Corrida de Houilles

I woke up this morning disappointed. The sore throat that had been niggling me last night had not disappeared but had gotten worse during the night and I was feeling down. This couldn't be classed as a real "man cold" but it was serious enough to depress me and to put me off the race today. Even a great curry at lunch time from Jamie Oliver's new book wasn't enough to cure the problem. Only one solution, if I wasn't fit enough to attempt a PB over 10km for me then I'd ensure that Laurence did everything in her power to achieve hers.

And that was it; the decision was taken; my attempts at a new PB for 10km before the year ended were over but a new attempt for Laurence was on. Laurence's record over the distance stood at 49:50 in Vincennes in June and I was sure that she was capable of doing better. The main problem is a lack of belief in her ability and then having structured training to achieve her goals. The training has improved markedly with the interval sessions at the club which has built up her resistance and her pace over the shorter distances. This was the first race to see the progress that had been made.

The race was at 4:30 pm and the conditions were dry, bright but very cold with the thermometer hanging around the 0°C point. Just under 500 runners were tkaing part in the main race which was only open to club runners who could run 10km in under 50:00 for men and 60:00 for women. There were some high class runners taking part too: Micah Kogo, Edwin Cheruiyot Soi, Jaouad Gharib amongst the men and Sylvia Kibet and Christelle Daunay amongst the women. The gun went and we were hard pushed to find a rhythm with the narrow streets to begin with. Laurence was running agressively, pushing her way through the runners and so I followed anxious that she was going to burn out too quickly if she started too fast. We had 3 loops to manage through the streets of Houilles and in the first kilometre was the 350m uphill that would take us to the highest point of the route.

Laurence managed the hill easily and we were cheered by Miguel at the top, who was out to encourage the St Germain runners. We were already up on the schedule as I had fixed a time of 4:52 per km into the Garmin and after 1km we were 12 seconds up. This continued for the rest of the first loop where Laurence ran 4:49, 4:27, 4:32 for the first 3km respectively. The second loop also began well and we could hear the tannoys announcing the progress of the first group of runners who were now chasing us down. They went past at 8km for them or almost 5 km for us. They were beautiful to watch. It just looked so easy as they ran past at over 21 km/h. This seemed to encourage Laurence and she picked the pace up again chasing 2 female runners in front with matching yellow T shirts and another female vet just ahead. We went past them but as we began the 3rd and final loop, they came past us up the hill.

This was probably the low point of the race for Laurence as I could see that she had given almost everything. She was red from the exertion and I remember only too well the feeling around 6 - 7k when you wonder if it's worth bothering. I tried to encourage her through this section and then to stretch out afterwards on the downhills. The 2 yellow T's were out of reach by now but Laurence caught the third female in red and then stuck with her over the final sections.

She lost her in the last 400m as Laurence maintained her pace and the other lady accelerated towards the finishing line but that wasn't important now: all that counted was the time. She crossed the line and stoppped the watch: 47:58. A new PB and a great time considering the hill in the course. I'm convinced that she can improve by another 30 seconds easily over a flat course.

Full race stats are as follows:

4:49, 4:27, 4:32, 4:37, 4:51, 4:44, 4:54, 5:01, 4:47, 4:44

Anyway, I was very proud and enjoyed running the course with her, possibly more than when I'm busting a gut by myself ! Will try and do this more often next year.

Well done love - I hope this encourages you to run more races next year.

P.S. I almost forgot: winner (Micah Kogo) finished in 28:04 and first woman (Sylvia Kibet) in 31:50. First time that I've been lapped by a woman over a 3 lap course !

Matrimonial bliss

Took the day off work today to make the most of the Christmas break. To truly benefit from the day, I went running with Laurence to Chateau du Val through the forest.

We set off at a steady pace and I couldn't help but reminisce on those days when we first went out together and Laurence would sometimes come running with me. In those days, she would begin by putting on at least 5 layers of clothing so that she didn't feel the cold, slip on an old pair of grotty trainers and jog around, breathing only through the nose so as to avoid a stitch. I would always despair, tell her to speed up, to move her legs faster and finally we would inevitably fall out with Laurence telling me that she would never, ever go running with me again.

Those days are long gone and nowadays Laurence is fitter than ever and running faster than I was able to in those early days. Luckily I've improved too or I wouldn't be able to keep up and my male pride would be forever tarnished. We were running at a steady 12 km/h with every kilometre taking a fraction over 5 minutes. The morning was lovely: crisp and dry and the forest had a great wintery feel to it.

