Salomon Advance Week – France Written on April 1, 2009, by annaf.

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Day 2 of shoe testing and I have now done more miles in two days than I had all previous week! There really were some amazing innovative ideas and incredible development plans. It was really nice to be able to interact with the developers about our opinions for our specific shoe requirements. After a big buffet lunch we were back to âworkâ with some of the athletes doing apparel testingâ¦still top secret while I went off to do some interviews for the websites, shoe promotion videos and video shots of me running around some amazing venues.Â Â Â mtv14

Day 3 and what else would you do at 6am surrounded by 20 elite athletes but run up to Mt Ventoux summit 1912m. Still blurry eyed we set off and by the time we reached the trail out of the village and up to the summit we had picked up another team mateâ¦a dog who lead the wayâ¦all the way! The trail zigzagged relentlessly up the mountain until we hit the snow line. 500m altitude left to climb to the summit. We bee-lined with dog in lead to the top. The weather was stunning, cloudless, sunny and still with 360Âº views of Marseille, the plains and the Alps. It was pretty special to see Didianâs (Team Reunion) response to his first ever experience in snowâ¦and 3metres of it at that! After some photos and celebrations we jogged down a short way to meet our mini van to take us home to a well earned breakfast! Yum!Â Â

mtv41 But no rest for the wicked, with a full tummy we set off with our prototype shorts on for another 40minute run. The afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun and meeting the journalists that had come for their chance at getting up close and personal to some of the worldâs best athletes.Â Â

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Â Day 4 and 5 â journalism and media. Two days committed to giving as much information as possible to a variety of journalists and photographers. It meant running back and too, back and too, up and down and round and round until the perfect shot was grabbed. mtv32

We then polished off the hot days with either wine tasting from some of the best local produce around or being tourists in the near by village. The programme wrapped up on Friday as saw most athletes and organising staff disappearing back into the real world, while 7 of us stayed for the mountain challenge. The 22km or 47km attack on Mt Ventoux.Â Â

Day 6 â rest dayâ¦finally and well deserved too. I guess the best thing to do on a rest day is to go for a driveâ¦so I jumped into the Gripmasterâs Porsche and Â off we went on a reci of Mt Ventouxâ¦yehaaaaa!Â

Race Day â and I have never seen so much Salomon lycra layers and jackets galore. We all set off on the same course until the 14km marker where the 22km racers then headed for home while the others had a fair bit of climbing and snow running to do before they were so lucky. It was quite rough under foot but the climbs were not too steep. A fast start was slowed once we reached the colourful sand and I was able to take the lead from there on it was a just a matter of a few twists of my ankle, a bloody knee and scratched arms before I made it to the finish first in a time of 2.02hours and in 6th overall. The rest of the team also did amazing well with Tom finishing first in the long race about 15minutes ahead.Â

We ended our week with champaign, slightly sore legs, tired but very content.Â Â

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