Sunbathing

Fantastic day here in the Paris area, so when I went down to the swimming pool at lunchtime for my swim, I wasn't surprised to see that the roof had been retracted and that the pool was bathed in sunshine.

I did my usual 60 lengths of crawl in just over 30 minutes. I must remember to take a watch in future to time this session properly and to see whether I am actually improving or not. It feels easier swimming now compared to a year ago, but I'm not convinced there's been any progress in terms of speed in the water.

The pool was lovely today. Not too hot, as it can be sometimes, and the sun was shining down brightly on the pool. It does wonders for the tan after half an hour's workout !

Just a quick word for François-Xavier who ran the 6 hour race in Briouze on Saturday. It was a 3.5 km course and he managed 18 laps (or 63 kms) before time was called. I think he's nutty personally - a marathon is bad enough without putting yourself through such pain for 6 hours. Anyway, congratulations are in order and I've found a couple of photos on the web that he doesn't mind sharing with others:

First photo is during the first hour of the race and the second is after 4 hours running already. I'll let you all do a compare and contrast between the two.

Easy Sunday

Just the usual Sunday run through the forest this morning.

Took it very easy with the usual crowd: Nick, Ralf, Louise, Sophie, Laurence and myself. Felt my left thigh muscle from the start, which is the normal sign that I've been trying during the previous days.

Took it easy to the barrier, doing the 5km in 23:01 and after waiting for the others, set off again fairly sedately before gathering speed and picking up the pace towards the end. All up in 48:37 so no great shakes.

Gmap for anyone who's interested can be seen here : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1415784

Saturday intervals

It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.

So said Edmund Hillary and he wasn't one who gave up lightly. When I planned earlier this week to go to the track to run intervals today, I found plenty of arguments to postpone this session, convert it into a long endurance run or anything, rather than going out and doing it. To help me mentally, I rang Nick and Andy and organised the session with them for first thing Saturday morning. There was no backing out now.

We set off together to run the 4.5 km down to the track and once down there we decided on what actually we would do. My previous sessions have been 6x1200 off 400 recovery, but I let Nick choose our suffering today. A pyramid session it was to be: 400, 800, 1200, 1200, 800, 400. Recovery for the first 2 intervals was to be 200m and then 400 after the 1200 sessions.

I set off enthusiastically for the first one with Nick just behind and Andy just trailing Nick. This sequence was then repeated on each interval until the end when Nick pushed me all the way over the last 400m.

The intervals went as follows: 1:17 ; 2:51 ; 4:27 ; 4:24 ; 2:49 ; 1:14.

I was pleased as I was speeding up as the session went on and the 1200 intervals were faster than any of my previous sessions down there. It was encouraging to have others running the intervals with me and this boosted me mentally. Nick was just behind but on a good day, he should be right alongside me. Andy looked very pale by the end but hoipefully this will encourage him to put some more running training in over the Summer and to leave his bike at home every now and then !

A slow jog back for about 17 km all up. Not too hot today and very overcast which helped.

Grouchy running

Grouchy - perversely irritable: synonym for crabby, cross, grumpy, bad or ill-tempered.

Well this was the site of the lunchtime run today with François-Xavier. We got changed at the swimming pool at Osny and then ran to Grouchy Castle before doing 3 laps of the grounds and then heading back in a convoluted way to the pool. The route can be seen here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2026316 .

François-Xavier had his Garmin 305 on, which he dutifully programmed before we set off so that we could run constantly at 13 km/h for 50 minutes. Marvellous, the wonders of modern technology. We set off and I was happy to follow F-X, having neither run around Osny before and having forgotten to pack my own watch. It was rather a warm day (about 24°C) and after a little while, I began to sweat heavily. This is par for the course so I knew that I'd already run over 2km. "How far ?", I asked F-X. "2.5 km" was the reply. "What speed ?", I enquired as already I felt that we were a little fast. "13.5km/h" was the reply. So much for technology as F-X had decided to ignore his virtual trainer and to test my pace and endurance !

However, the grounds of the castle are lovely as can be seen in the photo below:

It was really pleasant to run with someone and to be able to talk as we did so. When we came out of the grounds, I asked F-X if we could extend the run slightly by taking a longer way back to the pool. He gracefully obliged and halfway along this long stretch of road informed me that he was beginning to feel good now. I was beginning to feel shattered so this last piece of news was really depressing. Putting a brave face on, I tucked in behind him and let him set the pace. We turned the bend and headed back and were now running above 14km/h (so much for the Garmin 305!). A last pull up the hill to the pool and finished the 10.7km in 47:17.

A quick change then 12 lengths of the pool to cool down before heading off to the canteen for lunch. Great lunch-break - must do this more often. The run definitely did not live up to its name.

A little further

If I'm going to improve over 10 km in the next few months, I need to up my training distances.

Simple, obvious fact, but unfortunately running isn't the only thing in my life and my training has to fit into the rest of my schedule which includes work and spending some time with the family. Today, I modified my usual town route to extend the training schedule and to run 10 km regularly in the mornings mid-week.

