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.

3.5m Easy run

Usual stuff, but with a couple of twists.

Firstly, I noticed my hrt spike straight away, right into zone 5 and I was bearly moving. I eased off and told my heart to beat slower and sure enough it dropped away and I held the slower pace and dropped right into zone 1 before I was comfortable again. What was that all about?

By this time, slow runner and mad ginger bloke had gone past. I caught a group of super slow runners then closed on the slow runner. But mad ginger bloke (mgb) was going crazy. First he zig zags on the prom. Then he jumps onto the higher level and takes 100s of tiny steps at pneumatic drill speed before slowing to run pace. He did that a few times.

At the naked lady I tried to throw in a km or so at 4 min per km pace. I got close, but felt the effort and then it settled just of 4s. Zone 4. Disappointing, but that's life. At least that got me past mgb who by this time was stationary.

Instant recovery back to zone 1. Nice. Loving that. Jog back and enjoyed the Park trails - ate the hills nicely.

So that's me all set for etape deux demain. There, I've gone native now....

Nothing much to blog about

Saturday was all day in Avenches with the kids.

Sunday was super wet, so stuck inside working on tax forms all day, but a window of opportunity opened before church.

The rain went of and the forms were completed. Just enough time to squeeze in 19 minutes of hard running to spin the legs. Must have cleared 4.5 km and was seriously motoring by the last km as overshot the route and needed to make the time back on the return.

Today was wet again and I had to go to the gym to sort out the accounts so decided that 155 CHF per month to shower was an outrage so I went in and did 10 mins on a bike and 10 mins on a runner super slow, focusing on posture and form. The guy next to me seemed to be in some kind of race and I thought his runner might explode at the speed he was going at. Predicatably short lived and noisy.

Bored out my skull the streching zone was full so I went on the terrace and loosened up outside. Very nice too.

Easy day tomorrow as TVP Etape 2 draws closer. I am seriously considering running the first downhill section at red line then trying to hold on for the climb back up. Thing is "Bob le coureur" is on my case now and I think I might beat him on this etape....

8m Rhone trails and field loop with Tenke

Tenke ran in from home so I ran out along the lake side and we met just before the naked lady and she was going significantly faster then I would have considered running today.

Thankfully she was tired/ill/badly hydrated and mal nurrished so I could keep up for once. We took the trails and Tenke got comment of the week for the following, while climbing some steeps we both sighed and I said, "let's walk up those steps" to which the scathing reply was "No, this is a running group, not a walking group!".

We got over the road bridge then looped the field and came back on the route out.

Tenke needed a fountain (boy do I know that feeling!) and we stopped when we found one right at the end of the trail. By chance a group of embarressed looking ladies in running kit appeared and they were most definately a "walking group".

62 minutes of trails with Tenke would have killed me not so long ago. Felt fine. Nice one.

Yesterday, did some stuff in the gym, some Malcolm Balk dills and streching.

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

10m and the easy 3.5m run

Not been out for a while. Semi-intentianal taper.

Ran round the island last week in three stages. First from Kames bay to the water sports centre, where with Grandad and the kids we waited for Katja, Ru and Davina to catch up. The latter two arrived on a tanden, newly weds!

I asked for and received a start for the next stage to Fintry. I was sure they were going to catch me any minute and that supured me on. On the little climb to the BBQ corner at Fintry I overtook an English couple on bikes. They asked for a tow! At the top I heard the lady say to the bloke let's catch that guy on the down hill. So they tried. Each time I heard them get close I accelerated. By the time I got level with the cafe I was at full race pace with two very surprised cyclists zooming along next to me. I side stepped on to the pavement and stopped dead at the cafe and watched the guys on the bikes trying to figure out what had just happened.

About two mins later Paul appears going like the clappers with Ru in his slip stream trying very hard to get past with Davina screaming for him to slow down on the back of the tandem. Brilliant. Then Katja and Lia come in followed 5 mins later by Dugald compaining bitterly about cycling around the island on his own!

Last leg was nice enough, with the no over taking grandad rule meaning the pace was much slower. Nice touch from Paul though as he came back to keep me company!

Bit of tennis and swimming in the lake (highlight was ambushing Richard in the deep water), but unfortunately went over on my left ankle during the tennis. It is stiff and tight.

Ran today, super slow Park Eaux-vives easy route with a few strides and a couple of race pace spurts which felt ok if tentative on the left leg, especially on the up hills.

13.2 miles / 4.8 miles

With Tanya (Davina's sister) now in town and talking about running a mad plan was hatched. Stewart came out with me to Westbourn and we went off in search of the mouse. Never found it, but we did find the tree. Coastal path to Fintry was fun. At the Hush Hush we tried to find the metal ring in the rock and did not, but we did find a seal. It is possible to look at seals and run, but Stewart and Tanya were determined to slow to walking pace at every possibility.

So at the water sports center I took a "long cut" and retraced the footpath this time not going straight over the hill but following the path to the farmhouse, the path goes through the buildings, but the dog made sure I took the field route to miss the house itself.

By now I was sure they would be miles ahead of me and I kicked hard to try and catch them thinking I'd be able to do so just before the town. Two fields out and there they are chatting away walking up the hill. I did a few circles of shame and then we ran down together. Stewart called it a day, but I still had to get Tanya home 1.5 miles away, which I did via some photogenic spots for her to take pictures of the cathederal of the isles were Ru would be getting married.

By the time I had got back to the house, I'd cleared 13.2 miles in the shocking time of 2:13 - an all time personal worst!

Next day Dean (my new brother in law) arrived and he and I agreed to meet at 7:20 at westbourn. Now, given we made this deal at 1:38am in the Tavern I am amazed it happened. I was even more amazed to see Tanya there too.

She took the first footpath up to the golf course and dean and I took the second, but not before going under the tunnel at Fintry!

I pushed the pace up the hill through the wet grass ferns and brambles. Tough going and before I knew it I was at the top with the hrt high and happy as larry. Oh shoot, Dean! I doubled back and collected him, one field gap so not too rude. Trotted back to town and took him to see the cannon in the west bay wall. 4.8 cleared.