crampons and about 20 just waiting in turn to cross the Shrund. I decided to just do what the French Guides do and ignore everyone and just be rude and get down over the Bergshrund. We had a seat once over the snow bridge and enjoyed the views over to Switzerland. We made it back to the Tent in no time as its mostly downhill and we were back there at 10am. We then packed away our Bivi gear and I stuck on my trainers for the descent down to the chairlift at Le Tour.

Leaving the masses behind
Back at chairlift , looking down the Cham Valley
The Aiguille Du Tour is a cracking little peak to do as an intro to the Alps. Its not difficult going the normal way but does have a classic ridge on it that I will need to go back and do. The hike form the chairlift to the Refuge on day 1 is only 600m and is not that bad. Day 2 is an 840m ascent to the summit and then a 1300m descent back to the chairlift. My advice , stash trainers at the refuge for the descent.

We were back in Chamonix at lunchtime and after eating I just crashed out for a few hours then got up and went out an hour on the bike. A brilliant couple of days and was great to take Laurent out as the has been asking me for ages to do something with him.

I’m off Wed and Thurs as well and it will definitely be a run one of those but unsure what to do the other. All this Mountain stuff will be helping my legs for CCC. Well I hope so.


Saturday 14 July 2012

It's All Kicking Off Now

On Tuesday myself , Ally , Lorne and Graham decided to go rock climbing up the Aiguille Rouge and take our Mountain Bikes so we could ride the trail back down. We spent ages trying to decide on what route to do until the weather started to close in so we opted for the classic Index ridge climb. It starts with a very polished move of about UK Vdiff (tricky if you wear a pair of Adidas trainers like Ally did) but after that it never really goes past easy diff or moderate , its very exposed and at the end there is a 60m abseil off the back then a short walk back to the lift , we just moved together in 2 groups of 2 and were at the top in no time at all after passing a few parties. It was then to the chairlift and down to the bikes.
Heading up armed with Crap Mountain Bikes
Ally starting up the route - in his beloved Adidas
Now I don’t Mountain Bike , I have done it properly once in Scotland and loved it but swore I wouldn’t get involved with it as I spend way too much money already on Climbing kit , Skis and Road Biking. It ended up being excellent and although I thought I was going to wipe out a fair few times I actually only came off the bike once (may have broken my finger as I cant move it , its sore and its turned black) its a long 1000m descent and again I loved it but will still be holding back from really getting involved with it.

Graham and Lorne almost at the top
Graham wasnt actually that scared
I got home around 4pm and was feeling good so got the running gear on and then got the lift up to Planpraz and then the next one to the top of Brevent at 2500m. I then ran back down to Chamonix via the Refuge Bellachat. Brilliant run in the later afternoon and legs felt good doing the 1500m descent. A super eventful day and great training.

Wednesday the forecast was to be miserable but it actually turned out great so instead of going to watch the Tour De France I got the lift up Planpraz and went an awesome two and half hour run along the top of Aiguille Rouge in perfect weather passing the Col Cornu and over to Lac Blanc then down to the Refuge Chezery and back to the lift at Flegere.

It was back to work on Thursday and I had a relaxing lunch break for a change but after work at 7.30pm I decided to go for a run up to the top of Planpraz behind my house. The path zigzags all way up under the gondola for 1000m and I made it up in a PB of 49 mins. It was then an easy stroll back down to the house in half an hour for a much needed bite to eat.

Friday evening was just a gentle jog along the flat Balcon Sud behind the house for 40 mins.

There may be a lack of photos on next few posts as my camera decided to pack it in on top of the Index on Tuesday so I got to send it off to get fixed which could take an age

Finally , I recently took delivery of the new Scott Jurek book 'Eat and Run'. Scott is a legendary Ultra runner. He ran and won pretty much all the big distance races in the US and other countries. He won the Western States 100 mile Ultra an incredible 7 times in a row between 1999 and 2005. During one of the times he ran it he tore a tendon in his leg at around the 45 mile mark and was in 3rd place , he went on to complete the 100 miles , and win. He does it all on a diet of plants , he is a Vegan. It is an incredible story and proves that anyone can run Ultras , just not as fast as him! I only got the book 2 days ago and I have already just about finished it. It really has motivated me on my training after a little blip since the Marathon.

Monday 9 July 2012

Rest and Recovery Over

Its been a week since the Marathon and I rested until Friday when I decided to see how the legs and more importantly the Hip was feeling. I got the lift up to Planpraz and jogged along to Flegere , Arriving at Flegere I was feeling not too bad so decided to keep going and continued up to the Chezery Refuge , from there it was downhill all the way. The path down was wet steep and slippy so I really took my time and only ran short flat sections keeping the hip from any pain. I then got to the river and followed it home only to be caught by the most horrendous storm so far this season , for 20 minutes I ran whilst being absolutely pelted by rain , it was lashing down like I have never seen thankfully though it was warm so I wasn’t bothered at all and I did manage to crack out a smile and I was loving it , much to the surprise of a wee old French lady who passed in here car and kindly stopped to ask if I wanted a lift , she even cracked out a smile as I replied “no thanks its all good”. I was out for 2hrs 20mins and felt pretty decent and my hip didn’t cause many problems.
Glorious Trails - Flegere station in background
Lovin' it!
The following day my good friend Jo asked if I wanted to take her along the Cosmiques ArĂȘte as she was heading to climb Gran Paradiso in a few days and wanted to get a little acclimatised. I have done that arĂȘte more times than I can remember but its great fun and I am never one to knock back a wee trip over it plus it helps keep my altitude fitness up.

