Final interval session 2010

Before I begin my write-up for last night's training session with the club, I wanted to just express a few words of sympathy for one of my former readers. I have 4 followers on my blog. Discovered this week that one of my followers actually died in September and I now only have 3 followers, one of whom is my wife. People just don't know what they're missing!

Turned up at the club last night to find a small group of runners, despite the fact that there was no trainer this evening and a quiet jog was on the menu. Nico, Gérald and Mohammed were there, together with a good turnout from the women: Laurence, Delphine, Anne, Murielle and Pascale amongst others. Nico, Gérald and Momo were keen to run some intervals and asked if I'd join them. With this group, I knew that I'd be pushing it hard but since that is what I need at the moment, I accepted.

We ran down under Michel's guidance to Poissy and alongside the railway. This was the 5 km warm-up and then we decided that we'd run back to the clubhouse doing the intervals. 2' of effort for a 1' recovery was agreed and we'd run as many as we could before running out of road.

I had the Garmin and quickly programmed it for this session and off we set with me in the lead since I had the watch. This first section was mostly downhill and we weren't pushing it too hard to begin with - 3:40 pace for the first interval. Nico took over for the second interval and it felt hard right from the start. I was just telling myself not to give in and to stick with them despite the pain. I lost about 3 metres on them just towards the end but I was pleased to have pushed it - 3:25 pace for this one.

We passed back under the railway line now and started the next interval led by Gérald. After about a minute we hit the main road and a good uphill section which forced us to slow down somewhat. The heart was beginning to feel all of this exertion and the pace was still sustained - 3:40 for this section. Another uphill section again and we were running along the path beside the main road in the pitch black. I followed the group of 3 ahead and just stuck with them over this section. The pace was not quite as sustained and I could see that Gérald was also tiring a little which gave me a spark of hope ! 3:35 pace here. I took the leas for the next interval and pushed as hard as I could with Momo encouraging me as I was at top speed. There's nothing more disparaging than busting a gut trying to push the pace and having somebody speaking to you easily telling you to push it harder ! I could feel the lactic in the legs now and the last 15 seconds were long.

The last interval was an interval too far and I dropped off the pace rapidly, watching the 3 others leave me easily. I really felt that I was slow now and it was a surprise to see that even this interval was run at 3:45 pace. Unfortunately the others were still at 3:20 pace which explains the gap.

10km all up in just under an hour. Good, hard session and I need more of these next year. Great to run with Nico, Gérald and Momo too as there are no excuses to hang back.

A little thought for Christelle at the club last night who had written to Father Christmas requesting a Garmin 405 to help accompany her in her running and racing, having seen mine and the functionalities that it provides. Father Christmas gave her a pot of anti-wrinkle face cream instead. I think Father Christmas's cheeks are still smarting from the blows !

Coasting ...

I've been accused of coasting by my brother. Coasting means not applying oneself, not trying your hardest, taking it easy ... and he's right, in a way. Marathon training is hard work. Not only is the weekly mileage a grind but it's combined with interval training both long and short to increase speed and endurance. Then comes the marathon race itself and when this is over, your body is simply not ready to restart immediately. All the training books suggest that you take between one month and 6 weeks to fully recover and my own experience is similar. This doesn't mean that you can't run during this time. No, it just means that you shouldn't be looking to be competitive during this period and to ease off on the race schedule.

Well, I've done all that and started racing again: Les Flambeaux in mid-November; Conflans in early December; and now Houilles at end December. However, the quality of my training hasn't improved. Apart from a few intermittent track sessions at the club, I haven't been constant with the interval sessions and doing these on a regular basis. This is how I'll improve.

Having stated the obvious, it's confession time. I got up at 6:00 am to go for a run again this morning and some quick thoughts about 24x200m intervals were banished from my mind and I went for the easy option. All of this in the space of a nano-second. Intervals are never easy but at this time in the morning, they are virtually unthinkable. So, this is how I did them: 'virtually' !

