A bit of action

Well, the weekend was indeed a scorcher with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. Seasonal records were being broken throughout the south west of France. On Saturday we braved the heat and had a good 80km ride on the roadies around the undulating foothills to the east of Pamiers which made a nice change.

 Fluid intake was pretty critical in the heat but there was a distinct lack of village water fountains on the route and we were in danger of running dry, but thanks to a wrong turn, we stumbled upon a property where the owner was all too willing to top up our bidons. Our saviour! A Nuun electrolyte tablet each to replace tissue salts lost through perspiration and some more fuel and we were rocking and rolling again and completed the ride strongly. Full stats on the usual site.

Sunday saw more overcast conditions which have continued into today and which has meant much more amenable temperature of around 20 degrees. But today started off badly with a poor night's sleep and then a rude awakening at 08.00 as the lady who owns the adjoining house rocked up, honking her horn as she pulled up below our window. Not a good way to be aroused from the land of nod! Thankfully, by this afternoon however, I was feeling much better and really wanted to get out for a good run, as the Citadelles is now less than 2 weeks away. I abandoned the idea of a long one in favour of the 10k circuit that I last did at the end of February. Andy came with me and we were able to push hard all the way round, helped by the wonderfully dry tracks and trails which encouraged some speed. It was a cracking run, despite Andy's tumble on one descent section which fortunately didn't result in a nasty injury. We knocked 8 minutes off my last outing on the 10kms/325m+ circuit, getting back in just a whisker over an hour! I was pleased with that. Feeling strong, feeling fit and looking forward to more. Full stats for the run here.