Aurillac circuit

I told Laurence that we would get off to a good start in Aurillac with a long Sunday run around the town so the Aurillac loop was decided on. This loop is 20km around the extremities of the town and not only is it a very pleasant circuit with some excellent views, but it also has a load of hills, especially towards the end making it an excellent work-out. There is around 300m of uphill that has to be negotiated over the last 8km of the loop, just when you're beginning to feel it.

I told Laurence that I wanted to accompany her around the circuit as after the Corra run yesterday, I had made all the effort I wanted to for the weekend. We set off and I felt easy whereas Laurence assured me that she was already at 5:35 pace which was not the relaxing start she wanted. I adjusted my pace to hers from then on and we continued to accelerate over the first half of the course. The flat sections would be run at around 5:10 pace and then on the uphills we would slow to around 5:50 pace.

Just after half-way, I began to tell Laurence that she would beat her record over the loop if she continued on at this pace. I had to manage my communication carefully at this point as we have an unspoken agreement that I am not to push her or in fact say anything that can be construed in any manner possible as either a criticism or encouragement when she is beginning to feel tired and hungry. We have started this tour of Aurillac several times in the past and only on a couple of occasions have we managed to finish the circuit together. In fact, possibly all I ever learnt about tact and diplomacy was thanks to running with my wife.

However, the improvement in Laurence's running is really noticeable now and it was obvious that the circuit was less tiring on her at this faster pace than on any of our previous runs. We finished the 20km loop in 1:49 or an average pace of 5:29 per kilometre and I promptly told her that within the next couple of years she'd be able to run this circuit another 10 minutes faster. Damn, I knew I should have waited until after breakfast before slipping this in. A refresher course in tact and diplomacy is definitely necessary...

Map of the loop:

Holidays

I'm back !

Actually I've been back from holidays for a week now, but work has been really busy so I haven't been able to update the blog this week. The business is currently in the process of being bought out, so this is a good enough excuse if ever one was needed.

The holidays were a much needed and welcome break. We were near to Carcassone and enjoyed discovering the countryside of the Aude and the wine that was on offer (and heaven knows there is plenty). I won't list all of the runs that we did, but just let you know that during the week they were based on 2 circuits that we discovered around the gîte where we were staying. If ever you're in this part of the world, check out Chateau de Cointes, a vineyard in the AOC de la Malepère.

The little track shown above led down from the Chateau and gîte to the first circuit, an artificial lake which was about 2 km away and just over 2km around. The second circuit was up the hill towards Lavalette and then along some tracks besides the vineyards to Roullens before heading back down the road to the gîte. This was my favourite circuit as over the 8 km there was a wide variety of terrain and some great steep little hills.

I managed to run 80 km during the week including a 25km run in Aurillac on Sunday morning to Saless and Boussac and Velzic before turning back (I did this one previously back in June in 2:07 and managed to do 2:02 for a slightly longer route this time). All of the runs had one thing in common: the heat. In Carcassonne, it would be between 28 - 30°C by the time we got up to go for a morning run and in Aurillac we arrived just in time for the heatwave (37°C).

I spent most of the week running with Laurence, so I wasn't too concerned about my speed, but I was pleased to maintain the mileage.

Some photos of the family relaxing on their hols...

 Laurence and the boys at Carcassonne

 Why I didn't lose any weight on holiday

 Laurence relaxing before the next run

Breathing in for the photo, having eaten too many ice creams!

Hill training

I'd run 50km in 2 days and decided that today I needed to ease off slightly. Not too much as I still want to do as much mileage as possible before Guerledan nesxt weekend, but not so much that I exhaust myself completely. Laurence was taking it easy today and running a flat route through town. I decided to head off in the opposite direction and to run Thursday's route or just under 20km.

I set off at a steady pace, feeling the tiredness in my legs from the previous 2 days. I headed out on the old road to St Simon and then headed up the hill on the southern side of the Jordanne valley. The trail leaves this road after a kilometre but since I was feeling adventurous and didn't want to repeat a run with so many other options available, I continued on up the hill towards Boussac. This hill was a killer and I climbed 300 metres in 4 kilometres of non-stop uphill. I told myself that this was good training for the trail combined with everything else I'd done over the last 3 days.