I set off at a brisk pace and was a little surprised by how quick I was going. This lasted 150 metres before the effort was felt and I slowed down to my normal training pace. From then on the pace was constant and it was my usual 10 kilometre route by the river, through the park and back through Le Mesnil. My legs felt heavy and I had to push myself to pick up speed several times during the course of the run. My left thigh is particularly sore with the hamstring and the front of the thigh feeling tight. I assume this is the after-effect of Houilles and nothing more serious.

10.3km all up in 46:22 or an average of 4:30 per km exactly. Not the quickest or the best of runs and definitely not the quality training that I need at the moment but it's keeping the mileage up at least.

Mid-week run

I'm setting my new objectives in my head for the moment. Unfortunately, they are still only in my head and haven't actually been officialised on paper or been sent as signals from my brain to the rest of my body to be put into action ... yet. Nevertheless, as a sign of intent, I set out this morning in order to increase my weekly mileage and to gain a sound base in preparation for the cross-country season. I haven't quite got as far as working out the interval sessions that are necessary too, but the distance is already a sound start.

The traffic to work has decreased dramatically now that the festive season has arrived. I'm making the most of this week before everything returns to normal next week and people return from holiday. I almost set the alarm for 6:30 am this morning in order to do an early morning run before having breakfast with Laurence and then going to work, and then I thought about it more carefully. If I set the alarm for 6:00am then I can get an even longer run in before waking my wife for breakfast and jumping in the car. So it was another early start when I pulled on my running kit to face the cold weather outdoors and headed into town for my early morning run. Shutting the door behind me, I realised that it wasn't as cold as I had imagined and the light snow falling was quickly turning into slush and then rain.

I set off at an easy pace down to the river avoided the patches of ice and snow that were still around. I soon slipped into that dream state that you find when you're not pushing the pace too hard and my thoughts were elsewhere. Most of this daydreaming was focused on the forthcoming cross-country races and what my objectives are for these. The best part of the endorphin induced state in running for me is that I can begin to think clearly about problems and eliminate the unimportant or non-essential in the decision making process. So what were my conclusions ? My objective for this cross-country season is to beat Thierry. I have to be focused on this one objective. No one cares about times in cross-country races. It's only between you and the competition. I have only one competitor this season who I'm interested in (remember that cross-country races are by age category - so no Nico, no Gérald) : Thierry. If I'm going to improve, I need to train harder, to run stronger and to fight harder in the races.

Having sorted all of that out, I sped up and thought about my next interval session and working hard. Even the endorphins aren't strong enough however to cancel out the pain in this instance.

15.3 km all up in 1:10 or 4:37 per km. Good run and lovely to get back to the house to find the rest of the household still in bed enjoying their holidays. Laurence enjoyed the few extra minutes in bed due to the longer run before she got up to have breakfast with me and prepare for her run.

And the winners are ...

A photo of the sprint finish yesterday with these 2 (Imane Merga just finishing by a whisker in front of Micah Kogo) finishing the race in 27:47 and 27:48, beating the course record in the process by a few seconds. When I weigh the same amount as these 2, I might be able to challenge them (or not ...!!)


Thanks to Frédéric Poirier for taking the photo and letting me use it.

Corrida de Houilles

The Corrida de Houilles is the traditional end of year race in the town of Houilles. Over the years, this race has grown into a high-quality international competition with a number of top-class international athletes showing up to take on the 3 lap course. It's not an easy course either with a good hill lasting 350 metres in the loop which has to be ascended 3 times. This year, it was also the final for another challenge: the James v. Nico 2010 challenge with the scores at 2-2 for the year, this race was to be the decider.

After a tough series which saw me off to a good start at Rambouillet, literally exploding Nico after 7 km and leaving him for dust, things went downhill at Fontenay le Fleury for the 10km there (such a low point that I stopped writing my blog at this point). I was racing this having run the Paris Marathon a month earlier and with the heat and the race fatigue form the marathon, I was in no shape to run competively, and Nico overtook me at 7km in this race at which point I dropped out. Definitely the nadir of my running in 2010. So we were at 1-1 at this point. Nico had been improving rapidly throughout the year, coming into form after beginning running mid-2009. The next challenge was Orgerus (wot no blog!), a 15km race in early June. Nico and I were together until the 7 km mark and then I tired a little letting him escape so another victory to him. The revenge was in September at Conflans, my favourite 10 km race of the season. I had started marathon training and was in better shape than earlier in the year. What promised to be a close event turned into a stroll in the park, with Nico not worrying me at all in this race, allowing me to recover in the series and now tying at 2-2. What was going to happen today ?

