COVID 19

The question on the world event !

I had the joy (and some pain too) to have been able to participate in about ten editions, as well as the TDS. I also had the joy of contributing a little bit to its organization at the beginning of its history, our history.

I won't answer the question. Who am I for that? A sportsman with some experience, some knowledge of course...

BUT here's what I think:

The Organization is the union of intelligent and responsible people. At the moment they are meeting day and night to make the best decision, motivated solely for the interest of all the passionate people that we are and that they are. The municipality, the communes, the countries linked to the event are all involved in this serious decision, if any. Even we are solicited to give our opinion with the survey. That's great! Thank you UTMB!

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I have full confidence in our GOs! And if the race is postponed, it's because everything has been measured. If it takes place, perhaps restricting the number of races, then all the safety conditions will have been assessed as good and acceptable. 

And if it happens I say that it is largely possible to arrive ready for this physical challenge and the form it requires. There are 4 months left to train! Four months !!!! In 2004, when I was very fit, I remember I started my serious outings at the end of June. Indeed I had just finished my final training course of guide. Of course the approach walks were part of my endurance building but it was not ideal. In short this argument of lack of time following our confinement does not hold in my humble opinion. 

These pictures of these landscapes that our beloved Tour offers, we will see them again. Let's dream of the next more clement times here or elsewhere, everywhere where we will find our freedom even more cherished. For the time being, let us preserve our health and that of our surroundings.

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On the side of my training courses like the UTMB, and all the others like the GR20, I have more than an opinion but my decisions to take. Already I know that I will propose many more private training courses to 1 person or groups of the same family, by the day or over 2 days, in France, on accessible terrain that I would have professionally evaluated as such. No refuge, bivouacs or a small chalet lost in the mountains, in short the return to the roots.

Respect for UTMB. Respect for your patience and relativization of the thing. It's only Sport as they say. Yes, but still it's a hell of a thrill!

TAKE CARE

1 Kilometer, 1 hour and 100 meters difference in height.

Its good ! You see what I mean.

Anyone know where these trailers, a moment during one of our last summers ... were? Anyway, where were they during this internship?

They are not in our same current reflections, just happy with this end of ascent, the 2nd out of 3 in total at this stage, in front of such a beautiful panorama. Tired certainly but satisfied and admiring, what am I saying, contemplative in front of such a panorama!

Right now we just want to stand on our own two feet! Slide on the spring snowfields or just slide as you like. But no !

Because the rule is:

• Do not train more than 1 km from your home.
• Do not train for more than 1 hour.
• AND IN HAUTE-SAVOIE do not climb higher than 100 meters in elevation above its cozy nest. And I live in Haute-Savoie. I'm not going to complain. A little frustrated. But safe.

And 3 x 1 is 1.​

Huh ?! Yep, don't we have the impression of being in the 3rd dimension? I don't think it's an impression!

This ibex who gave me the honor of this meeting is far from our current concerns and torments. Besides, his whole life was confined to his Mountain. Often I noticed in its 1 km2. But OK ! We are not ibex. Too bad for us. By habit, by genetics, by need for space, by taste to discover, by need, by necessity, man wants to leave his house and travel the world. And for us poor endurance athletes for the challenge and the sensations, the trip is limited to the house block. We are walled in between these three 1s which make us run in circles like a tiger in its cage.

And yet we have to adapt. Adaptation is one of the 3 main principles of training with Progressiveness and Continuity, remember. Except that this time it's more than a constraint. Luckily I dare say, we are all in the same boat. Then the happiest will be the one who will adapt best, including on the mental level. (relativize, manage stress ...). But let's just talk about how to be happy while having fun otherwise. I will only focus on our daily outdoor sports hour. Of course !

Let's not put our heads upside down! I sincerely believe that there is something positive in everything. (independently of course of the misfortune for which this virus was fatal or terrible). But in terms of change, you have to be forced if you are lucky not to be hit directly. Personally I would never have done what I have been doing for 5 weeks.