I got to the top of the hill at Salesse and then carried on to Boussac before turning left and running along the crest towards Velzic further up the valley. I knew this road from a mountain bike ride a couple of years ago and my only concern was that it winds its way uphill even further before heading back down the valley. I'd remembered seeing a mountain bike route off the left back down into the valley and I ran along looking for this. It was a lot further than I thought and I realised that my 20km run was going to be a little longer than initially planned.

I found the path off the road with a sigh of relief and headed down this into the valley. This was my slowest kilometre of the run with the distance run in 6:30 as I picked my way gingerly down the path trying to avoid slipping on the wet rocks and bashing my head open. I reached Velzic after 2 kilometres of downhill along some lovely paths towards the bottom of the valley and back onot the main road. I picked up the pace again now and was running at 4:30 pace as I knew I had to manage my energy to get back home. Having left with no water bottle or food bars, this was going to be a major worry.

I had to ease off even this average pace with the sun beginning to warm up the valley bottom considerably. I was hot, sweaty and tired and I was just gasping for water, in fact it was the only thing that I could think of now. I ran into St Simon and remembered that there are some public toilets beside the church where I could wash my face and drink some water. The relief was amazing and when I set off again, I felt like a new man. I ran back a long the old road now and even the last steep uphill stretches were not painful as I knew that I was almost home and dry. I last stretch downhill and I was back.

24.75km all up in 2:07 or an average of 5:09 per km. I'd probably run another 400 metres of uphill on this route too and my hill training is all over for this week as I'll take it easy tomorrow after running almost 75km in 3 days! Tired after these last few days but happy to have managed so much exercise.

LSR with hills

The tour of Aurillac is a 20 km route marked out on the roads that encircle the town. The last time I ran this was a year ago when I did the 20km loop in 1:33. The idea today was to run with Laurence around most of the loop and then carry on up the crest of the hills and along the tops to the crossroads before dropping back down into St Simon and then back to the house. An ambitious run, as the tour of Aurillac is already tiring enough with plenty of hills to manoeuvre skirting the town, but the added loop around St Simon was going to add severely to the overall difficulty.

I set off with Laurence around the loop at a steady pace. She's been running very well recently and improving constantly. We were running around 5:30 pace and she looked easy. We ran around to La Ponétie, onto the park at the far side of town and then back to Belbex in the second half of the course which is a lot hillier than the first half. Gmap shows this nicely. Laurence only started to slow down at the 14 km mark. I say slow down but she maintained her pace but was looking slightly more tired. I left her with 2 km to go after 1:43 of effort and she was chuffed as she knew that she'd beat the 2 hour barrier, something she's never achieved before for this course.

I ran up "la route de cretes" at this point: 3km of constant uphill and 150m of height gained going from 676m to 826m in altitude. I caught another runner on the top who'd been walking at this point and he started running again as I passed him. This was an encouragement as I'd been resisting the urge to ease my muscles by walking for a while uphill and the company now made this impossible. I ran easily with him along the top chatting about the weather and the beautiful countryside. We came to the crossroads on the top and swung right heading back down into the valley and St Simon. The road down goes down for 2km, losing the 150 altitude that I'd struggled so hard to gain minutes earlier! My new running companion was heading back through St Simon and out the other side back up the hill on the other side of the valley to Boussac. I ran with him through the village and then back on the old road to Aurillac, including another 50m of uphill for good measure.

30km all up in 2:42 or an average of 5:23 per km. This doesn't sound very impressive but I reckon there is also approximately 500m of uphill over this route and when I got back I was exhausted and ready to drop. The fact that I'd only had a glass of orange juice before heading out didn't help either. Pleased with the run and thrilled to hear that Laurence had finished in 1:54 her tour of Aurillac.

Trail running with Laurence

It's Ascension day today in France and as a good Catholic country, it is also a public holiday. So much for the separation between the church and the state in France - but since it's a day off for everyone who am I to argue. We're making the most of the prolonged weekend by taking a day off tomorrow too and spending the weekend in Aurillac in the Cantal. This is a lovely part of the country and is most famous for its cattle (salers - big red cows with long horns), its hilly countryside and its umbrellas.

