All change again!

Well, this week, as promised, has been positively spring-like with temperatures reaching the high teens... positively balmy! Wonderful!

On Tuesday, we headed up to the Col du Portet d'Aspet and rather than heading up to the Pic de Paloumère ridge again, we explored a new route up the other side of the Col which took us to the Sommet du Puech at 1669m. We had now idea how much snow would be up there and although we wore the snowshoes from the car, the path had seen plenty of passage over the weekend and the snow was well tracked and trodden down - we were thinking we should have worn our trail shoes instead! But from the Col de la Bène, the snow was deeper and the path steeper - the snowshoes started to come into their own. We soon reached the cabane du Bazet and were greeted with open views of the snow-clad mountains and our way up to the Sommet du Puech. The views on this outing were, not surprisingly, spectacular, despite the high level cloud which made for a very milky sun

So, 10kms and 615m of height gain for an outing of nearly bang on 3 hours - it was just wonderful to be 'up high' again.

Yesterday, with the lovely weather continuing, we got out for a 23km blast on the mountain bikes, just to check out conditions. Many of the tracks and trails were a complete mudfest after the recent poor weather, but it was fun rediscovering bike handling skills that I haven't used since we were in the UK!

I have done a couple of short runs over the past week which seem to confirm that I really am getting somewhere with my knee problem/lower ITB pain. My right foot is once again tracking straight rather then turning out when I run and much of the tension that has surrounded my knee for the past 10 months feels like it has been released. Just in case anybody is interested in what my rehab routine consists of, I am persisting with the myofascial release of my ITB using the foam roller, working on releasing the tension in my calf muscles and also my ankles, strengthening my glutes (especially glute med on my right hand side), strengthening my vastus medialis and strengthening my core. It has to be a regular routine if I am to stop the tension building again. But I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

The glorious weather is set to change dramatically overnight thanks to a cold front which is bringing proper winter storm conditions to the Pyrénées. The temperature is plummeting and heavy snow is forecast down to 400m, accompanied by strong gusting winds. Nice ..... NOT!