|
International |
Jim Heimann: Leroy Grannis : Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s
Well, thinking about the next challenge for 2008.
The UTMB again, but this time, the entire loop ? No, not in 2008. May be in 2009.
An Ironman ? Unfortunaltely, it requires too much time for the training, and I am afraid I'll hardly find the time in 2008.
The time. That's the challenge. Find the time, and organize it to surf more, climb more, run more, ride more, ...
Yes, definitely, that's the challenge !
I have inserted a new photo album on the right column. You can see it here.
Some pictures taken in the early morning of saturday the 25th of August, before arriving to Courmayeur.
In fact I did not took pictures during the night as I was too tired, concentrated on my feet, and I simply found the light was not good :-)
So, a small debrief about the UTMB 2007 :
- A lot of well prepared people.
- The start is boring, with a lot of people on the tracks, and hard to find your rhythm to walk/run/talk. Strange pictures in mind of some strange people. I especially remember an old man, absolutely not dressed like an Ultra runner (gaiters, optimized bag etc), but more like a sunday walker in the mountains. Quite strange, funny, but also remind you that this race is done for everybody (almost). I finally saw the guy in Chamonix, he did not ended the loop but still, I am sure he did not stopped after 10 km.
- The night came fast and before running down to St Gervais, we had to switch on our lights. The loop to St Gervais was boring, even if the welcome in St Gervais was great with a lot of people.
- I will not detail every km to Courmayeur, but given one of my knee which was a little bit bad working, it became obvious that I would have problem to end the full race. So I decided to see in Courmayeur how I feel.
- When I arrived in Courmayeur at 10h30 in the morning, I was still fine, but I knew what was coming next, as I did the Courmayeur Champex Chamonix race last year. I realized that I would be able to keep going on for 30, or may be 50 km, but certainly not the 86 !! And I did not wanted to end this race totally exhausted. So I decided to stop, take time to enjoy the nice weather, and think about how to be better prepared for the next time, most probably in 2009.
For me, Ultra trail is not about speed, or about performance. It's more about being able to know your limits, understand your body, and do something pleasant while keep smiling. In my view it's a nonsense to try to end a race without being able to run in the next 2 months, just to say I did it. It's like surfing, mountaineering. Time is your friend not your enemy. So take your time, and do things well.
I'll be back, for sure.
it's hard :-)
Have a drink and thanks to all the volunteers for the support and staying there all night long.
Picture taken not far away from Courmayeur.
Sunny day, beautiful conditions.
Do not have a lot of time to write about it but in few words :
Stop in Courmayeur after 77 km.
Will write more about the debrief in the next weeks, after the rush of work ...
8 days !.
In 8 days, at 18h30, we'll be more than 2000 on the line for the race Chamonix- Chamonix. More than 160 km.
First time for me, and many questions in the head. Feeling that I am not ready at all. Wondering if I should walk fast only, or run, walk, sleep ? My friend is quite sure that if the weather is ok we will end the loop. I have some doubts.
Many different options before the race for the last days of training. One thing is sure : It is not now that I will change my real performance. So sleeping, drinking a lot of water, keep running a little bit, preparing the equipment, are the next steps.
For those looking for an English report about the full race in 2006, here is one
And for those who want to support a just cause, go there and give some money to support this action.
Picture posted by my run mate, from the Alps ...
Last year, the weather for the Courmayeur Champex Chamonix race was great, and we thought that if it had rained we would have died ...
For the moment, summer in the Alps is not well installed, I hope that for the end of August, in 3 weeks now, the sun will be there for at least 46 hours, just during the race. I cannot imagine climbing the "Bovine" part under the rain, and during the night ... It just looks impossible.
This morning, while running on the 25 humps in Fontainebleau woods, I met a lot of runners. Well, more exactly, "trailers". Almost 20 people (a group of 8 people, a father and his kid, a group of 3, another group of 3, a lonesome runner). Some of them had UTMB T-shirts, so I asked them if they are going to Chamonix in 3 weeks. All of them (yes all of them), said yes. 