Laurence and I wanted to make the most of the day by running up to St Simon along the old road and then uphill and along some old trails along the hillside up the valley to Rouffiac, before turning around and running back along the other side of the valley. It had rained here over night and the road was damp. This is only remarkable since the Cantal is one of the rare regions not to be severely affected by the drought over the last couple of months, unlike the rest of France. Running was very pleasant since the temperature was cool but the skies had cleared and we were accompanied all of the way round by sunshine.

I accompanied Laurence up to Rouffiac after 7.5 kms where she cut back to run back the main road. I was feeling particularly energetic and decided to continue on until the next hamlet, Clavières. We'd been running at around 6:00 per kilometre up until this point and I stretched away now running at just under 5:00 per km along the trails until the main road. I then managed the next 8 kilometres back down the main road at marathon pace including a couple of kilometres after St Simon at 3:53 then 3:47 as I pushed the pace in a not convinced hope of catching Laurence who now had a 4 km start on me. I felt really good after a good night's sleep and some beautiful countryside to inspire me though.

19.25 km all up in 1:35 before breakfast on the patio or an average speed of 4:57. Didn't catch Laurence who finished 8 minutes ahead. Nice start to the weekend.

Easy St Simon

I woke up after a bad night's sleep, having suffered from stomach cramps during the night. At first, I thought that I'd caught a stomach bug or some virus but by the end of the day I realised that it was a muscular pain. This was probably brought on by my swimming session with youngest son Paul on Wednesday at the pool in Aurillac where I swam 60 lengths of front crawl and then raced Paul for a few lengths of breastroke, backstroke and finally, butterfly. God knows what possessed me to try the butterfly, but since I was quite good when young, I thought I would show Paul how it's done. Well I'm not as young as I was and not half as supple. My stomach muscles are still aching today, 2 days later.

Anyway, since I was in no state to run hard, I suggested to Laurence to go for a run with her. She wanted to go on a loop of St Simon and I eagerly got prepared to accompany her. We set off steadily and Laurence told me that she wasn't feeling that enthusiastic. She was a little under the weather and lacking in energy. The first kilometre was steady enough and then the long, steep hill took its toll on the pace and we completed the kilometre in over 7 minutes.

Once at the top of the hill, I ecouraged Laurence to extend her stride down the hill and to let herself go. We ran into St Simon in this fashion without problems and maintained a decent rhythm over the first half of the course. This was marred in the second hlaf by Laurence contracting a stitch and where we normally be coasting away on the new road, down a slight incline, we were still running at the steady pace of around 5:40 per km.

9km all up in 53:25 or an average of 5:56 per km. Well outside Laurence's best time of 47 minutes over the same course.

St Simon tour

After yesterday's long run, I thought that I'd take it easier today with a shorter run. One of my favourite runs here in Aurillac is the tour along the old road to St Simon and then back on the new road on the other side of the valley. This route is 9 km in total, so I consider it as a short, speed session even though the hills at the beginning are extremely tough.

I set off fairly fast, completing the first km in 4:17 despite the fact that this section is slightly uphill. The second kilometre is where all the height is gained and the road rises steeply above the valley. I tried to keep a steady pace up the hill despite the tiredness in my legs from yesterday, and I was pleased to see a 5:06 on the Garmin at the top of the hill over the kilometre. This isn't bad as the watch shows a 75m rise in height from 650 to 725m over this section.

From here on, I stretched my legs and tried to increase my pace. I was feeling relatively good and the time and distance went by quickly and I arrived at the St Simon bridge and 4 km in no time. I thought that I could beat my PB if I kept this up over the back stretch back over the new road. There was no easing and I pushed harder and harder, reaching my fastest kilometre over kilometre 8 in 3:43 (after the 7th km in 3:48). The speed was a little hard and I had to slow down over the last kilometre to finish in 37:13 for the whole course, and a new PB.

My last record was 38:30 so this was a whole 1:17 faster over 9 km or 8.5 seconds a km faster. I am delighted and now looking forward to the race next month to see if I can transform this training into some good race performances.

Storm

We're back in the Auvergne now after our holidays in Venice and the Alps. We arrived in Aurillac on Saturday to some mixed weather: overcast and cool compared to the last few days in the Alps. Despite the bad weather, both Laurence and I decided to go for a long run on Sunday to make the most of the holidays and the opportunities to train.

