Hikes, Rope Climbing & Log Throwing in the Pyrenees

We have just returned from another week in the Pyrenees, during which we enjoyed fabulous weather for the time of year. We stayed at the same place as we did in July, when I did some swims, sprints and hikes .

This time it was a working holiday - we were looking after the animals who also live at the place where we stay. You can read more about that in this post on Pay Now Live Later.

During the breaks between animal duties, Mrs M and I did two good hikes and I did some rope climbing, log throwing and sprinting, which were captured on video.

Walk 1

We walked from the Col de Soulor to the Lac de Soum and back (Google map satellite pic.) This did not involve more than a couple of hundred metres of elevation, but was a good warm up for the holiday, nevertheless. We were walking for about 2 hours.

This is a shot of the valley from the first part of the walk followed by a view (I think) over to the plain beyond the Pyrenees to the West . We encountered these horses on our travels: (they were not wild - they had bells on.) Here are a couple of further photos from the walk - an impressive rock field between the path and a ridge and an arty one of me waiting for Mrs M .

Rope Climbing

The next day I did some rope climbing. The video of this is shown in the newly added rope-climbing exercise post. I did this a few times during the day, more as play than as a workout - the swing in the video is located in the grounds of the apartment, so it was difficult to resist regularly using it because I don't have equipment like this at home or in my gym.

Walk 2 + Impromptu Hill Sprint

Later in the week we did another hike starting from the Col du Soulor, this time heading South. We ascended a few hundred metres then walked along a ridge (you can see this on the same Google map) in the foothills of a much larger peak, then descending to return to the starting point.

I did some gratuitous ridge scrambling at one point (this was actually quite narrow and Mrs M was not keen on the idea, so she stuck to photo duty) . There was a pleasant stream running through a gully we later passed across: , and once again we met some horses: .

On the way back I spotted a short but steep grassy slope that looked perfect for a one-off all-out dash. The photo doesn't do it justice. It was steep. I managed about two thirds at a full run before the steep gradient started to induce leg jelly, at which point I just hiked as fast as I could. It took about two minutes and was probably at about 80% max speed.

We were walking for about 2 hours.

When we got back, I captured this superb shot of the autumn colours from close to our apartment:

Throw, Sprint, Climb

Inspired by the rope climbing earlier in the week and looking for something to give me an all-round workout, I hit on the idea of a sequence of movements that involved all the major muscle groups and somehow made sense as a Primal/Paleo exercise. The result was a log throw, a sprint and rope climb - there is a video of it in the Throw, Sprint and Climb exercise post.

There is a hot tub at the apartments: . However, when this has not been heated in preparation, this is a very coooold tub. I did a couple of plunges into this after the workout .

Nutrition

I was fasting on some of the days, so there was not always post-workout nutrition; and I can't remember which meals were after which workout... but since the workouts were always in the morning, here are the breakfasts and lunches I took photos of: .

Those who follow me on Twitter will be familiar with the usual egg and tinned fish-focused fayre - convenience at the expense of variety.

That said, you can also see the last breakfast was leftover lamb steak and fried eggs - very tasty and a welcome departure from habit. ... Read more

Sprints, Hikes and Swims in the Pyrenées

Location: Val d'Azun, The Pyrenées, France
Date: 20th - 23rd July, 2009

Day 1 - Sprints and a Hike

Having been in Paris for a few days at the start of our trip, I was due for some intense exercise. I was conscious that I would be doing a lot of hiking in the Pyrenées, but nevertheless wanted to do some hill sprints. So I chanced it and did some intervals on the first morning.

With each successive interval, I progressed my way up this shaded path (which looks flat but was actually a significant incline)...

...and did a last one on this grassy clearing.


The intervals were:

10 - 15 seconds (60 seconds rest)
10 - 15 seconds (60 seconds rest)
10 - 15 seconds (120 seconds rest)
10 - 15 seconds (90 seconds rest)
10 - 15 seconds (90 seconds rest)
30 seconds

Total time: 8 minutes, followed by a light jog downhill to return.