So, as I met most of them twice on the trails, we exchanged some words and what stroke me is the smiles they all had on their faces. They were all really happy to go to the UTMB. Lucky ones, who managed to register on time. This morning was an "avant-gout" of the race, with its friendly spirit and new people to meet.
Still 4 weeks till the GO for the CCC (Courmayeur- Champex- Chamonix) and the UTMB. Articles in UFO, in Endurance trail, about the best ways to train before the trail, with Vincent Delabarre saying that it's good to have some sessions of 6 to 7 hours of run in one day ...
Well, they are right, for sure, but what I feel now is that it's too late to prepare the body, and the best way to be ready is to feel free like a kid jumping in the air, smiling. And just remember, it's only for fun !
I just concentrate my mind on the right equipment, ready to face rain, snow (?), sun (nice patag hats for this), and a good smile on the face. Will try the equipment in the next weeks, to fine tune all this.
I'll make a post about what I've tested (mainly patagonia tshirts, capilene, hardshell, and briefs, Salomon for the feet, and home made legs).
Well, good news : I think it's almost impossible. If in addition to the handicap of living in a city, you have a lot of work, then forget about it.
I try to follow the nice plans mentioned in trail magazines, but to be honest, try to find a place to run 4 hours in Moscow ! And moreover, how to face the training for the + 8,900 m ? Try to find a good hill in a city, and give me a call (hey, I do not speak with you, lucky guys, living in cities in the mountains :-)).
Last week-end I went running, totally random, from one metro station, trying to join a place with woods. I found something, but it took me 2 hours to make the loop not 3 or 4. It's a beginning, but, not enough.
So, to be honest, the UTMB 2007 will be hard hard hard ...
Nevermind, I'll stop in some nice village, and I'll have a big tartiflette with my run mate !! the aim is to enjoy :-))
I tried to train my legs with the Cefar Myo 4. I used this kind of "strange" tool last year after the 86 km from Courmayeur to Chamonix to recover. I found it very efficient.
So this year I bought the Cefar Myo 4, for the recover program after long training, but also to try to reinforce the muscles of the legs (yes, there is not any huge hills just around me, so I try what I can).
And, I think that doing one "strong" exercise every week will help. Last time I did one session, the day after I felt like after climbing 2,000 m in the mountains ...
Reading this post on the cleanest line, I thought : It smells real. This is a genuine post, done by someone real, and who expresses exactly the feelings of many other runners.
I share exactly the same views about running. And about the clothes to wash, effectively, it's a kind of problem for the environment. So when the clothes are not so dirty, but smells :-) I use some natural detergents : Washing nuts (noix de lavage)
That's a real eco alternative I think.
- Seen a lot of people in bathing suit, catching the sun in funny positions
- Seen a lot of women wearing thongs
- It's the beginning of the "pukh" season (a sort of white stuff like goose down, everywhere). Hard to run and breathe with clouds of "pukh".
- Seen in the middle of nowhere, a scene with dancers, singers, a lot of decibels, and flashy colors, to entertain people who happen to be there
- Seen 7 runners, including one girl
- Seen one grandmother and her granddaughter. The grandmother had a green tree leaf on her nose to protect it from the sun.
- Seen a girl, white as the cold winter snow of Siberia, trying to get tanned. I thought she was the snow girl of the Russian fairy tales. I think that at this time, she is just a water drop. She will re-appear in November
- Thought that 160 km this summer in the mountains is crazy, when I see how hard it is to run 25 km when it's 30 degrees outside.
- Wondering why some Russian girls and boys wear clothes as if they were going to a night club, but they are going to a park ?
Funny and crazy country.
Sorry for Patagonia this time ... I have found a nice Salomon jacket to bring with you when you go running. The Salomon fast wing hoodie jacket.
Small, light, and with a stow pocket.
Nothing really new you would say, but usually, when you have stowed your jacket, what do you do with it while running ?
If you have a small bag with your camel back, then you put it inside. But if you do not have any bag and do not want to take any ?
