Busy week

So much for holidays as a time for relaxing and taking it easy. I haven't had a chance to update the blog since the beginning of the week as I've been so occupied with the walks organised by the holiday centre. In running terms, it has been a quiet week with only one run, but to justify my silence, I'll explain some of the other activities that I've done during the week.

Monday

A long walk was planned with Benoist up to the Tête Nord des Fours in the massif du Mont Blanc. Dad and I decided that we would do this walk: 1500 metres of climb with a start at 1200 metres to arrive at the summit of 2756 metres. This was the first time that Benoist had taken a group up this summit and some of the group never made it to the top, stopping at the Croix du Col de Bonhomme on the way. The walk was long but most enjoyable with Dad and I both making it to the top and getting back down in front of the others. The Garmin indicated that the total climb amounted to 2100 metres (this included my mistake of around 100 metres when I went up the Tête Sud by myself !). I ran down most of the mountain and waited for the others and then Dad and I ran the last 2 km to the car.

Tuesday

A quick work-out with Laureen for Laurence and myself at 9:00am and then an easy run around Onnion. I say easy, but with the altitude and the hills, nothing is easy around here. I managed the 7.5km in 36:09 for a total height gain of 350 metres. The heat and the humidity didn't help but I put in an interval of 1.2 km which I managed in 5:09. I was fairly pleased with the performance.

Tuesday was also the start of Laurence's and my expedition to the top of Le Buet, the highest summit in the area at 3096 metres. We walked up to the refuge at Le Grenairon on Tuesday afternoon in the heat. Luckily there were trees providing shade on the way up as the heat and the stillness was stifling. 1000 metres of climb up to the refuge at 1980 metres where we spent the night in relative luxury: hot shower; good food; nice pillows and a duvet !

Wednesday

We were woken at 5:30 to begin the walk and set off 50 minutes later. We had another 1100 metres of climb to do before lunch and then over 2000 metres of descent. Unfortunately, the group wasn't homogeneous and the pace between the fastest and the slowest was huge. We reached the summit shortly before lunchtime and then began one of the hairiest descents I've ever experienced. The descent proved to be decisive for the slowest and I ran ahead down around 10 km of hills to bring the car up the track to shorten the total walk by 4.5km for some.

Friday

An easy cycle ride this morning with Vincent, our guide. I pushed up the hills to try and work the muscles as hard as I could. Laurence has improved vastly over the 3 sessions we have done on the road bikes and she left the other 2 men far behind when we climbed the hills. A shorter ride today though, with a total of 27 kms in 90 minutes. Great training for our raid in Normandy at the end of the month.