Photo at Montfort l'Amaury

Just a quick snap of me taken during the run up to the ruins in Montfort l'Amaury 2 weeks ago for "Les Flambeaux"

Don't you just love the headlamp ?!!

Showdown !

Today was the big one - no that's not true as I'd been telling myself recently that the real big one, the race where I want to do really well is next Sunday on the Hexham Hobble. This was just supposed to be a warm-up.

That was the plan anyway. The plan, however, was well and truly scuppered when I learnt from F-X on Wednesday that he was entered too. Since our challenge series stands at 2-2 at the moment, this race was vital in showing the other who was on form. Laurence had entered both of us for the 13.5 km course at Andrésy, renowned for the "big hill". The distance was fine, it was just the idea that I'd have to go fast over the course to keep up with F-X that was depressing me, especially when I'd been treating it as a last major training session before next week's race.

Nick picked us both up first thing and Andy had decided he was going to take part too, so all 4 of us arrived in Andrésy about 50 minutes before the race began. The weather was fairly lousy: 3°C, a fine drizzle and no sign of a let-up in sight. we picked up our numbers, found a place in the gym to leave our stuff, then set out to brave the elements 15 minutes before the start.

We made our way to the start line and I searched for F-X amongst the faces. I spotted him right at the front of the crowd on the start line so I pushed in alongside him for a quick chat before the start. He asked what my objective was so I told him: to beat you ! No point beating about the bush. The race tactics were to follow him all the way around the course and then to outsprint him over the last 500m.

The gun went and F-X set off like a bullet. I tagged along on his shoulder and wondered if the pace was going to ease. I didn't look at my watch as I told myself I didn't care: the sole objective was to beat the man in front of me. The course comprised a first small loop of just under 6km, followed by a longer loop of 7.5 km which included the infamous hill. We were in the first 15 runners in the race and the pace over the first loop was sustained and I didn't feel as though I could go any faster. I began to wonder how long I could keep this up, especially when there were times when F-X would up the pace slightly and I would just try and tag on. We went through 7 km and to my surprise F-X turned and said to me to carry on as he couldn't keep up any more. As he eased off, I pushed a little at this point and tried to catch the runner immediately ahead of me. In fact, I wasn't to see F-X for the rest of the race despite my fears that he would recover and start chasing me down in the final kilometres.

We attacked the hill just after 8 km and my pace slowed, luckily it wasn't as steep as I'd imagined and it didn't seem to be too hard an obstacle. We turned right and downhill over 150m and then took a sharp left-hand bend. Oh my god! That's the hill - I was taken by surprise to see this 15% slope rising before me for 300m. I shortened my stride, put my head down and just forced myself to keep running. My heart rate must have maxed at this point and the effort was tremendous. Once at the top, it was just a question of holding on and counting down the kilometres to the finish line.

I kept it steady, tried to catch up a few places and finshed the 13.5 km in 21st position in a time of 52:42. An average speed of 15.37 km/h or 3:55 per km. I was pleased considering the hill to have managed this speed over the course. F-X finished 4 places behind me in 53:54. 3-2 in the challenge to me: I'm on a roll!

Splits were the following (thanks Tom for the tip):

3:34, 3:45, 3:54, 3:50, 3:53, 3:53, 3:56, 3:59, 4:43, 3:58, 3:50, 3:44, 3:53, 1:43

Guess where the hill was ?

Other results: Nick finished 64 in 56:59; Andy 150 in 1:02:41; Laurence 259 in 1:08:08.

Laurence ran a great run despite her Garmin letting her down after 6km and then concentrated on picking off runners ahead of her. She managed a great sprint finish to beat another female runner on the line.

Official times here: http://www.topchrono.biz/course.php?idc=3585&cr=13km500&an=2008&cr_nom=20%20Bornes%20d'Andresy

Looking forward to next Sunday's race now against the lads.

Amsterdam run

Was in Amsterdam this morning, and since F-X was with me, we went for a training run together around the hotel before the business review.

