tour 2011

. . . well the year is well upon us and i kicked it off with some snow shoe running and the winter was pretty good here in italy with some nice snowy days but not too much to cause chaos on the roads or making it too difficult for running and i did get out a few times and put together a clip of a run in the snow here:  winter running in italy.  the location is the val di fiemme and 5minutes from our house. 

the cross country skiing was again excellent but there has been plenty of busy things happening so not much time for that with events for salomon at the advanced week in france and a trip up to oslo to see antonella compete in the world championships for nordic skiing.  that would rate as one of the most impressive races and events i have ever seen including olympic games and world champs etc  - check here for a short clip if the race where antonella competed in the 30km event. 

nordic ski world championship on the holmenkollen - oslo, norway

there were 15,000 people who camped out on the track.  the next morning it was already packed as we went up there with camp fire breakfasts, singing and a party festival.  the people know the sport and are super passionate.  the noise was so much that the trainers had to use signs to tell their athletes information as it was too loud to talk.  on the saturday for the women their were about 120,000 people and then sunday 140,000.  impressive stuff.

my own racing has seen me run two snow shoes the 6500 person ciaspolada in the val di non in italy followed by the ciaspolera in trentino, italy there i had a good camera wo(man) to take a few shots of this race.  its a lovely spot there on the top of monte bondone and it's a very small race so i was soon off on my own.  thanks anto for the steady camera work filmed on a telephone - the nokia n8:  ciaspolera sul monte bondone.  since then a foot injury that has seen me sidelined until may so that's a bit of frustration and all the too familiar visits to doctor, wait for scan, back to doctor, wait for another scan, pay money. . . etc is underway.  the guys in salomon have been excellent though so they have made me a custom shoe and new inner soles try to help this problem.

the advanced week in france on the first week of april swapped snow for warm summery weather and a chance to explore some magic trails down on the coast.  was also a chance to catch up with a really diverse and interesting group of people.  killian jornet a young catalan wonderkid running ultra trail, ryan sands from southafrica running across 4 deserts to name just two. then it was straight back to bricks and mortar and work on the house.  moving in now just around the corner so j.wyatt has recently become electrician, painter, plumber, carpenter to speed things up a bit - i hope you can't recognise the bits i did!  most recent photos are here at the ziano progetto.

me at the salomon advanced week down on the south cost of france near to cannes.  spectacular coastline to run round.

photo: anna frost

next stop for me (in between mri scans and physio) were the yorkshire dales england.  with rolling hills and woodlands and sunny days it's hard not to be impressed.  i was a guest speaker for the uk athletics mountain running training camp and it was nice to be involved with their programme to push mountain running performance. 

first race in 6 months has been the grossglocknerberglauf, nice to be back in racing but not yet back in form.  antonella had a great run and built on her success at the european mountain championships silver medal. 

the full report is: grossglockner

very nice race track and beautiful day in Mayrhofen, Austria at the end of july.  antonella runs really well to the win and the overall lead in the Salomon Running Tour Austria as well as 3rd position in the WMRA Grand Prix standings after the 4th race from 6.  race report: harakiri run

Our annual pilgrimage to norway went well - we had good weather which makes a big difference up there - and antonella had a 2nd and 1st placing and me a 1st and 2nd at the two races we did.  highlights were the amazing tasting cherries up there (they grow slower and have more summer light so they are bigger and sweater than normal) and having snow on our recce up to the skaala mountain. 

with the old hoof not performing as normal its been a bit of biking for me in the late summer so here are some links to my rides on suunto's excellent movescount site.  it features, the training data such as HRM, altitude, speed, distance etc + maps, photos and video all hosted online to share.  here is a selection of this years best rides so just click the links below to go direct to the ride and then the 'back' button on your browser to return to this page:

15 september 2011: with glen hughes over passo fedaia and then up passo valles (we had lunch with the girls on top of valles before riding the downhill back home).

2 october 2011:  riding in three countries in the same ride!  slovenia, italy, austria - great ride!

5 october 2011: ride around the passes in northern Italy including passo valles, passo cereda and passo rolle

I did get a chance to do some long running though this year - here is the evidence below:

17 august 2011: run to the lagorai mountains and down the alpe cermis

18 september 2011: mountain race in north italy

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