Normandy raid - Saturday

After a hesitant start on Friday, our team "Les Genoux Mouxx" got down to action on Saturday and showed the others what we were made of. Well almost ...

After breakfast at 7:00am and following what amounted to just over 5 hours sleep, we were on top form for a full day of events. Not.

First off was mountain biking using a map to guide us over the 12 km course. Anne's chain snapped before we set off, so it was my turn to impress everybody with my cycle repair skills and a new course record of 10 minutes to refit the chain. The MTB course was over fairly quickly thanks to Nick's map reading skills and it was down to the river for the next activity: canoeing.

Laurence and I got in our 2 man canoe following Nick and Anne down the river. We very quickly realised that we wouldn't be finishing first in this event. I sat at the front paddling for all my might and Laurence sat behind with responsibility for steering and keeping the back end in line. This role proved a little too much for Laurence whose boat skills are on a par with my knitting skills. After our fifth time of heading down the river backwards, I'd had enough and was ready for a divorce. Laurence had had enough too. My frantic paddling had sent waves of water over her and her lips had turned blue with the cold. One last stretch of white water and we'd finished the course and just had to drag the canoe out of the water. We'll need to practise our canoeing skills for next year.

It was with much relief that we were handed a map with 3 checkpoints on that had to be found back to the canoe start point. A nice run by all of the team and apart from a minor map reading error by yours truly, we made it back to the start in good time, overtaking another team along the way.

Lunch was a long affair, since we had to wait almost 2 hours before the last 2 teams made it back, having got seriously lost on the way. Back on the bikes again and a 10 km ride through some of the muddiest paths ever encountered. Morale in the team was low now, through lack of sleep and general exhaustion. We arrived at the final checkpoint to be given a list of instructions to find the next 3 checkpoints over a 1 km course.

Here precision was the name of the game: good compass bearings and measurement of the distances meant that the CP's could be found easily. However, after a first false start in our measuring skills, we quickly got the hang of this and posted a good time.

Back on the bikes and a final 7 km ride back to Orbec. We had all had enough by now but Laurence particularly was struggling both up and down the hills. A complaint from her that I wasn't doing enough to help almost provoked the second divorce of the day but our patience had grown thin by then and the outburst was understandable. We struggled down the final hill and checked in, finishing for the day.

The final test was still to come though as when we got back to the campsite, the hot water had run out and we had to take a cold shower.

Normandy raid - Friday night

This weekend will go down in the annals as one of the most tiring that I've experienced in years.

Friday afternoon saw us arrive in Orbec, a small town in the South of Normandy. As we arrived in the area from the motorway, I had a few misgivings since the land was completely flat. However, all of this was quickly forgotten as we descended a 15% slope into the town, nestled in the bottom of the valley, to find the school grounds that were to be our base for the weekend.

We set up our little "2 man" tent up for the first time in 16 years and waited for the rest of the team, Anne and Nick, to arrive for the challenge. 25 teams in total were entered for the 3 day event involving shooting, orienteering, mountain biking, canoeing and running. The winner would be decided on the basis of total points after all the events, with the team scoring the fewest points (1 for first place, 15 for 15th place, etc.) being announced as the overall winner.

First disappointment was that we had initially planned to have an evening meal in a local restaurant before starting the event but were told that we were expected at the shooting for 19:55. So instead, we purchased a few sandwiches which we gulped down and then headed towards the town hall where the event was to take place.

So what did the shooting event involve ? Previous raids had involved archery, pistols, etc. but this year we were handed competition air rifles and told to shoot a target the size of a mug end on from 10 metres. I had been watching the Olympics shooting events and was now an expert on concentrating hard; holding the rifle steady and firing in between 2 successive heart beats - well almost. I picked the rifle up and barely brushed the trigger before the shot rang out, surprising me in the process. The others were experiencing the same phenomena but since it was only the 3 best shots of the 5 we were allowed, we still had time to improve. The rifle is heavy though and hard to keep steady and just when you've aligned the sights with the target, your left arm would tire, the rifle would move and you had to start again. 5 minutes later, it was all over: 16th - slightly disappointing but this was not considered seriously by the other teams who were here for the physical events. The real competition was to start at 9:00pm with some orienteering, in the dark.