It was well lit around the industrial zone when we set off at 7:00 am for our jog. It was supposed to be a jog anyway, and F-X told me that I could set the pace. The only problem is that when we start like this, there's always one of us urging the other on and soon we were running around at over 15 km/h, with our fastest kilometre in 3:53.


However, it was a good method of evacuating the stress before the meeting and we did a couple of laps around the block, completing 8.5 km in 35:24 or 4:09 per km. Having finished the jog outsides, we inspected the gym in the hotel which was absolutely fantastic and fully equipped with all the latest equipment. We ran another 1.5km on the treadmill at 14.5 km/h just to wind down !! 10 km all up.

Some photos of my feet before and after toenail removal - just for your viewing pleasure. Who said running was good for your health ?

Les 4 Chateaux - Chevreuse

One of the most enjoyable races that I've done in a while: a great course; good atmosphere and a fantastic organisation.

The worst part of the race was the early start, especially for a Sunday. I's almost criminal to start races this early on a Sunday. Laurence and I were both taking part and we turned up at the club at 7:30 am to meet with the others entered from the club. It was very cold (-3°C) going through the forest this morning, and the prospects of running at this temperature were not appealing.

We arrived at Chevreuse with plenty of time to spare as the women were setting off at 9:30am and the men 15 minutes later for the 18.5km course. We hang around as long as possible in the gym before braving the cold and crossing the playing fields to the start line in the centre of town. I wasn't taking any risks and had both my ski hat and my neck warmer on. Even with these on, it was still too chilly to hang around and we all eagerly set about our warm-up routines.

I gave Laurence a kiss for good luck as she lined up at the start, the gun went and the women's race set off; all 700 of them. The men lined up now and there was a lot of chatting and banter before we set off in turn , 15 minutes afterwards. The total field amounted to just over 2 400 runners and a good number had dressed up in fancy dress for the occasion. First prize to the "Joker" for his outfit, which was spot on, face paint and all.

I set off steadily, passing many runners since I was fairly back in the field when the gun went. I didn't want to tire myself out early so I used the same tactics as last week's race and sped up as the race went on. I didn't take any splits and didn't even look at my watch until 15 km had already gone. I even forgot to set the automatic lap marker after every km that Tom had explained how to do on his blog.

The course was very scenic with 60% on tracks and 40% on the road. The big hill was from 6km to 7.5km and this wasn't as bad as I had imagined. It was just a case of shortening my stride, not pushing it so hard that I was breathless and trying to hang on to my position. I had set off on this portion in about 85th place as a man was shouting out the positions as we went past. It must have been fairly complicated as we had begun to catch the last of the women's race at this point and there was a lot of mingling.

Having caught the tail end of the ladies race was very motivating as I was now chasing Laurence down. I knew that she was running well when I passed the 11 and 12 km markers and there was still no sign of her. I cheered on the other St Germain runners as I went past and their shouts of encouragement in return were most welcome. I finally caught Laurence at 13 km and wished her good luck as I ran past. 2 km later, I passed Muriel and Catherine and I looked at my watch at this point 1:01 for 15km, I was going well and very pleased.

The last 3 km were the hardest as we left the forest again and hit the open road, slightly uphill to finish. I concentrated on trying to catch a couple of men runners ahead of me at this point but I was too spent to make any more efforts. Past the 18km marker and a final burst to the finish: all up in 1:14:48 at an average speed of 14.5 km/h. This was a good performance when the uphill is also considered of almost 300m. 66th position and 23 V1 out of 1713 men.

Laurence finished in 1:35:47 in 120th position in the women's race. She was also pleased with her run and the race.

Profile of the course shown here:

Short Maisons Laffitte run

It's the weekend and the work still hasn't let up but I managed to take a few minutes to go running with Henry around my old route through Maisons Laffitte and the park

Henry had the choice of the town or the forest route and since he's now an urban teenager, the town route it was. This is my old 7.7 km path down to the Seine, behind the castle, back through the park and skirt around the back of Maisons Laffitte to Leader Price and then home past the cemetary.