Salomon answered this very simply. You can fix it to your arm because there is a simple band with a velcro scratch.
Small, light, easy to carry. The right answer to runners' need when the weather becomes rainy.
Moscow, today, some peaks at 28 degres and more.
Evening rain.
Same weather than in Papeete ...
It was nice to go running around the small park near home.
Nice to see these colors of summer, green, grey, gold.
Nice to admire the sunset.
Finally, sometimes, the paradise can be found everywhere. It's just a question of weather finally ...
For those who have time and never did the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, they can get a special training course with some specialists. More about it (in French), here.
Honestly, given the difficulty of such a race, for those who only want to end it, and do not expect to end it in less than 30 hours, I am not sure that any specific training will help :-), you must be an E.T. But if you begin to sleep know till the end of August, then, may be, you will not fall asleep after 80 km.
But who knows...
It's true that if you know that it's going to be really hard, and if you can have a look at the tracks before the race and get some good advices, it may be helpful.
Some of you may have seen slight differences between the 2006 and the the 2007 profilesfor the UTMB.
If you look at the map, you'll see that in 2007, the runners will go in the city of Saint-Gervais.
Some say that the mayor of Saint-Gervais wanted the runners to run through the city ... for some political or economical reasons may be :-)
Just hope that these additional kilometers will not be the ones which will stop me.
Nice profile, isn't it ?
ok, it is not really interesting, especially while in France everybody's looking at the results of the polls.
But, I was really upset to have this hole in my brand new socks, after the trail of only 14 km.
That's just a way for me to express my anger ! These new salomon socks are very comfortable, but not tough enough to support a long trail.
Strange.
That was my contribution to the political battle in France :-)
I bought 2 pair of Salomon shoes for the UTMB. The S Lab model, and the XA pro 3D XCR model (which I tested last year for the Courmayeur- Champex - Chamonix trail).
Despite the fact that the 2 models look very similar, I feel many differences. The gaiters (see the black part on the shoes), which may look very usefull, have a negative effect on the back of the feet. In fact, after few kilometers it hurts. While, running the 14 km trail of sunday with the XCR model, I had not any problems, despite the fact that I have not run one km before the trail with this pair of shoes.
So, I would like to warn the people who think that, if they are ok with the XCR model, it'll be ok with the SLab model, it is not the case. I guess I'll find the right way to use the SLab model, but today, I can say that I will not use it for the UTMB, but I'll keep the XCR model. 
Also, speaking about the socks. I bought one year ago, some special trail socks from Salomon. I really like this model. So I bought this year, the new model. During last sunday's trail, I put these brand new socks on my feet. And at the arrival ... A HOLE !!!
I'll send them back to Salomon, because it is not acceptable to have such a problem with a pair of socks made by Salomon, used with Salomon's shoes, and after only 14 km ...
Not really easy to check and prepare the equipment to use for a 160 km trail ...Not all the brands and models are able to support the test :-)
Sunday morning, Easter Sunday. No clouds, 08h00, 7 degres. Jump in the car with my runmate of the 25 bosses, and let's go to a trail. Nothing Ultra, just a small 14km trail. The trail of the Scorff Valley.
Small nice village near Lorient.
Nice atmosphere. No role to play, nothing to show off. People smiling, people joking. Serious runners, but smiles.
10h15, go ! See the profile of the race on the picture. Nothing like the UTMB, of course, but a nice training, to test the new shoes, feel the heart in a race, find some running partners. As usual everybody go fast in the beginning, then the rythm is changing with the first hills and woods. Narrow tracks, roads, woods, rivers, ... Various terrain.
Ending in 1h02, my runmate ending in 1h20 min. Happy smiles, a nice red t-shirt, and go get some waves in Quiberon.
Nice sunday, nice day.
This week-end marked the end of many things :
- I said goodbye to my old good car. This car was made for carrying longboards, shortboards, mountain bikes, friends, kids, sand, stones, wood, shoes, food ... An old good car. Too old for me, brand new for someone else. First time I drove this car to Biarritz it was in September 2001, just before 11/9.
