Training Log Archive: Bash

Interesting news on the Candian ultra scene: The Sinister 7 Ultra in Alberta has been upgraded to a 100-miler for 2014.
http://www.sinister7.com/course.php

Ugh. The generalized heel stiffness and pain that's been plaguing me on and off since my ankle sprain in the spring (although not during UTMB) morphed over the past week into a single point pain on the outside of my upper heel. And as of this week, running doesn't make the pain go away anymore. So I'm officially injured. :( If my Google-diagnosis is accurate - and I've been googling this since June - it is retrocalcaneal bursitis, which my ultrarunner friend Slowrunner had earlier this year. I will seek a second non-Google opinion, of course, but in the meantime, I won't use my entry in today's Caledon Running Festival 10K. We'll go there to be social though. 'Bent rolled his ankle yesterday so we'll be a couple of total losers at a running festival!

First long run since UTMB - a modified Hockley Loop on a warm autumn day that started foggy and got brighter.

Cardio and legs felt great but my left heel did not - ugh. Until now, the pain has seemed to be a form of post-run stiffness that would fade away after a day or two, or during my next run or after some good long stretches. Today's run didn't make it feel any worse but obviously I need to figure this out.

When I was looking for long training hills last weekend, the top local candidate appeared to be the climb on 5th Line heading south from the Nottawasaga River. Instead of following the usual Bruce Side Trail east of 5th Line, I wanted to record a GPS track of this hill to check it out. There were a bunch of cars parked near the bottom where the two Bruce Side Trails head into the forest. I'd met a number of hikers already so I figured it must be a group. Another 100 m up the road, the grass was littered with abandoned waist packs. Strange... Bruce Trail hikers tend to carry bigger packs than that, and why would they drop them so close to the cars?

And then it became clear as young people carrying ski poles ran down toward me. And when I saw A. and E. Huet fly by, it became even more clear - this was the University of Guelph nordic ski team. I did a walk-run to the hilltop, then started down as skiers climbed toward me, practising weight transfer and using their poles. I should do that when I come to this hill; I'm planning to train with poles anyway.

When you see youth being abused this way, it's a safe assumption that they've been put up to it by people who have a lot in common with Goose and Coach LD. Sure enough, when I stopped to chat with the coaches, they knew G & CLD. It was a joint training session of the U of Guelph nordic team and the Mono Nordic club skiers. The Mono coach said he's been training on that hill for 20 years so I guess it's a good choice! We chatted with the Huets later in the parking lot where they were having lunch before a 3-hour roller ski session. (!!!)

Partway down the hill, I hopped back on the Bruce Trail. The hilly new reroute adds distance and elevation to the old Hockley Loop - really pretty too. 'Bent and GYaneff were running ahead of me so I decided to take the road around the final Hockley Resort section so I wouldn't keep them waiting too long. 'Bent and I haven't supported the Black Birch Restaurant lately so we had a yummy lunch.

Podcast highlights included:

- Live performance of "The Youth in Asia" by comedian David Sedaris - about pets, both funny and sad
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/epi...

- Ultrarunner Podcast interview with Hal Koerner talking about his Fastest Known Time (with Mike Wolfe) of the 220-mile John Muir Trail. I love that he is modest and talks about things that go wrong. They did a *lot* of hiking.

- Fresh Air interview with Outside Magazine's Grayson Shaffer about the risks Sherpas take on Everest. Over a career, an Everest Sherpa has a 1.2% chance of dying on the job. Interesting point: Now that helicopter rescues have become more practical, more Sherpas are surviving disabling injuries or high altitude strokes rather than dying on the mountain. However, Nepal doesn't have much infrastructure to support them, and mountaineering companies don't pay disability insurance so they are left in a very bad situation.

Rodney Yee - Power Yoga for Flexibility

Sad news from our part of the world... The Shed Coffee Bar closed today. The business has been for sale for some time; they'd hoped to sell it while it was still operating but no luck. We'll miss one of our favourite destination rides.

