8.5m Partnun to Pany Mountain Trail

The rest of the group picked up their giant mountain scooters and I said goodbye and took a last look at the map.

First section would be down, then up (I had not realised anywhere near how steep the climb would be) then finally down to Pany. The hill profile on the Garmin link is worth the click.

Garmin

Mountain trails are heavy going. The scenery is stunning, but the paths were barely visible on the pastures and the mud from the rain fall meant keeping a close eye on how soggy the trail was.

Most of the fields ended in an electric gate to open and close.

Just before the St. Antonien village I saw some of the group on their scooters and I called over and they waved back from the road. Further on I caught a glimpse of the car and was tempted to just run down to the car.

I climbed up, and up and up and up. Finally, got to the top the road and found the path with the sign Pany and I knew I'd get back eventually.

The marshy pastures had boards across them in many places which helped.

The weather was warm when the sun was out (down to t-shirt) then cold when the sun went or I was under the tree canopy and when the sun was gone and the wind blew I needed the thick running top and the fleece I had to stop shivering.

Most memorable moment was when I came out of the trails above Pany on to a made road my path was blocked by a herd of cows. But the old bloke with the stick whacked a path through them for me.

Ran past the outdoor pool with possibly the best view in the world and that was it, I'd made it over the top and back to the correct valley. Phew that was a tough run, but I loved it.

With a bit of luck Jason and I will be hitting the mountain trails next year!

1km Mountain warm up

Hiked up to this lake called the Partnunsee and had some fun on the boats before running around it with the kids.

Practically in Austria, the border is formed by the mountains around.

Garmin

11m around Cham

Garmin to follow, but 17km

I followed the Lorzen (the out of the lake version) past the paper industry as far as the building works at the motorway bridge. Couldnt pass on the one side so doubled back and hit the same issue on the other side. On the way thought about trying to get myself over the river on the zip wire I found, but on reflection it was very close to the water and appeared to need someone to turn the handle to make it work.

On the far side there was the biggest private garden fountain I have ever seen. Bigger than my living room with a hiddious creature spurting water into a massive pond flanked by doric collumn.

More charming was the heron that was flying up and down the river and squaking at me as I guess I got too close to it's nest.

Followed the signs to Zug and was happy to end up on the flat cycle path to Zug. Very pretty and uneventful to Zug. Came back on the lake side trail and found a little beack with a bench. On the bench was a pile of clothes, a towel and a naked bloke. Oh, that's the nuddist beach my father in law informs me later.

Ran around the Vittlepark and enjoyed the view and land are exhibits all over the place.

Reps in Geneva, Tenke, Sofia and Aurelien

On the Mouette on the way over spotted 3 guys out on stand up paddles. Looked great fun.

Poor Aurelien was just back from his Tri in his home town of Thonon les bains - right over the lake from my place in Rolle.

I programmed Jason's Garmin for 4 by 4on 30 off 1 on 1 off.

Tenke did not mention to Sofia we had planned reps so while it was nice to see her we had no time to chat as we needed to be done in time to catch the boat back in 30 mins and the session was 28.

First rep was a garmin night mare as the 4 minutes became 5 Tenke called it and we stopped. I had failed to get Jasons Garmin to start. Sorted by the next set Aurelien was struggling to figure out what was next and was surprised at every thing we did.

Tenke's class shown through as usual. I asked for just under 4 min km pace and we cleared 1.05km, 1.04 and 0.988 on the 4mins on I captured and the sprints were a shade faster, but felt massively faster. She was tired and sweating out the night before's excess but still had the pace on the nose. Great stuff. And considering Zosia has had a baby since the last time I saw her she was going pretty well too.

Nice feeling to hear the Garmin beep done as the last rep completed just as the Mouette pulled into port.

Job done.

Garmin for reps 2 to 4.

4.5m Easy

Quick dash around the botanic gardens to kill the time to the next boat.

Straight back the easy way.

No drama.

Garmin

5.5m hard Airport Hill

Fast one today doing airport loop the right way around.
At the fountain in the lower field I scooped the water so ineptly it went into my nose instead of my mouth, so coughed my way up the first side of the field.
Tough up the airport hill.
Over took into top field.
Fast down the hill.
Tough 9km run in new route PB, in 43 minutes and 2 seconds.
Garmin

8m Mouette and back

Easy trot down to the Mouette with the tradition sprint to the boat over the last 400m. The guy on the boat saw me 100m out and glanced at his watch. He was taking the mickey as I sat on the boat a full 5 minutes before we pulled out.