Arriving at the lift the next morning at 8.30am I had forgotten one vital detail. It was Saturday! The Midi lift at weekends over summer is a joke with massive queues and a ticket system that needs sorted out. Luckily just as they started to issue tickets I managed to grab us some meaning we only had a 30 minute wait for our lift so it was off to sit outside and have a coffee. It was a cracking sunny morning and it was ace just to get up there again and stroll along an awesome little ridge. It was the usual Cosmiques busy at the two main bottlenecks , the abseil and the crux but we were in no rush so we were happy to just sit and chill. It did take an age to get over it but there was no point rushing to pass people as there were so many parties you just got stopped 5 minutes further. We were something like 5 and a half hours round trip but a worthwhile time as we both needed a little altitude workout.


Waiting to catch Jo at the bottom of the abseil. Thankfully I didnt have to though.
I haven’t done nearly enough Alpine stuff this season so far and I knew when I came back over that my main focus was running but after that wee day out it did bring back how much I love being up in the Mountains even though it was a route I had done many a times it made me want to get back up there as much as possible.

Reckon I will go a little ride on the bike before work tomorrow and then probably a run on lunch for a couple of hours. Off again on Tuesday and Wednesday and hopefully it is going to involve some high Mountain stuff.

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Glad that's over!

Well that’s the Marathon over and done with and all I can say is Thank God!
So I got up at 5am on Sunday to get a good breakfast and just have some time to properly waken up then I headed down to the centre square at 6.30am to be ready for the 7am start. Like last year it was rammed with people all excited and nervous of the day ahead. I was a little worried myself as it had been a year since I had ran in a race so big. The Ultra in May was only about 25 folk and Goatfell was about 180. This was 1800 and I didn’t really like it. I Couldn’t imagine how horrible London must be!

At the start with Graham and Fredelina
The atmosphere was great and the gun went off on time and away we went. The start went fine for me , starting in the middle and getting to the side of the pack and just slowly gaining some places as the route soon narrows and can easily bottleneck down to a walk. Everything went fine until around 5km when we started a series of little very easy climbs. My Achilles on my left foot was really hurting me and I couldn’t stretch it out so had to run on my toes for a while , it never ever fully went away all day. Like last year all was great and arriving in Vallorcine at the 18km mark I felt ok. From Vallorcine its then a 1000m climb to the top of the Aiguilette Des Possettes. This climb also wasn’t too bad at all , normally this is the best spot to run on as you run along an amazing ridge at 2200m with the Mont Blanc Massif in front of you but this time it was windy , wet and visibility wasn’t great.

On the way up Possettes
Once reaching the top at 2200m its then 800m straight down to the village of Le Tour and this is where it all went horribly wrong for me. About 50m down I began to get a pain in my left knee that I hadn’t felt for years. It was a stinging pain under my kneecap and every time I made any kind of impact on it it was agony. This really slowed me down pretty much to a walking pace when I should have been able to fly down. I was passed by what seemed like everybody. Eventually I got to Le Tour and went straight for the medical tent. I thought that was it over. To cut a long story short after serious consideration of quitting I got back on my feet and pushed on. I then just took it in stages. Saying to myself , just get to Tre La Champ at 32km , get to Flegere at 37km then it is only 5km to the finish and 5kms I know like the back of my hand.

In Pain
Arriving at Tre La Champ its then an 550m climb to Flegere which actually went not too bad but instead of my knee killing me it was now my right hip as I had been forced to limp for miles with my sore knee meaning I had hurt my hip. It was not pretty but I got to Flegere. I still cannot actually believe I managed to get there but once there I knew I was almost done , and the last 5km with the final 150m climb to the finish were brutally sore but for the first time in this race those kms just seemed to pass by.
Managing to run the last wee bit
I managed the 42km( 2511m+ 1490m- ) in a time of 6 hrs 26 mins , 1 min 21 seconds slower than last year and considering the pain I was in and had to stop then I am quite happy with that. I reckon if I really went for it and didn’t get injured then I could do a sub 6hrs. However this was a training run for me as the CCC is in 2 months time and to be honest this didn’t go as planned and has left me with many questions to answer towards my training (climbing for me is going to be rare this season unfortunately) and also my ability to even finish the CCC.

For those that don’t know. The CCC is an Ultra Trail Race at the end of August that starts from Courmayeur in Italy and follows high trails through Champex and back to Chamonix (Hence the name CCC) Its a total of 100km with 6000m of ascent and 6000m of descent and regularly passes over Cols at 2500m in altitude. The current record for it is an incredible 10 hours , the cut off time is 26hrs. All I hope to do is finish it.

Finally I would like to thank Dorian for nursing me up the final 200m to the finish line and also a big shout out must go to Graham who clocked an awesome 5hrs 45mins in his first ever big race. Awesome effort. I ran with Graham until Possettes and after I had a toilet stop I thought I may catch up with him after seeing him ahead on the summit but starting that descent I knew he would be well ahead in no time. Great effort.

I reckon after the CCC which has 1800 runners I am going to go back to running low key races. I am really not liking running in a pack and the only way to stop that is to start winning them! which aint ever going to happen. To me there is something just much more pure about racing out on your own with no support. It really builds up your mental toughness to just keep pushing and that is definitely how I managed to finish this Marathon.

Its now time to rest for a few days and hope my hip improves and isn’t too serious so I can continue to train for what I now realise will be by far the toughest thing I have ever tried to do.