On a happier note, if you are a Star Trek *and* Monty Python fan, you'll enjoy this. Otherwise, probably not so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVjkTEIoJc&feature...

More mountain biking to keep JayXC happy. 'Bent and I went to Albion Hills on a perfect autumn day, and the trails were in awesome shape. The Ruppels and their team have made some great improvements over the past few years. It was already a really good trail system when they started. So much fun! :)

At this time of year when the trail maintainers aren't around very often, it's important to look ahead. We encountered one big fallen tree at face height. I always think of the local mountain bike racer who broke her neck when she ran head first into a fallen tree across the rail trail. She had ridden the same section of trail 20 minutes earlier before the tree had fallen. (She is fine btw - but not mountain bike racing anymore.)

Used bike computer distance. I forgot to turn on the GPS for a few hundred meters but I still think the difference in distance was at least 10%.

My plan was to follow the bike ride with some orienteering practice. Other than the CNYO Rogaine in July, I don't think I've done any orienteering since the Salomon Giant's Rib Raid in early April. Probably not the best preparation for the Canadian Orienteering Nationals in two weeks!

However, when I looked at my big map of Albion Hills with lots of control locations for a race I'd set, I realized that I already knew exactly how I would get to every control, and I could picture the terrain in all those places. Other than the physical aspect, I could sit at home with that map and get just as much orienteering practice. It would be better to find a map that I know less well - although there isn't much time left.

In order to put my energy to good use, I went home and did some trail clearing work on the connectors that lead off our property. BulletDog was happy to help.

Went mountain biking because JayXC said I should. ;)

Easy ride, mostly on the single track of Palgrave East. I was curious to see how much the poison ivy has receded. Things have improved to the point where I will only need to scrub my bike tires with dish soap but my shoes and legs should be OK. I think I'll keep avoiding those trails for now. :) There were a few places where I had to push through vegetation as tall as I am.

It is horse-poop-on-the-single-track season, avoidable about 90% of the time. I rode through raspberry bushes beside the track at one point to avoid flinging poop into my face, and I later noticed multiple trickles of blood flowing down both arms. I looked like something out of a Hallowe'en movie. Sigh... There is now a rule that I pushed for that prohibits leaving domestic animal feces on trails. However, it has been poorly publicized. The owner of the riding school next door has ignored communications from the TRCA, who would like her to join the park stewardship committee and be part of the discussion on how we can all use and care for the trails in a compatible manner.

There's been some passive-aggressive vigilante stuff going on around here. Someone illegally boarded up the entrance from the Reddington subdivision into Palgrave Forest and Wildlife Area. This is part of 'Bent's commute, and this forced him to cross Hwy 50 with dogs in a place where most cars go 80-100 kph. The people who bought houses in Reddington with the plan of using the Palgrave trails were not happy either. The TRCA took down the boards today.

And last night on the way home from work, 'Bent found a bunch of small logs lying across the Bruce Side Trail in Palgrave West. The meaning is unclear but someone may be opposed to the small number of bikes that travel on this trail. It is so rare to see another person in Palgrave West that my heart rate rises about 20 bpm when it happens. I have a hard time believing there is a problem.

And I'm not paranoid but I am wondering why I had a fish hook and a bunch of line attached to my bike shoe when I got home. Hopefully, there is a good explanation for that...

I made a few stops along the trails to answer texts from my Dad, who only started texting recently with encouragement from my brother and me. He and Mom lost each other this summer in the Eaton Centre (big shopping mall) in downtown Toronto even though they both owned iPhones (but rarely turned them on or carried them). We moved them into the world of texting to prevent that from happening again. Dad likes to text me while he's waiting for his chemo at the hospital. It's nice to be able to keep him company remotely.

(Used bike computer distance of 16.0 vs. 15.1 from GPS.)