We met up at the club before the race so that we could go there together. Nico and Mireille were already there when I arrived and Miguel, as coach for the race, drove us in his car to Houilles. The banter began early with me telling Nico that he'd obviously enjoyed his Christmas lunch as I could tell be the size of his stomach and he answered in much the same vein. I could tell that he was stressed by the race as he was quieter than normal, and I was concentrated, telling myself that I was to do my best. My pronostics for the race results had already been posted: Gérald, Nico, me then Mireille. However, I wasn't going to go down without a fight, but I have to admit that having seen Nico in training and the space he creates in our intervals, I didn't believe that I was in the same shape that he is at the moment.

We arrived at Houilles and saw Eric and Gérald as we jogged around the 3.3km course. Gérald gave us the usual "I'm not in great shape, I'll be taking this easy" rubbish as we warmed-up. None of us were convinced though as we've seen Gérald in training and recently he's been flying. The next pleasant surprise was to see Laurence who come along to watch the race, wrapped up in a thick overcoat and 2 pair of gloves! This cheered me up no end and I promised her to do my best. We lined up for the start of the race in almost ideal conditions: dry, no wind and a temperature of about -1°C. It was cold but not as cold as predicted (-9°C forecast initially). The gun went, 4 times in fact andI thought for a moment it was a false start but since no-one slowed down, I wasn't going to be the only one to stop now. Mireille had started fast and was just ahead of me as we left the flat section and started up the hill for the first time. I pulled her in and ran up the hill alongside her. I made sure to stretch out down the hill as soon as we'd passed the top and at this point Nico came past me and we went through the first kilometre all together in 3:29.

We turned left onto a flatter section at this point and Gérald sprinted past to catch up with Nico. In my head, I was satisfied to be on target for a sub-37 minute time and happy for Nico that he was running a more aggressive race than usual. I was running with Mireille now, slightly surprised that she was runing at this pace since she struggled in the 10km race in St Germain and has been well behind in training recently. We passed through 2 km in just over 7 minutes and I began to feel the pace and when Mireille continued at this speed, I dropped a couple of metres on her. I could see Nico and Gérald about 50m ahead and now Mireille had gained 5m on me. We finished the first lap in this configuration and I threw my headband to Laurence as I went past. I wasn't cold at this speed and looking to be as easy as possible, the headband was just an annoyance.

I passed Miguel at the foot of the uphill section for the second lap; "Let the storm pass and push on", he encourages me as I pass. I'm in the red already and I can't help but smile at his words, does he believe I'm not trying here ? I negotiate the hill slower this time, running the kilometre in 3:44 but I can see from the Garmin that I'm still ahead of the 3:40 pace virtual partner by about 10 seconds so I focus on that information and keep going. This second lap proves to be the killer. I'm nowhere now, no group of runners in front of me to push me on and a lethargy begins to settle in. Unconsciously, I ease off the pace and run through 5 km in 18:25. Mireille has more than 50m advantage over me and I can no longer see Gérald and Nico. I'm on my own now and the usual thoughts of abandoning the race enter my mind, only to be banished rapidly as I don't want to let myself and Laurence down. I finish the second loop and Laurence shouts out to me that I'm nearly there. There's still a lap left yet, but I'm encouraged by the thought of only one more climb up the hill before I can run for home.

I pass Miguel again who shouts out encouragement and gives me a push as I go past. I egt to the top of the hill and suddenly I wake up. Another runner pulls alongside me and tries to overtake and I see that it's Myriam Akdim, one of Mireille's biggest local rivals. This gives me the boost I need to wake up and put some more effort in. She overtakes me and I stay with her. We run for a kilometre like this passing the 8km marker. As we round one of the bends, taking it as tight as possible, I accidently clip her heels and she holds out her hand as if to apologise. I will not give in and as the road bends downhill slightly I push the pace and pass her now. I don't ease off and her breathing in my ear is a permanent reminder of just how close she is. We head into the town centre and pass the 9km marker. 3 and a half minutes of effort I tell myself and maintain the pace. The finishing line comes into sight as we round the last bend. 200 metres to go and I begin to sprint. 2 men come past at a fantastic pace now and I breathe a sigh of relief as I thought it was Myriam. I finish and stop my watch - 37:29 for the 10km. Not bad for the course and I see Gérald and Nico ahead and find out how they've done.

