Ep 02 | Favorite Training Spot | The Lake Loop | France

The young Grenoble born trail runner, Arthur Joyeux-Bouillon recently set the benchmark for summiting the famous Mont Blanc, from his home mountain village in La Rosiere. He has the privilege of being able to run straight outside his door and into the mountains, so he made the most of this opportunity to prepare for his personal project... One of which is the beautiful Lake Loop that he likes to do at least once a week during the summer. When he gets the chance, he also likes to sleep overnight alongside the lake, taking in the serenity away and enjoying a moment of disconnection.

Name of My Training Lap

​The Lake Loop, with a round trip via the crests of the black rock, the passage of the louie blanche.

Location

The loop commences and concludes from my home, in La Rosière. It is a beautiful mountain village sitting at an altitude of 1850m, in the French Alps.

Why I love this training

The route is extremely varied! It is a high altitude loop and the landscapes are magnificent, with many paths following the ridge of the mountain. We also pass several streams and I love it and there is no need to carry a lot of water. My favorite passage is the arrival at the lake, at 2400m of altitude. It has to be one of the most beautiful mountain lakes. I went there several times to camp. In the morning you can see mountain goats and at the end of August there are lots of blueberries.

Recommendations if you want to train here

This course is ideal for hikers or good mountain runners. You have to be used to walking or running on single tracks and steep slopes because there is quite a lot of drop in altitude on the steeper tracks.

My Training Session

I do this lap when I want to do a long endurance training with a lot of altitude difference from home. I also take my dog, who loves to drink in the streams and eat blueberries as much as I do - haha!

The Complete Route

Some extra tips if you want to run this route

I recommend doing this training from mid-July, because before that date there is still snow at the passage of the louie blanche and at the lake on the way back. I do this training when I want to get away from it all for a while in the middle of the mountains. It is ideal for escaping any traffic or tourists as we don't cross any tarmac roads. It's an outing that I do during my days off work, leaving early in the morning.