We got up on Sunday morning and the weather was in the same state as the previous day: cool and overcast. I put on my running gear, including my cap to protect against any sunshine that might decide to appear and left for a run around Aurillac.

Laurence and I left together. She was heading to La Ponétie for a few laps around the track whereas I was heading for the long loop around the town. I headed off quickly, probably too quickly up the track leading to the top of the first hill of the tour of the town. For the first time in years, I could feel my lungs burning after this effort, and so I slowed down the pace a little along the top in order to recover. I ran back down into town and caught up with Laurence through the town centre. I was running about 4:30 pace now and feeling a lot better.

I had just arrived at La Ponétie when the storm started. It began by raining to begin with and then the thunder and lightning started. I have to admit that I was fairly scared by this storm: the lightning was striking all around me and I wondered how long before I would be hit. This was probably linked to our discussions in the Alps where we discovered that by running you increase the potential across the body and therefore increase your risk of being struck by lightning. I tried to forget all about this and keep on running.

My pace was steady along the flat at around 4:30 and then slowing to 5:00 up the hills, some of which were particularly steep. At long last the storm began to ease off and the end of the tour of Aurillac was in sight. I put in a last effort to finish in 1:33:28. This is actually the fastest that I've ever run this loop, with my previous best being 1:39 in February in the cold, so 6 minutes better. The average pace over the distance was 4:40 per km.

I feel really pleased with my run now that I've seen how much faster I ran this. I have improved drastically up the hills recently with the training in the Alps.

Sunday - St Simon

Decided that despite having run the Pastourelle yesterday that I would take Nick out around my favourite route in Aurillac, the old road to St Simon and then back along the new road. A 9km circular route.

As soon as we got outside, I realised that the mental energy I had was great. Unhappily, the physical energy was no match. I had even thought about extending the normal course to add on some cross-country sections from St Simon. A kilometre along the road and all ideas about running any further than 9k were banished from my mind.

We set off steadily enough at around 5:15 per km and then slowed as we went up the hill. We pushed on a little once we got to the top and wrere running at around 4:30 pace. Laurence and Anne caught us up on the bikes at this point as they coasted down the hill. Over the bridge at St Simon and back along the new road. We picked the pace up again, accelerating to 4:13 then 4:09 per km.

All up in 42:33, well outside my P.B of 38:30, but then again I hadn't run a 31km race the day before !

Still injured

I didn't go running yesterday in order to try and rest my leg so that I wouldn't have to miss the long run programmed for today.

I got up this morning and although my small of my back and top of the leg was hurting it was bearable. I headed out with the intention of doing a long run, but after running 2km towards St Simon, I decided to call it a day.

The pain was permanent and wouldn't wear off. I wasn't so much running as hobbling quickly. I decided that I would be doing myself no god if I forced things further and so I headed back the same way.

I'm going to rest until Tuesday now and see if I can sort this thing out once and for all. Most disappointed.

Out again

I had a day off yesterday to rest following the pain I was experiencing in my buttock and groin area. But since, the marathon isn't going to wait for me, and there is a schedule to follow, I was back out again this morning to do the training.

The plan for today was 45 minutes easy, followed by 15 minutes threshold, and then another 40 minutes easy to end. To meet this plan, I decided to run around the st Simon course easily yo begin with and then do 5k on the track at 4:00 pace and then do another loop of the St Simon course.

I could feel the top of my leg and the small of my back to begin with as I was still cold. As I ran up the first hills, the pain subsided and I began to enjoy my run. Coming abck from St Simon, I was careful not to push the pace and to take it easy before hitting the track. I ran this section between 4:20 - 4:30 pace.

I wasn't looking forward to the track after my session earlier this week, running the 600m intervals. I set off to run 12.5 laps of the track and the pace was constant and not too exhausting. The intervals went:

3:57, 3:54, 3:55, 3:50, 3:50

I then carried on and re-ran the St Simon route at a comfortable pace. On the way back, I let myself go this time and accelerated the last section running the last 2km in 4:18 and 4:14 - marathon pace.

