One more french challenge

stats of the week: run 23 km, cycled 140 km, hiked 12 km, gym 1.5 h

Focus is shifted to running now to prepare for the hilly half marathon next Sunday at Gigondas. A race that I ran last year, too, so I know what to come. This time I will wear a rucsac to carry fluid like most participants did last year. It will be hot again and last year I had serious problems after the finish to keep my circular flow working. Better to be cautious this time ...

The famous event at Gigondas lasts for two days. On Saturday I will accompany C for a 5 K, Sunday follows my race. There is also a very tough marathon with more than 2,000 meters  of ascent where you can get qualifying points for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc.

Smiling on Mont Ventoux

stats of the week: run 15 km, cycled 234 km, hiked 12 km 

My Gran Fondo Mt Ventoux was a happy day. Conditions were better than last two years with moderate temperatures and no wind. As expected I was again slower than before but by just 5 minutes and I was able to finish smiling without any circular flow problems at the top.

Of  the total 1734 finishers on the "shorter" route of 100 km more than 400 ended up behind me - and nearly all of them older than me. There were just 27 riders in my age group and even another 11 men older than 75. The winner of my age group was almost 2 hours faster than me! With 6h19min I was placed 14th of the 27 oldies.

Facing the giant of the Provence

stats of the week: run 18 km, cycled 232 km, gym 3 h

Tomorrow is Gran Fondo day. Last week we tested the route up the giant and I was happy to get to the top in style. But tomorrow will be different as there are 75 km and 1600 meters of ascent to be done before the ascent to Mt Ventoux starts. 

Last year I tried to beat my time of the year before and I failed. I am quite sure I would fail this year again. So my plan is to take it easy and be safe. May even be I will have to push my bike for the final 500 meters which are the steepest. We'll see how things develop. It will be my 5th Gran Fondo up the Giant and probably my last one. So the main intention is to enjoy it.

Majorca touring week

stats of the week: run 5 km, cycled 246 km, gym 1.5 h
stats of the previous week: cycled 330 km
stats of the week before: run 21 km, cycled 153 km, gym 1 h

Luckily I came back from Covid without any consisting problems and we were happy to complete our bike tour around Majorca as scheduled. Around a 3-day-celebration of a family birthday anniversary we cycled 480 km most of them with the baggage of 14 kg for me.

Back in France my target is now to get prepared for the Gran Fondo Mt Ventoux that takes place on June 11. My training still lacks sufficient altitude meters and I reckon I will have to be content with just finishing the challenge and reach the top of the Giant of the Provence. 

Finished and infected

stats of the week: cycled 96 km, hiked 15 km
stats of the previous week: hiked 10 km, gym 1 h
stats of the week before: run 58 km, cycled 28 km, gym 1 h

My plan was to reduce the walking parts as much as possible at the London Marathon and to finish around 4:30 hours. Well, it worked, I crossed the line after 4:30:50. As you might imagine I would have been happier with 4:29. But I don't really worry. Number 24 is in the box, that the only thing counting 

Less happy was the following week as I came home with my very first Covid infection. And it was not a light one although I got 4 vaccinations, last one in December. I felt very ill for one week and until now I am not fully recovered and didn't take up running again. 

Final countdown to #24

stats of the week: run 49 km, cycled 82 km, hiked 13 km, gym 1.5 h
stats of the previous week: run 12 km, cycled 39 km, hiked 12 km

With another longish run of 21 km I feel prepared for London. At least to finish somehow. My dream is to get to the Mall sub 4:30 h but I am not sure if the load of recent weeks was too much to be recovered. With a half marathon of 1:55 in mind I theoretically should be able to finish sub 4:15. Alas I know that marathon is my weakest distance and there is lack of long distance training runs. 

Main target is to finish number 24 and come back next year for my jubilee race. At the age of 70 every race could be your last one. Let's celebrate each one.

Keep fingers crossed I won't be stopped by the french strike tomorrow...

Success in Berlin

stats of the week: run 45 km, gym 1.5 h

Berlin was cold and windy but conditions were not too bad to run the famous half marathon with 26,000 other participants. Waiting at the start line I felt recovered and ready to try it. In recent weeks I hesitated to mention my secret target: The qualifying time for the New York City Marathon is 1:57 h within M70. I doubted that I could do it but I knew it wasn't far away.

So I started at the required 5:30 min/km pace and hoped to keep to it as long as possible. And it worked. I was able to increase my pace to 5:27 and 5:26 for the next 5K splits. Unfortunately I faced a hard cough attack between 19 and 20 K which forced me to stop for a while. An incident that happens to me often when I reach my limits. I lost about 30 secs and the final split went down to 5:32. I am still very happy with my finish time of 1:55:26 which is well within the NYC qualifying time. As it is a first come first serve rule I am quite sure to be accepted for 2024. It will be my 12th NYC marathon and definitely my last one.