This video is sponsored by Athletic Greens.
Patriotic down to your underwear.
This is the same maple syrup we use at home.
Maybe we should get some.
Welcome to Episode 22 of my 2022 Training Diaries.
This week we're in Annecy, France where we've been recovering
from our adventure on the Tour du Mont Blanc while beginning our taper for UTMB
which is in just under two weeks from now.
The city is centered around a medieval old town with canals running right through it
giving it the nickname "Venice of the Alps"
and it just happens to sit right on a crystal clear lake
which is said to be one of the cleanest in Europe.
That store that we visited off the top is one of two Canadian-themed stores
that we found here if you can believe it.
Although, it was mostly just various maple-flavored products and a lot of plaid.
Annecy is also the home to the Salomon mothership,
both its head office and design center.
We haven't had a chance to visit this time but
we did get a tour of the design center the last time that we were here
and it was very cool to see behind the curtain.
So hopefully one day I can bring you along with me for a tour there as well.
This week as I said was mostly about recovery as we begin our taper for UTMB.
The name of the game now is to prioritize rest along with our hydration and nutrition
while losing the least amount of fitness possible.
So you'll see that I've been keeping up the frequency and intensity of my workouts
but i've lowered the overall volume dramatically.
I'd like to thank the sponsor of this video, Athletic Greens.
We've been all over the place these past few weeks
and with travel and the time changes
staying on top of my nutrition and hydration can be a huge challenge.
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We enjoy trying different foods while we travel
but AG1 has been the one constant in my nutrition.
It's really helped me to stay on top of the demands of my busy training and travel schedule,
especially now as I recover from that big week on the Tour du Mont Blanc.
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Now let's talk about this last week of training and recovery.
You'll remember from last week's episode that
we finished fastpacking the TMB on Monday after spending 4 nights on the trail
and then we pretty much just hopped on a bus
and headed straight here to Annecy on Monday afternoon.
Tuesday we then took as a rest day
which gave us a chance to explore the city by foot and to go for a swim in the lake.
Wednesday we rented some bikes for a bit of cross training
as we explored the bike trails around the lake.
Thursday I had an easy 90 minutes on the schedule.
So we hit some nearby trails just to the west of town.
So it's Thursday morning and we're just making our way through town here
to some nearby trails just west of the city.
It's already quite hot, so I think
we'll probably jump in the lake afterwards to cool down.
We ended up running a little bit longer, closer to 2 hours,
but kept it to an easy effort.
And of course we followed this up with a dip in the lake to cool down.
Friday I had an easy 45 minutes on the schedule with some strides.
So we set out to run along the river here
which itself is amazingly clear.
I did a 15 minute warm up followed by 4 sets of 60-90 seconds
at close to all out
with about double that length of easy running in between each as a recovery,
followed by 15 minutes or so of easy running as a cool down.
Saturday I actually had another 2.5 hour bike ride on the schedule
but I decided to change this to an easy run hike instead
because there was a trail and viewpoint that we really wanted to check out
just on the east side of town here.
We ended up covering about 13 km with 875 meters of elevation gain
in about 3 hours on feet.
And you guessed it, we finished it off with a dip in the lake.
It's
so quiet before 10am.
Sunday morning we got up early and hopped on a bus
to head down the lake for our scheduled long run
to hike up to Annecy's highest and most prominent summit, la Tournette.
The buses are actually free for the month of August
so we're glad that we didn't bother renting a car.
It's Sunday morning.
We just arrived at a small town called Les Granges.
We're transferring buses here to continue up the hill
to start our hike up to la Tournette which is supposed to be just a beautiful hike
but unfortunately after a week of sun it has started to rain
and it's forecast to rain all day.
I don't see any lightning in the forecast
but this hike looks to be pretty exposed so we're gonna have to play it by ear.
The cool part is this next leg this next stretch of road
is apparently a leg during the Tour de France.
So it's a really popular route for cyclists to come and train on as well.
So that'll be neat to see here on our way up to start the hike.
I don't anticipate there being any water on route that we can filter so I brought like two liters.
I've got two spare flasks in the back of my pack.
So I guess on the plus side, at least it won't be too hot.
I made a totally inappropriate shoe choice today with my Salomon S/lab Pulsars.
I should have worn the Soft Grounds
but I'm kind of trying to save them at this point for the race.
But you know, one more run wouldn't hurt.
Meanwhile I'm slipping and sliding around in these shoes again.
This is like Georgia all over again.
These things are just awesome, they're great for dry terrain.
But they don't work very well in the mud.
And we've been hearing quite a bit of thunder off in the distance.
It's hard to tell of course how far away without seeing the lightning strikes,
but there appears to be a chalet not too far along our route here
which seems like a good spot to stop and sort of reassess
before we head out into you know any terrain that's too exposed.
So our route is supposed to go up and around there.
What I love about the alps - a chalet is never far.
I figured we'd make the most of it and stop for an espresso at least.
We're gonna call it a day.
We wouldn't be able to see anything up there and the thunder has us a little bit nervous.
Plus, it's pretty cold and we would be getting up to about 2,300 meters.
So we'll save this one for next time.
We're going to loop down this road here, through this valley
and back to where we started.
So that'll give us about 10 km which is better than nothing.
We got about 2 hours on feet on Sunday which worked out just fine
given the extra mileage that I'd run on Saturday, the day before.
So it's probably for the best that we didn't end up doing the full route
which would have made for a fairly long day.
So for the week, I ran just 60 km or about 37 miles
with just over 2,800 meters of elevation gain, about 9,200 feet
including that last half-day on the TMB.
Our time in Annecy has really flown by
and we're leaving here in a couple of days to move on to la Plagne
which is a ski resort about 2 hours southeast of here.
We'd originally planned on spending the next week in Italy at altitude in Cervinia
which is right at the base of the Matterhorn.
But unfortunately Audrée's mom and her partner who we were
supposed to be sharing a place with us there had a change of plans.
So we had to find something more affordable and decided to just stay here in France.
But at least that will be close to the same altitude of Cervinia
and there's tons of nearby trails.
So we'll be hanging out instead with our friend Charles from Vancouver
who is actually originally from France and who's going to be racing TDS.
So next week I'll be coming to you from La Plagne where
we'll be doing a few short workouts in the mountains there
before we head back to Chamonix to prepare for the race.
I got some locally made Reblochon which is a type of cheese.
This is the specialty of the region and it's super delicious.
This one was made right here, just at the next little town here down the road Montmin.
So super, hyper local.
Let's give it a taste. I'm just gonna rip it open and eat it.
It's so good. It's creamy. It's like brie but kind of richer tasting.
We'll buy a baguette on the way home. -Yea, we need a baguette now.