22.8 km all up in 1:45 or an average of 4:37 per km. Good run. Shame that I'm in agony now writing this up. Top of my leg has seized almost completely and every step is painful. Going to have a long soak and some Doliprane to recover.

Injury

Today was a recovery run and I was supposed to take it easy for an hour.

To celebrate this fact, I chose my favourite route around St Simon which is about 9km and I thought that I would extend this by running through the centre of Aurillac and doing a loop the other side before heading back.

I had a slight niggle in the small of my back, above my right buttock before going out. I started running and I expected this to disappear as I warmed up and sure enough, this is exactly what happened. The first 2.5 km are mostly uphill and so I took these easily. On reaching the main road, heading back towards Aurillac on the far side of St Simon, I strecthed out and just enjoyed the pace and the positive feelings from that high you can sometimes get when the scenery is fabulous, the running's going well and everything smiles at you. The pace quickened to 4:20, 4:16 then 4:10. I still felt very easy and despite running at marathon pace, this didn't feel as though it was any great effort.

Disaster struck as I ran through Aurillac. The little niggle that had worn off initially now returned with far greater force. In fact, so painful that it almost forced me to stop. I slowed down, concentrating now on just finishing the run and getting home.

13.8 km all up in 1:02 so a good run.

The pain didn't disappear and persisted throughout the afternoon. After a night's sleep, it would appear to have abated slightly so I'll skip the run today and do the session tomorrow instead. This is the message that I can't push the pace and the mileage eternally.

Horror reps

This was the session that I'd been dreading, the horror movie of my marathon training sessions, the Nightmare on Elm Street, the Scream, the Hammer House of Horrors.

The Bible stated that today's suffering was programmed as 12x600m and that each rep was to be run in 2:10. I decided to do this off 200m recovery.

I set out for the training early this morning, braving the elements that were, admittedly, decidely more clement than they have been recently. The thermometer had even managed to rise to -2°C. I started off by running up the road to the allotments and then by running a small loop around these gardens 3 times, soaking up the early morning sun as it rose over the hills. This was all very pleasant but I had a job to do, so I headed back down the road to the track in Aurillac.

The track here is very different to the St Germain track. At St Germain, the track is a tartan track with a lovely bounce to it and most enjoyable to pound out a few hard intervals. Aurillac track was made several years earlier from tarmac and with age, cracks have appeared that have never been repaired. To make matters worse, the far corner is hidden from the sunlight by the high conifers and there was a 30 metre section of snow and ice on the back bend. I can't say that I was eager to start, but I thought it was best to get the thing over with.

I set off doing the intervals and managed the first in 2:09. I ran the 200m recovery and tried to improve on this time, as is often the case on the first, I felt that I'd kept a little in reserve. The next few intervals went better but I could feel the tiredness in my legs. This, of course, got worse as I continued and on the second series, I really felt like giving up. I don't often get this way, as once I've started, I enjoy these sessions, especially if I feel that I'm doing well. This wasn't the case today and I don't know if it was down to the skiing yesterday, the altitude, the cold or the track conditions. Whatever it was due to, the series were very hard. I only managed to find the motivation to continue from the marathon and the thought that I wouldn't give up on that.

The reps went as follows:

2:09, 2:05, 2:05, 2:07, 2:07, 2:08, 2:07, 2:08, 2:10, 2:12, 2:10, 2:08

So I was under target except towards the end when there are 3 that were distinctly slower. This was a shame.

17 km all up. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's recovery run.

Sunday run

And the Bible said "Thou shalt run for one hour at an easy pace and then thou shalt put the the turbo on and run for 20 minutes at marathon pace before slowing down again to run the last 10 minutes at an easy pace." That was the message from the good book anyway and so I set off with good intentions in my heart and Mizuno on my feet.

The good intentions didn't last very long. It was -7°C when I set off with Laurence for the Sunday run each intending to do our own thing. My plan was around 20km based on the above whereas Laurence was running for 1h30 at an easy pace. I thought I would do the tour of Aurillac. This is a 20km route around the outskirts of the town and it seemed ideally suited for today's schedule.

