Trail Running Near St-Cergue

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Today I went trail running in the Jura near St-Cergue and I found the experience okay. I think that the group stopping regularly helped make this a relatively easy run despite the gradient. Cycling got me used to making hard efforts, not for seconds or minutes at a time but for an hour or more, especially when heading up the Jura.

When I run, my fitness has a positive impact, and because running is more egalitarian than cycling, I suffer less to keep up. With cycling I have a heavier steel frame, heavier aluminium wheels, less efficient group set and rim brakes rather than disk brakes. All of those mean that for every climb I am at a disadvantage. I climb faster than some, but it costs me more.

When I get to the top of the Jura I am often okay, but as soon as we ride down the other side, towards Les Rousses and beyond, I hit the wall and have left nothing left to give.

More than once I felt like I had the start of heat stroke. I often regularly coughed. According to Gemini or MyAI I was suffering from exercise induced bronchoconstriction. I pushed my lungs to hard so I got coughing fits once I stopped. Sometimes the fits were so violent that I behaved like a stereotypical athlete that has overdone it.

Now, by shifting to running the effort is for an hour or so at most, and we often stop to wait for people. These breaks help my heart rate descend, as well as my legs recover. The pace is also one that I find comfortable, even when it speeds up a bit.

Today, the gradient was steep at some moments, and with rocks and stones strewn about. We had to be careful not to miss a step. We also needed the power and endurance to climb such a gradient several times. We had true hill repeats.

Aerobically I can keep up with cycling groups but the mechanical disadvantage knackers me. The solution is simple. I could throw money at the problem. I could upgrade the group set, upgrade the wheels, and possibly upgrade the frame.

I don’t want to do that.

With the Geneva relaxed group rides I was fine. I enjoyed riding Nyon to Geneva, joining the group ride, and then riding with the group, before riding Geneva to Nyon. I often rode centuries.

The reason I don’t ride with that group on Saturdays is that the Saturday runs from Nyon are nice, with two groups. Today I had the option of urban running or trail running and I chose to go up to the fresh, nature, trail run.

The advantage of trail running, over road running and cycling is that you can escape roads and cars. You can explore the landscape in all seasons. It delivers a freedom that neither road cycling, nor road running provide.