Three Thirds to ride

stats of the week: run 12 km, cycled 123 km, gym 3 h

When I discovered this year’s L’Étape du Tour Femmes, I could not resist entering the event. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the final route that had been designed. I had assumed we would start in Vaison and head straight towards Beaumes-de-Venise before climbing up to Suzette.

I have since realised that there is an initial loop taking riders over the Col de Propiac. With 3,000 metres of climbing, it is far more demanding than I had expected. On the other hand, this makes it even more appealing to me, as the route passes through our home village of Mollans and follows one of the most beautiful roads in the region.

To familiarise myself with the course, I divided the route into three sections, each of which I can ride directly from home. I completed the first third, the easiest section with 60 km and 700 metres of climbing, on Thursday. This was followed by the second third on Sunday: 62 km with 780 metres of ascent, including the steep climb to Suzette.

The final third, of course, will be Mont Ventoux. I shall certainly need to put in more training if I am to be properly prepared for this challenge.

Sightseeing week

stats of the week: run 7 km, cycled 57 km, walked 35 km, gym 1.5 h

We felt tired and exhausted every evening from the daily sightseeing. But it was great to see parts of Vaison, Avignon and Aix that we didn't know before. We saw the Pope's Palace, the Quartier de Teinturiers, the Museum Calvet at Avignon, the Roman Remains at Vaison and Museum Granet at Aix.

Too much walking to add proper training. I still hope to come back to a continous half marathon without walking breaks. This will probably have to wait until autumn when we plan to complete our Superhalfs Series with races at Copenhagen, Cardiff and Valencia.

Photos:

Roman Arena at Nîmes

The Pope's Palace at Avignon

Museum Calvet at Avignon

Quartier de Teinturiers at Avignon

Roman bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine

The fabulous Pont du Gard

Busy weeks

stats of the week: run 29 km, cycled 50 km, gym 4.5 h
stats of the previous week: cycled 68 km
stats of the week before: run 53 km, gym 1.5 h 

result London Marathon: 5:22:38

The past few weeks have been rather busy, with the London Marathon, including working as a tour guide for Interair, travelling to France, and hosting my son Daniel and his friend Mersud. I showed them around and we visited Nîmes, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

First of all, my 27th London Marathon went very much as expected. Given the limited training distances I had managed beforehand, I was able to run the first 30 kilometres, but from then on I had to walk most of the remaining distance. So it was much the same as last year, but this time I was mentally prepared and simply happy to finish and receive my medal.

My shirt read, “Finally Goodbye London”, although I still hope it was not my last marathon there. I would miss it enormously, especially the London weekend with my colleagues from Interair and our large group of German runners.

While recovering in France, I was delighted to take part in a half marathon near Mont Ventoux, following the beautiful road through the Gorges de la Nesque. The course included a climb of around 450 metres before descending steeply into the valley to finish beside a lake.

There was only one other runner in my age group, and he was considerably faster than I was. Nevertheless, I was pleased with my performance, finishing in 2:23:19, with around a quarter of the 350 participants coming in behind me.