Laurence ran well and is a natural road-runner. The sections over the tracks and up through the woods were harder for her and she slowed a little on the pace over these sections. We arrived back at the house after 7.1 km in 36:36. I was then that she announced that her record for the course was 36:15 - if I'd have known beforehand then we could have broken that today without any problem.

Lovely run, very relaxing and a real pleasure to accompany my wife.

Wednesday off

Making the most of Christmas time by having a well-deserved day off work today. Only going back on Monday so the prospect of a nice, long weekend is brilliant and cheering me up immensely.

I set out on the Maisons Laffitte town circuit which I used to do regularly when I was training for the marathon. Since I've been attending the club sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights, I've tended to run this route a lot less so it was quite a pleasure to go out and blast this one today.

I left the house just after 8:00 am and it was a really foggy day with visibility down to 400 metres. It was just beginning to get light so I left the headlamp in the drawer and set off. Temperature was about 5°C so ideal weather for running.

The legs felt great from the start. I could tell that my stride lengths were long and that the pace was going easily. I felt fantastic and all of the recent stress from work began to leave me. I went through 2km in 8:13 and then maintained the pace through the park, leaving the park in 26:31.

I began to feel that I could now beat my PB at this point as I thought that my best was somewhere around this time and I was still feeling strong. I then forgot about the time as I ran the next 2 - 3 km and jsut enjoyed it, pushing up the hills through town and along the roads, thinking about the race this weekend.

At 10km, I looked at my watch again: 40:48, now I knew that I would beat my PB and ran strongly over the last kilometre to finish the course in 44:43 for 11.1 km or 4:02 per km. Beat the previous record by 30 seconds: amazing !!

What a way to end the year !

Sunday stroll

It was the usual Sunday route through the forest of St Germain starting from the Mesnil le Roi church. Laurence and I arrived at 9:15 and met up with Pierre-Henri, Sophie, Louise and Ralph.
Since Nick was away skiing this morning at the Stade de France (!!), I thought that I would run with Laurence and Louise and just take it easy.

We set off very slowly and I jogged alongside the women listening to the conversation. I can't understand how they can run and talk quite so incessantly while doing so. Anyway, they were not running very fast so I decided that I would head off and run at my own pace. My legs were extremely heavy after yesterday's run and also Thursday night's session. It was hard to pick up the pace above 14km/h so I forced my self to run as fast as possible and to get the legs used to stretching out in order to get them functioning properly again.

I ran to the half-way point on the loop and then headed back to meet Laurence and Louise. Thierry had joined the group with Sophie, P-H and Ralph and was jogging easily with them. I picked up the ladies as they ran along and then ran with them for 5 minutes before heading off at my own pace again.

Kilometre times went as follows:

6:01; 5:51; 4:32; 4:26; 4:13; 4:40; 5:30; 5:05; 4:23; 4:06; 4:19; 4:10

All of the sections over 5 minutes per kilometre were when accompanying the girls. What is unusual looking at the Garmin analysis is to see the average speed higher than the max speed over the lap. This is obviously a mistake and shows the problems of the instantaneous speeds on the Garmin, especially when running steadily.

Looking forward to an easy week now before the race on Sunday. Going to need some rest if I'm to pull off a reasonable time.

Long Saturday

I think it was all due to the sight of my weight gradually increasing every time that I stood on the scales that finally decided me to go out for a long run this weekend. My weight has increased from below 75kg to just above 77kg recently and something had to be done. The lack of swimming due to an increased workload hasn't helped either. I called Nick and asked him if he was interested in a long run and since he seems to have gone down with the same symptoms; a long run it was.

We set off slowly through the forest on the usual Sunday training route. It was pretty muddy underfoot and it was difficult to run comfortably along the horse tracks. I was further weighed down with the camelbak, carrying over a litre of water, some gel and some emergency biscuits. Nick had a water bottle on him too, but had nothing on the energy front. The initial pace was just below 12 km/h, as I'd promised that we were going for a long run and that the apce didn't matter. As we finished the first circuit though and started heading off on the second bigger loop, we'd increased our speed to 12.5 km/h, running each kilometre in just under 4:50.