Fall is here, and it's time to get back to Hard Core with Caron on Thursday nights. I was reminded of a few neglected muscles.

Next up was Caron's yoga class with the local triathletes. I've been doing yoga DVDs lately so this didn't feel so foreign. My heel feels almost normal after a lot of downward dogging, forward bending, peroneal stretching, etc. It won't last but it's encouraging.

Booked an appointment in Orillia with Dr. Larry Bell, sports chiropractor, mentor to Dr. Leanimal, team doctor at the Olympics, and specialist in runners' foot problems. He has helped 'Bent, Phatty and Eco. I have to wait 6 weeks for an assessment but hopefully he can figure out my stupid foot problem.

With apologies in advance to Lex... The Salomon Toronto end of season sale is this Friday to Sunday, Sept. 27-29. They also have ski socks at 50% off and Salomon sunglasses marked down from $200+ to $50.

Runner Misses Course Marking, Takes Wrong Turn

No, that's not a very good headline. How about: Runner Gets Lost and Inadvertently Wins Her First-Ever Marathon When She'd Only Entered the Half

Why does this never happen to me when I miss course markings? ;)
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/09/23/marathon-w...

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, Veinbuster sent a few of us to work in our company's Australian office. Some of us came home when our assignments ended but others married Australians and never returned. My good friend Radek was one of the Canadians who stayed behind, and he and his son Andrew are here visiting family for a few weeks. Note to Veinbuster: he'd like to see you!

Andrew is a new trail runner so I took them on a short tour of Palgrave West. We took BazingaDog for the first kilometer but he was misbehaving so he received a dishonourable discharge from our running group. Great catch-up conversation after that!

(GPS turned on a little late - numbers adjusted.)

Power Yoga DVD #1 with Caron.

Strength exercises related to my gimpy foot. The pain in my heel was excruciating on Saturday after Friday's run - the same pain that had me worried leading up to UTMB but never became a factor in the race. The yoga seems to be helping. I stretched it a lot after yesterday's run and it never got to the excruciating stage.

I like mountain races but Ontario terrain tends to roll up and down, which is different - more like hill intervals with bursts of effort followed by rests. It would be helpful to do some training on longer hills on a regular basis. I started by reviewing the Bruce Trail maps from Hamilton to Beaver Valley.

1) Training locations within 30 minutes (120-150m hills):
a) Grange Hill via Grange Rd. or McLaren Side Trail
b) Devil's Pulpit
c) 5th Line south of Hockley Rd. (probably the most bang for the buck although it's not a trail - just a rough gravel road)

2) Training locations within 75 minutes (240-260m hills):
a) Pretty River Provincial Park via trail or 6th Line to Bruce Trail 530 m high point (biggest elevation gain I could find anywhere over a short distance)
b) Blue Mountain / Georgian Peaks / Scenic Caves Rd. (a little less gain but it goes straight up)

(For people who might be wondering, Kelso is not high enough to be worth the drive for us, compared to the other options. Same with Mount Loblaws, hehe. :) )

There are undoubtedly other good places not on the Bruce Trail map but since it runs near the Niagara Escarpment, it was a good starting point.

Since I'm still taking it easy (although almost finished with that!), I decided to take my poles and scout 1(a) and 1(b) so I could have the GPS tracks to plan future training. This part of the run was 1(a). I parked north of the closed bridge on McLaren Rd. and ran around McLaren to Grange Rd. as a warm-up. It gets less steep near the top so I'm not sure if the last part is worth doing but I included it today. Podcast was "This American Life".

So far the new iPhone operating system seems to be working although I can empathize with my legally blind friend who has a terrible time seeing things on the screen now.

And this was 1(b) - up Chisholm St. and up past Devil's Pulpit to what felt like the high point. I'm not sure it was worth carrying on after I reached Caledon Mountain Rd. since the climb was so much more gradual but I wanted it all on the GPS track. The steep climb would be very relevant for training for mountain trail races, although the footing is awkward enough that it was slow and ankle-risky in places, especially after yesterday's rain. Still, it would be good to do some repeats on this.

