At the registration of Ovronnaz-Rambert two weekends ago (my race report is here) I picked up a flyer for a race that was coming up. I didn't really look at it at the time and didn't think about it again until I saw it on my desk on last Friday. The race being advertised was La Grimpette de Bedjuis and it was on Saturday morning. I had a hard session planned and thought that I may as well enter the race and use that as a hard run. Also, I was hoping to run much better than I did at Ovronnaz-Rambert.
This time around I kept a much more consistent pace and felt much stronger than I had the previous weekend. I was going well and managed to stay right in the heart rate zone I was aiming to achieve for about 35' until my legs just couldn't handle running the relentless incline any more. I pushed on to the finish, but that last 15' was tough! I'm happy with how the race went and I had a great time learning another climb and seeing another new route.
After two purely uphill races I've come away with a lot of respect for the athletes who are able to run these events well. I think I've spent too much time conserving my energy and approaching long ascents with the perspective of them being a part of a longer race. This means which means I don't have the pure running strength or aggression needed for these types of races. Fortunately there are a lot of these kinds of races at this time of year and they're easy to fit into the schedule so I can definitely work on this aspect of my running in the future.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClM4BloDv-Pz-LAbln2jpuWi087v-cVXDVg1nLNTAkn_uwIj3DS_vJH5ZPDDF8pPXjNwWOMpNj7cswRF9pnyOHKFUsCdDd6hGl9hBZYj5tmQFjXjsmxwv5aXrN2QwX497MBckUxDtNPS8/s320/Daniel_Rowland_Grimpette_2020+%25282%2529.JPG?imgmax=5184) |
The photos never look as steep as the trail feels. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheQWQTRH1nNPTgkqt22lB4DMU26v41iq9V1yzeQxEgditot9eCQ_XtXPoM4CZIHjuSyPNW1HuSFoTL-WWA4ZEgXZyRfB5K83w5KX7VsQvD77zmMZISPXSeb9cEdxGDbLsOEsgYufit3jYf/s320/Daniel_Rowland_Grimpette_2020+%25281%2529.JPG?imgmax=3473) |
I started off well and held a pretty consistent effort until about 35'. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNndaHz5cw8lDDX8pDsqYuUS673PuYF_HpVAaze7dLbHnY4_9g0_OewpiKcTlD6tav27XmL5MxotE6Yw-7n5po1egL0eQsJ76nQPZectpXsoDJIi9NStEd-bQ574Xt2dFhSaRRSg1tql_9/s320/Daniel_Rowland_Grimpette_2020+%25281%2529.JPEG?imgmax=5184) |
The first aid station is visible at the end of the road in the bottom right of the picture. This is before Iserables. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi472p1-7gSnsZkFhiX8gEjcND6apMqLUcXf5AdJSuBsuM6eMAPDGIvNQWJtHC1e_oKae0A-Wa6Dr8bfrYkW2W4f-0CkeDnRzrM_RhoJjw2lcyRDeQj35xbSUixkAoxyjDJUIcJdE6Ullep/s320/Daniel_Rowland_Grimpette_2020+%25282%2529.JPEG?imgmax=5184) |
A mixture of road, trail, single-track and steep mountain trail in this race. It had everything! |
Race result:
12 September 2020
6.3km
960m
50:52
36th place
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