Neither of us had run over 20km in several weeks, so being a little cautious, I called a quick break at 15km where we shared a gel and took some liquid on board. Off again towards St Germain Castle now and the pace increased suddenly to 4:31 for a km as the gel began to take effect.

Past St Germain castle and the Place Royale and a long run downhill towards the Seine where we crossed the bridge to Le Pecq and Montesson. This was a welcome relief as we coasted down the hill, looking at some other runners as they struggled in the opposite direction. We went through the half-marathon mark and Nick announced that it was his 4th fastest semi ever in 1:42. We were both tiring by now and so we stopped for the emergency rations and wolfed down the biscuits from the rucksack. Back along the Seine to Sartrouville and Maisons Laffitte before running back along the river to home.

Good run of 29.3 km in 2:22 so an average speed of 12.3 km/h or 4:52 per km. Most importantly 2139 calories eliminated. Christmas dinner is feasible now !

Maxing out

Well it was always going to be hard, especially after everyone having taken it very easily on Tuesday, but Miguel planned a real devil of a session: 1000m fast, 2000m, 2000m, 800m fast off 300m recoveries.

We ran the warm-up around the usual route in St Germain and headed back to the track for the hard stuff. Laurence and Nick were there along with the fastest runners: Jean-Marc, Thierry, Bruno and Miguel.

We set off on the 1km course and I went for it as though it was a race. The others didn't understand and took it easily at first, following me around the first 400m. Miguel and Jean-Marc went past then and I tried to follow but they put a few metres on me over the next 400m and it was over the last 200m that I put on a burst and finished the 1000m in 3:16. I was shattered, having given everything.

Miguel then told me that we'd run the next 2km at 3:30 pace. I told him that I couldn't and he replied that that was 15 seconds per kilometre slower than we'd just run. They set off, Miguel, Jean-Marc and Thierry, but I couldn't follow. I dropped off after 200m and tried to find a comfortable pace to finish. I managed the 2km in 7:30 precisely.

The second 2km was even harder mentally to envisage. I could feel my legs tightening from the beginning with the lactate levels rising. I just found a cruising pace and forced myself to keep running despite the fatigue. Bruno went ahead of me here and I just hang on to him overtaking him over the last 200m to finish a couple of seconds ahead of him. This one was slower again though and I only managed 7:40 for the 2km.

This was when I found out that there was still another 800m interval to run. Completely spent now, I walked, crawled the recovery and set off for another 2 laps. I couldn't stay with Bruno or Thierry on this one though and just hang on as best I could to finish in around 2:50.

Very hard but satisfying session: 12km all up.

Easy Tuesday

Tuesday's session would have been a lot easier if I hadn't been so stressed about arriving for the session on time. Another busy day at work meant that I arrived at the club 15 minutes late and so I had to get changed in the car and chase off looking for the rest of the runners.

The planned session was an easy 45 minute run and I found the group by running the warm-up route backwards until I bumped into them.

We ran around St Germain twice and then a few loops around the playing fields totalling 7.25km in 43:46 - nice and gentle.

Corrida d'Issy les Moulineaux

Race day - and what a miserable day it was too. First the alarm rang at 7:10 am and I wondered where on earth I was. My mouth was dry, a slight headache as I moved, a distinct lack of sleep and I felt in no state to run a race. So much for partying the night before a race, must remember never to do that again. Laurence was in the same state and it was with great difficulty that I managed to get her out of bed at all this morning.

We got the boys up and into their running kit too as they were taking part in the first race of the day at 9:00 am. Our race was scheduled at 10:00 am which left us with slightly longer to shake off the previous night's excesses.

We managed to get to Issy on time which was a miracle in itself and the boys lined up on the start line with 312 other youngsters ready to run 3km. The weather was slightly warmer than the last couple of days, thank goodness, but there was a slight drizzle and it was decidely grey. They set off at a steady pace, not letting themselves be carried off by the enthusiasm that grips most of the kids, sprinting desperately for 300m before collapsing into a state of utter exhaustion. Nick and I walked around to the finish to see them arrive and sure enough after not even 10 minutes the first boy came in 42 seconds ahead of the field to finish in 10:00 precisely. This boy has class, so look out for Emmanuel Roudolff in the future, and remember that you heard about him here first !! Antoine, a firend of Paul's, came in first out of our children, followed by Alex, Nick's son, and then Henry and Paul running together. I thought that it was unusual that Henry was so far back in the field, finishing in 15:41. After the race, I touched his forehead, which was raging hot; he had gone down with a good bout of cold.

