It's Time!!!

I am currently sat in Heathrow airport with a long wait until my flight to Denver. The last couple of weeks in Chamonix were just amazing and I managed to get out a do all my usual favourite runs and scrambles with friends and let's not forgot a rather blurry yet awesome farewell party.

Great little final scramble with Naila in Chamonix

I won't be posting a long blog right now but I would like to thank every single person I have ever met in Chamonix for making it an awesome few years for me. I won't forget any of you and the truly brilliant times we had over many a summer and winter season. I will be back for sure for the odd trip over as the place is just too good to completely forget about but until then my sights are firmly set on just seeing how strong my running can become over the next 3 months in Colorado and hopefully I will get round my next 100 miler and maybe even feel good for most of it.

Excellent local run on my one day stop over in Scotland

Now I cannot post without mentioning my good friend Lauren who ran her first marathon last week in Chamonix. The Mont Blanc Marathon is by no means your normal marathon. It involves heaps of climbing(2500m) over some quite technical terrain and this year the weather was horrendous. Woody was always a bit nervous about it but I was sure she would do well and oh god how I was right and also amazed. She completely smashed the course running an amazing 4hrs 51mins. Coming 25th overall female and first British Female and around 200th out of 2000 runners overall! Line up the sponsors!!! She ran an amazing race and I had so much fun following her and running a bit of the last section into town alongside her. It really was very inspiring to watch and it has me pumped and ready for Leadville 50 in 10 days time.

Next stop.......Colorado!!

Chamonix Time Running Out

Well that's work now over for me for the foreseeable future and it has all been a bit strange for me having so much free time. When working and having lunch breaks to do activities and then 2 days off a week it gives me a kind of format to stick to but now that I am off everyday it's pretty hard to just relax and not do anything. Not that I am complaining one bit. It's great.

Posing on the Cosmiques

Nearing top of Tacul 4200m

Crux of Cosmiques with Naila

With a week left in Chamonix I have been out pretty much everyday doing as much as possible. climbing up the Midi , rock climbing up the Aiguille Rouge and obviously running. Now all the lifts are open it means I can access the awesome trails up high and I have been making the most of my usual favourites like Plan to Montenvers , Brevent to Col Du Montets , Index to Col Cornu. All of which are pretty much free of snow with only the odd section of snow traversing but it is pretty safe as there are good solid footsteps. I have also been doing a lot of work on my down hills by getting the lifts up high and making fairly rapid descents. Running quick downhill really does tire out the legs so I thought it would be a good idea to build up more strength and do the 1300m descent from Plan d'Aiguille to my house a few times and racked up a good 5500m of descent over 3 days last week as well as doing longer runs in the afternoons. Daily runs have been between 8-16km depending on how I feel at the time and a few times I have broken it up and done 10-12k in the morning and then another 10-12 late afternoon and this has been really good as this is when the trails are quietest. I haven't ran more than 16km on one run in the last 2 weeks but my plan is to run around 40km the day after I arrive in Colorado so I am not really worried about pushing mileage right now. I just want to get out and run my favourite trails around here before I leave.

Scoping the Marathon route with Woody

Awesome running above Le Tour

Evening run/scramble with the troops

It really has been a bit of everything for the past week and I have been enjoying some easy rock climbing and little ridge traverses when I feel like I need a break from the running. This weekend is the World Sky Running Championships here in Chamonix and the who's who of trail running have descended here to compete. There is a Vertical KM , 10km, Cross(23km) , Marathon and 80km over the weekend. The big guns are all out to battle over the Marathon and 80km and with pretty much everyone in the trail running scene here it is a pretty good atmosphere. I have ran the Marathon twice and the 80km last year. I really do wish I was doing the 80km again this year but with Leadville 50 miler on July 13^th I just feel it is a little too close for me to fully recover. I don't doubt I could do both but I would like to feel strong in America and doing the Mont Blanc 80km would take its toll on me and I really think it would affect how I felt in the US where I want to feel strong and fresh and hopefully finish Leadville feeling good. I am pretty sure I could suffer through both but that appeal left me a long time ago. Meanwhile Lauren is here to run the Marathon(her first) so I am excited to be supporting her over the course on Sunday as well as watching other friends battle over the KM Vertical and 80k. In hindsight I should have entered the Cross or the 10km just to be a part of the weekend.