I finished off with the two stretches recommended by Mark Sisson in the Primal Blueprint (sitting on your haunches and hanging), which took about a minute.

This was the first sprinting I had done in my newly acquired Vibram Five Fingers Flow shoes - and it went fine.

Later, we went for a 5-hour hike, when I wore my Vibrams again - for the first time on a hike.

It was supposed to be 3 hours, but we went somewhat awry with our navigation. The paths failed to adhere to their supposed pattern on the map, so as map-reader-in-chief, I was not popular with Mrs M, who had psychologically budgeted for a lesser effort. It was also very hot.

We don't know the couple in this photo - I just thought it made a good shot. It was taken at 1600 metres, which was where we hiked to (from 1000).

Day 2 - Hike and a Swim

The hike was a two hour hike up to Lac de Gaube and back. The scenery was fantastic and the ground was a perfect further testing ground for hiking in the Vibrams, given the increased rockiness of the path. It proved to be an enlightening experience - it totally changes your approach to walking. There are certainly trade-offs - you can't just stomp down with your heel with every stride...but I loved it. More on the this in a separate post.


At the lake it behooved me to have a dip, in spite of the coldness of the water. I sprint swam to roughly where the darker blue water starts, then sprint swam back. By the time I got back, perhaps a minute later, the cold was already starting to bite. I was treating this as training for September when I want to swim across the lake at Buttermere, which is about 300 metres at the narrowest point.

Day 3 - Speed-Hike and 'Assault Course'

In the morning I couldn't resist speed-hiking part of the route we hiked to on the first day. We had found bilberries there and I was determined we would have more for breakfast.

The whole trip took 90 minutes, including 30 minutes of picking. There were points where my heart rate probably strayed above 75% of my max (135-ish), but for the most part I kept it in the 55%-75% recommended in the Primal Blueprint. I checked this by stopping and counting the beats for 10 seconds then multiplying by 6. Crude but adequate.

I ran back down, but of course this was easy from a cardiovascular perspective - although more of a challenge in terms of foot placement. As I mentioned earlier, with the Vibrams you can't just blunder forward with heel-first foot strikes.


After breakfast, we went to an 'adventure' centre. Here they have created a tree-top playground with zip slides, rope ladders, nets and other more sophisticated assault course challenges. There were difficulty levels from green up to black. Here are some of the 'red run' challenges:




Mrs M persevered until about halfway through the red run. We were, of course, attached to an overhead cable via a harness at all times, so there was no danger of death unless we failed to follow procedure. But much of the action took place at 30 or more feet above ground and this made her nervous. Also, there was an increasing need for upper body strength to complete the challenges. The challenge two pictures up was where she bowed out.

I then sought permission from the supervisors to try the 'black' run. There are some pictures of this below. Now that Mrs M has the camera, we have shots of me actually doing it.




This last one was a killer. By now I was starting to get muscular fatigue. Moving from rope to rope required me to support my weight with one arm because I had to remove and add both feet from/to the foot-discs at the same time or they would immediately tip.


I was on the course for 3 hours.

Day 4 - Light Hike

On the final day we hiked to another lake, where my desire to swim was thwarted by a sign warning about something we could not entirely decipher. There was clearly some kind of dam at one end so we supposed it was theoretically possible to get sucked down if you were stupid enough to swim at that end.

It did occur to me to have a sneaky dip at the far end without any danger whatsoever, but Mrs M's reaction to this proposition indicated it would be more trouble that it was worth. This was the river leading out of the lake (behind me when I was taking the photo.)


As I say - the Vibrams were a big hit. I hardly took them off all holiday. More on that in a future post.

One thing that struck me about this 4-day exercise stint: I never felt run down. I attribute this to two things: better sleep, less stress. This has brought home to me the value of these things. ... Read more