Training on Holidays In France

oceanfish2008

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are about training whilst on holidays. I'm off to France soon and would like to get out a few times a week running. Has anyone ran on roads in France? The roads near where I'm staying are narrow enough with no hard shoulder. Do French motorists respect other road users or would I be crazy to go out?

Cabaal

Sure motorists in Ireland hardly respect other road users and yet alot of us run on Irish roads :pac:

tHE vAGGABOND

I was reading up about running when Im away in Barcelona on my own holidays :cool::cool::cool::cool::cool:, and most folks say to find some kind of safe looking out and back route, where you wont get lost, and importantly where others know where you are, and should be in case of accidents..

zico10

I can only speak from my experiences of cycling in France and say that French drivers are far more considerate of other road users than those you would find in Ireland. I cycled 1,000km in France last year and I honestly don't think one person beeped at me. You'd be lucky to make it 10km in Ireland without some motorsist beeping at you.
If you're willing to run on narrow roads in Ireland, I can't see what you'd have to fear in France.

pgibbo

Like zico, I can only say positive things about cycling in France. They are very tolerant of cyclists. You will probably find lots of cycle lanes running parallel to the roads too which make it even better. Just be careful at roundabouts and not take off in the wrong direction!

silvermints

I've run in France on holidays many times and never had any issues with motorists. The only difficulty I had was the weather. Temperatures down south can be above 24C by 8 a.m. and climbing and in the high 20's in late evening. So if temperature is an issue for you I would recommend an early morning run.

oceanfish2008

Thanks folks. I was thinking that heat will be an issue allright so I guess early morning and evening runs will be the way to go. I'll be observing the usual safety rules on the road that I would here

Maars

If it's rural watch out for dogs. I have had some brutal experiences with farm dogs in France.

BeepBeep67

I ran in France for a week last year on rural roads and no issues at all, just remember to run on the left rather than the right

oceanfish2008

Thanks for all the advice. Had no problems over there at all. I ran in some heat too and had no issues. Only missed one of my LSR's so quite proud of my discipline on hols. Did one 12 mile run 1200ft up a mountain (6mile up and 6mile down). I figured if I could do that I should be fine. Delighted to have passed the 1/2 marathon distance for the first time

tHE vAGGABOND

As a random different POV - where my place in Barcelona was, was totally unsuitable for running - so I did 2 of my 3 runs at the seafront while the kids on our holiday were at the beach [and being looked after by others, clearly].

I did one run around where the house was, and it was boring 1 mile circut and I almost got knocked down and also eaten by a dog - so built up areas for the win

b.harte

Have you checked out the gps mapping sites for routes around where you are holidaying, check out treking or hiking routes which should have less trafic.
I was in Germany 2 weeks ago and managed to get 2 runs in 3 nights. I found the following site which allowed me to export to my garmin forerunner.
http://www.gpsies.com

There's also the usual suspects;
mapmyrun, ride with gps, garminconnect and so on.
It is also possible to print out maps if you're feeling adventurous.

Have fun,

Bertie