Woody and Naila enjoying trails above Les Houches

All smiles

One of my faves above Brevent

So my next race is only a couple of weeks away and even closer is my flight to Colorado. I still cannot wait to get out there and get running. I feel ready for Leadville 50 miler having done the 53 mile Highland Fling late April and then the 40km race in Cerdanya earlier this month. I just need to get over there and get used to the altitude but that shouldn't take me more than a few days. Then the rest of the summer is just run , run , run until the big race in Steamboat on September 12^th.

Cerdanya

Well it was a pretty hectic and non-stop weekend but totally worth the long journey to run some amazing trails and meet some amazingly friendly people. I don't really know where to start explaining it all but I would guess going from the beginning is wise.

My friend Nailas father has organised a race weekend in Cerdanya for the past 3 years which involves races of various distances like a vertical km , 13km , 37km , 87km and a ridiculous 217km! It is growing more and more popular and since she was driving there to help with the event and I had the days off of work then I thought it would be a great chance to go and explore some new trails in a place totally alien to me and also take part in the 37km event.

We left Chamonix at 7pm on Thursday night and began the long long drive to Cerdanya. After a slight navigational error which was not totally our fault we arrived at Nailas home around 4am and it was straight to sleep. After a great but very short 5 hour sleep we headed off out to watch some of the 217km race. I still can't really get my head around running a 217km race but we found a sweet little spot to stop and cheer on the runners and we also met running legend Pablo Vigil who was over to help out and do a bit of running as well so it was great to chat to him and with any luck I will be in touch with him in a few weeks in the states as he lives in Colorado , great super friendly guy. The rest of Friday was spent just helping out with odd jobs with the race organisation. We arrived back at the house around 6pm and I went for a short nap and ended up waking at 9am the following morning! So my entire birthday evening was spent asleep but my god did I need it.

Clearing the start of 87km

So on Saturday it was the 87km race. Our job was to follow the race for the first 13km and clear the course markings and make sure everyone was ahead of us and not lost. It was an awesome morning but I wouldn't really class this as a run. There was so many course markings we couldn't really get up any rhythm until we had to stop and untie dozens and dozens of white markers attached to the trees but it was a cracking morning with amazing views. Again the afternoon was spent just wandering around Puigcerda having the odd coffee and then it was time to watch the winner of the 217km arrive in a time of 35hrs! Naila then had to go back to work as she was in charge of the after race massage tent and was working non stop the whole weekend so I headed with her father to get my bib and listen to his pre race briefing which being in Catalan I did not understand a word but was pretty sure there was nothing I really needed to know or someone somehow would have told me as I appeared to be the only Brit (definitely only Scot) there for sure. I then made my way home to fill up on pasta and get another good sleep as the next day was race day.

Checking out a section of the 217km race

More 217km race section

I had a great sleep yet again and was up at 6.30am. I just drank some water and ate some fruit and we were off to the start. I decided to go into this race different to most others I have ever done. Yeah the distance was not huge but still not far off of a marathon and it did have 2000m of climbing and the same descent so it is not exactly easy. I decided not to carry my backpack. Only putting 4 gels in my back pocket of my shorts and an empty packable water bottle(will explain later) No jacket or wind shirt at all as it was to be a scorcher. The aid stations were not that far apart and there was 6 over the course so I was confident that was plenty.

We set off at 7.30am from the centre of Le Tour de Carol at a nice pace and it was a quick nip through the village and out on the trails. It was pretty flat for about 3km and I was just finding a good pace then we started to climb but it was not a super steep climb so I managed to keep running all of it. We climbed up with the odd little dip for nearly 900m to the first aid station. I grabbed some coke , water and a banana and off I went again. To be honest I can't really remember exactly everything about the start of the race but do remember running on some truly amazing trails with just brilliant views everywhere I looked. I knew to get to halfway we had a long 1000m descent and this bit was bloody excellent. It was not super steep but just really nice sweeping single track winding down and down and I was feeling great and moving well but not pushing myself at all. I was just loving how good I felt and was going at (for me) a pretty rapid pace. I arrived at the halfway village and was hosed down with water as it was starting to get rather hot. I had a gel and more Banana and set off of the (impossible to run) climb. It was super steep and went on and on for around 800m but I just got my head down and new it would be over soon. I arrived at the next checkpoint next to a very picturesque lake and surrounding scenery. I had more coke another gel another banana and again filled up my 500ml soft flask with water. From here on it was some of the best single track I have ever run and again I felt great. I used my bottle to pour water over my head or take a small sip when I needed it and when it was done I stuffed it back in my pocket and from here on repeated that for the rest of the race refilling at each aid station and it worked a treat.