We lined up at the town hall kitted out with our running gear, headlamps, camelbaks and safety gear. 3 orienteering courses to be completed: 2 in the town and then out into the forest to complete the third. We got off to a bad start by misinterpreting the aerial photograph immediately. We lost about 15 minutes searching for a control point on a bridge in the completely wrong area of town. Once we figured out how to read the photo correctly we were off running around the town energetically trying to pass all of the control points in the shortest time by planning the routes carefully. 2 routes completed in 44 minutes and just the final route to do. This was over a far larger distance, heading into the forest above the school where we were camping.

The map detailed the control points and we also had a list of clues for each one, such as "South side of ditch" or "63m at a bearing of 25° from path intersection". Easy in theory, but when you're in the pitch black, sliding around on muddy paths, getting cut to pieces by brambles, the whole exercise becomes a lot harder. We spent minutes trying to find control points that had been hidden in holes, and then trying not to advantage other teams by telling them exactly where they were. We finished in 15th place after 2 hours 20 minutes and 15 kilometres of running later. After our initial poor start, we had done very well only to struggle with a couple of control points in the forest that need more precise bearings and measurements. Nick was bleeding from both legs from having been torn to pieces by brambles when we sent him off alone to a control point. We were all exhausted and it was 12:30am. A quick shower in the school gym facilities and then bed ready for the 7:00am start.

I'll post some photos when I download them later.

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.

Morning wake-up

The walks proposed for today at Les Chavannes didn't interest either Laurence or myself, so we decided we would take part in the morning muscular wake-up with Laureen instead.

After a little discussion, we finally settled on a 'footing' to begin with to be followed by a little workout for the abdominal muscles.

The morning jog consisted of a run around Onnion at an extremely easy pace: 3.5km in 24:17 so that everyone could follow and enjoy a little warm-up.

The hardest part of the morning was the stomach muscle workout at the end. I think I'll still be suffering from that tomorrow.

Latest news: official results of the Taninges - Praz de Lys race are just available here. I finished 37 out of 85 in 1:27:31. My only claim to fame is that I was the first foreigner to finish !!

Rest day

No running yesterday after the race on Sunday. Cycling with Laurence instead.

We signed up for some road cycling at the centre yesterday. This was the first time that I'd been on a road bike for some years so it was with pleasure that we were given some good lightweight bikes (Vitus Stalion I believe) for a morning ride with Claude and Vincent, our guide.

It was a beautiful, sunny day as we set off past Megevette and up to the Col de Jambaz. It felt really good to be on the bike again but most peculiar to get out of the saddle and to push up the hills, having been used to a mountain bike. The old sensations returned quickly and I was soon finding a comfortable rhythm with the pedals and following Claude up the climb. At the top we turned left and climbed up to the next col at Les Mouilles to a height of 1100m, some 300m higher than the start. A long descent into Lullin followed and then a climb back up past Bellevaux and back up to the Col de Jambaz. Claude and Vincent left me behind on the long climb but I kept a steady pace and enjoyed myself, taking time to enjoy the scenery.

A rapid descent back to Onnion to finish the 35 km in 1:42:00 for an average of 20.5 km/h including 600m of ascent. Both Laurence and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Bikes were extremely comfortable to ride and felt great quality.

Drizzle

The drizzle has arrived over the Paris basin and it looks as though it's set in for a while.

This is great news as the temperature has also decreased and the forecast for tomorrow is more drizzle and a cool start to the day at around 14°C. Let's hope it stays like that for the morning and it'll give me a good chance at beating my personal best at Vincennes in the race tomorrow.

I'll give the race shoes another good airing anyway...