Had a flying visit to Lucerne on Monday with the choir, to sing at the Lucerne Festival. I’d packed my running kit, knowing that there would hopefully be a gathering of the running club.
The concert was brilliant, and therefore required celebrating with several glasses of wine, so it was with a bit of a heavy head that I woke bright and early on Tuesday morning, trying my hardest not to disturb my room mate who was doing her best impression of Sleeping Beauty. Fortunately I am no handsome prince and had no intention of awakening her with a kiss (especially as she’d drunk considerably more than me and there was a definite smell of last night’s booze hanging above her bed.
I’d actually had enough presence of mind to put my kit in the bathroom before we’d left the hotel to go to the concert hall, so it took me no time at all to get myself ready and down to reception in time to have a cup of tea, and do some warm up stretches before meeting up with the rest of the group. What a motley few we must have looked, all slightly jaded, to say the least.
But once we got outside the sun was shining and we were soon running through the streets of the old town, down towards the lake and back to the concert hall for a quick team photo before setting off around the edge of the lake. Hangovers were soon forgotten, as the sight of the sun coming up behind the mountains was breathtaking. The water of the lake was a deep blue and so still, and I soon got into a comfortable rhythm, managing to keep up with the youngsters who somehow had summoned up a top up of energy. I even managed to talk a little ( novel for me as I’m usually a lone runner).
Pretty soon we were running up a wooded hill, and my conversation became completely incomprehensible, all I could hear was the rasping and wheezing of my breath as my lungs tried to convince me to stop and walk, but my head told me to keep up with the boys. I just about held my own, and then we were back out in the sunshine and gazing up at the impressive Pilates Mountain. One of the basses broke into a falsetto, “The hills are alive with the sound of music. 🎶 “
He was no Julie Andrews, but was disappointed when we didn’t join in. I was on,y able to sing a section from One Little Girl and a Lonely Goat Herd. “Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo.” was about all I could manage while gasping for breath. No wonder they do all that yodelling in the mountains. I couldn’t do anything else!
After another quick photo stop we were then running back down towards the lake and past the house at Tribschen which had belonged to Richard Wagner. It’s such a love,y setting it’s no surprise he was inspired to compose his famous Ring Cycke here.
A quick run around it’s grounds and we were then headed back towards the city. The morning was hitting up and the water of the lake looked so inviting. Another of the basses suggested we stop on the beach for an impromptu swim. I swear basses have more fun and fewer inhibitions than us sopranos, so I said I would maybe paddle and take a couple of photos. 1 alto kicked off her shoes and went in in her kit, tenors ripped of their shirts and ran into the water in shorts. I took the photos... but not for long. Throwing caution to the wind off came my shoes, socks, shorts and top!!! And I was in..💦
And it was sensational, swimming I. The cleanest clearest water I’ve ever seen outside, with the most magnificent backdrop, it was totally exhilarating.
Even the 2km run back to the hotel was fine, despite putting my kit on over my wet underwear, it didn’t matter. We were all on a major high, and doubly pleased to have covered a respectable 10k and all before 9 am.
Hangover - what hangover? This was definitely the best cure ever for that morning after the night before feeling. 😀
Another wonderful VRB meetup with a twist ... I didn’t have to drive miles and miles to get to it! 😅 🏃♂️🏃♀️🐕
Low heart rate run 
Distance Vs Frequency ?