So official results are here for the club:

Eric 35:08 new PB for him
Gérald 36:20 new PB for him too
Mireille 36:53
Nico 36:59 new PB for him

Huge regrets from my part not to have been able to hang on to Mireille during the race but I couldn't take the pace when she left me. I was pleased that I ran a lot better race than last year, beating last year's time by almost 1minute 30 in the process. This is my best time for this course so no real regrets. Quality of the race was outstanding : 369 finishers in total and Gérald ended up in 101 place in 36:20! 13 runners ran under 30 minutes with the winner (Imane Merga) finishing in 27:47 beating Micah Kogo in the final sprint (27:48). These 2 are running at 21.5 km/h!

So, Nico wins the 2010 challenge and hats off to him for finally pulling his act together and showing the pace over 10km that he is capable of. We now have to decide the races for 2011 that will count. I have decided that we will need to race together over 5km, 10km, 15km, half-marathon and marathon to be able to determine next year's champion. All suggestions for races will be studied in detail ! Looking forward to it already and my new year's resolutions are fully prepared.

Thursday saunter

Missed the training session again on Thursday evening, stuck in another traffic jam on the motorway watching the minutes tick by and my chances of seeing everyone at the club for a last run before Houilles with them.

Ran from home and did an extended loop around Maisons Laffitte in the cold.

14km all up in 1:04. Felt good and relaxed, especially in the latter half of the circuit.

The loneliness of the medium-distance runner

I left early from work to get to the club session tonight. It has been a hard day/week/month/year, in fact all of these and sometimes it's good to leave it all behind and to liberate my mind from my business preoccupations and run with like-minded people. I find running allows me to evacuate all of these thoughts. I can step back from my problems and think them through more clearly, often finding solutions to problems that have been bothering me for hours. Today I got stuck in a traffic jam.

I had been looking forward to the session tonight. In fact, we had been planning it on Saturday with Nico and Miguel. The idea had been to run the last hard session for the week tonight, ready for Sunday's race in Houilles. Miguel had planned 3x1600m just so that he could time it easily around the track. I had been looking forward to pushing it as hard as possible and getting a good quality session in ready for the race. Last minute preparations to pick up some speed, readying myself to give it all on Sunday and especially to give Nico a run for his money. All these plans put to waste by a monstrous traffic jam on the Paris ring-road and then the St Cloud bridge.

I spoke to Laurence on the phone who had arrived at the club and was wondering where I was. She had my Garmin with her. She recommended that I go home and run from there since the track was slippy with the remainder of ice and snow from the weekend and had been declared off-bounds. I followed her advice and changed into my running kit at home and set out with the intention of doing the 3x1600m by myself, but without my Garmin to measure the distance.

I set off on the usual route down by the river and then began my first interval. I ran until the roundabout in front of Maisons Laffitte castle and then slowed down until the 3km marker and set off again. I ran the second interval better and then ran my 400m recovery before running the last interval, finishing this in Maisons Laffitte park. I didn't feel tired enough though and despite my efforts to push the pace, I still had some energy left in my legs. I decided then and there to run another interval through the park, down to the castle and then back again.

This was better. I was taking longer to recover and my pace was slower. I left the park and decided to give it one last go by runinng another kilometre at full pace down Rue du Gros Murger from one end to the other. Now I was tired - a quick jog home and I'm now ready for the race this weekend. Nico watch out!

12 km all up in 55 minutes.

More snow

It snowed Friday night, it snowed all day Saturday and there was so much snow Sunday morning that Laurence and I decided that taking the car was impossible to get to the club session this morning so we ran over to the clubhouse instead. It had stopped snowing during the night but it restarted again this morning and we left with thick flakes falling down around us.