The one I didn't try today was 1(c) in the Hockley Valley. I don't think it needs any testing; I'll just plan to train there one day. Of all the options, it is the one that would provide the toughest workout since the footing is good enough that it comes down to cardio. I think I did some heat training there last year so I'll try to find the GPS track.

[Edit: Yup, here it is.]
http://www.attackpoint.org/sessiondata.jsp?session...

For GTA friends, especially those with kids: The Caledon Running Festival is next Sunday Sept. 29 in Caledon East - a great excuse for an autumn drive in the country! C3 and Kinetico are offering free race entry, T-shirt, finisher's medal and food for kids who enter the 1-mile run. They hope to attract 1500 kids to set a new national record! Food bank donations are encouraged. There are also 5K/10K races for adults, elite athletes to chat with, fitness assessment stations and a bouncy castle. Please pre-register to help organizers plan food and T-shirts. http://c3online.ca/Events.shtml

I posted photos of the night start of the 300 km PTL event at UTMB - a multi-day team event on a mountainous, unmarked course that seems like a good fit for adventure racers. To qualify, one member of the team needs to have completed UTMB or Tor des Géants. Here is one chapter of a race report by Jill Outside - can't say she's convinced me to try it! She did not finish.
http://arcticglass.blogspot.ca/2013/09/in-dark-lit...

For the rest of Jill's PTL experience and some of her other adventures (I remember her from Tour Divide), check this page.
https://plus.google.com/117708106361582663153/post...

Longer telomeres... another reason to run more!
http://www.runnersworld.com/health/ultrarunners-ha...

Speaking of ultrarunning, there was some interesting info in today's follow-up newsletter from UTMB.

...The medical service was subjected to greater levels of activity. Doctor Patrick Basset, Medical Director, confirmed that the doctors, nurses, physios, podiatrists and mountain rescue services received a very large number of requests from runners of not only the TDS™ but also the CCC® and UTMB®.

The excellent weather conditions tended to lower the runner's vigilance and if the muscular, osteo-articular, cutaneous, and digestive tract problems do not necessarily have very long-term or serious consequences, that is not the case concerning renal insufficiency in the context of taking non-steroid anti-inflammatories or of rhabdomyolysis. The medical team put particular emphasis on this serious medical condition, often aggravated by self medication using non-steroid anti-inflammatories, unfortunately, easily obtainable commercially.

Now that even Simpy is talking about Maffetone with a straight face, I put on my heart rate monitor and tried to stay in an easy aerobic zone today - about 70-75% of HRmax using the heart rate reserve method. Boy, is that hard to do! I know that everyone always finds it hard to go that slowly when they first try this, but my problem was staying in the range in our hilly terrain. It was similar to the challenge of maintaining a constant wattage on a bike as you go up and down. It's almost impossible to go up a hill without pushing beyond the range, and it's hard work to get up to the right range on the downhill when you're thinking you're in "easy" mode. Interestingly, my average pace for the run was only a little slower than usual even though it felt like less work.

Today's other focus was running form - good posture, stronger push-off, rear foot up higher, 2" shorter (as per the Carbons' coach). The Sense Ultras are good for that.

Other than the usual bizarre heel pain, I felt good; I'm recovering gradually.

The long stop around the 8 km mark was an attempted goat rescue. Thanks to the Harper Government's "Economic Action Plan", as advertised on a huge wooden sign nearby, a half-kilometer stretch of gravel road near our place has had its ditches redone. A little goat was on the road, and I wasn't sure what her boundaries were supposed to be so I tried to herd her back into the field with her other goat, donkey and horse friends. She seemed to be having trouble getting up the side of the new ditch into her field.