As you can see from the google map (and was blatantly obvious when I ran the course in 36:30 this morning), I haven't quite managed to reach the 10 km intended. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2023182 . So a new route that only manages 8.8 km - I'll modify this again and go further into the park in Maisons Laffitte in order to achieve the distance.

Run this morning went relatively well otherwise. It was a cool morning, slightly overcast and no wind. I set off fast, completing the first 2 km in 8:11 which is quick against my usual starts for this course. I slowed after though completing 4 km in 16:33 and then 6 km in 24:57. The new extended finish meant that I had a nice long downhill stretch but then I had to run uphill at the end to finish in 36:30. So 4:09 per km for my goal of training over 10 km at 15 km/h - not bad but still some way to go.

Swimming outdoors

Summer has arrived.

Well it actually arrived at the weekend and since then the skies have been blue (or blueish!), the sun has shone and the temperature has risen by a few degrees. All of this has had a disastrous impact on my race performance for the running but it has had a significantly positive performance on my other activity - swimming.

I visit the pool close to my work at Osny: a small, 25m long pool which has the advantage of not being too popular as it is housed in a 30 year old building that has seen better years. In the Winter it is dark and oppressive and frankly, it is only because I've taken an annual pass to the pool and am conscientious about training regularly, that I go. Recently, however, all of this has changed ...

The pool has one huge design advantage: a retractable roof, that slides forward over the administrative part of the building, leaving the pool open to the skies. Lunchtimes are now transformed as I trundle down to the pool to swim my 1.5 km in full sunshine. It is amazing the effect that this has on my whole outlook - a few rays of sunshine, a swim in an outdoors pool and life is full of hope. I can forget about work for a moment and arrive back after the swim refreshed and full of energy for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the positive effects of the sun stop there: I'm still not swimming any faster, or finding it any easier but there's hope ...

To try and improve my technique, I did some research on the web and found this video. One day I might be able to swim in a similar fashion, in the meanwhile just watch the real thing, it's amazing:

Here's hoping that I improve over my next few sessions.

Forest route

Since it's now light in the morning and the sun is already up well before I set out at 6:30am, I figured that I may as well make the most of it and run through the forest rather than around the roads through town.

Time is still limited though so I settled for the Chateau du Val route: up past the church, into the forest, hanger left and straight out along the tracks to Chateau du Val and back in a small loop. It's just under 7,2km (route can be seen here : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1615332) and my aim has always been to run this in under 30 minutes. Current P.B. for the course is 30:04.

I set out this morning feeling pretty good. I could still feel a slight tightness in my legs from Sunday's race but this wore off fairly quickly as I stretched out up the hill at the start. I ran the first 1km in 4:22 which is fairly good and then I was into the forest. The temperature was a lot cooler amongst the trees and I felt really easy and relaxed. As usual on these early morning runs, I was barely awake and the time passed very quickly. I hit the half-way point in 15:27 and was pleased to see that it was too early for the homosexuals in the area to hang out. Another burst up the hill and I was running at about 15km/h heading home. I enjoyed the change from the usual town run with the silence of the forest and only a couple of squirrels for company. My legs were comfortable and although I was pushing the pace, I didn't feel too short of breath or that my heart was about to explode.

Back past the church and the final sprint back along the road to finish in 29:57. Another P.B. and the 30 minute barrier is finally broken. I was extremely pleased to break this barrier and to see that I'm still improving. I just hope that I can carry on in translating these improvements in my training runs to better performances in the races.

A few photos from last month in Le Puy for the family:

Foulées Suresnoises

Well, it just wasn't to be.

I had been hoping to beat my P.B. again during today's race. I knew that I had to be more consistent in my pace, so slower over the start and then maintain the pace over the distance. 3min45 per km was the pace. 4 km in 15 minutes, 8 km in 30 minutes and a finish time of 37:30 were the goals.

So what happened ? We met up with Anne and Nick, Paul and Brigitte at the start. Nick was aiming for sub-39 min, Paul sub-40 min. The weather when we left home was damp and overcast yet warm at around 22°C. By the time we lined up for the start, it was sunny, dry and closer to 25°C. As I stood there waiting for the gun, I wasn't as tense as usual. This may have been due to the overall tiredness and lack of sleep but I felt relaxed.

The 10km comprises 3 loops of a course heading East parallel to the Seine to start with for 1km and then dropping down towards the Seine and running back West parallel to the Seine for another kilometre dropping alongside the Seine for about 200m before heading up a hill into the centre and completing the loop by heading back East again.

The gun went. I set off steadily weaving through the slower runners who had set off too close to the start line compared to their ability. 1 km in 3:44 and I was still relaxed and happy to be so close to the schedule I'd set. 2 km in 7:22 and still spot on target. The hill appeared then and was slightly steeper than I expected, especially over the first 100m. There's then a slight drop down and a further rise to the top. I finished this section well, going past a number of runners before completing the loop and setting off on the second lap. 3 km in 11:18 so 3 seconds behind target but I put this down to the running up the hill and picked up my pace again slightly to recover this. 4 km in 15:08 so I hadn't managed to pull back the time but I was concentrating on maintaining my pace and on not letting the runners around me pull away. I didn't manage to take the time at 5 km but I was still just behind schedule. The heat and the sunshine were getting to me now and I was taking water to cool me down at every feeding station. In fact, all my times from here on in became hazy. I was slowing, over-heating, tiring both mentally and physically. The hill the second time around was harder but I pushed on again after and encouraged myself with the thought that there was only one lap to go.