I was pleased to see that we went through 2 km in 11:00 and then we slowed slightly to do 4km in 23:30. All around the loop in 44:59 and not one complaint from Henry about any pains or the run itself. Praise the Lord - a miracle !!

Maisons Laffitte run

Another busy week in perspective, causing me to miss all of the training runs with the club this week. I've had to programme in my early morning runs again between business travel arrangements just so that I don't lose out on the mileage front.

Left at 7:00 am on the early morning route around Maisons Laffitte park in the dark. I felt good from the outset and was happy to be running since the last training on Sunday. I went through 2 km in 8:31 and felt very easy and comfortable. I wondered how long this would last, but wasn't worried as my main objective was to enjoy myself. I seemed to have too many races planned at the moment: 1 per weekend for the next 3 weekends and I need to go easier on the mid-week training.

I left the park in 27:10 and I knew that this time was one of my best over this course. I had been chasing another runner through some of the streets through the park and was disappointed when he turned off my route before I could catch him.

I relaxed running back through Maisons Laffitte and up to Leader Price where I looked at my watch again: 34:34. I know that it takes under 11 minutes to run back from this point and that my PB for the course was 35:xx so I thought that I'd be in with a chance if I pushed it. So push it I did, clocking a 17.8 km/h running down the hill to the town hall and then a steady 15.5 km/h over the last kilometre back to the house.

45:12 all up for 11.1 km so an average of 4:03 / km. Felt good all of the way round and set a new PB over the course, beating my previous record set in September by 5 seconds. Interesting to note how much faster I finished today compared to the last record run.

Toto Vermet

Toto Vermet was the first president of St Germain's running club and every year there is a cross country race organised by the club for all members in memory of him and his contribution to the founding of the association.

Laurence had decided that another run after last night's efforts was too much and she went back to bed after I left with Nick this morning for the race. The race was to take place in the St Germain forest over a 3 km circuit for which the ladies had to run 1 loop and the men 2 loops.

We warmed up for the race by running slowly to the start from the clubhouse and then running one loopof the course to show everyone the circuit. So, a 5 km warm-up before we'd even started racing. It was a warm day and I stripped off down to my running vest as I was already sweating buckets after the warm-up. All the serious competition was there: Jean-Marc, Thierry, Francisco, Bruno and some others that I didn't recognise. I joked around with Nick before the start and he told me that his initial tactic was to stay with me until I tired (probably quickly after last night's race) and then beat me to the line. He decided against this as he knows that I tend to start fast and he would probably explode before he could start his sprint for the line !!

The gun went and I did start fast as the course was slightly downhill to begin with and I felt good. This feeling was to fade rapidly though and by halfway on the first loop, I could feel how tired my legs were and I had nothing to respond with as Bruno and Fred went past. I was in 7th place now and this was how it would stay until the end. The gap between Bruno and me grew and I finished the first loop in 11:19.

The second loop was worse and all the uphills became a painful exercise for the legs and I just wanted it all to end. As I was on the last km of the race I could hear footsteps approaching from behind and it was all I could manage to put in a little extra effort to stop the runner from coming past me. I finished the course in 23:34 for 6.05 km so at an average pace of 3:56 per km. Not bad after last night's efforts and just enough to hold Nick off who finished not long after me.

Still no place on the podium with a trio of very good veterans ahead of me: Francisco, Thierry, and Bruno. If I had been on form, I should have been able to give Bruno a good run for his money. Another target for the next race.

Photo of Bruno beating Fred in a sprint finish. You can just see me as a dot on the far left of the photo, 40 seconds behind !

Montfort l'Amaury - Les flambeaux

My first race in the dark and what an experience. Laurence, Anne and I arrived at Montfort l'Amaury about an hour before the start and picked up our numbers ready for the race.We waited in the warmth of the gym before the race started and looked at the growing number of runners preparing for the event. 2 races had been organised, the first, over 18km with 400 participants, set off at 8:00 pm and the second, over 10km with 300 entries, 15 minutes later. To further complicate matters, in the 10km race there were runners and walkers.