I went into the property to knock on the door and look in the back yard for people who might not want their goat on the road. No one was home. After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, I came back down the driveway. The escaped goat was now inside the fence happily munching grass with the other animals. She looked at me and smirked. I ran the rest of the way home.

Caron's Power Yoga 1. Upper body stuff felt better this time but it's been awhile since my last non-cheating, 1-legged yoga push-up!

(Bike computer distance.)
I rode to Inglewood again - mostly rail trail. Met Barrie and Caron Shepley on the way and had a great chat.

I'd hoped to buy new bike shoes at Caledon Hills Cycling but sizes are limited this late in the season, and they only carry one women's shoe style that works with my Time ATAC cleats. Next stop: the Walk Run Ride store in Bolton.

Then I went to the Inglewood Farmer's Market and loaded up my backpack with goodies including Knobless' to-die-for zucchini cake. I kept him company at his booth for awhile and enjoyed the conversation so much that I left a little later than I should have. I raced darkness all the way home! It only became difficult in the final kilometer in the forest. It was a good test of my new Julbo photochromic lenses (Earring Doug would be so proud!) They're supposed to let in 40% of visible light in dim conditions, and they worked until the light was pretty low in the woods.

Some progress on the recovery front. When I wanted to go faster or climb a hill, it felt like I could dig deeper and use another gear. I'm sure I don't have the full range of gears back yet but that is better than I felt even on the weekend - yay.

Bohemian Gravity by A Capella Science.

Dedicated to GHO SLO and Eldersmith, the only physics profs who visit my log occasionally (as far as I know!)

An ultrarunning acquaintance finished her first 100 miler at Pine to Palm on the weekend. She struck up a conversation with the race director, asking him if he was a runner and if he had ever run an ultra marathon. He said he had done a few. Turned out the RD was Hal Koerner. :))

(If you're not up on ultra culture, Hal has won some of the hardest ultras around - Western States 100 (twice), Hardrock 100, Canadian Death Race, Angeles Crest 100 (twice).)

Btw in case you missed it, Ed Whitlock broke his own 80+ age group world record for the half marathon in Milton on the weekend with a time of 1:38.

An interview with The Oatmeal about running - and ultrarunning.
http://m.runnersworld.com/fun/an-interview-with-th...

Power yoga for flexibility - Rodney Yee DVD. Still feeling tight from France so this is good.

A new self-supported 260 km, 6-stage (in 7 days) trail race in Quebec - the Trans Gaspesia 2014, the inaugural event of Land's End Expedition Racing. The race will move to different locations over the next few years. They've done the website right. $3200 entry fee!
http://www.landsendracing.ca/en/

Palgrave Terry Fox Run 10K - always nice to be part of this community event.

It was BazingaDog's first "race". He still can't be trusted off-leash so 'Bent used the canicross harness, which also meant that 'Bent was tow-assisted - except when BazingaDog chose to go in a direction other than forward, which happened a lot. They also stopped for 5 doggie bathroom breaks and a swim and still finished 10K in 44 minutes. Grrr. They were 3rd to cross the line with Goose alongside.



I felt like I started out at a decent pace and faded badly but the Ambit says my 5K splits were only a minute apart so it was just the perceived effort. After the 5K turnaround, it felt like really hard work! Although I feel OK day-to-day, I need to remember that it's only been two weeks since a 95 km mountain run in a different time zone, and my body can't possibly be back to normal.

Nice to see that I'm ready to run a 10K race on rail trail with a 21 m elevation gain. Now I just need to add 158 more kilometers and 9579 meters more elevation gain on technical trail, and I can claim the coveted UTMB finisher's vest. :)

Great to hang out with Caron, Tim, the full Doughty clan, Susan and other Caledon friends.

Some video of Kilian's record-breaking Matterhorn climb and descent on Aug. 21. I wonder if he is followed by a helicopter 24/7 in his regular life! Beautiful scenery and another fantastic performance.

