Tartiflette running

Tartiflette, for the non-afficionados, is a dish from the Savoie region made from potatoes, lardons, onions and most importantly reblochon cheese. It is high in taste and calories and, when ingested the night before a training run, has a serious impact on the quality of your running.

Well, that's my excuse anyway. Laurence made the most fantastic tartiflette yesterday which I duly ate with much gusto. For the run this morning, it was a different story entirely. I set out early and felt quite good for the first 2km which I covered in 8:27. From then on, the run became a struggle. I could feel myself tiring and slowing down and despite several efforts to pick the pace up again, nothing worked. It was like running through tartiflette: my legs were heavy and every stride could be felt in the thigh muscles. Such a contrast to my run on Sunday when I felt full of energy.

I tried to concentrate on just enjoying myself and not pushing the pace, but that didn't work either. I was too focused on the speed and having the Garmin didn't help either as you can't help but look at your distance, pace, calories burnt, altitude (!) etc. ... I came through the 6.5km mark, at the end of the park in 27:50 and just forced myself to keep going. There are days when everything clicks and goes right and then there are days when it's not easy. This was definitely the latter.

I picked up as I ran down the hill just before home and finished at a reasonable speed. 11.1 km around the town in 48:11. Not one of my better runs, as I've run this course in 46:24 just over a month ago. But if this is the price to pay for tartiflette, then I'm willing to accept the cost !