Awesome views

From then on the race was again more sweeping single track heaven and I was still feeling so so good. We then ran across a pretty big kind of summit plateau with amazing views in all directions. Once off of the plateau and away in the distance I could see the tower of the church at the finish line 10km away and 900m below. I made fast work of the descent but was starting to get a bit of problems with my feet burning up on the soles which never ever happens to me. It was getting a lot hotter as I was descending and by the time I hit the road at the bottom it was scorching hot and still 5km to the finish. Up until this point I felt great the whole race but as soon as I hit the road the heat really really started to affect me. I was just not used to that temperature. I continued to run but had to stop every time I came across water to just pour it over me. I was slower here than I should have been but I was still happy with how my legs were feeling.

More exploring the day before my race

It was then a great little run through a very busy town centre and across the finish line in a time of 4hrs 38mins coming 50th/400 and 36th in the senior mens category which I was very very surprised at. I knew I had run a good strong yet comfortable race that I thoroughly enjoyed but really did think I was running in the middle of the pack. It felt great to finish well within the top half and feel fresh and strong at the end. The official distance is meant to be 37km but my watch(and many others) was showing 40km. It was then time for me to grab some lunch and a cold shower and then go and drag Naila away from her work(she hardly slept all weekend) to begin our long drive back to Chamonix.

Cool finish line. I didn't run with my camera on race
day so afraid no pics of the course.

I am so glad I had the chance to go and run this race. It really was brilliant trails for 95% of the course but they could do with taking out the final road section if possible. I don't normally run a race more than once as I like to explore other areas but for sure I would go back and do this one again. Thanks to everyone I met down there for being so friendly and also thanks to Naila for letting me tag along for a great wee trip. Put this race on your list of to do's. http://www.ultrafons.com/fr

Great weekend!

Same old story

Apologies for the delay in posting but to be honest I haven't really had anything to blog about that I haven't said in previous posts. Things have just been ticking over the same as usual for the past couple of weeks. The weather has been very hit or miss but I have still continued to get out running and been able to nip up the Aiguille Du Midi to try and boost the red blood cells a bit. Having trips up to 3842m on my lunch breaks for a couple of hours at a time might not actually help me that much but it's better than sitting having my lunch in my house.

Running has been the same as usual for this time of year when all the lifts are closed and I am too lazy to hike up high to start my runs so I have been sticking mainly to the valley trails in an attempt to begin getting my flat pace a little bit faster ahead of the summer. As with every run I do it is just a matter of how I feel when I get out to see what kind of pace I go. If I just feel like going super slow then that's what I do and if I feel good then I can push it a bit. I went for a hike/run up to the Bellachat refuge the other night. The refuge lies at 2100ish metres so it is around a 1100m climb from my house. I went out the door aiming to just plod up but felt good after 15 mins so decided to get my head down and run what I could of the fairly long steep and technical(near the top) trail. I made a fairly decent round trip from my house in 1hr 50mins and I could have been a little faster. My right Achilles tendon overstretched just over halfway up when I hopped off of a boulder when jogging so I had to ease back a little on both the ascent and descent after that. To be honest I don't think I could take much off of that time but I will surely give it a go again in a few weeks. I am still feeling a little bit of tightness in my Achilles at the moment but not nearly what it was like a few days ago so it is on the mend and I don't expect it to cause any major problems by next week. I did go for a 10km yesterday lunch and it felt okay. I went a pretty slow 9km an hour just to see what it was like and it didn't get any worse but I could still feel something so I may go for another little 5km tonight or just rest it and try a longer run tomorrow but I will just see how it feels.