We listened carefully to the brief and then went outside to line up at the start. The start line was at the foot of the town and the route set off up through the town to the towers. The route was lit by flaming torches and the sight of this initial climb was most spectacular.

The gun went off and I started easily. My race plan was to take it very steadily over the start of the race and not to tire myself on the climbs. I would then see how I felt and take it from there later on. The first climb was very steep and the roads through the town were slippy from the drizzle that had been falling during the afternoon. The streets were cobbled which didn't help at all. At the top we ran past the towers and then down the steps back through the town before heading out on another road that was a long drag back out of the valley.

Having taken it easy to begin with, but having managed to avoid the bottlenecks too, I now began to pick up places as we ran along the road. The road then became a muddy path and visibility even with the headlamps was poor. The sight of hundreds of headlamps bobbing along through the night was very pretty and the whole atmosphere was quite special. I settled into a comfortable pace and was still picking up places regularly, catching runners who had set off too fast and were now paying the price. The terrain was varied from flat to steep downhills followed by steep uphills, all of which took a heavy toll on the legs.

By 5 km, I reckoned I was in the top 15 places and was chasing down a small group of 4 in front of me. It was here that disaster struck. We hit a sharp incline and I pushed the pace to catch them on the hill, by the top I was just behind but then we hit a road at the top and the way wasn't clear. We asked a marshal whcih way to go and if we were on the right route for the 18 km race. She replied in a positive manner and we followed the road down the hill. It was now apparent that this wasn't the route and we had a further 50 runners who had followed us making the same mistake.

We carried on back into town and around to the track where we had begun the race. We had run over 8 km by now and it was obvious that the race was finished for us. There was some discussion as to what to do and I set off back on the 10 km loop with some other runners just as a training run. We quickly caught the walkers on the 10km loop as they had set off 15 minutes after us. I pushed the pace and left the rest of the group behind with just 1 runner following me closely. We then began to catch the tailenders of the 10 km race and the fun began. They were really enthusiastic about the obstacles, shouting "Careful mud!" or "Watch the barrier", "Hole" etc. We overtook them and I had an amazing impression of speed as we flew past on narrow paths in the middle of the night.

The rest of the run was very good, with some great paths through the forest in the middle of the night. I completed the 10 km course in 1:18:10 having completed 16.36km. There was some discussion with the organisers as to the marshal who had left his position causing us to miss the turn on the hill, but there was nothing to be done. Very frustrating but unfortunate.

Laurence and Anne finished the course in 2:02; Laurence having lost her shoe at some point in the process causing Anne to light up the mud bath while Laurence went fishing !

We'll be back next year to do the race again properly and I might have a shout at achieving a podium if I find the route around next time.

Picture of the route with the marker showing where I ran straight on instead of turning right.

Back to the park

Woke up this morning and wondered why on earth the alarm had gone off so early. Then I came to gradually and remembered that I was supposed to be going for an early morning run. I put my running kit on, including an extra warm top so that I was prepared to face the cold and went outside.

It was still pitch black outside so I turned the headlamp on and headed down to the river. My legs felt heavy from the interval session so I decided very early on that I would just take it easy and enjoy the run. The 2 km mark was passed in 8:36 so despite all my efforts, I couldn't bear not to look at the Garmin. The rest of the run was very steady though. I left the park in 27:51, which was fairly average and this was the last time that I looked at the watch.

I remember running up the road towards Leader Price thinking that even the slightest hill was painful to climb so what would this Saturday's race be like. Laurence and I entered the 18km night trail at Montfort l'Amaury yesterday and then read some of the accounts of last year's run on the web. Good job we didn't read these first as we may never have entered !

Anyway, a quick run down the hill to the town hall and a good pace to finish. 11 km all up in 46:51 so no great shakes. Conclusion: still too warm to necessitate 2 running tops - far too hot and uncomfortable; 4:16 per km feels comfortable now.