Reset my watch to official Mouette time.

Stuck my arm out of the boat and registered a pretty chilled dip to 66 bpm as the Mouette struggled to hold 5.5 min km. I can now honestly say I run faster than a Mouette!

Mouette stats.

The Geneva Yacht Club was setting up for a race, 12 big yachts out, a flag boat and three buoys with numbered flags were being towed out.


I decided on a long one and turned left towards Vesena and turned at the speed camera on the hill. After the turn enjoyed:

1) The view (including the yachts)
2) The downhill (for the short time it lasted)
3) The wind behind (until I crossed the river)
4) The weather (cool but not cold)
5) The lack of bugs, all washed away by the rain - result!

Steady drift through the zones hitting three at the river and four on the climb home.

7.4 on the main run, 0.5 on the way down to the Mouette, so anther 8m bagged.

As sub 8 min miles I claim a steady run.

Garmin

5.6m in Rolle

Few niggles from the long 8 days.

Left calf and right foot nagging away so decided to set of at Richard's pace and went in the opposite direction would normally go just for fun.

Had to double back at the end of the lake side path as the guy who has the property next to the access to the lake front from the road had a digger moving dirt and 30m of dirt and a digger to fight was just not worth it. So I doubled back and met more people who looked like they were supposed to be there and I clearly was not. A confident "Bonjour!" and a nod saw them off.

Super slow. Garmin here.

10m Mouth of the Allaman

10 more miles today, making it 50m in 8 days. Heaviest week since pre blog Marathon 2007 days.

Made it out to the mouth of the Aubonne today, running out lower than Perroy in the vineyards then past the cemetery and then down through the ancient bridge/tunnel into a wide tree lined path to get to the bumps and hollows before catching the river side path. Was careful to hug the edge of the river and made it all the way down to where it joins the lake. Nice area here with big stones and circles where many people have made fires and I watched a big heron fly off over the lake. A cool dawn moment!

Very slow, but garmin stats courtesy of Jason. Cheers mate, this showed that my heart stayed massively below the magic 120.

Garmin

5m Perroy Loop

Jason was out today and it was a joy to share my regular 5m loop with him.

We even managed to avoid the sprint to the gates, we both kept slowing down to make the point that the race was not on and by the time we got to the gate we were hardly running at all. We ran through the gate cheering and holding our hands high jumping over the line together.

Great laugh and would expect nothing less from Jason!

That made it 41 miles this week, so pretty chuffed with that total.

Now for an easier running week ahead!

5.7m New Airport Hill Backwards

Backwards New Airport Hill route today. Ran what I thought was decent attempt up the hill, but I was tired. Tried to keep it up at the top and enjoyed the shade in the woods.

Penthes woods were a reminder of the tpv and tried to keep the speed up on the downhills.

Did the bottom field in reverse and was hot and tired, but feeling strong enough on the last leg.

47 minutes, so not so fast after all, ave. 8:15 min miles.

6m? in Geneva: Tenke Reps, Mouette missed, stuck on a bus and a storm

Not too sure how far today but it was an adventure and a half.

Out almost too early for the 12:30 Mouette to Geneve Plage P&R where our RV with Tenke was. So we went the long way down to the lake via the Botanical Gardens and the underpass. Aurelien jumped over a 5 foot tree stump just because it was there. I thought the risk was just not worth it. In the end we just made it to the boat on time and with Aurelien leading at pace we had to sprint the last section to make sure we got the boat.

On the other side Tenke was there looking even more uber elite than ever with the cool shades and showing off her tan and belly button piercing - which I've never seen before today.

With my Garmin officially dead and Tenke having the chepo -1 version with no workout facility we came up with 1km on .5km recovery. Aurelien missed the bit about the beep every 500m and we lost him on rep 2 as he thought the first .5km beep was the end of the rep and so he stopped running.

