Training Log Archive: evancuster

Villefranche. Down to beach. Thought I saw people going up a stairway at the end of the beach. I had looked for a connection to the beach to Beaulieu last year, but didn't find it. However, the steps led to a trail which went to Beaulieu. Nice run. Virtually no traffic, and not as steep as most runs here in Villefranche. Really needed to run, as I am eating a lot, and not getting much exercise at all.

Loop trail from Eze Bord de Mer, up steep rocky trail to Eze Village, then across viaduct and up another very steep, very rocky trail with scree to Mont Bastide. Then trail down to Eze Col, and finally back to Eze Bord-de-Mer. Not much running, as was constantly going up or down very steep, rocky trails with a lot of tripping points. Beautiful views and weather.

Along Villefranche waterfront from one end to other and back.

Did an orienteering event in southern France. It was put on by POLES, le Pradet Orientation Loisirs et Sport, a club near Toulon, between Marseille and Cannes. It was on the La Peguiere map, about 15 km south of Le Cannet de Mours, near the junction of A8 and A57. It was the first of a series of the PACA (Provence Alpes Cote-d'Azur) challenge. It was equivalent to an A meet. I would guess there were about 500-600 participants.

The map was quite good. It was 1:10000 with 2.5 m contours. The terrain was predominantly rough open, with a lot of vertical green lines because of undergrowth. There was relatively little runnable forest, but some medium and dark green. However, there was extensive fine contour detail, with lots of similar streams and multiple small cliffs. The path network was moderate, although many of the smaller paths were hard to see.

I managed to get myself registered with my broken French. You need to have a medical certificate by a physician indicating you were OK to compete. Fortunately, I had met another radiologist in Aix several years ago and we had lunch with him about 10 days ago when we were in Aix. I asked him to make a certificate for me. The course cost 8 euros.

They had different age groups. I was on the D course, or circuit, which was for veteran men III (M 60 and over and F 50 and over). I was supposed to sign up for a start time at the registration area, but did not know that. Fortunately, there were only 2 people ahead of me, and so I got off pretty quickly.

You had to copy your course from master maps, something I have not done for a while. It was on the clock. They use SportIdent timing.

I took some cautious routes at the beginning, following trails, but one of the trails became very indistinct, and I lost it, and so lost some time. I overshot 1 control, and saw a control, which was not the one I was looking for, but it was the next control after that. Unfortunately, I did not look at my clue sheet for the following control, so went a little further past it, and decided I had gone too far. Then came back, saw the problem, and then easily found the original control and the subsequent other control. I made one other 5 minute error or so, turning down one creek too soon. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. Really took me a while, though, to get into the map, with the 2.5 m contours.

I don't know how I placed, but probably not too good. Their printer was not working, so will have to wait for the results to be posted on the web.

Actual distance run, 7 km.