- I said goodbye to 2 pair of shoes. My old Salomon XA Pro 3D XCR, and my Puma trailfox. So many kilometers with them, and the Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix race with the Salomon. The puma were specials too, because I bought them without thinking I would use this model so much. And finally I was attached to it.
Nostalgy, renewal, souvenirs, ... The end of something but not the beginning of something else, only the continuation, the next step.
Writing this, I just realize that effectively, yes, it's spring time, new flowers, sun shinning, and days longer, and without being conscious of this, I did like many animals, trees : I keep going on to the next steps, looking at the past with a smile.
In the latest issue of UFO there is an article about the so-called "Chi Running". A parallel between martial art and ultra running. trying to find the common elements.
I already mentionned in a post, the strong links between surfing and martial arts. Finding the right balance, the right timing. I was first a little bit surprised when I saw the title "chi running", and the parallel with Tai Chi Chuan. After reading the article, it became obvious. At a certain level of difficulty, the body and the spirit are strongly linked, the physical engagement requires a clear understanding of the mental and psychological weaknesses. Because when you are tired, when it hurts, when the natural elements around you become hostile, then, you can count only on your mind, your brain, your mental strength. Your body will always follow your brain, but it requires that your brain knows your body perfectly.
Sports is more than sports, look and feel, having a nice body on the beach. Sport is a philosophy, helping you to reach your limits and know better what is inside of you.
Some are afraid of practising sports hardly, mainly, I think, because they are afraid of what they may find inside. This is not only for extreme sports, and for professionals, it is true for everybody, at every level. Wether you are a kid running a 2 km race, or a squash player playing your weekly game, or a surfer, or a runner.
Sweat and the drops will reflect your deep interior ...
No chrono, no heart monitor, no foot pod, ...
The road, the woods, the squirrels, the cold, the rain.
All natural. Only listenning to your body.
Feeling that you go faster than usual, with no limits, no milestones, no plan. 10, 13, 15 km, nevermind. 40 min, 1 hour.
Measure your effort only with your breath, your sweat, your muscles burning.
Feel alive ! All natural !
While I was in Moscow last week, all my friends in France said that it was spring, the weather was great, etc etc
This week I am in France, and it's winter time ! Cold, wind, snow, rain ! Never mind, I'll keep training, whatever the weather is.
Saturday I managed to convince a friend to go running the "25 bosses" .
So, she picked me up sunday morning at 08h00, and we went to a departure point for the run. After one hour running, walking, climbing, the rain appeared. She was still motivated, but the tracks became tricky because of the rain. Many times it goes up and down on the boulders, and the rocks are slippery when wet.
Never mind, my runmate kept smiling, despite a hard fall on the rocks, and we finally managed to run more than 12 hills. We came back to the car, and that was a 2h30 run. That's a real pleasure to run with someone smiling, and not complaining about the rain, the boulders, and all that. Moreover, when your runmate usually goes slower than you, it forces you to run at low heart rate, and it's good for long run training, plus, you help your friend doing something she would never achieved alone.
That was the first time since many months since I've been running the "25 bosses", and even with rain, it's always a great pleasure to run in these woods.
The good news also, is that the new knee I bought in duty free friday was working well on the hills, up and down ...
Conclusion of this run :
- I need to buy new trail shoes (mine are getting too old ...). From my point of view, the Salomon's are the best (grip, long lasting shoes, etc etc)
- The Patagonia wind tracker is fine for this kind of weather and for a 3 hours run (but now you may try the nine trails jacket)
- Energy bar are not as tasty as natural bananas, apples, and a good home made chocolate cake :-)
- The endurance pack is fine for the 25 bosses. But I think that for the UTMB, I'll keep the salomon one I used last year, as he is bigger and lighter for a 48 hours race.
Here is the run profile (using Polar Perfomance Software + AXN 500 watch) : 
I bought a new knee last week. The problem is that you cannot really try it in the store, so you must believe the description and the seller. So I bought it, because I could not find the one I let in Champex last summer.
