8.0km Tour du Pays de Vaud - Etape 2 Genolier

Hilly, with agression.

The rain meant only a handful of spectators on the course. We got there with just enough time for the traditional sprint from the carpark to the start line.

Warmed up with Stefan and spent the next 10mins cooling down in the crowd waiting to start. I'd moved significantly closer to the front this time. That made a difference and I could have gone further if I had been a bit more agressive.

But the wide road and downhill start made it fast and furious. After 2km I was happy with the pace where I was which was around 4 min kms.

It was a stunning route with plenty of off road woods (some of which I'd been to before, including the site of the famous max hrt test I did for Jason). At some points it was very technical.

I ran harder tonight than at St. Prex. Ave. hrt was 158 (although it was 160 at St. Prex - proof I was not feeling 100%) and I managed the hills well. Many people had to walk up them or slow right down. As usual I was moving through people on the up and on the down, but being overtaken on the flat. Not much flat though!

At about 7km there was a sharp left turn down into the forest. I let the guy outside me past and waved my left hand out pointing down. Now, what I meant was there is a sharp left coming so watch out that's where I am going. The bloke behind me decided it meant go on buddy, over take on the inside and cut me up. Right, now I'm mad. I take my time down, then over the bridge and then I have my robin hood moment. There is a gap in the trees and the path is near vertical so I let rip. 1, 2, 3 then 4 got beyond him and jump back onto the path in front of the guy. Oh dear now I'm whacked and there is still plenty of work to do. Hrt spikes and so I have no choice but to back off a bit and recover. Pick it back up and suddenly we're there. I though it was 8.5 but someone decided to lop the .5 off the route with out telling anyone so 8km it was. As we turned at the top of the building suddenly 70m infront is the finish line and I drive the arms to get up to top speed. Go past 2 or 3 people who notice me far to late to do anything about it. Just not enough time to catch the guy who cut me up. Oh well, next time.

I was standing at the finish line looking out for Stefan when the guy gobbing of in French on the mike suddenly appears next to me and asks who I am waiting for - so I got to speak French to a crowd into a mike - been a dream of mine for a while! I missed Stefan's finish, but I saw Jason's. He powered down the back straight like his life depended on it. Focused, determined, aggressive. I was clapping and screaming at him. To my amazement he responded and got even faster and must have over taken about 20 runners in the last 50m. I was so proud. This is a guy who has caught the racing bug. Stefan too was full of stories about catching girls with tattos of horses - honest that was part of the race....

Ah and Bob le coureur? He whipped me again. He was 20 places overall ahead of me and 3 in our age group. Look for him but did not see him.

Had a very pleasant and well deserved sausage and chips with a beer to wash it down. Post race photo with Jason and Stefan.



Results click here I was 36th out of 188 in my age group and 115th/533 blokes. 3 slots better than at St. Prex for my age and 21 slots overall! Yipee!

Garmin stats

I would like to point out that Richard Leaky does exist and may even turn up at the next Etape. But then no-one belives me as we expected him at the Nyon Tri, the St Prex run, etc etc.

9.1km Tour du Pays de Vaud - Etape 1 St Prex

The pre-race photo is above, Tenke (who came second in the ladies race), me, Jason and Stefan. Unfortunately, after missing the Nyon tri Richard also missed out on this run too. Like a mackrel freshly caught on the west coast of scotland, he was well and truely gutted to be missing out!

The traffic was heavy and my estimate of 13mins to get there was way off. The warm up was the sprint from the car to the hall to get the numbers!

At the start Jason and Stefan positioned themselves cunningly at the back to chat way the first couple of kms and I wished Tenke well as she pushed to the front and I settled where the club runners seemed to out number the cotton t-shirts, about 250-300 from the front.

The start was bang on 7pm and we headed up - even on the wide road it was a struggle to get to race pace and then it narrowed to single track roads where it was even harder to overtake. Slow progress.

In the trees the guy 3 in front of me went over and was covered in dust, but unhurt. That was enough to put an end to my sprinting through the trees to overtake people. Out of the woods and finally some down hill and the field opens up a bit. Two kids in front become my mark and I try and catch them. I notice the hrt is close to red line, but I decided I'm going slowly and will live with it. (86% of max was ave!). Also notice how I move through the field on the down hills (see my skipping works) and on the ups - some specific training paying off too. Unfortunately, on the flat I'm slower than everyone else and so I trade places with lots of people lots of times.

At about 6km I see the family again, Paul tells me I'm in the top 150 so I decide to hold that spot and try to move up the field a little. Turns out he just guessed that but it was a good guess and about right. I finished 136th of 533 men and 39th in my age group (out of 187).

At 7km it goes from the lake back up before looping around to my long run route's farthest point and I know the way home well. Take every corner nicely using the racing line to stop anyone coming past on the last km. Very narrow and my reps pay of as the back to speed from the right angle turns is no problem. I'm at the back of a group of 4 as we hit 100m to go and I let rip, all three melt away and I go through well ahead to cheers from the family.

I made my time 41:10, but officially I was 41:26 (which is about the gun time). I was dissappointed at first, but the course was busy, tough and hilly. However, looking at the hrt data I think I would have struggled to put in much more effort. Next time I will start in the thick of the club runners. Things can only get better, plus as I've never run the course before that's another PB in the bag!

Click here for the offical times

St Prex TPV etape 1 by nmcintyre at Garmin Connect - Details