We managed 4 reps through the clouds of bugs on the lake side and Tenke set the 4min per km pace a shade punchier on reps 3 and 4 so I made them 3:54, 3:53, 3:45 and 3:45. Unfortunately, the last one was not fast enough to get us to the ferry stop and we missed the boat back by a about one minute. Aurelien spotted a bus so we tanked it along the dual carriage way - head on to the traffic - to make it to the bus stop after the stop that the bus was at. It waited there for ages. Then we got stuck in traffic on the bridge at the city and so as the thunder started and the sky turned black and the temperature plummeted we headed cross town, via the kebab shop and red light district. A car was reversing into a parking space and so I went around the front thinking I had taken the low risk option as Aurelien went round the back. The guy saw Aurelien and decided to re-adjust his angle and throws the car into forward gear and it leaps straight into my path - I have to jump and sprint at full speed to avoid it smashing into me. As we come over the same road there is a 2 foot high crash barrier for the cars which I jump - amazingly the tree stump jumper fluffs this one and stumbles narrowly avoiding going flying. Nearly back to the office and the rain is monsoon style and I kick for home coming out of the big tunnel below the office as all the suits stand at the tunnel exit wishing they had an umbrella with them.

Phew what an adventure!

5.7m New Airport Hill

On my own today.

Did the bottom field in reverse for fun and started at the office (hence the extra 0.1) miles, which does not account for the slow time 48 minutes making ave pace around 8 and a half minute miles....

Which is doubly disappointing as when I got to the last section from the US mission on I hammered it down that hill trying to catch a group who in turn were trying to catch a guy shuffling down the hill in front.

Highlight of the run was getting over the traffic on the chair side of the place des nations and I ran under the broken chair!

As I walked through the shopping centre dripping in sweat from the downhill effort I bump into some people from work - who seemed to find my state amusing.

5m Rolle Perroy

Easy today. Had concrete duvet syndrome badly effecting my ability to get up. But proud of myself that I did actually get up and get out.

Stunning views to Geneva end of the lake today,

Council workers out in force tidying everything up.

Lots of campers seemed to be drying off their tents, perhaps it rained overnight.

44 mins so shade inside 9 min miles, which is seriously slow.

It was the heat more than the effort that make me break sweat at the end.

13.5m Nyon Rolle

Stunning day with amazing views to Mont Blonc.

All on my own today as neither Jason nor Richard were up for it.

A guy played a tumpet as I was running through the golf course, which was odd to say the least.

Tunnel at the Sentier de Toblorne is finished and makes crossing the road a little adventure all by itself.

There is also a new wooden walkway in the forest before Dully which makes the path much easier.

Took it pretty easy and drank at most of the fountains as I'd slept in and so ended up on the 10:12. So I was running in the mid-day sun. School boy error.

2 hours 4 minutes.

6x 1km reps

Paul was my coach at the track today and was much better than the dead Garmin.

The track in Rolle is 250m - which is odd, but worked well today for the 1km reps.

Paul shouted the splits and told me to speed up or slow down depending on how far from one minute laps I was:

Rep 1: 4:12 - too slow and fell of the pace in the 2nd and 3rd laps
Rep 2: 3:54 - very even
Rep 3: 3:53 - very even
Rep 4: 3:54 - even last lap faster
Rep 5: 3:50 - went for bust on last lap
Rep 6: 4:00 - made it all back on last lap after 1:01; 1:03: 1:04

Such a rewarding thing to see only one rep over 4mins. Getting there. And thanks to coach Paul!

5.5m Mouette and Parks

Aurelien was up for another boat run so we set off, got changed and were so early at the boat stop we had time to jog round the park as far as the wealthy lunchers at the perle du lac before the Mouette docked.

I had my travel card, but Aurelien did not bother with his as according to him they never check. Today the boatman did check. Do you have a ticket? No. I have a pass, but not with me. Is it a season ticket? Yes. Okay.

What? He should have been fined 80 Swiss and thrown in the lake! How come he gets off Scot free and Tenke gets stung? Perhaps because he really does have a ticket and takes the boat twice a day, while someone else was guilty as charged!

Anyway we opted to take the park route and enjoyed he hill and the cool provided by the tree lined route and marvelled at how we appreciated the taste of the country side in the heart of the city.

I had to nip up to the dreaded holmes place and hand in my membership card. They are so tight they would not give me my deposit back on my towel card, insisting instead that I gave it to Joyce. Left another bad taste, but massively liberating to have finally managed to quit the gym.

Caught back up with Aurelien at the bridge and we ran a little further on the way back to come through the Botanical gardens via the underpass.

43 minutes to the big junction at the coop.

Sunny, a little windy, but another great run in the bag. Felt like a shade over 5 miles and the run was just under (43 mins) plus the 0.6 miles to the boat made it 5.5 miles.