We lined up for our race next, a 6 km course comprising of 2 loops (the same 2 that the kids had done earlier). I didn't have a very good starting position as there were many people in front of me. The gun went and the first difficulty was avoiding the runner who went down in front of me. There was a little jostling but the road widened and I was able to get into my stride quickly without being too hampered by the other runners. I caught up with Nick after about 500m and waved as I went past. I would have spoken some words of encouragement, but I was already out of breath and concentrating on maintaining a reasonable speed. I looked at my watch as the autolap beeped the first kilometre: 3:34. Not too bad, now I had to keep this speed until the finish.

The race didn't evolve much for me from this point on. I was about 35th in the race and a small group of runners were ahead. I felt that I was in no-man's land for most of the race as they were too far ahead to go and chase and the runners behind maintained their distance. The course was pretty flat and so it was a bit of a surprise to feel a slight downhill from the 2 to 3 km markers. I wondered where we'd gained the height in the first place ! I told myself that I'd have to look more closely on the second lap.

The second lap was quick too and before long I had passed the 5km marker and the group in front of me was beginning to disintegrate. Two of the runners were marines and I concentrated on closing them down. I pushed the pace slightly now, telling myself that it was now or never and that the finish was almost in sight. I passed them and they couldn't follow, clearly tiring visibly from the initial speed. A last effort around the final bends and I could hear a runner behind me putting on a sprint finish. I sprinted too but was too tired now to put all my heart into it. The runner behind me pipped me to the line - damn !

Finishing time was 23:02 and the Garmin stated 6.47 km. Nick finished 18 places behind in 23:51, having managed to beat a guy to the line in his sprint.

Laurence and Anne ran together and finished a great race in 29:41 finishing in 6th and 7th places in their respective categories. Laurence was really pleased with her time, and deservedly so. Anne measured the course at 6.30 km which was probably more accurate than mine.

My splits were as follows:

3:34; 3:18; 3:40; 3:42; 3:40; 3:33; 1:38 (3:30)

The second kilometre is definitely a mistake and I was more likely just under 3:40 at this stage. I was pleased with the times as I averaged under 3:40 per kilometre which was my objective. Good course, good organisation - more food and fruit at the end would have been appreciated. We'll be back next year!

P.S. Just checked route on Gmap and it is precisely 6.30 km, which means that my average speed was 3:39 per km - excellent. Very pleased. Nick will be pleased with his average too at 3:47 per km.

Easy Thursday

Miguel stated that it was a rest day on Thursday - so rested we did.

The plan was to go and run for 45 minutes very easily around town. We set off to St Germain, as for the direction of the normal warm up run for the evening sessions. The usual warm-up takes just under 30 minutes to run 4.5km, so very easy. Since tonight's aim was to run for 45 minutes, we had to find a further 15 minute course to make up the difference.

John set out in front. This is quite ironic since John is usually quite close to the back in the races, yet here he was in training storming away at the front of the field. OK, so storming is an exageration, but John was having fun at the front finding the route and dictating the pace. We finished up by running a good route into St Germain, then out under the railway line to the Lycée International, down to the pony club and then back through the forest along the tarmac path. It took just over 50 minutes which made a few people moan, but I was happy with the relaxing run but also a little disappointed in that I felt I hadn't done enough.

When we got back to the track, I set off by myself running 400m circuits at ever increasing speed until I ran the last at about 15.5 km/h pace. Miguel had then decided that we would do some sprints up and down the pitch 10 times. I was at the front and determined to stay there so what was supposed to be an easy session turned into quite a gruelling work-out by the end.

Great session with about 12 km all up.

Tuesday session

Tough one tonight with Miguel having posted a 10x400m session for the evening.

We did the warm-up session of 4.5km through St Germain and ran back to the track only to find that the surface was completely frozen and as close to being an ice-rink as, well an ice-rink I suppose.

Time to switch to Plan B and instead of running on the track we used the patch around the outside of the stadium. The 400m intervals were switched to 1minute intervals off 1 minute recoveries. The usual crowd were there with Miguel, Jean-Marc, Bruno, Franciso, Nick, Fabien and myself. I struggled to stay near the front and from rep 4 onwards I paid the price for Sunday's race, slowing a little and letting Bruno make a few metres on me on every rep.