It got off to a bad start. As I left the road by the stadium after 500m, there is a steep section up a little path between the fields. I had run 5m when all of a sudden I found myself flat on my belly with my gloved hands in the middle of a stream. I had slipped on the ice and put my hands through the ice into the stream beneath. I was wondering how long I had at -7°C before the water froze in my gloves causing frostbite necessitating amputation of the fingers. Luckily this didn't happen as my hands were sufficently warm to stop the water from freezing but it wasn't a good start.

After this things improved and I ran the next few kilometres at about 4:30 pace through the streets of Aurillac. At around half way, there is a long slope uphill and the second half of the course is much tougher. Sod the marathon pace stretches, my lungs were almost bursting with the effort of the uphills, trying to maintain a pace faster than 5:00 per km. I failed over 2 kilometres at 13km up a long hill (5:05) and at 16km up a really long, steep, bastard of a hill (5:08). Relief to have managed to run up both of those without resorting to a walking pace.

Total distance of 20.75km in 1:39:32 or an average of 4:48. Pleased considering the uphill involved over the course. Good session which will stand me in good stead for the speed training this week.

Snow trail

No time to run yesterday as I was too tied up at work and then we left in the evening to go on holiday for a week (this is why you won't be able to call us at home bros over the next 10 days).

We are in Aurillac for a few days and as we arrived in the car late last night it was to a wintry scene with a good 15 cm of snow in the fields and 5-10 cm of snow on the roads. I got up this morning and thought about where I would run for 75 minutes for my marathon training today. I settled on heading up the old road to St Simon and then up the hill past this village and onto the mountain bike trail that contours around the valley to Rouffiac before coming back on the main road. I had a rough idea of the mileage but was relying on the Garmin to help me.

I set out slowly to begin with and felt the tiredness in my legs. I put this down to the altitude and the fatigue from the trip. Garmin didn't pick up the satellite reception immediately and missed the first 400m, so first km in 8:02 ! Uphill after so 2nd in 5:12. Afterwards a nice downhill to speed up and then more uphill. I left the road then and followed the trail with some steep uphills and ankle deep in snow. This slowed me down further, completing a kilometre in 7:01. Back down to Rouffiac and finally back onto the main road back to St Simon and Aurillac.

I felt great now, the scenery was fantastic with virgin snow everywhere and the sky was bright blue. The temperature was around 2°C but I'd warmed up nicely and the road was easy compared to the fields and snow before. I stretched out and completed the next kilometres in 4:38, 4:25, 4:22, 4:18, 4:25, 4:12, 4:02, 4:16. I was flying, loving every minute of it and not feeling tired in the slightest. Absolutely fantastic.

Great way to forget the stress and fatigue from work. Vive les vacances!

Aurillac round

Since I'm still trying to increase my mileage this week, I set out with Laurence to run the 20 km around Aurillac early this morning. In order to avoid all discussions, we decided that we would run it in different directions.

I set out slowly, suffering from tired legs after last night's run and a sore right foot from my new running shoes (Mizuno Wave Impulse bought for €10 - a bargain I couldn't resist!). The hills at the beginning a re killers - no I'll correct that - all the hills are killers around here. In the Paris area, I would run 10 km races and found that I was relatively strong on the hills. I run here in Aurillac, and I suffer every time I go out, with the steepness to go up (even down hurts sometimes!) and the sheer length of the climbs.

I maintained my plod and carried on at a fairly steady pace until I crossed paths with Laurence after about 10.5 km, just after the park. I had done all the hard work by then and the second half of the course was a lot easier. The sun was out and it was a beautiful blue sky. I was glad that we had made the effort to get out early as the temperature was still very comfortable.

I made good progress for the remainder of the run until the final hill pulling out of Aurillac town centre. This hill must be at least 20% gradient and I ran up it but at a walking pace. What a relief to get to the top and then pull away along the top and descend to run in hard for the last 400m.

A good run to complete the efforts for this week. All up in 1:42:26 so no records today but this wasn't surprising after yesterday's blast.

Monkeying around

Came back late afternoon with the boys from "accrobranche" in Le Lioran, basically cables strung between trees that you use to make a passage amongst the treetops. Safety is assured using 2 lines from the harness onto a safety wire. The passages are graded much like skiing with the colour indicating the difficulty. Good fun all round.

