A week in Tignes

We've now been in tinges for just over a week and apparently I'm rubbish a blogging because Fi  has written two blogs since we've been here. Getting to Tignes was it bit of a struggle because Posy and I were in Durham the weekend before coaching and got back at just after 11pm. Just it time to start packing and get up at 3:45am which for anybody who is normal and likes sleeping is not ideal. Tignes is a pretty amazing place surrounded by massive mountains and glaciers, making it perfect for getting in some good altitude training. The first part of the week was mostly easy training while we tried to get used to the fact that there is a lot less oxygen making your heart rate rocket when you start trying to train. We've actually had more of a problem trying to find places that are easy enough to train which is very a strange feeling for our Finnish coach Thomas who is used to driving for hours to find a hill never mind a mountain. Our first interval session was a 3x20 minutes threshold up one of the mountain passes that the Tour de France sometimes uses which had over 1000m of climbing in it. As there are a number of mountains right out the door we have been doing a few hikes which have included climbing up on to ridges which are 3000 meters high. On these adventures the wildlife have been coming out to play with marmots, mountain goats and billions of crickets or grasshoppers. You can see enough crickets for a lifetime in about 10 minutes here whilst they decide it would be a great idea to jump at you from all directions. Wearing sunglasses are essential not just for the sun but also to keep the crickets out whilst you walk through a dense patch of them it sounds like a lawnmower starting up the racket they make. Fi also stood on a little adder, which I must have disturbed as I was in front, making her jump out of her skin and considering I've been bitten by one before made me feel quite lucky. Today we did a uphill classic race for 7.5km which was pretty tough with 500m of ascent and some sections that were over 14% gradient. I stayed with Callum and Youngy for the first 5km or so but when it started getting really steep I died and fell back about 50m in the space of about 200m. Considering how much hard training I've been able to do for the last 5 weeks with a dodgy hamstring I was fairly pleased with it. Check out some of the photos I've stolen from Thomas below as well as my favourite video from the Durham weekend, Lynne and Beth doing skate ski across.