Well it's been a rather long time since my last post but that's not to say I haven't been up to anything. In fact I don't really know where to start with what I have been up to.
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| Val Veny , Italy |
I really want to keep this blog away from turning into a skiing blog over winter but it's kinda hard to do considering it's mainly what I do for 5-6 months. This winter really has had a different feel to it for me. I have had some great normal downhill days and when I have used the lifts it's been for powder. Other than that all I have done is tour and it's been excellent.
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| Cosmiques lap with old friends Rob and Kerr |
So the past month has consisted of a lot of ski touring days and now the running season is upon us the trail shoes have been out and are going to stay out now for quite a number of months. I will let my pictures do the talking with regards to ski touring and focus a little more on how the legs are ticking over on the trails.
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| Out in Switzerland with Ben and Fin |
So at the end of last summer I really didn't want to stop running for a full winter. I was the strongest I had ever been and was worried all that running fitness was just going to disappear. With Transvulcania only just over 5 weeks away I was getting a bit worried as just to what kind of running shape I was going to be in when I started back again. I have been out on some very short leg stretches over the season but not many. I have done so much ski touring with days ranging from short easy 1000m days to long 30km 2700m days and I think it's helped me a lot. When I starting hitting the trails a couple of weeks ago I knew it was going to be tough. As it usually does every April it takes a while for me to find my stride again but it has been much smoother and less painful than ever before. Normally it takes me a good 3+ weeks to find some kind of rhythm with my pace , climbing and descending but in all honesty so far all is going pretty good.
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| Scrambling up VERY loose rock with Naila at Col Terrasse |
I am for sure a long long way off of 70km+ distances at the moment but I am feeling damn great when I am out running anything from my flattish 10kms to longer 20kms with 1000m+ climbing. Yeah for sure I am still a little rusty on my fast descents but that will come pretty soon I reckon. As usual I have no training plan to stick to. They are just not for me. I do what my body feels like doing. I guess plenty of people out there will tell me it would help to get a proper plan sorted but I prefer to do what I want and when I want. I really think I got my training spot on last summer just doing what I felt was right and that gives me an excellent starting point to build on this year. I don't have to look at a piece of paper to tell me what I should be doing or to motivate me.
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| Col Terrasse just up and slightly right of my head |
I am just happy to finish these longer races of 80km and more but this year I have chosen a lot of much shorter distances around the marathon mark or less and most of them are pretty technical which will hopefully suit me considering where I train. On races like the Cerdanya Marathon , Cham VK , The Rut , Lone Peak VK and Tromso I am going to give them a bloody good go. Transvulcania and The Bear are the exceptions. Transvulcania is my first race and I will just be really happy to run in that race with some friends and test my recovery and enjoy the sunshine. The Bear philosophy will be much like RRR(I hope) where I will just go out and see how I feel and if I somehow feel strong after halfway then who knows but definitely for The Bear 100 the goal again is to finish and finish as strong as I can. It's a long way off for me to start feeling confident about my 3rd 100 miler after just a few weeks back on the trails.
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| More playing above Loriaz Chalets |
So April is going to be a month of running. Probably 4 days a week minimum with some days doing two runs , one in the morning to work and one in evening home both times up and over via the Merlet Park. My days off will be ski touring and running but I will be having one full rest day a week. Tapering is a thing that to be totally honest I don't do much , isn't it really just a fancy word for rest? Well anyway probably the week running up to Transvulcania I will ease right off and maybe only go out for 3 days that week and all will be very short outings. I will aim for a long run of 40km within the next 10 days and that will be my longest run before going to La Palma.
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| Trail Running around sunny Lake Annecy! |
So it will probably be another little update in a couple of weeks. It's raining/snowing a lot here at the moment so it means the late season touring could be great. As long as it rains up to 2000m from now on and the trails stay clear to run then I am happy with that.
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So we went to ski a nice little couloir
near Morzine and just before the entrance
we found this lovely dog on top of the mountain!
The crazy idiot had walked up there through
deep snow that morning so we called the owner and rescued the
pup who seemed to enjoy running after us through the powder |