The last lap was a haze. I was overtaken by a female runner at around 8 km but I had neither energy nor the motivation necessary to stay with her. A final effort to get up the hill and I finished in 39:25. This was a big disappointment as it's my worst time over the distance since January.

The others were probably disappointed too: Nick 41:23; Paul 43:18; Anne 49:56; Brigitte 50:23 and Laurence 51:04.

Excuses: 5 hours sleep before a race is not enough; 25°C and sunshine is too hot for me; hills tire !!

Next race is in 2 weeks time at Vincennes - flat too. I'll do better next time.

Stress

Laurence has a theory.

The theory goes that the day before any race I get so worked up that I become unbearable. For most people, I'm probably unbearable anyway. But apparently, it's even worse the day preceding any big race (or even a small race, or any race at all for that matter).

Today's lunchtime discussion was about money management. Now, due to my position I believe that I'm actually very good when it comes to handling money matters. Since this view was not shared by my wife and this fact irritated me slightly (actually intensely, but let's not argue the point), my bad mood was put down to the fact that I was under stress, worrying about my performance in tomorrow's race - QED: the theory holds.

Why argue with women - women always win!

Niggles...

Damn and blast.

There I was at lunchtime worrying about my wife's health, when all of a sudden I felt this tickle at the back of my throat and the beginning of a slight headache. Oh no, I don't want to fall ill now before Sunday's race. Just when I'd psyched myself up to go out and deliver my best performance yet over 10km, I'm going to go down with a fever instead.

Fond memories return from several years ago with my father complaining about the aches and pains that accompanied every runners training schedule. The rest of the family were extremely sympathetic to this condition and these niggles and would treat them with such kind words as: "hypochondriac", "worrier", "big girl's blouse", "oh,no not the body", etc. And now, I've fallen prey to the same disease myself: runners plight. Self-obsessive concern about the state of one's body is the precise definition of this malady and it's rife amongst all runners. It can express itself in many forms: problems with joints (especially knees); feet; muscles; tendons; and in its most severe case - headcolds. Unfortunately, it would appear that I've gone down with the latter ...

... to be continued.

Thursday town session

When the alarm rang at 6:30 this morning, I can't say that I was thrilled with the idea of getting up and racing around the town at top speed. This is my usual 7.6 km route around Le Mesnil and Maisons Laffitte (route map here : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2002846 ). The sky was overcast and pretty miserable, the forecast was for rain today so the prospect of going outside was not tempting.

I started off determined to run the first mile quicker than on Tuesday, as this is probably the "make or break" part of the course. Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest stretches of the course and as I am barely awake as I leave the house, it is extremely difficult to motivate the legs to move as fast as I would like them too. This morning was far better than earlier in the week and I managed to do the first mile in 6:51. From here on my French half takes over and I begin to calculate in kilometres. Next 2 kilometres to my marker in the park in 7:53 and I'm flying now. I'm beginning to feel very good, my watch is telling me that I'm running faster than 15km/h and I'm still feeling comfortable. Through the park and down to the river and I'm still covering the ground quickly, another 2 km in 7:41. Only 2 km to go now and 8:40 to do them in if I'm to beat my record for the course. This is the hardest section as the path climbs the hill from the river. As I struggle up the hill, my heart feels as though its going to beat its way out of my chest. A final sprint down the road to the front gate and I stop the watch - 30:43. Last 2 km in 8:18 despite the hill and a new personal best. What a great start to the day !

I've been improving steadily since my last 10km race 10 days ago over this course and in 4 runs, I've beaten my PB 3 times. This really bodes well for the 10km race on Sunday and my attempt to achieve 37:30. Let's hope that Nick can achieve his aim of beating 39:00 and Paul 40:00 too. Laurence is feeling a bit unwell today but with a little luck this will have cleared up by Sunday and she'll be out to beat her best of 49:42. Roll on Sunday and another airing of the race shoes ...

In the beginning

That's it. I've taken a decision.

I've decided to create a blog to record my running exploits (which is extremely pretentious for the performances that I'm currently managing) in order to receive comments from other runners as to recommendations for race preparation, sharing race experiences and, more likely than not, discussing running injuries and how to avoid them.

I'm currently running 4 times a week: 2 short mid-week sessions of 7.6 km; a long Saturday session where I alternate between interval training down on the track and a steady run of around 20 km; and the Sunday session with the Le Mesnil le Roi crowd of 10.5km.

My main preoccupations at the moment are 10km races in the Paris region, where I have managed to reduce my personal best to 38:05 from 39:39 in January. Having said this, I'm also interested in a half-marathon or a marathon towards the end of the year following my initiation in the Paris marathon in April (3:10:43 if anyone's interested).

That's all for now. I needed to start somewhere. More news tomorrow with my first blogged training session.