Ventoux still only by bike

 stats of the week: run 23 km, cycled 54 km, hiked 20 km

The never ending heat wave forces us to shorten our stay in France by one week. What also means that the Ventoux half marathon is cancelled for me. The decision is obviously sensible as the weather forecast shows a temperature of 38°c on raceday, even in the morning it will be close to 30°.  Alas, it is still disappointing. I will stick to hill training and look for a nice trail race at home.

At least we were happy to cycle up Mont Ventoux another time, my 12th bike ascent now, this time from Bedoin, what is regarded as the toughest of the three ways up. I agree.

Hill race within village

stats of the week: run 26 km, cycled 107 km, hiked 9 km
stats of the previous week:  run 13 km, cycled 159 km, hiked 4 km

I introduced hill runs to my training mainly to get prepared for the Mt Ventoux half marathon on 31st July. Unexpectedly this helped me a bit to get around the 10K race I took part at Lançon. The village turned out to be sort of a mountain place. We had to run a 3.3K lap three times, it was partly so steep that I had to walk 4 short stretches. Finally I was happy to clock 54:46 min, but to rank this I have to admit that the first 80-year-old was 2 seconds in front of me and the overall winner finished sub 30 min.

photo: the very fast winners at Lançon

London Marathon reminded me that there are just 12 weeks left to the big day. The elite fields are already annonced. The countdown goes on.

Proper race followed by collaps

stats of the week: run 27 km, hiked 5 km

Due to the knee problem I refrained from more cycling this week and was really happy to be able to take part in the hilly half marathon at the posh vine village Gigondas. The start fee of 21 Euros included a bottle of really good red vine. It was a tough race where I had to walk about a third of the distance like most of the participants. Many of the 600 meters of ascent were rather steep. 

I started gingerly at the end of the pack and happily finished after 2h 25 min with almost 200 of 565 finishers behind me. I felt strong right to the finish line and had a beer at first. Surprisingly my circulatery nearly collapsed half an hour later and I had to lay down and lift my legs. After a coke and some more sugar I quickly recovered and felt okay again. The heat of around 30 degrees celsius might have had an impact. I will have to concentrate on drinking and carbohydrates on hot days.