I've gotta say though... Kilian is starting to scare me with this fast 'n' light mountaineering. The mountains are not always kind to young climbers (he's only 25!) who take risks. Seems like a super nice guy though - I hope his luck holds.

Check out the Live Race Map from Muskoka River-X, "the longest single day expedition paddling race in the world". This event is in its first year and is happening a couple hours north of us around Huntsville. Just looking at this race map through familiar Canadian Shield terrain makes me wish we were there! :)

Finishers have already started to come in. Winning time for 130 km with 20 portages was 14 hrs 12 min. Goose and Coach LD need to tackle the Coed category next year!
http://muskokariverx.com/live-race-map/

'Bent was busy atoning for his sins in Toronto (it's Yom Kippur) so I met Coach LD and Goose for a chatty destination ride to the Inglewood General Store for lunch and ice cream. (Go ahead, Phatty. Scorn us.)

One of Goose's former students from high school Health class ran into us and heard Goose order a buttertart and ice cream cone as his lunch. It can't be easy being a role model for youth.

We were so busy catching up on the last month that I made them late for everything else they had to do for the rest of the afternoon.

Spectacular, cool late summer day.

Caron's Power Yoga DVD #1. It's been a long time since I've done this one. My arms haven't gotten any better at yoga push-ups and side plank dips in the meantime. I had no idea how tight I was - wow.

Feet and lower legs - just a little work to start getting back into a routine. My gimpy foot is going to get fixed or else!

Bad Cluster Luck
http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/B...

(Sorry, I couldn't resist that headline. But it is a cool story too.)

And the Globe has more details.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ballo...

Easy ride around Albion Hills before dinner - first one in a long time. Google says that if you get heat exhaustion, you're extra susceptible to it for the next week so I wore as little clothing as I could get away with for technical riding in public. :) Also, I rode in places where people would see me if anything went wrong - and I was rewarded by running into Crash. Fortunately, it was beautifully cool, and I felt great. Hopefully, yesterday was a one-off.

My bike was filthy when I took it out of the garage, and I thought of Carbon's Offset feeling so guilty about leaving one day's worth of mud on his bike overnight that he washed it in a mountain lake. I think my bike has been caked with mud since I rode with FB more than a month ago. I'm not proud. :(

(Used bike computer distance.)

My report is up for Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc. Caution: it's very long so it won't be of interest to everyone. (I want to be able to refer to it later for details.) Lots of pics though.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_920/per...

The Good News: My legs and cardio felt fine. This was a good pace. (Although the GPS is messed up so I'm guessing at distance.)

The Bad News: What is the deal with this extreme heat and humidity in mid-September? 40C with the Humidex!

I've been enjoying the cooler, drier air of the Alps lately, and this did not go well. After half an hour, I was forced to take a break when my body suddenly went on strike. My stomach got queasy and I felt close to passing out, something that happened once several years ago during my first overheated run in spring. It occurred to me that if I really blew up, nobody would notice me missing until 'Bent got home at 9 p.m., then he wouldn't know where to look. So when I felt a little better, I made a beeline for his commuting trail and took it home. I had to take another break on the way.

Wow, I've never been great in heat but that has never happened before. I wonder if it's related to being at the tail end (I hope) of a 24-hour headache. My face was bright red when I got home, and I had to elevate my feet until I felt better.

I took my temperature on a digital thermometer out of curiosity. It soon started flashing "29E" - what could *that* mean?! It can't be good. Then it occurred to me to flip it upside down - 36.2. Ha, much better!

Very weird. For obvious reasons, I postponed my planned mountain bike brick. Also, there are tornado warnings around Ontario so maybe I'll just stay in.

The Star has published an article about my Salomon teammate Brian Culbert's finish at UTMB. It wasn't easy. He hallucinated and passed out at the side of the trail for two and a half hours! That would be the two and a half hours we waited at the side of the road to cheer him in - but unfortunately, we missed him anyway!
http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/fitnes...

