Long Sunday Run - LSR

This was to be the last long Sunday run before the taper for the marathon in 2 weeks time. I was really looking forward to it, a nice long run before 2 weeks rest. The normal route was planned over 33 km, and this too meant that I'd be running over 100k in 7 consecutive days.

We woke late since we been out at F-X's last night. We had a great evening where we talked about running and eaten and drunk well. Especially drunk: the Bollinger, the Puligny Montrachet, and the Moulis all went down very easily. The Aloxe Corton was frankly unnecesary, but we drank it all the same ! As a result, it was almost 9:00am when we woke and the thought of going for a long run was slightly less appealing than it had been yesterday. We headed out nonetheless.

I set out with Laurence beside me on the bike. It was very regular for the first 8 km when I was within 2 seconds of 4:30 per km for each kilometre. I slowed down going up Princess Road and it was there that we ran into (almost literally) the club doing some hill training. Most of the runners were there: Jean-Marc leading José, Nico and Régis. Bruno trailing a little behind. Miguel was training the group and he greeted us as we went past. I pushed harder to finish the hill and then it was a right turn towards St Gemme and the prettiest part of the route through the forest.

The forest is magnificent at the moment with the trees taking on their autumn colours. It was nice to run through this part of the forest when the sun was out, the temperature mild and the wind not to blustery. I sped up a little here completing the kilometres in around 4:20. It was only after St Gemme that we were more exposed to the wind and the going got tougher. Laurence was struggling too at this point. She had a bad stomach and being bent over on the bike wasn't helping. In fact, after St Nom on the road to St Germain, I actually wondered if she hadn't had an accident or had to do a "Paula". I was feeling relatively fresh here and my pace improved again as a consequence. I was running at 4:10 pace and then to 3:50 down the hill into St Germain. These sensations continued as far as the forest towards Le Mesnil and it was only at the 30 km mark that I began to lose energy.

This morning when we left, we had run out of isotonic solution, so I watered down some orange juice and put this in the Camelbak. I now know for sure that orange juice is not half as efficient as Decathlon's powder for maintaining energy while exercising. The last 3 km was an effort and I could feel my reserves depleting with every step I took.

A relief to finally arrive home and look forward to the taper over the next couple of weeks. 33.5km in 2:27:25 or an average pace of 4:24 per km. I'm better prepared than I've ever been for the marathon, and if I don't achieve my objectives this time around, I'll frankly be very disappointed.