20k loop to Argentiere

I recently got given a loan of a Compex machine to help build some muscle strength. Now I know some people out there will think this is all a gimmick and over priced rubbish or probably tell me just to go to a gym(no chance) and use weight benches but I thought given that I had never tried the machine before and it is a loan and I didn't have to pay the £500+ for it then I might as well see what it is like. Now for those that don't know what it is then your probably best to google it as to be honest I am not really up to date or smart enough to explain how it works but it pretty much uses electro stimulation to build and strengthen muscles. You can use it for arms , quads , calf’s, hamstrings and so on. You stick little pads to certain muscle areas , plug them into the machine and pick your desired training mode for strength , endurance , recovery or massage.... and away you go. Most programs run for about an hour so I just sit reading a book and every so often crank up the  intensity and watch as the electro pulses make my leg go from relaxed to bulging with muscle every so often. It is really quite odd at first as you sit and do nothing and you muscles are just popping out  and then relaxing as you do nothing. Yes I would never buy this machine because basically I couldn't afford one but I am starting to think it is great idea. It is good to use on the recovery or massage setting after long runs and it does feel like it helps. Also for things like the past week where my Achilles has been too sore to run on it is good to just keep the muscles warm without having to over work my injury. Plenty of people use the machine if they have broken bones and can't exercise and this helps keeps their muscles strong. For sure there will probably be some lazy sods out there who think if they use the machine it will turn them into super fit athletes and they don't have to get off the sofa which it definitely will not but I think used along with real training then it could be a great tool to have. If you know someone who happens to have one or you can test one somewhere then for sure try it out.

Grands Montets is defo better skiing but the trails
ain't too bad at all either

On the America side of things I am still hunting to try and find someone who needs a pacer for Hardrock in July. My name is on the pacers list but given that the race is a pretty small field and most people probably/will have friends eager to run some of the race with them then my chances are slim but I will never loose hope. If all fails I am helping at an aid station regardless. Why do I want to pace Hardrock so much. Loads of reasons. For me it is THE ultra race to do. Every longer distance runner has their own big race to do UTMB , Spartathlon , Western States , Leadville , Badwater , Tour Des Geants and so on but for me the ultimate is definitely Hardrock. I don't know if it is the Hardest and don't really care , how can you really decide what 100 miler is the Hardest? Sure some are more technical , some have more ascent , some are flatter(not meaning easier!) , some are super hot temperatures , some are arctic temperatures , some days you run well , some you don't. I think when people start talking about what is the hardest 100 miler they are the people who have never run that distance. Yes I am no 100 mile veteran(yet!) but 100 miles is hard no matter what the course. 

A little Cosmiques lap with Laurent

The entire Hardrock route from what I have seen just looks epic with the most awesome single track terrain , it's pretty remote , it has a very small field of runners so for most of it you will be out on your own and it looks like a mighty big challenge to finish it given the altitude and the huge 10000m of ascent and descent. Yes Leadville was and will always be my most favourite race experience ever for too many reasons to go into here but to run Hardrock is the one I want. So to be able to maybe pace someone on some of the course for me would be nearly as amazing as getting a chance to run it. Most runners get into it 3rd time lucky and given I missed it this year means in maybe 2yrs my name will be on the list but I need to plan other races around it as there are only certain races Hardrock accept as qualifiers. They decided to change the entry races starting from next year and omitted Western States(oldest hundred miler there is) and Leadville(second oldest) for loads of (what I think) pathetic reasons just to try and make Hardrock look more epic and exclusive. There is a lot of people out there who like to have a pop at these two races again for ridiculous reasons(okay some of the LT100 2013 problems were very bad I agree changes are needed but I can't be bothered discussing all that nonsense again) but I think it is just because they are the two most popular and famous in the States/World and like everything in this world as soon as it becomes popular or successful then the hate campaign starts and I am still convinced most of the haters at LT100 2013 never finished the race and wanted an excuse. Ohhh disaster! No cups!!(sorry couldn't help it). Luckily for me Run Rabbit Run is still a qualifier for 2015 Hardrock so hopefully if I finish it this year I can use that as my entry race but given the odds I will need to do another 100 miler in 2015 on the list to try for 2016 Hardrock. And what is on the list......UTMB which is also super difficult to get an entry but one day yeah I would like to do it but I would not be guaranteed entry to this in 2015. So it is always in the back of my mind what race to try for as a Hardrock 2016 qualifier! Crazy stuff I know. I would also like to do Western States but given it is not a qualifier and if I got into it in 2015 I could not use it for Hardrock 2016!! Is that all confusing??? It is for me.