Till today, everything was fine. Small runs, small interval trainings. I thought I found the right one.
But today, after a training in special conditions. Bad weather, hard and short night. Ideal conditions to stress your body. And, the knee shows some defaults. Like the old Lada I saw in the street beside me.
So I really need to find a new store with good knees to buy. And if I find one, I'll buy 4, to be sure to have some spare parts for this summer ...
(ps : picture selection ... This is spring, white, blue, flowers, trees, and perfumes !)
The kind of road and landscape I really appreciate while running.
Feeling that at the end of this road I'll be running in the sky, among the clouds and the rays of sun.
Colors, lights, breathe, wind.
Everything to be happy.
Just want to quote 2 sentences (in French, sorry, so go to your babelfish and translate.ru translation systems ...) :
"C'est le jour ou j'ai eu des jambes que j'ai compris pourquoi je courais ..."
Laurent Vercueil, in an essai published in Ultrafondus magazine, January 2007.
"En ultra, les demons interieurs sont seuls dans une bataille ou il n'y a ni raison, ni logique. "
Tony Krupicka, in Ultrarunning Magazine.
-15, great blue sky, sun light.
Early morning.
Running in the streets, in the snow. Hard to breath.
Freezing around the nose, the eyes.
Perfect moment.
Perfect feelings.
Running on the ice, on the snow, between the trees.
Will I meet a great white bear ?
No, it is not a post about chocolate. Not this time. This is a serious post about sports and something I learned few days ago.
When you practise sports, and especially during a long period, like for an Ultra Trail for example (more than 24 hours of non stop effort, or hard climate conditions, and long effort), your guts become porous, in order to get all the required elements to transform them in energy. That is globally a good thing. But, your body also creates some toxic waists, due to the energy you are burning, and some of these toxic elements can go into your guts, and you'll get an intoxication.
If you add to this the risk of quick changes of temperatures (mountain, night, ...), your belly may become a very sensitive area.
In fact, last year, a friend of mine, arriving in Champex, had a kind of intoxication, without any specific reason. And I think that in fact, it was due to what I described. He had to stop and could not finished the race.
In order to avoid this situation, of course you can be very careful with what you eat, and protect your body from temperature variations. And you can use some products to enhance the production of proteins which will help your body to protect you. These proteins are called "choc" proteins, because they are generated by the body to face some specific conditions, a little bit extreme.
They help your body to eliminate the toxic elements and so to avoid intoxication.
You can ask your doctor about this, and you can also buy some products like "proteochoc".
It is generally extracted from seaweeds (because seaweeds are exposed to very different conditions : sun, water, cold, hot, ...), and they help to create the choc proteins required.
If anyone amoung you already know about these kind of products to create choc proteins, I would like to know their point of view and the efficiency of these products.
(PS : new photo album on the right columns - AirPortraits, and still the flou Block and What. Picture on this post : the kind of rocks you may face at the end of your wave ...)
If you read UFO you may have noticed some advertisings about a product called "spiruline".
I heard about this product in UFO, and, yes, in "the L world" (please forgive me :-)), I was tired after a run and that was the only thing on the TV). I remember a girl, (yes, there are not a lot of men in this TV show) mentionning to another, not to forget about her Spiruline in order to feel better. Knowing that it was mentionned there, and in a serious magazine for runners, I was surprised. Is it another trick from labs to sell us more and more stuff ? Is it something really working for your health ?
So I tried. First of all, it does not taste that good. I mean the pure spiruline powder, it is not as good as chocolate. But, you have strange experiences, like the pasta with Spiruline. Strange and surprising, because it tastes not so bad if you cook them right.
What I can say for the moment : I do not see any special results, but the fact is that, I do not have, for the moment, any special problems. So may be it helps me keep training hard. I do not know.
The funny thing is that, when you have guests, it's always funny to cook them some strange menu, including Spiruline Pastas :-)
- The doctor said I can go to the start line of the UTMB ! (I always thought he was not a real doctor). Dammit, I do not have any excuse now !