Good workout, and made me decide to take it easy now for the rest of the week until Sunday's race in Issy. 11.5km all up.

Easy Monday

Took it easy running around Hexham with Laurence before catching the plane home to France.

Good little bit of exercise in an attempt to burn off some of the calories from the excess of beers and curries I've been indulging in over here.

5.5 km in 29:24 - told you it was easy !! Lovely to run with Laurence though and the temperature was milder than of late. The path by the Tyne wasn't frozen and the only danger on the run was being threatened by a group of ducks who'd taken time out from swimming in the river to menacing passers-by with their beady little eyes.

St Germain Triathlon

Since both Laurence and I were in England this weekend, we missed our chance to take part in the annual St Germain triathlon organised during the telethon weekend.

Too bad, as there are 2 events per year organised by the swimming pool at St Germain, the first a relatively modest affair with about 150 participants that takes place in sunny September, when the tracks are dry, the crowds thin and the competition modest. The other takes place in cold December, in the dark, in the cold, in the mud, with almost 350 participants, and the competition is fierce. Wonder why we went away this weekend, missing out on the fun ... ?

Nick and Andy however were involved and Nick has written his view of the event, so let me hand over to him to explain in more detail how it went ...

"Only 10 Mesnilois this year which was a bit disappointing but good to see a few of the usual suspects with Andy, Didier K and Ralph all there.

A good start from Didier L who dropped half the team in the first 5 minutes but unfortunately for him the ride to the swimming pool doesn’t count in the final time. After a quick check that the swimming pool had water in it this year, we engaged in the traditional pre competition routine of comparing how much training hadn’t been done and swapping anecdotes about anti cramp remedies. As we were in the third and final departure, we watched the 2nd wave before us complete their stage in the pool and took great heart to see how many of them were doing breast stroke.

When our turn came, it was the usual all in American wrestling for the first 50 meters before some sort of natural order took place. My tactic this year was to take it easy in the pool which resulted in me exiting behind Andy and Ralph, as usual, and with a time of close to 11 minutes as usual!!

After a rapid change into my cycling gear, I stormed out of the changing rooms up the stairs to arrive back at the pool. After descending and going up the correct staircase somewhat less enthusiastically, I reached my bike at the same time as Fabien from the FSGL and gently made my way to the entrance of the forest. Here, there is perhaps the longest, flattest and fastest part of the course so it was into a high gear and time to ramp up the speed followed by a rapid deceleration after the first mouthful and eyeful of mud.

The marshal on the first corner warned us to take it easy as it was very slippy, something confirmed by the site of an ambulance crew attending to a fallen rider. I had a quick glance to check it wasn’t Andy. It wasn’t so I’d have to pedal faster if I wanted to beat him this year. The pace of the first couple of laps were governed very much by the traffic on the course but things got better as the stragglers from the first two waves finally started to finish.

As I completed the cycling stage I saw Andy beginning the run and I shouted out words of friendly encouragement. Note that this could also be interpreted as trying to intimidate him by letting him know I wasn’t far behind, but I wouldn’t do that. Probably.

As I began my own run, competitors from the first wave were cleaning their bikes, making the tiles outside the pool resemble a skating rink. Thanks lads. I got into a good pace fairly quickly going past a lot of people, probably from the 2nd wave. I knew I would need to see Andy at the top of the steep hill at the half way point if I wanted to catch him up but as there was no sign of him, I kept up a steady but non suicidal pace to finish in 1.26.12. Andy had finished about a minute and a half earlier. Next in was Fabien, then Ralph followed by the two Didier’s, Philippe and Henri with Martial and Axel rounding things off. Despite a difficult course, I’d improved my time nearly three minutes on last year and Andy by nearly 7 minutes. All in all a good way to spend a Saturday morning. I’ll be back. "

So there's the proof, if ever that was needed, that Nick is as masochistic as they come. He'll need some more swimming lessons and cycling practice if he's to catch Andy, now that Andy has started running seriously. Still, revenge could be on the cards very shortly if we can persuade Andy to take part in the 6km race at Issy this weekend. Busy Sunday Andy ?

Hexham Hobble

Another cold day and despite the late starting time for the race, the sun hadn't had time to warm up the countryside around Allendale before the race began.

