Chateau de Vincennes 80 minutes incl 10km Tempo ; Puteaux Track 4 x 100m strides

Early morning run of 80 minutes with 10km tempo in the middle. Again faster than the previous day, felt good. Today I split the sets with a jog in the afternoon to check out my track in Puteaux. When I was here last training for Wold Masters Athletics in Malaga they were demolishing the grandstand. The track is still there and in good conditions. I ran 5km all up including 4 x 100m strides (20,20,19,19) with 300m jog and stretch recovery.

Yesterday's stage in Tour de France finished on Planche des Belle Filles. They added a gravel section at 24% gradient at the end which looked very tough. Other than that the final 10km is the same as I ran a few times up and down in 2012 and 2014. My diary says it took 29 minutes or so to run up the 6km stretch. On one of those runs in 2012 I chased down a runner named Claude. We chatted all the way up in 'Frenglish'. On the way down I met Claude again walking with his partner Virginie. Her then baby Jadou was being minded by her mother at the foot of the climb. We met them again in 2013 and 2014 at Tour de France, the most memorable being on the climb of Alpe d'Huez for the entire day. Their home is not so far from Epernay where they work cutting champagne grapes in picking season. We've been friends on Facebook ever since. I will try to catch up again next time I have a car for Tour de France.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Big Weather Event Brewing ; Indoor Training ; Australian Masters Athletics Championships Mixed XC race