- He gave me several things to be prepared for the UTMB (Spiruline, juice extracted from grass, etc etc), but I will stay all natural and will keep using :
a) a usual standard first aid kit, with usual stuff inside, very usefull for the UTMB (sun cream for the night, anti-malaria medicine, condoms, creatine, pot belge, and other good products used by the best sportsmen in the world) :-)
b) THE OFFICIAL EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE ! Found in Moscow's airport, to face any disease, and other bad feelings. Tested and approved by a chocomaniac.
Life is an experience, and as I mentionned in a post, experiences cannot be transferred ...
So, in the Never Do It again list, here are some new elements :
- Never forget your Yaktrax when it's -20 and snowing hard if you want to go running
- Do not imagine that because you have +38 and some bananas, you will go down to 37 after a run by night with -20 degres outside. It does not work at all. Even after a warm bath, and good pastas.
Well, in fact, may be it works, but I need to wait tomorrow morning to tell you that, if I get up ... :-)
Sorry for non French Speaking readers, ... it's time for you to learn French :-))
2 sentences which are very close to the questions/answers we usually face while trying to do/train for the North Face Ultra Trail.
"Pourquoi font-ils cela ? dit le petit Prince ..."
"Bien-heureux les feles, car ils laissent passer la lumiere"... (Michel Audiard).
Sometimes, explanations are simply impossible and useless. Only your heart and your body feel it, not any words can describe and share your feelings ... The answers are inside every actions everybody does. And sometimes, you can feel it when a child smile at you, when you help a friend, when you do something good !
Some of you may remember that, after some problems, I finally get a new Polar AXN 500. So I am now using it with the Polar s625X. But, on both watches I noticed a small problem. A problem of Jet lag ...
You have a "time 2" function. So when you travel, you keep time 1 on Paris for example and put time 2 on Moscow or New York, or Bombay, or Honolulu, depending on how lucky you are ... So, you understood, for me (how lucky I am ...), it's Moscow : -10 deg and + 2hrs from Paris' time.
So while in Moscow, I use my Time 2 function. Then, after a week or 2, I come back. And usually, when I get up on saturday morning, my watch says it's already sunday morning ... I lost one day ... And so, each time, I need to correct the date. As if the internal clock of the watch, counted the days, and the 2 hours of difference, and at the end, add a day to the calendar. Quite strange.
So, finally, when you use a Polar with this function, be careful, because you may travel to Moscow, and come back with a jet lag as if you were in Honolulu :-)
You'll find in this post the medical certificate required for the UTMB in 2007.
Honestly, if someone fully normal read this, he would say, this is ONLY for crazy people.
I would agree ...
But being among the happy few (2500)who managed to :
1- have a trail of more than 80 km done
2- crazy enough to have registered for this race.
I will definitely try to be in Chamonix on the 24th of August ... but, never say never ...
The Medical Certificate :
- Getting up a little bit late due to long evening
- Smiling at the snow falling
- Crying when the snow becomes rain :-((
- Taking a cab which needs to stop every 500 m to clean his carglass, because the wipers are not working at all.
- deciding to go running, despite the rain, the cold and the late evening
- wondering how it'll be to walk (run ?) during more than 36 hours (46 ?) in August for the UTMB
- Ending the chocomaniac kit
In fact, I am less and less influenced by the weather for practising sports. It can rain, snow, there can be a storm, I realize that it gives to the outdoor activities a different interest. The same running path under the sun or under the rain gives totally different results, images in the head, and it's a kind of journey, without taking this g********* d******** plane again :-)
Same thing for the waves. A landscape of apocalypse, with a lot of wind, big sets, is also a very beautiful landscape, and the feelings are totally different than on a coral reef wave.
I wrote one day that life is like a wave on a coral reef. Now I would better wrote, life is like a surfing trip, all waves are interesting, and in some way beautiful and dangerous. That points out the best quality for a surfer from my point of view : being able to adapt his life, his feelings, his body to any conditions he meets.
