Did you miss us?

While the other 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge participants have been getting stuck into notching up training miles, Leon and I took a slightly different approach. We went altitude-training.

Our holiday in Zermatt last week had been booked almost a year before, and the benefits of a week in the best ski resort in the world (probably) at the quietest time of the season (definitely) far outweighed the risk of putting ourselves out of the 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge with a skiing injury.

We chose well. The weather was perfect all week, though very cold. We went skiing for 5-7 hours a day, six days in a row, without any aches and pains or fatigue. We had three days of lessons with an excellent young instructor who taught me to carve and Leon to do show-off tricks. He made us work hard. In a class of three, there was nowhere to hide.

We also ran most days, either around the roads in Zermatt (at an altitude of 1620m) or on the hillside tracks. Yesterday morning before leaving we did an 11-mile run on snow-covered trails with 755m of ascent and descent.

And I swam a total of three-and-a-half miles in the chlorine-free hotel pool.

Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed attending to what more dedicated athletes might call "nutrition and hydration". You can't exercise at altitude (the pistes go up to over 3800m) on a diet of green leaves and green tea, and when in Switzerland it would be rude not to partake liberally of the excellent breads, cheeses, meats, and cakes. I'm sure our recovery was accelerated by hefty doses of sugar and saturated fat, and I intend to use the same strategy between marathons in May.

Now we need to translate that skiing-endurance into running-endurance. I need my shin to stay healed. We need to increase our training mileage and Leon, at least, needs to do some faster sessions. In particular, we need to start doing some longer runs. That 11-miler was our longest run so far this year.

This evening, after a day of putting the house in order, we went out for an 8-mile run. It was unpromising. I had to work hard for an average pace of 10.24mm. But at least nothing hurt :o)