We headed up through the forest towards St Germain at an easy pace, tired from our late night and the effort necessary to lift our feet, making the going tougher than normal through the forest. We stopped for a quick photo opportunity in the forest using Laurence's mobile phone and then carried on.



The forest had been transformed and the weight of the snow on the trees had forced their branches to the ground, disguising the usual paths through the forest and making us check twice before running down some paths.

We turned up at the clubhouse for 9:00am and were pleased to see that we weren't the only nutters who had decided that it would be fun to run in the snow: Nico, Gérald, Vincent, Delphine, Mireille and Philippe amongst others were all part of the 15 or so runners who'd braved it through the snow. Miguel was notably absent, probably suffering from the after-effects of yesterday's run. No other excuse is acceptable since Gérald had made it in from the same town.

Michel and Frank suggested the route behind the Légion d'Honneur school in St Germain forest and we set off in this direction. The idea was to run 3 laps of the cross Toto route doing the session that had been prepared by Miguel: 5', 10', 5' off 2 minutes recovery. We set off for the warm-up and Nico profited from the fresh snow to throw one of the most fantastic snowballs I've ever witnessed, hitting Michel in the back of the head from 30 paces.

We arrived at the start of the circuit and the snow was deeper than ever. There was now a good 15 - 20 cm of fresh snow lying on the paths and the going was tough to run as it was hard to push off an unstable surface and the depth of the snow meant that you had to lift your feet in order to avoid stumbling.

We set off for the first interval and I ran at the front with Nico, running at about 15km/h or 4:00 pace. Gérald caught us towards the end of the first interval as we found it hard to recognise the path around the course due to the wall of branches blocking the route in places. The next interval was harder and I fell off the pace, letting Gérald and Nico lead. I'm sure that the fact that they were both dressed in shorts, despite the cold and the snow, assisted their pace and my running tights held me back here. The fact that we headed back up the hill to complete the loop and the effort necessary to push through the deepest sections of snow was secondary to these clothing hinderances. The last interval was better as we were heading back down the hill again and the snow had been trampled now making the going ever so slightly easier. Nico nad I tried to lose Gérald by rushing headfirst through the branches, while he took more care losing 10 metres in the process. However, he caught up again in no time (he's in top shape at the moment) and as the interval ended both Nico and Gérald had gained 15 metres on me.

We waited for the rest of the group and headed back to the clubhouse all together where I met Laurence who'd gone back early in order to arrange the pick-up of Paul who'd spent the night at a friend's house, unable to get back because of the snow. No sign of Paul but we were able to beg a lift off Nico back to Le Mesnil, avoiding the 5 km back through the forest.

18.3km all up in 1:53. Hard running in these conditions and excellent cross-country training.

Still had to go and get Paul afterwards, cycling back out to St Germain and then running back 5km home along the roads while Paul pedalled alongside me. Knackered now.

Identity Crisis

It was a situation that could have been amusing. The sort of situation that they make films about or at least a 12 series sitcom. Delphine has been confusing Nick with Nico or vice versa, it all depends on your point of view. It all started because Nico (the Frenchman) and I ran to Cora and discussed runners at the club. Since I usually run to Cora with Nick (the Englishman) admittedly there was some scope for confusion but all my attentive readers out there realised the difference immediately. Delphine please pay attention! As a result, there have been some fairly confusing conversations at the club recently with Nico making references to the blog and Delphine thinking that he was talking about soemthing else etc., etc.

Anyway, none of this got in the way of our Saturday run, which following a discussion with Nico on Thursday night, started from the clubhouse with Miguel invited to join us. Nick is still injured and somewhere in the Alps at present watching his wife ski, run and generally exercise, while he is presumably propping up some bar, exercising his right arm and abusing the mulled wine.

It had snowed during the night and Saturday morning saw me arriving at the clubhouse in the car, only to miss the entrance to the car park and to skid 20 metres beyond, narrowly missing the kerb (which I'd already hit the previous night). I decided to park beside the road, giving up the carpark as a bad loss. Miguel arrived at the same time and Nico turned up 5 minutes later and, judging by the look of him, he'd only just made it out of bed.

