Recovery (!) run

We arrived in the Alps on Sunday evening and it was good to be back. There is plenty of snow and the views are fantastic. We dumped our bags into our rooms, had some dinner and then planned the activities for the following day. After getting all of our ski gear sorted, we decided we'd start with downhill, do some cross-country skiing in the afternoon and then I'd go for a recovery run just before dinner.

ALl went according to plan and we drove back from the cross-country skiing and I slipped into my running gear and set off. I headed back up my old route towards Megevette on the back roads as I fugured that this loop was about 13 km and would take me an hour.

It was tough from the start. Whether it was the day spent skiing, the altitude, the cold temperature or the hills, I struggled to run at a reasonable pace. I started off at 4:46 but soon dropped to 5:00 then 5:30 as I attacked (relatively speaking) the hills. The road was icy but I managed to avoid slipping on the patches of black ice that spotted the track up to Megevette. The best part was after 6 kilometres when I normally run along a track through a field to Chaumety at the far end. This was covered with a layer of snow about 40 centimetres deep and as I ran I was up to mid-calf in snow, slowing me down to 6:00 for this kilometre :/

I ran back down the main road through Megevette and back down to Onnion. I was shattered at this point and my vision blurred with the tiredness, causing me to see double. I knew I was struggling as on this downhill section I can usually exceed 15 km/h but today I was struggling to maintain 4:15 pace. Really pleased to get back to the centre and have some dinner.

13.1 km all up in 1:00 exactly or an average pace of 4:39. I struggled out there today.