Bank holiday Tuesday

The club session for today had been set for a 9:00 am start due to the bank holiday today in France. Laurence had persuaded Anne to take part so Nick and Anne picked us up this morning to take us to St Germain.

Luckily the wind had calmed this morning since lat night it had been blowing a gale and frankly during the night there were times when we wondered whether the roof would stay on the house. Laurence heard a few tiles moving during the night and slept badly as a result. When we checked this morning, everything appeared to be alright though.

It was an excellent turnout for this morning's session and a good 70 souls had decided to exercise rather than spend the morning in bed. The programme for the day was 7 x 1 minute twice. We set off easily and chatted to the usual faces as we warmed up over the first 4.5 km. The hard work then began and I tried to stay in the leading group with Thierry, Francisco, Miguel - the trainer, and Bruno. There were a couple of other faces who were also pushing at times and the competition was fierce.

The first set of 7 were extremely tough and I was very tired when we finished this block. According to the Garmin, I managed to achieve 25 km/h during the first set on intervals 3 and 4. This was the impact of Miguel who was pushing Thierry and Francisco and both Bruno and I were hanging on due to sheer determination only.

The second set was less rapid as I was already spent by then. The big hill on interval n° 3 didn't help either. My heart rate must have maxed at this point and for once it would have been interesting to have a cardio on to see what I got to. Anyway it was a relief to finish the set and to jog back to the clubhouse with Nick.

Laurence and Anne had had a good time and Anne had enjoyed her first session with the club, chatting easily to the other members. Highlight of the morning was having breakfast afterwards at Nick and Anne's house, relaxing with a nice coffee.

15.3 km all up in 1:28. Nice way to spend a bank holiday morning.

Guest speaker - Nice to Cannes Marathon

Paul's account of the Nice to Cannes Marathon deserved a lot more space than just a comment on the back of one of my daily entries, so I've introduced the concept of a "guest speaker" message and this one is dedicated to Paul.

"Marathon Alpes Maritimes

Nice to Cannes – 42.195 KM

Since the day after Prague Marathon in May i decided i would do another marathon this year with the objective to crack 3 hours 30. The Nice Cannes marathon was in its first year and was attractive given the route following the Cote D’azur and of course being reasonably accessible to Paris.

Training seemed to go quite well – a long run every weekend during September and most of October, 2 or 3 other weekly runs combining pace and intervals. I also competed in Paris Versailles and Saint Denis half marathon posting times of just under 1 hour 10 (13.99 kmh) and 1.29.58 (14.07 kmh) respectively. Surely i was prepared!

Allie and the kids provided my support team and we arrived in Nice on Saturday for the Sunday run and spent a nice afternoon and evening in sunny weather and temperatures around 16 degrees. I slept a little restlessly and had the normal dreams of missing the start and forgetting my shoes.

The morning brought clear skies and whilst a little cold first thing the temperature was rising steadily as the start approached – my plan was a first half in about 1h 38 and then 1h 50 for the second.

I settled after the first couple of KM into a steady rhythm (13 kmh ) running about 50 metres behind the 3h 15 flag man – this would take me through the half in the pace i wanted – the 5, 10, 15 km marks were all well on target and i felt pretty comfortable. Just before half way Allie and the kids were road side and handed me my hat (which was now quite necessary) and extra rations. I went through the half in 1 :38:57 and was pleased. The course at this point got a little more difficult – it was marketed as flat but around the CAP D’Antibes it reared up with a number of short but seemingly stiff hills – although it did also provide the view of the day looking back over the bay towards Nice with the snow capped mountains sitting behind – absolutely stunning.

The 25 k feed station was at the start of a hill and perhaps this was the point at which i felt my legs for the first time. However my pace remained good and upto 30 km i was solid and clocked 2:24:30

Then i crumbled!!