After a quick discussion as to where we should run to, we set off in the general direction of Cora at an easy pace completing the first kilometre in 5:14. After this first kilometre warm-up, we crossed the St Germain road and ran through the forest on the Poissy side, upping the pace to 4:30 in the process. Miguel complained that he wasn't used to running at this speed and had been expecting a jog with us both. Nico knows better by now, having run a few times with me at this speed. I thought that running at between 13 and 14 km/h is normal training pace for standard sessions as nobody has ever told me different, but apparently this is a bit of an exception. Tom mentioned as much in his blog.

We carried on until Croix de Noailles and then crossed back over the road into the forest towards Maisons Laffitte. As official route finder, I got slightly confused at this point and we ended up at Croix de St Simon. I realised that apart from the main road, the only way to cross the railway line was to back track towards the bridge opposite Pavillon de la Muette and so it was in this direction that we now headed. The forest was absolutely fantastic in this weather. We were running in fresh snow that was between 5 - 10 cm deep. It was not so deep that it hindered your movement or running style but quietened the forest, and left everything looking clean and white. The effort was easy with the conversation and notably Miguel chatting about his race experiences and professional runners he'd known from the past. I chatted less, concentrating on the route and the paths we were taking.

We ended up at Pavillon de la Muette and having run 7.5km now, we decided by general consent to head back, leaving Cora for another day. I took them back via the usual Saturday route from Cora, heading in the direction of Maisons Laffitte. We slowed slightly at this point going from around 4:25 pace to 4:40 pace and it was only when we arrived at the outskirts of Maisons Laffitte that I realised that we still had another good 5km to run and we'd already done 11. This was going to be longer than expected.

Miguel began to tire now and fell off the pace slightly at this point. Nico and I pushed on for home as both Nico and Miguel recognised the more familiar paths in the forest around St Germain and there was no longer any risk of losing somebody in the forest. We both eased up at the end to wait for Miguel after La Mare aux Cannes having picked up the pace again slightly to 4:30 speed.

16.7 km all up in 1:19 or an average of 4:45 per km. This was slow since I didn't stop the Garmin for either of Nico nor Miguel's toilet stops that they both pretexted to catch their breath. Great run and lovely in the forest.

Funniest part was seeing Miguel limp down the steps from the clubhouse restaurant (thanks Nico for the coffee!) as if he'd just completed a marathon. He definitely needs to get out more often!

Thursday club session

Managed to make it to the club session tonight and there was a fairly good turnout with Miguel taking the session for the faster runners and Michel the slower section.

Our planned session was 1km, 2km, 1km, 1km off 300m rest. The weather was lousy with 5°C but a bitter wind and horizontal rain. We warmed up around St Germain and Jean-Marc, Nico, Gérald and myself left most of the other runners behind as we ran out at around 5:30 pace. The rest of the group was running a minute per kilometre slower.

Mireille, José, Mohammed and Bruno were also there but Bruno was taking it easy as he's still recovering from his 2 marathons. Still no sign of Nick who is probably still out with his back injury. Hope to see him back in training soon.

We set off for the first kilometre and I ran to the front for the first 400 metres and then let Nico come past, closely followed by Gérald. We were running this first km at max VO2 pace and I managed to finish in 3:25 (not exact as I messed up with the Garmin).

Next up was the 2km which I ran in 7:14, just managing to hold off José this time. But by the end of this one I was cooked and the recovery time was feeling very short. I suffered on the next kilometre but still managed to run this in 3:36 however a long way behind both Nico and Gérald.
The final kilometre, I had Mireille tailing me and I just managed to hold her off over the last 200 metres to finish in 3:35.

A really good quality session and I was pleased with my performance, even if I trailed both Gérald and Nico by a way. José and Jean-Marc were just ahead but I'm sure that my performance is better than at the same time last year.

12 km all up in 1:01 or an average pace of 5:07 per km.

Best part of the evening was after the race with a drink to celebrate the succesful Corrida that we held in St Germain and to thank all the volunteers for the marshalling and supporting the event. Delphine let us into the secrets of how she managed to obtain such a cushy timetable at her school. Sorry but the details are too sordid to be revealed here !

Wednesday tempo

Not much time for a run this morning before meetings at work so I decided to make it short and sweet.