The soccer association of Midlake, Ontario has addressed their concern over youth competition by removing the ball from soccer games and practice.

"We want our children to grow up learning that sport is not about competition, rather it's about using your imagination. If you imagine you're good at soccer, then, you are."

Cool, I am busy imagining that I am an awesome runner. I can't wait to see the results.

http://www.cbc.ca/thisisthat/blog/2013/09/03/to-en...

And on the flight home, guess who was featured in Enroute Magazine? This guy, whose profession is "Ultra-Endurance Athlete and TV Personality". I guess "Ph.D. in Geology" isn't even worth a mention anymore! :)

They interviewed him about travel-related things, e.g. items that are always in his carry-on, travel tips, #1 travel essential (Krazy Glue), and favourite place to unwind (Houston?? Seriously?!)

Tragic news from Tor Des Geants, the 330 km ultra that begins in Courmayeur, Italy (where CCC/UTMB runners were) the week after UTMB. The race started today, and a Chinese runner died of head injuries while descending from a pass in darkness. The cause of the accident has not yet been determined.

Kilian Jornet and Emilie Forsberg had to be rescued when weather deteriorated while they were climbing the Aiguille du Midi over the weekend. They had made it to within 50 m of the summit when they called for rescue. They had lost time on an incorrect route so they didn't finish before the bad weather, which had been forecast for several days. They had climbing gear but only light trail running clothing, and rescue officials were not pleased.

We took the cable car up there, and it was snowy and cold. If it was related to the storm that hit Geneva an hour away on Saturday night, I can vouch for how severe it was.
http://iancorless.org/2013/09/08/kilian-jornet-eme...

We drove from La Grave in the high Alps to Geneva today, and celebrated our 17th anniversary by taking a detour up Alpe d'Huez.



Each curve is numbered with the numbers decreasing as you climb, and each sign includes the name of a winner from a Tour de France Alpe d'Huez stage.





Originally, I'd thought about renting bikes to do this ride but it would be a lot easier if we had our own helmets, shoes, pedals, bike shorts, gloves, a recumbent bike for 'Bent, and a local hotel room so we wouldn't have to leave a car full of luggage, computers, etc. sitting on the street. We will make it happen on our next visit.



It was a lot of fun cheering in cyclists as they crossed the "finish". I took a few photos for groups.





Only a couple of lunch places are open there in the summer but they are packed full of happy cyclists.



One of the bike shops at the top maintains the daily chrono list.



There were lots of souvenirs that we obviously couldn't buy. I ended up getting a water bottle, figuring it's a symbol that I'd like to *try* to ride Alpe d'Huez. A jersey would be undeserved, however.



Speaking of which, I can't imagine wearing a yellow jersey either - except maybe as a joke. But they're quite popular, apparently.



One more thing to do on our next trip! :)

Today's entry is for Tour de France fans; others may get bored!

'Bent and I wanted to do a little exploring with our last couple of days in France but hadn't planned anything and wanted to stick with recovery-style activities. I reviewed some maps last night and decided it would be fun to do a road trip to see a couple of famous TdF passes, the Col du Galibier and Alpe d'Huez.



On the way, we stopped for lunch in La Chambre, which we learned is the starting point for Col de la Madeleine.



Here's a close-up of those flags hanging across the road. :)



We did a big climb up Col de Telegraphe (where our views were blocked by wires - go figure), then went on to Valloire, the official start of the Col du Galibier. These famous climbs are marked with detailed kilometer and altitude info. You can rent a chip from the tourist office to record your time and get added to the official "results".

http://www.savoie-mont-blanc.com/Magazine/Activite...



Here's a kilometer marker along the way.



This is the view near the top of Galibier on the north side. One camper van was parked there but we could imagine what it must be like with hundreds more parked along the route.





The top. Happy cyclists were posing by this sign.





And then down the south side toward Parc des Écrins, where the 2012 ARWC started...