It was a fairly rapid tightening starting at the hips and the back of the thighs and i struggled to keep a good pace i was still calculating for 3:30 and was hoping to give myself an hour for the last 10 k – at 32 km i had 54minutes! In my head i knew that was now a tall ask and a short rise to go over the railway lines at about 34 km felt like a mountain. From the 35 km feed station i was under no illusions that i would miss my target but i was hanging in at 10-10.5 kmh and grimacing a lot. The final sections before hitting the Croisette in Cannes seemed to take forever, i went through 3:30:00 exactly at the 41 km line, but the crowds on the croisette were brilliant it was like a mountain top stage in the tour de France. A wave to Allie and the kids in the last 500 metres , a red carpet finish and 3:37:23 – really disappointed with a new PB !

I would say that the course was great, really enjoyable and scenic, and the crowds were numerous and very supportive. The centre of each town provided a real spring to my step with the encouragement. And as a first effort the organisers got pretty much everything right.

Anyway back to the drawing board on how to maintain my pace for longer."

Thanks for the detail Paul. Great run and a very similar experience to mine. We need to work on the longer runs still prior to the next marathon attempt if we're to break our objectives.

Sunday run

Went to bed too late last night, so it was a real effort to motivate Laurence and myself to leave the comfort of the duvet and our bed this morning to go for a run. In fact, we spent so long debating who was going to get up first that we almost never made it at all to the 9:15 am rendez-vous.

I jogged up to the church with Laurence and I could already feel the tiredness in my legs from yesterday's run. I was hoping that Nick would be tired as well so that we could take it easy but it just wasn't to be. As we ran up Rue de la Marne, we saw Nick and Anne ahead so I sped up to join them as they jogged slowly along. Nick was in fine form and had run everyday this week, so running slowly today wasn't going to be a problem for him: the problem was elsewhere.

We were 8 at the start: Nick, Anne, Laurence, Louise, Ralf, Sophie, Philippe and myself. We set off at a moderate pace and then Nick and I sped up a little with Philippe just behind. It was the usual tactics, understand by both of us, of racing to the barrier at 5km and taking the second half of the course easily. We got to the barrier in a record speed of 21:27, leaving Philippe about 50m behind by then.

Philippe took his revenge on the second part of the course when he pushed the pace most of the way around and I had to work hard just top stay with him. A quick blast at the end and I finished at around 16km/h. It was a good run considering yesterday's efforts. 13 km all up.

Saw Paul's marathon time on the web this evening for Nice - Cannes and he managed 3:37 which he will probably be disappointed with. Judging from the splits, he was bang on schedule until 30km and then tired at the end. Hard luck Paul on the objective - missing by 7 minutes isn't so bad: I can tell you about it !! Feel free to comment. Would love to have your news on the race.

Long Saturday run

It's been a busy week at work and I seem to have spent most of the week having big business lunches or dinners with different business contacts this week.


I got up this morning and knew that I'd put on wait what with the dining out and the lack of training. There was only one solution - a long Saturday run without breakfast and burn into the fat reserves that had built up.


I grabbed an orange juice from the kitchen before I left and then headed outside into a cool, bright morning. I had decided to run 2 loops of the usual Sunday run course, intending to run just over 22km to get back into some long run training since it was now almost 2 weeks since the marathon. I intended to run these fairly easily, working my way back into it and just seeing how I would fare.

I headed up the road towards the forest, my head full of thoughts about work and the tasks that lie ahead. In fact, it was a combination of early morning tiredness and preoccupation with the job that meant that I ran 2 km before really waking up and seeing how I was doing. The recent rain didn't help either as the horse track in the forest was very heavy underfoot and it was a bit of a slog avoiding the largest puddles and the heaviest, sandiest areas. As soon as that section was over, I stretched out a little and enjoyed the sunlight filtering through the trees.

I felt very easy all of the first loop and I knew that I was running well. I passed Thierry Mazoyer from the club on his morning run and we encouraged each other as we passed. I managed the first loop in 48:30 so it was confirmed that I was running well. With Nick we usually do this in around 48 minutes but this time I'd run an extra 1 km to get to the forest to begin with.

The second loop was harder than the first. I could feel that my legs were tiring now and a few niggles began to show themselves: a tension at the top of the right thigh in the groin area and a sore left foot, convincing me that as soon as I have a few euros (that the tax man doesn't grab from me - as is his wont in France at the end of the year), I will invest in a new pair of trainers.