If and it is a big IF I got to pace for Hardrock over any distance then I would probably have to cancel my Leadville 50 miler as it is two days after Hardrock. It will all depend on the pacing distance I guess. If I was pacing Hardrock for say the last 20km then yeah I could do Leadville 50 but anything over 20km would be too much. In the meantime this years goal is to just finish and enjoy Run Rabbit Run 100 in September with a little bit of Leadville pacing thrown in for the fun in August.

Run and Rest

Well that's me now back in Chamonix for the next 2 months before heading over the pond to the US. The plan from now on is just stay fit and keep on running and maybe do a little bit of climbing. The weather has been pretty awful here since I got back but I am still forcing myself out the door even when it is pouring.

It took me a good few days after being back in France to get out running again. I think the race and the following days events in Arrochar finally caught up with me and although my legs felt fine I just could not motivate myself to go for a run. I was still a bit confused and annoyed at the state I was in during the Fling but I also felt like I had lost all interest in going for a run. This feeling didn't last too long but it slowly disappeared and I feel good again however I am now ready for a change and to be honest cannot wait to get out of Chamonix and head to the next chapter. Now I hope that doesn't sound to awful to my good friends here. I would love it if they could all come to the states with me and for sure I will miss my times here with them but now I feel ready to move on to something new. I don't hate Chamonix one bit. It is an amazing place and I am sure there will be times over the summer I will be wishing I could go for a run in the Aiguille Rouge or nip up the midi for a wee Cosmiques lap but who's to say I will never ever come back even if it's just the odd weekend. The time has come for me to go and explore somewhere new and my feet are itching to get to Colorado now.

Bringing a bit of Scotland
back to Chamonix

Between now and heading off I really don't have any races lined up here. I am doing the Annecy Vertical Kilometre at the end of the month but that is just a fun short(fast) race. There is talk of maybe going for a quick trip to Catalonia to run a 36km race there at the start of June but that is still to be confirmed for sure but something I am super excited about if it goes ahead. Other than that I have no races at all until the Leadville 50 miler at the start of July which to be honest I am not that worried about now after I managed to get the Fling done straight after winter. The only thing I will need to do is get a bit acclimatised. The distance should be okay for me and there is a 14hr cut-off but I am hopeful I will be fine with those aspects of it. The only thing is that the race passes 12,000ft on a few separate occasions so I will be making sure I am properly prepared for that but I was relatively okay at the altitude there last summer so I hope it will be the same this time.

Since being back in Chamonix I haven't really been feeling particularly strong on my runs. I probably need a little bit more rest. The Highland Fling seems to have taken a bit more out of me than I wanted. I have managed a morning of 20km , a morning of 15km with 1200m ascent and today went for a fast balcon sud lap of 13km(51 mins) on lunch , the first 4ks were brutal trying to keep up with Guilleme on the ascent but then I found a nice rhythm for the rest of the run and we smashed out some pretty good sub 6 min miles at the end.

Back on the lower Aiguille Rouge trails

So I will just keep putting away the miles for the next few weeks and with better weather now settling in I cannot wait to get up high again and run around the Aiguille Rouge.

A big shout out to partner in crime Lauren Woodwiss who yet again won another race today. This time 30kms in a pretty darn fast 2hrs 36mins. Now 4 wins out of 4 for her and it looks like her Mont Blanc Marathon time is going to be pretty sweet if she keeps this going. Good Job Woody! And  finally another shout out. This time to fellow Scotsman Donnie Campbell who today ran the super super tough Transvulcania 73km Ultra in La Palma with a brilliant time of 9hrs 20mins coming well within the top 100 of nearly 2000! That race is defo on my hit list for next year and when entries open I will be signing up for sure.