But gosh, that was the best wave ever !!!! :-)
Yes, WE did it … We registered for the UTMB !
Ok, it isn’t sure at 100%, because we still need to send all the documents to validate the registration, and things have changed since last year. Now you need to fill in a special medical document, you need to justify from at least 2 trails of more than 50 km or one trail of more than 80 km (I know now why it was worth ending last year race Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix).
The big question now is : Should I do nothing and only pray to be ready, or should I really train with, running, walking, mountain biking, etc ?
Given the last year experience I think I’ll intensify my special chocolate diet, and I’ll intensify may be the compex sessions (oups, but I should buy one ...). We’ll see …
(for information, the registration opened yesterday morning, and it is already full and impossible to register ... I do not know if we are lucky we had a chance to register :-)))
You may remember the "never do it again list"... I mentionned there :
"Do not run the Courmayeur - Champex - Chamonix race again (to be checked in 10 months)"
Well, I hope I'll stick to it ... but, I think I'll try the big one :-)
We'll see on the 8th of January if Tubby and me managed to register to it ... Looks like in 2007, it'll be harder ... (how come it is possible ? I really do not know !!!? )
But finally, I stick to rules 1 and 2 because I will not register for the 86 km race :-))
Smooth, cold, intense, he is there ... Winter !
I couldn't wait, back from work, even if already late evening, I wanted to hear that silence of the snow, under my shoes, the snow flakes on my face, ...
Running in such conditions is like surfing in january when the outside temperature is below 0.
People think you are crazy, you look like an UFO, wearing strange clothes, but you are in your world, feeling a different sole, hearing different noises, breathing differently ...
Another time, another world, just there, near you. No need to take a plane to travel, just run ...
Happy winter to everybody !
(*) : noise of my feet on the snow tonight :-)
Running this morning in a small park in Moscow. Head on the OFF mode to make interval training. 10 times 300 m fast. Total training of 9 km. All the required equipment to be ok. Patagonia Capilene, Salomon shoes, Polar. The 21st century runner.
Then, I saw one small runner. (I mean smaller than me, so believe me he is not tall at all :-)).
He was doing interval training to. Coming near him, I observed him. 60 years old, shoes which were probably given by the USSR army in 1956, sweat shirt back from Olympic games in Moscow, and his automatic chronograph.
Intervals : Interval training, intervals between his generation and mine, between his equipment and mine.
But same training method. Despite the years, despite the cultural differences, despite our different personal stories.
That creates a complicity, a smile on two faces. That's the strength of passion and running.
Remember, I mentionned how disappointed I was after the 20 km in Paris, and the atmosphere, the feeling ...
Well, while I was running in the forests this week end I was lucky and happy. And this confirms the interest of nature running, trails, ...
Saturday, after 15 minutes of run, just in front of me, a doe crossed my way. I stopped and observed it running away.
Then, after 30 minutes, while looking at the trees which suffered from the wind the day before, I saw a squirrel. Climbing up the tree, looking at me, climbing up the tree, staring at me. I stopped. Time stopped. No watch, no chrono, just the squirrel, the tree and me. But something happened. On the tree just on the right, another squirrel. Climbing up the tree, looking at me and his friend.
That was nature, that was real, that was the reward of this run. That was a confirmation that sometimes you make the right choice, at the right time, at the right place.
Clouds - Tags - Colors - Results - Mosaic. Many tools are produced to easily visualize results, and performance. For blogs, and feeds, look at this, or that.
For your training, your sports results, if you use a Polar like this one , you can put your results on your polar perfomance software.
Ok, ok, you may make a lot of analysis, a lot of stats, etc.
But finally, if you want to feel happy about your training, following RFM (Recency, Frequency, Miles :-))) method, you just have to look at the colors on your planning and you'll see in a blink of an eye if you had a nice training period ...
You can also put online some of your results, using the polar website.
And, if we speak about clouds, I saw much more clouds while I was running, than on the web ...