Week 11 - training in pause

 This week 11 was light in running for me, with juste one 4-mile run… so you could call it recovery week, but it was still a very active week!

The only run was in Cusco, Peru, at 3,500m high. I was curious to see how I could manage to breathe at this altitude, and I wanted to check on a few murals I had found the addresses for.

Well, it was tough: after the first few steps I thought I was crazy, that I could never manage to run, as it was already difficult to breathe. But I really wanted to run, and really wanted to see those murals… so I reminded myself to go slow, step by step, as we had done in the hike the previous days: Haku Haku! (I can do it! in local dialect). I ran at 12 minute miles, very slow for me, but I ran 😅. 

The additional challenge is that Cusco is built on a hill, so even just a 4 miles run gives you a 345 feet elevation gain. My heart rate was high, up to 128 bpm: it must have been on those hills up. I had to walk the toughest one!

I did see the murals I wanted to check out:


The rest of the week I could not run as we were, with Gael, out on a 4 days hike on the Inca trail: so we did still have strenuous physical activity, but waking. In total we hiked 26 miles (a marathon distance!) up and down the Sacred Valley mountains, in the jungle, with altitude ranging from 2,500 to 4,200 meters. 

There were long walks everyday, discovering archeological sites, with short nights, but spectacular views. Sharing a few here:




Training starts again next week, and I’m so glad the run run in the program is “only” 12 miles…


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