Situation: I am fortunate to have in my perimeter as they say, local paths and trails. essentially I use a loop that goes a 1 km down or up the right bank the river that follows the valley, then I go down or go up left bank. It depends on the direction of rotation chosen. At the play of small bypasses and small bumps the loop is 5.4 km and offers an elevation of 80 meters. I also have another option shorter in distance but which has the advantage of having ribs.

I mainly use the most rolling exit, by choice until this day and I will use more the more sloping from now on. Rolling as much to say that I know it by heart. I put in reference for the playful and useful aspect of the STRAVA segments. For all ribs but also for characteristic flat ends. Let's talk about her: Either I run it quietly in basic endurance, or quickly and the work tends to threshold work, or I do the interval shorter.

Remember what the equivalent effort (EE) when a vertical drop exists on a run? 100 m vertical equals 1 km horizontal. Thus over 10.8 km with 160 m + EE = 10.8 + 1.6 = 12.4 km.

QUIET: I am between 11 and 12 km / h on average. Sometimes less when it comes to running very cool, and sometimes it's not planned and 1 lap and we go back. 55 'approx.

THRESHOLD: I only practiced the long threshold. Indeed I ran the 2 loops in a row, that is 10.8 km and this at 13 km / h. in 47 ', then the EE is 14.9 km / h. I know that the ideal would be the threshold below 20 '. Because there on 45 'needless to say that I am largely in the low range of my lactic anaerobic threshold zone. But hey it amused me and then I am far from my objectives and especially I put much less the means than before. I have given enough. That said always motivated I now plan to start more academic sessions. Now that the sensations have returned.

PMA: I only worked on these playful ends such on the 3 ribs of the loop and on very singular flat ends. Nothing academic of the type 10 x 1'30 rec 1 '. It will come later. Put a mine on the long coast, then on the short then make another cool by choice or often by obligation because I can not anymore it is quite playful and challenging. Thanks to the Strava segment I can see my progress in form (or my weakness of the day) as much in time improvement as in my improving feelings and in my pulsations.

my village, during my loop

To conclude I know that because of the confinement I trained completely differently from the habit. And this for the positive. You can imagine that in 40 years of competition I took a break from the foundation sessions at the start of the season and qualitative sessions in all training cycles. Certainly consciously because the athletes I train receive the right elements, but that on my own account and well I fell asleep. I have given enough. But strangely enough I start to like the short effort that is necessary anyway. YES if the mountain had been opened to me I would already be at x hundreds of hours and x thousands of meters +: The pleasure, the attraction of summits and Nature and wide open spaces. BUT I therefore improved my endurance over 1 hour and my speed. And it's not over ! Another 2 weeks for sure. But I count well after May 11 to systematically keep me a short and intense session, as before, as in the good old days.

Take care

La Diagonale des Fous you know? Who does not know! Even if we haven't done it yet. To do at least once in your Trailer Life, if you can afford the Travel and if you feel the capacity. I had the chance to browse it 7 times and always with happiness and even that I did not manage to cross the saving line of my sweet madness. WE ARE THROUGH A SACRED DIAGONAL IN THIS PERIOD! So before going crazy from going around in circles I have a few ideas to cross it without too many obstacles. This is what I am going to tell you.

This image where I am seen (trying to) jump like a kid does not date from today. I have no right. You neither. Nobody ! It expresses I find FREEDOM. The one we have more. But it's just like that. You can read both ways. It is up to us to adapt, I think. And this is how I do it and also my vision of things here:

I just wanted to share this exceptional moment with you already! Meet a horde of male ibexes. Right now I can't be with them but what I can say is that they don't care. Even if there they are peaceful (maybe because I am too) you can imagine how they are at the moment. Nature has taken back its rights and all its beings benefit from it. We are certainly part of it, but society dictates its rules to us. For his good, to the Company. So let's keep ours. How did I say:

At the moment sport is incidental. Let's keep our well-being by putting things into perspective. Playing sports: we don't have the Covid in us. Otherwise we would feel it, moreover I think I have felt it a little lately. If we are lucky enough not to be infected, let's call a spade a spade, so yes we have to move. And how is a trailer moving at the moment? I'm just going to tell you about my situation. So we train for a goal. Always. And maybe just to feel good, both in your body and in your mind. And then he has the competitors, You, me. This first objective of well-being through physical action, energy expenditure, prevails and for each of us, competitions or not. COMPETITION OBJECTIVE. I love. And you ? It is in my genes, in the genes of many and we know that the values ​​conveyed are all honorable. BUT THERE ARE NO COMPETITIONS! It is just there that we must adapt and feed on the essentials: Sport first to feel good. To feel alive, to feel alive (ESPECIALLY NOW). In short I repeat what I just said. I therefore insist. BUT the competitions will return. In my opinion, we just have to say to myself that I move while preserving my skills. BUT the endurance skills to last several hours? Well those we put them behind the ear. You know the rules like me. HOWEVER, oh how wonderful this opportunity to do otherwise is. It is an opportunity to strengthen or soften. Since we do not do enough in a clear period, here is finally the obligation and this great opportunity to rebuild its bases. PERSO, I also redo more intensity. Just right. Just what I was no longer doing enough by mistake (conscious error I am a coach; he is still the poorest coordinator). It is clear that I am improving my endurance sharply over 1 hour. This reboost will be used when all of this is behind us.

While waiting for better days, Tchin! I give you an appointment here on the blog to talk about internships. Obviously I am also touched like many of you. But I have proposals. Do not hesitate to tell me a particular subject that interests you and which we could talk about here.

Above all, be well.

On March 13, 2020 the ski resorts closed. And mine too. Also I ended my teaching season of alpine skiing. Finished for beginners, ski touring initiations, crazy rides off-piste with the free-ride course ... The season stopped 5 weeks before time. The Crisis of the Corona Virus not only reaches its target in the heart, what I say in the lungs of the most unhappy, but it also hurts a whole system. This is what I am going to tell you.

ALEA JACTA EST! Oh we're not going to make a cheese toput (from Abondance, that's where I live), and here we are, right from the 15th of March at the summit of Mont de Grange with my son and 2 friends and nevertheless colleagues of my IS F. A rather technical ski touring both up and down and at the same time bucolic especially at the top with a nice pic nic on the orientation table and decorated with a seven peaks, the most famous beer in the area and precisely opposite the Dents du Midi which has the oddest number of peaks.

The next day The Nation was confined! And even the whole world!

No more attractive summits like mermaids of Nature that we love so pure. The air is suddenly impure. Finally, only the one that comes out of our lungs. If they are sick of this little end-in-the-train in the shape of a crown with peaks that protrude from everywhere and that will annoy many of us. We stop the conquest of the useless so nicely described by Lionel Terray in his book: The conquerors of the useless. Whoever wins us over is COVID! 19 I don't know why but we don't care about his last name! It is there and there! It's not that little there! And my companions of the late 6th Battalion of Alpine Hunters will know what I mean.

This is my training background at this very special moment. It is inevitably around my home, less than a kilometer away, and as we are in Haute-Savoie, the prefect even asked me not to climb too high: 100 meters maximum drop above my sweet home! Om̐mmmmmmm!

WHAT DO I THINK OF IT ?

Sport is not vital but improves Life
COVID is lethal and can end the same life
We are but a small thing
TRAINING, subject of this blog post, is secondary
Long live Sport and I worship it but above all LIVE LIFE, and I need it
AND I THINK OF ALL THOSE AND ALL THOSE WHO CANNOT READ THESE LINES BECAUSE OF ...

I will meet you for the next post to really talk about how to adapt your training and why especially. Particularly for trail running practitioners of whom I am the first to be passionate! Do well.