Road biking has something in common with obstacle racing - obstacles.



Partway down the hill, we stopped in La Grave for the night. Here was the view from our rickety-looking balcony.



Beautiful little village.

(GPS track to follow)

Hiked from Phatty and Leanimal's place up the Veyrier to the Talabar, then up to Col de Pré Vernet for amazing views over Lake Annecy, then back down again. Cool that they can just run up a mountain if they have half an hour free for a run! Leanimal led us up as far as the Talabar, then she had to run down to get Weeanimal out of day care so Mr. and Mrs. Tiny, Teeny Tiny, 'Bent and I carried on from there. Teeny Tiny accepted a backpack ride downhill with 'Bent. Since she tends to hide from my camera, I'm starting off with a rare portrait of her from this trip (yoghurt-inspired).

Finished off the day - and our trip to Annecy - with a sunset picnic on the peak of the Semnoz, the summit where the penultimate stage of the Tour de France finished this year. Magical. When we get home, we're going to miss hanging out with so many good friends every day!

Another day in Annecy. Mr. and Mrs. Tiny and Teeny Tiny arrived. No training today!

With my legs still feeling the long run, today's 4+ hours on foot around Annecy - including some hills - counts as training. (Although I'm only logging 90 minutes.) Great to spend time with Phatty, Leanimal and Weeanimal.

(GPS track to follow.)
'Bent went running with STORM so I walked up the valley to La Praz and took the téléphérique up to La Flegère, then one level further up to L'Index. Then I hiked across to Lac Blanc since I'd been impressed by the photos Leanimal posted on the weekend. It was every bit as beautiful as I'd hoped, and lunch with hot wine was a nice treat. The trails were more rugged than I'd expected, and I dropped about 500 m on the way down to La Flegère for the ride back to La Praz. Let's hear it for trekking poles since my quads wouldn't have been ready for that otherwise!











Last full day in Chamonix. What a fantastic adventure, and so nice to share it with friends. Nice to have STORM and Browner staying with us on the eve of their departure. Tiny and I realized tonight that in the last 6 months, we've had dinner together in 3 countries, none of which is Canada.

BBC on UTMB
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23918531

Random scenes from Chamonix today.

We went outside our apartment for awhile to cheer runners who were running right by our place about 500 m from the finish line. Then it occurred to us that we could get cappucino around the corner and cheer them just as easily from an outdoor cafe. Everyone's bib has the name and country printed on it so we could yell out, "Bravo, Didier!" or "You did it, Sara!" The runners would perk up and smile.



It's a pretty nice run through town to the finish line.



We had a farewell Canadian lunch, then bid adieu to Mrs. Gally and Meg-eh, who are heading to Geneva tonight and flying home tomorrow.

Aren't these two cute?



But it was impossible to out-cute Teeny Tiny.



'Bent and I hung out at the finish line for awhile.



Most people ran with family or friends. Some carried their kids across the finish line. Others had flags. There was a lot of emotion.



We saw the last official finishers. And then we saw the people who missed the final cut-off. When I saw these two, I burst into tears.



The man on the left seemed to be helping the other runner, who was twisted over to one side. (We saw 4 people like that. Not sure what was up.) After 46 hours of tough mountain travel, they missed the cut-off by 82 seconds. It broke my heart to think that the healthy man may have sacrificed his race to help another runner - maybe someone he doesn't even know in real life. However, I see they've been given a ranked finish and are listed in the results so perhaps the cut-off isn't 100% strict at the finish. Nice.

Then we watched the awards for overall and age group. As per tradition, the last finishers are brought on stage alongside the overall winners.



Here's a typical sight around town this week. No matter how warm it may get, lots of people find an excuse to wear their fleecy finisher's vests. In this case, certain runners bumped into each other on the street and discovered that they'd both chosen to complement the vest with the race tech shirt.



The men's shirt was made by "The North Face". The women's shirt was made by "The Orth Face".