Colorado Calling

Happy New Year Folks! I suppose it comes as no surprise that Christmas and New Year were a mass of amazing food and some rather mental nights out so I planned on spending January recovering and getting the fitness level back up to where it should be. All was going well with some great skiing and ace little tours and then I got hit with a pretty bad cold and that has floored me for a good ten days and counting although it looks as though I may be on the mend and hopefully all good again for my days off.

Awesome Tree Skiing

Traversing up to Col Beaugent

So not much to report on on the training side of things but as soon as I feel 100% again then it will be full steam ahead and to be honest I cannot wait.

 

 

The best news I got over the New Year was that I have been accepted to run in the Leadville 100 in August in Colorado USA! I found out on January 1^st and I was super happy. I cannot wait to go over there and have a go at what is one of the most famous and toughest Ultras not just in the States but in the world. I am not kidding myself on here thinking it will all go smoothly but I am so excited now to have my main goal for the rest of winter and summer and something to focus on. It is going to be so much tougher than the CCC not just because its an extra 65km but there are a few other reasons. One being that the race is never below 3000m in altitude so training high in Cham this summer is a must. Also I will be going there with no support team and no knowledge of the course. It is quite a small race in terms of famous Ultras with only around 700 competitors and the scariest part is the 45% success rate.

I have also been accepted to run in the TDS in Chamonix , the race slightly longer than the CCC but shorter than the full UTMB. It is 120km with 7000m of ascent. Now this was my fall back race in case I didn’t get into Leadville but I got an email to say I had a place to I paid the fee and that was that. One small detail however is the TDS is 10 days after Leadville!Yup I know , it sounds mad but I will just see how I feel. I am living in Chamonix anyway so I don’t have to make travel or accommodation plans for the TDS. My main goal is Leadville , IF I return to Chamonix as a Leadville finisher or not and I feel good enough to give the TDS a bash then so be it. Why not.

So at the moment it is get back to feeling 100% then I can start touring and getting my legs fit again , sure there is still plenty of partying to be had this season but it may be a bit more mellow now. Real training will without a doubt start Mid March or early April.

Pow Pow

Well it has been way too long since I last posted but now I have some internet back here goes.

It has been a pretty hectic few weeks with friends arriving back to Cham for the Winter and we have had a huge amount of snowfall so I have just been skiing some incredible powder with friends and then celebrating some great skiing with a few too many drinks.

 

Me in the Trees in Italy

1hr 15mins to skin up , 1hr 30mins down! A very sketchy descent , enough said.

I was getting on the bike pretty regularly in the house at nights but now the skiing has begun I have kind of given up on it as I can now start skinning up the mountain at night for my fitness. I also bought a pair of track running spikes to use on the cross country ski track in town and I am super impressed with them already. Very cheap at only £20 and stick on a pair of neoprene socks to keep me dry and warm and it seems to work fine.

Next weeks plans are a bit of Christmas celebrating and there is talks of going through to Ice Climb in Italy as I really need to get my axes out as I am visiting Scotland for a few days in Feb and skiing powder is not going to help me get strong for that.

Lorne showing how its done in Verbier

I will be trying to update more often from now but here are some more ski pics from past couple weeks.

Fleur pinning it in Italy

Graham enjoying awesome tree skiing In Courmayeur

Laurent in Deep Snow in Verbier


 



Nearly Ski Time

It has been a long time since my last post and since then I really haven’t done a huge amount except work. To be quite honest I have been struggling to get motivated especially to go out running in the evenings now it is dark and cold! Yeah I know that sounds pathetic but after the entire summer of amazing running in perfect temperatures it is now starting to feel like winter again and the running gear is slowly creeping back into the cupboard and the skis are out.

I have managed a couple of decent sized runs around the valley but nothing more than 2 hours and in the evenings I am getting on the turbo trainer , which is the most boring thing ever but if I just stick on music I can usually blast out a good hour or hour and half a few times a week.

 

Last run up high this year. Lifts now closed until Skiing begins.

The great news is that the skis are out and have been used. I headed over to Switzerland with Graham , Ally and Robbie last week to get in some early season turns. We went over in the direction of the Grand St Bernard and skinned up for about an hour and a half going up about 800m. It had been snowing quite a bit and we found some lovely powder albeit with a few rocks here and there. It was great to get back out and find that I could still ski.

Excited to start my season in some nice fresh Powder

Ally showing us how it's done , we gave him first tracks after his
effort at putting in the skinnng track up.

Graham Lovin' it

It is still really cold at the moment in the mornings and in the evening but when the sun creeps out in the afternoons it is actually quite pleasant so if this keeps up then I may well get out running on lunch breaks but to be honest I just want it to snow again so the trail shoes can go away and I can start getting ski fit again. It has been the same old process for a couple of years now. Come December my legs and body suffers for a few weeks trying to get my ski fitness back and then come April/May I suffer for a few weeks getting my running legs back. I am going to try once or twice a week to do a couple of short evening runs over the season and when I say short I mean short like 30-40 mins max. Just to keep me ticking over. I am going to need to invest in some spike running shoes though and they don’t come cheap.

