Chamonix Trail Running - Training for a 2_28 Marathon vLOG - Episode 2

Do you want to come for a trail run in Chamonix? Well come on then, let's go! Good morning everybody and welcome to episode 2 of training for a 228 marathon. I'm here in the beautiful mountain resort of Chamonix. As you can see all the lovely mountains behind, we're here for UTMB week. I'm not actually racing myself, but I'm here out supporting some friends and getting in all the training I need for the marathon. So yeah, today we're going to head up, get in some big elevation. Really not sort of usual marathon training, but that's just what I'm doing, taking advantage of all the amazing hills and scenery out here today. So yeah, follow along and yeah, we've got, what have we got? We've got about 27k to do with about 2000m climbing. So yeah, follow along and we'll see you out on the trails. So just been popped into the supermarket, got some nuts and some fruits, topped up the water bottles and now just heading away, start the trailhead, start the trail and a cup of cake. It's a nice and Right, today's route is kind of one massive climb all the way up. There's a little slight decline about three quarters of the way. I don't know if you can see the view behind me, the sun's right into the camera, but we've got the glacier up there and oh, it's just stunning. What I'm looking at is this. The ground's not too bad, but I don't know what sort of supply is it like on the route. I've only got a litre of water, so I'm not going too hard, don't need to. Yeah, bought some money, there should be some place at the top to get some resupplies, otherwise we're on streams. Pretty technical, some decent tricky bits to get up, but with all these views along the way, where else would you rather be training? About 7km in, it's pretty steep technical stuff, but the views behind, as you can see, super nice. Not very runnable at the moment, but when you've got these views to look at, it really does not matter. How beautiful is this? Still can't quite get over it. Right, need to do some running. I've reached the top of the first climb. This is the view we've got from here. Just going to stop and have a few nuts and get some fluids on board. Just bought the most expensive bottle of water for a bargain price of €4, but when you're in a place like this, you're going to get stuck into this, and then we're on to the top of the next climb in a few minutes. Quick check-in, look at the views all around, mountains absolutely everywhere. Not bad for a Tuesday lunchtime, and we've got about 11 or 1200m climbing in. Chamonix is down here, it's just to the left there, and we've come up all the trails here, had a quick stop over there and hiked up, and now we're heading up to the top here. I can't remember what it's called, Brevne, or something like that. So that's going to be the top, so we're going to go along the tracks here and head up there, and then drop down, back down the other side, back into Chamonix. So yeah, need to get on, we've only done about 10km in an hour and a half, so yeah, without further ado, the top is calling. Let's go! It's not so steep, they're very kind, they do give you ladders to get around. It's a pretty odd form of running we're doing at the moment, but yeah, ladders, trying not to fall over. We're at about 2300-2400m now, you can see there's some snow around, higher peaks in the distance over there, pretty snow covered where the glaciers are. I haven't actually seen another human being for about 45 minutes, so the isolation is pretty surreal, in the absolute middle of nowhere, can't hear anything. It's a far cry from running up and down the Thames Path, and along Greenwich High Road, and all that stuff, with my marathon training back in London, absolute heaven. It's getting a bit tricky in places, not to slip and fall down into Chamonix there in the distance, we'll be down there shortly to finish off the run, get a cold drink and get in the hot tub. Oh, I'm looking forward to that. So watch, it's saying about 1500m climbing so far, here's a little bit more. Just come across this stream, we've got to do a hat dunk, because I am absolutely roasting. Oh, that is amazing. That is very, very cold, but very amazing. Right, 3km to go. As we drop back down through the trees, I'm sure a few people are thinking, what on earth has this got to do with training for a marathon? Well, it doesn't really, a lot of leg strength, it's just about having some fun. We're in Chamonix, getting out there, enjoying running. You know, you can't be on it for 15, 16, 18 weeks, whatever, you can't be on it every second of every day. Just getting some easy miles in, time on legs, seeing some amazing sights and having fun. So if you're struggling with your training, you know, just get out there, just go out without your watch or whatever, take your phone, it's for security, but just have some fun with it, you know, just take a few days off. I've been struggling a bit, I've been knackered over the last two weeks and I feel amazing now after this, this is really like, got my mojo back, it's really, really good, loved every second of it. So yeah, that's why I've been doing this today, get the mojo back and we'll hit the track tomorrow. So back at the chalet, absolutely pretty shattered after that run, my hair is looking amazing. Yeah, really good run and now the hot tub is cooling, which is here where Sarah is and yeah, if you look at the views, we've got the glacier up there, it's not a bad place to have a chill after the run. Right, I'm getting in, we'll see you in a second. Well guys, finally made it to paradise, chilling out with Sarah and yeah, going to wrap up the vlog now. So I hope you enjoyed this video and there's going to be lots more to come on the campaign to Valencia, getting, well hopefully getting the 228 by the time we get there. So a like and a follow down below if you don't really follow, it would be great. And now I'm going to dip under the water to clean myself off, because of course I'm so manky, I didn't have a shower before getting in here. Right, I'll see you in the next one. That's so wrong.