Dad and Laurence came to watch the start of the race, Laurence having decided that it was too much to take part after all of the recent races we have done. We arrived at 10:15 and found James already prepared with his race number attached to his running vest. I queued up inside the fire station to be handed my race number and became a mini-sensation as they found I was registered with a French club. "Oh, it'll be another international race this year" as last year some unwitting Spaniard had turned up to take part on his way through the region.

I went back outside and found Nigel too was already kitted up and that Will had just arrived. There were about 140 participants in the race and at 11:00 am sharp the word was given and we set off down to the road to the village centre. Unfortunately, the downhill only lasted about 300m before we took a sharp left-hand turn across the grass and back on to a road heading East out of town. This road was a killer right from the word go: an arrow on the OS maps meaning that it was steep and this slowed the pace down immediately. I was running with James at this point and managed to keep ahead to the top of the first hill, only to be really disappointed as I saw that another steep hill lay in wait just behind. As we reached the left turn off this road and onto the track that would take us over the moors, James had gained a couple of metres over me and was treading confidently over the ice covering the track heading slightly uphill.

It was from here on that things began to go wrong for me: the ice to begin with meaning that my strides had to be shortened; the heather lining the track if you tried to avoid the ice; and then the snow, the ruts and the mud to complete the picture. I never really managed to get back into my stride from this point on. The hills were steep, the paths were difficult to negociate and the going was tough. I watched as James built a lead over me and then was helpless to latch on to another half a dozen other runners as they came past. It wasn't as though I gave up: a number of times I pushed the pace as a runner came past and I would hold on to get past them again only to lose them completely as the path went steeply uphill once more and the strength in my legs faded.

Rachel, the first lady overtook me after 13km following the last really steep uphill across the final stretch of moorland before the road. I thought that the final stretch of road was longer and that I would have a chance to get back to her but it wasn't to be. She finished about 5 seconds and 20m in front of me after 16.8 km of race.

Total time: 1:22:20 or 4:53 per km and 23rd place. James finished 2 minutes ahead of me exactly in 1:20:20 and Nigel almost 4 minutes behind me in 1:26:08. Will finished in 1:35 and was disappointed with his time as it was exactly the same time as his practise run over the same route a couple of months ago. The conditions were hard today and the times for the course were slower than in previous years.

I'll be sticking to the road in future and challenging the others to a race on my home ground !!
Lovely scenery, great weather: cold but bright and a good course - but it's not my scene. Impossible to get into a rhythm and just too damn hard. It's a bit like the comparison between road cycling and mountain biking - I'm just the road cyclist of the running scene.

Great to see everyone, including Antony who was also out supporting us all.

Full results here: http://www.northumberlandfellrunners.co.uk/html/raceresults/2008/15thHexHobble08.pdf

Saturday training

A lovely cool, crisp day in Hexham and Laurence decided that she wanted to make the most of the morning by going for a run down to Tyne Green. I fancied an easy jog before the race tomorrow and it was a great occasion to go for a run together.

We set off down the streets from Dad's new house and the roads were icy and treacherous. It was a very slippy affair. But soon we were heading down Battle Hill and down past the station to Tyne Green. Laurence announced that she wanted to run about 8 km but when we reached the end of the Green, we were feeling so good that we carried on to Warden. The paths were icy all the way beside the Tyne and the river was very full from the recent rain. We had no rain but a clear blue sky with only the slightest of breezes.

A quick jog up the hill from Warden and then back on the road past the Golf Club and the cemetary where we made a quick stop to go and visit Mum's grave. Mum would have been happy to know that we were exercising when we came to visit so it was with this thought in mind that we ran the last 2 km back to the house.

10.5 km all up in 58 minutes. A lovely start to the morning. We both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thursday training

Tough session down at the track tonight - 10 x 500m. I told myself that I had to go out and run these fast as punishment for not having done any training due to too much work for the rest of the week.

A quick warm up over 4km and then we were off for the session. Thierry and Francisco led the pace over the first 500m interval with Bruno and I trailing in their wake. We did the first 500m in 1:41 and then Bruno dropped away as he wasn't keen on taking this pace with me alongside him. I spen the rest of the session trying to keep up with Francisco and Thierry until the 7th interval where I was able to run ahead of them. Thierry was pulling in his calves and eased off after Sunday's half-marathon at Andrésy and Francisco was tiring.

They both came past me on the last interval where I had nothing left.

All up 11 km for the evening - good punishing session and I'm now ready for the weekend.

Intervals went as follows:

1:41, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:41, 1:43, 1:37