Work and Run

It has been full on work work work since I got back. I have been doing long shifts in the shop getting it painted and sorted out for the new season. I have been pretty knackered in the evenings but have made it out for a few short 40 mins runs around the Balcon Sud and down around the Cross Country ski track. On my days off I have managed to get out for a bit longer. It is super quiet here at moment and I don't have anyone to climb with as Ally is away doing things I couldn't get up so I have just been content with keeping my running fitness up.

Last weekend I got the lift up to mid station on the Midi and did a run over to Montenvers and took a new trail down before heading back to Cham , it was around 2 and a half hours and I felt good. Today I decided to go for something big as weather was great so I left the house and blasted up to the top of the Cornu Chairlift at 2300m. No lifts are open on this side so it was great to have the whole place to myself. I then ran up and over to Lac Noir and just ran around exploring into an area I have never been. After a few hours I decided time to descend so I just reversed my route but instead of being smart I decided to blast the descent and it was not a good idea. From where I started the descent at around 2550m it is a long way down to my house at 1080m. The last 500m were brutal , I haven't had pain like that in my thighs in a long long time and I even had to stop a couple of times and moan to myself how sore they were. This could be due to a few things , I could have just went to fast at the start of the descent , I didn't eat enough( 6 chewy Alligators and a Mars Bars)  , maybe my legs are a bit fatigued from being on them for hours on end the past few weeks in work or maybe the summer has just taken its toll on them and they need nothing more than a good rest. Anyway it was a cracking day for a run and I certainly made the most of it by being on the go for 4 hours.


On the way up to the top of Cornu at 2300m

Pretty good place to run eh??

Lac Noir 2500m

I will be starting to wind down the running soon but I reckon as long as I can run on the trails without snow then why not as come December running wont be happening that much until April probably. I do plan on getting some spiked shoes this season and doing some short runs again on the Cross Country Ski track in the evenings after work just to keep the legs ticking over , nothing long again just 40 mins hopefully twice a week as my ski touring should keep up a really good fitness for me.

Off again tomorrow and I will see how the legs have recovered as I spotted an awesome trail quite a bit away from Chamonix today that I want to get on , it looks like it descends down to the village of Servoz but I will have a look at maps tonight and if legs feel ok then I will be going for that and it looks like a longer run than today.

Bonnie Scotland

Well it has been a while since I last posted. I was planning on taking a bit of time off from running but to be honest that has not happened and it has again been non-stop.

I arrived back in Scotland on Tuesday 18^th and was away up north on the Wednesday. The weather was kind to me as I ran up and down Ben Lawers with only the summit being pretty windy. I managed to summit in 1hr 10mins and was back at the car 30 mins later , then the following day I went and ran Schiehallion , This time I was a little quicker being just under an hour to summit and again 30 mins back to car. These were two Munros I had never done so thought I had might as well go get them done and there was no way I was just going to go for a plod. Where is the fun in that!

Looking back from just below Lawers Summit

The way back to the car

Summit up in the Cloud

Schiehallion Summit with the typical Scottish View

Great descent path

Friday I went a long run around the hills of Largs in glorious sunshine. I have this amazing two and a half hour jaunt I go on up over the moors following some farm tracks but mostly it is all off road. I then join the seafront and run along the promenade back to my home. It is a stunning run and has great views out over the west coast of Scotland.

Never come across anybody ever when I have run up here

Largs Below

At the sundial after mistakingly thinking the puddle I was running in was going to be small

Then on Saturday I was feeling good when I woke up so drove up to Arrochar and ran up and over The Cobbler and then Beinn Narnain on another cracking day and was happy with 1hr 58mins for the round trip.

Cobbler Summit

Heading down Narnain

The weather then decided to turn and the rest of my time at home was spent catching up with friends , having a bit of a drink and I finally managed a little 10km road run the night before I drove back to Cham.

So I am now back in Chamonix and start work tomorrow. I managed a 1hr trail run today and as good as Scotland is it just cannot come close to Cham for trail running. So now begins the off season and I have never been here this time of year , it is very quiet around town but we have lots to do at the shop for the next month and I will just been spending my days off Climbing and Running as much as possible to stay in shape for what hopefully will be an epic winter ahead. I must admit I would quite like to do another race before the year is out as the next big one is not until May 2013 which is a long long way off.

The Balcon Sud Trail thats on my doorstep

 

Rockhoppin'

 

Simply the greatest Trails I have ever run. After all these years they still impress.

It sure is good to be Home though.