Despite this, I carried on and went though the half-marathon mark in 1:29:40. I was thrilled as I was still running at my marathon pace in training. I must surely be capable of going sub-3 with a little more endurance ! I got back home in 1:36:29 for 22.7 km - an average of 4:13 per km or 14.1km/h. Felt good then; shattered now !

Lunchtime workout

It's been a quiet week on the running front and a very busy week on the work front hence the lack of messages on the blog this week.

On Tuesday, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get out to the Tuesday night session with the club so I asked F-X if he wanted to go for a lunchtime run around the Grouchy castle grounds. Luckily, he had his kit with him so we set off for a run from the swimming pool with the idea of doing a 10km run.

I told him that I was still recovering from the marathon so we weren't to run too fast and we then promptly set off down the hill at warp 9. I wasn't too aware of the pace until we passed in front of Grouchy castle and F-X asked if we shouldn't slow down a little. I looked at the Garmin to see 1.94 km in 7:45 or something close. We were averaging around 15 km/h when we were supposed to be taking it easy. We eased off a little from then on but the pace was still brisk. The day was ideal for a run: gloriously sunny, just warm and bright blue skies lighting up the Autumn leaves on the trees in the castle grounds.

On the third lap, F-X had to stop or slow down for a breather and he told me to continue and that he'd catch me up. I carried on back to the swimming pool and stopped the watch: 9.4 km in 38:51 so an average of 4:08 per km or 14.5 km/h. Not really the relaxing training I was expecting but I was really pleased to find that I was happy training at this speed.

Shame I couldn't enjoy a power-nap to recover in the office that afternoon !

Sunday classic

Just the usual Sunday run through the forest with the gang before heading back to the house to celebrate Henry's birthday today.

Since it was the holidays, the turnout was a little smaller than usual with only Ralf, Louise, Philippe Gendre and Laurence along for the ride. Ralf had to run the long loop since nobody was prepared to do the short-cut with him today as Pierre-Henri was away ! He suffered as a consequence and wasn't comfortable running with Philippe and me despite us slowing a little. I don't often run with Philippe but he has a lot of potential and with some more training could be a far better runner than me. Anyway, we enjoyed the normal Sunday loop getting to the barrier in 23:12 before running back to pick up Louise and Laurence.

We took the second half of the course easily bumping into Paul part way through, out training for one of his last runs before the Nice - Cannes Marathon next Sunday. Best of luck to him as he tries to beat 3:30 over the course. Speaking to him afterwards, I am convinced that he will do it, bar an incredible upset on the day, as he went under 1:30 for the half-marathon a few weeks ago. I was told a nice rule the other day to work out potential times: every distance that you double, take off 1 km/h. For Paul, this works out at a 3:15 marathon which seems feasible. McMillan says 3:09:54 which seems a little optimistic. Best of luck anyway Paul.

I enjoyed the end of the run particularly as Philippe ran ahead up the last slope and pushed the pace. I think that he thought he would show me as I had said I was still recovering from the marathon. I wouldn't let him go though and caught him up and then pushed hard until the finish, catching Ralf in the process. Philippe finished a good 90 seconds after me ;o)

I can't let that competitive instinct go, even in training !

Easy Saturday

Still not back into a full running schedule after last weekend's marathon. I decided that I would take it easy on my legs (not so easy mentally that's for sure) by taking Henry out on his weekly 7 km run through the forest.

We set off easily but he had already started moaning after 500m. He complained that we were going to fast and I had to reassure him that we were not. We went through the first kilometre in 5:48 which was proof that the pace was definitely not too strenuous for him ! By 2km, Henry was complaining of a stitch and a sore stomach so we slowed down again. This was to continue for the rest of the course but during the intervals when he felt alright, he was able to show a good turn of speed.

We finished the 7.2 km in 42:14 so not a record for him but a better than average performance and one that I hope he will soon improve on.