Since there was not too much time before dinner, I decided to do the St Simon circuit which is 9km and normally takes me around 40 minutes. I set off at a slowish pace as there is quite a lot of hill-climbing at the beginning (see the profile if you don't believe me) I reached the bridge at St Simon in 18:28 for 4km exactly. The route back is along the main road and I stretched out nicely coming back and finished the run in 38:30. Most pleased with the 5km coming home which I did in 20 minutes exactly or 15km/h. New P.B for this route.

Hill training

Encouraged by my brother's comments, I got up early (well just after 8:00 am when you're on holiday feels pretty early to me) and ran the route that the boys and I did on the bikes the other day.

The route involves running up the crest road, "la route de crêtes" from Aurillac towards St Jean de Dône. Once you're on the top you carry on until the next crossroads and then drop down back into the Jordanne valley to run back in along the main road from St Simon.

I Gmapped the route just to get an idea of the profile. You can see it here : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2086880.
So just over 220m of uphill between 1.5 km to 6 km so over 4.5km. This makes an average gradient of 5%; so not really steep but a long slog. I managed the total 12.8km in 1:01:46 so I'm fairly pleased considering the height gain and the slow pace at which I set out this morning.

When I got back, I had a quick bite to eat and then went out with the boys and Roger on the bikes. We cycled along the old road to St Simon and then up the long hill to Boussac. Henry showed us again his hill-climbing prowess and I stayed behind with Paul to encourage him up to the top. They really enjoyed it along the top once the height had been gained and before too long it was a fantastic descent into Velzic and then back along the main road to St Simon and then Aurillac. Route was gmapped for a total of 28km . The hills on this side of the valley are higher than on the North side, so we actually climbed for over 300m. I'm tempted to run this route before the end of the week.

Off to play golf now with the boys before going to the restaurant this evening. What sport packed days these are !

Duathlon

No running today but a bike and swimming duathlon instead.

I took the boys out on the mountain bikes today to give them some exercise and to get them away from the television. I decided that it would be good if we got some height in order to admire the views on another fantastically sunny day here in Aurillac. So, despite my fears about the moans that would inevitably be caused by this announcement, we kitted the boys out and got on the bikes. Laurence stayed at home since she was lending her bike to Henry, and so it was with some trepidation that I set out up the route des crêtes with Henry and Paul.

Henry has discovered a talent for cycling now that he gets to use a full-size MTB and after 5 minutes of uphill, he was already some distance in front. I stayed behind with Paul encouraging him to stay constant in his efforts, not to burn all his energy immediately and to enjoy the views as he went. Anyway, I had a problem with an excess of pressure in the rear brake system and the brake was creating an extra drag on the rear wheel.

We cycled up to St Jean de Done which is over 3.5 kilometres of uphill, so I was extremely pleased with both boys performance. They were happy with what they had achieved too and we carried on the road along the ridge until we reached the St Simon sign to descend. This was the road that the tour de France took to go up, right at the end of the Aurillac stage, and we went down at top speed today. Paul loved the downhill but Henry declared that he preferred cycling uphill to down. Along the road from st Simon to finish and the boys both left me as by now the extra heat had caused the rear brake system to grip even harder making every turn of the pedal feel like going up a 20% gradient. Nice ride doing about 13 km in total.

Swim this afternoon in Aurillac pool. Did 70 lengths and then played with the boys going down the slides.

Fête nationale

I ran a short route around St Simon this morning with the boys accompanying me on their bikes.

The road heads off East from Roger's house in Aurillac up the Jordanne valley and we followed this alongside the allotments before a steep rise up the valley side. I set off slowly still feeling the after-effects of yesterdays run up another hill and my legs were not so keen on this repetition this morning. The leg muscles only warmed up after St Simon about half-way around the course. I reached the bridge in St Simon in 20:00 having run just over 4km. Not impressive by any standards.

The road back was a lot faster and I sped up and stretched out along the main road. I extended the run to the roundabout at the end of Gué Bouliaga and finished the course in 43:33 for around 9.3km. A nice run to decompress after yesterday's efforts.

A swim in the afternoon to finish the day sportily. I swam 80 lengths doing 2km and felt better about my swimming prowess than my running.