Return to Chamonix

That's me now back in Chamonix and ready for the winter season to kick off. I actually got back on the 2nd of November but moving into a new house , starting work again and catching up with friends has caused this slight delay in posting here.

Back on Euro trails

So the day after arriving I was greeted with crisp clear blue skies so on it was with the trail shoes and I headed off up the vertical km route. I was pretty surprised how easily it seemed and I was up the 900m climb in around 45 minutes. I then continued on up to Col Cornu adding on around another 400m. I stayed at the Col for a while admiring the view , one that I never tire of seeing. It was then along to Flegere and back to Chamonix. In total it was 20km , 1300m+ and I was 2hrs 20mins.

Col Cornu

Running has continued but to be totally honest I have been finding it quite hard to not just relax after work. Having not worked since June has been a bit of a shock to the system but I need the cash asap. I have ran a couple of Les Houches laps(10km) in the evenings and one of which was a rather fun snow run with snow up to well over my ankles after we had a pretty decent dump one evening. It's been pretty good moving to a new house and heading out and exploring some trails I had never ran before. The snow has now cleared from town and we are waiting for the real winter storms to hit before I put the trail shoes to one side.

Fun at Les Houches

I managed to get my first skiing in as well last week. Myself and Guillem headed up to Le Tour on our day off work. It started with a 30 minute hike then we put on the skis and skinned up to the top of Le Tour. I felt pretty good on the up. We weren't going at an incredibly fast pace but we were up the 900m in (I think) a reasonable time but neither of us took our watches. The ski down wasn't the best snow but it was great to just be on skis again. This season I am going to focus a lot on my Skimo fitness and I will be doing a lot of ski touring and fitness work at night in Les Houches with Guillem and Naila. For sure I am not going to be giving up on lift accessed powder days though!

Le Tour

We will be able to ski from our door next month so I am pretty excited and a little nervous to see how my skimo fitness will improve training with these two who have many a years experience over me in the skimo side of things. My legs still feel strong after the summer but it's obviously a completely different technique and different muscles I will be using when trying to skin up hills as fast as I can. The bonus is that my running muscles and joints will be getting a good rest over winter and they will go back into action probably around the end of March. I will be trying to get out the odd run over the season but my focus is the ski fitness.

Near Les Carroz

I think I am going to miss trail running this winter more than I ever had. I managed to get myself into a shape I am so happy and this will slightly disappear over the cold months and I know come March it will be a tough couple of weeks physically and mentally to prove to myself I can get back to the level I was in. This cycle happens at the end of every winter season and I get through it so I am pretty confident I can get to that level of fitness again and with any luck even improve.

Les Houches from Merlet