I ran my old route down by the Seine, up past the castle at Maisons Laffitte back through the park and then up to Le Mesnil past Leader Price. Having little time to train this week and needing to get some quality in, I decided to beef it up a little by making it a tempo run and seeing just how fast I could run this route at nowadays.

It's hard for an old geezer like me to start at a decent pace for a training run now. A couple of years ago, when I just started running, I would run all my training runs like this : step out the gate, set off at full pelt, get tired, slow down, finish on my knees. I've matured (at least for running) and nowadays, I set off slowly, think about speeding up, decide against it and put it off to the next day, and finish in fine fettle.

So, full pelt it was. Well actually, at -6°C it's hard to go at full pelt without having warmed up the muscles so it was a pace designed to keep out the cold. First kilometre in 4:02 and then second in 4:12. This one fast, one slower carried on for the rest of the course as I kept dozing off and then speeding myself up consciously in an attempt to keep the pace reasonable.

7.73 km all up in 31:51 or an average of 4:07 per km so a good pace overall.

P.S. actually just found my course record over this route which stands at 30:43 or over a minute faster. I can't believe it. I used to be fast in the old days: blog here.

Tuesday morning

Just a quick write up about the training this week as Nico thinks that I'm using this as a secret weapon to beat him in Houilles by hiding all my training from him.

Easy run around the usual loop first thing on Tuesday. Weather wasn't too cold (around 0°C) and I ran at a steady pace, having recovered from the exertions over the weekend.

12.8km all up in 57:53 or 4:31 per km average. So I wasn't hanging around but no great shakes either.

Sunday club session

Turned up for today's session at the club with Laurence, not knowing what had been planned and expecting to see a reduced contingent with the start of the cross-country season at Sartouville and the corrida at Issy. Actually, there was a large turnout and Jean-Marc, Gérald, Thierry, José and Vincent were all there from the fastest members of the club The most notable absentees were Nico, Bruno, Mireille and Nick (still injured), not to mention Miguel who was probably at Sartouville with Nico and Mireille.

The session was announced by Thierry as 2x15' at threshold pace and we were avoiding the muddy forest tracks after the thaw and sticking to the roads. The plan was to head up the Princess Road and then do a small loop towards St Gemme before heading back the same way. I chatted to Gérald and Adrian as we warmed up Princess Road. We stopped half-way up and then Gérald and I continued our conversation and were just behind Laurence with some friends when we realised that the first interval had begun and the leading group was already well ahead up the hill.

Gérald had told me he was taking it easy until year end but the temptation to accelerate a little and to catch up other runners from the club was too great (actually it was more a question of impressing the female runners) and so Gérald and I took off up the hill in pursuit. I don't know actually how fast we went up this hill but it was pretty impressive and the Garmin showed 4:59 for the kilometre when we had started during the kilometre in question. We reached the top of Princess Road and along the flat towards St Gemme and Gérald was pushing the pace further. So much for taking it easy - we obviously don't have the same definition of threshold pace. We were running at 3:54 speed now and catching the group at the front.

Gérald left me at this point as I just couldn't stay with him. I fixed my own objectives on some runners in front and went past Laurent and caught up Jean-François just as the first interval ended. 3 minutes rest and then we set off again. This time I was better prepared and at the front with Thierry and José. Gérald stayed on my shoulder for a couple of minutes before taking off again leaving all 3 of us standing. "Don't worry - he doesn't know the way", I shouted and Thierry and José let him go. Well to be precise, letting him go was relative since we were running at 3:44 pace and he was still extending his gap. He's in impressive shape at the moment and well capable of further improving his current PBs.

A kilometre later and I had to ease off the pace. José and Thierry gapped me here and my pace dropped to 15 km/h. This was probably due to the after-effect of yesterday's run and the effort it had taken out of me. My other surprise was to be encouraged by a runner going in the opposite direction at this point who shouted out "Vas-y James". I didn't have time to see who the mystery runner was but it's nice to know I have some supporters! It was only when we started to go down Princess Road again that I was able to speed up slightly. Bruno passed us in the opposite direction now, running quietly up the hill by himself. He's still recovering from 2 successive marathons sub 3 hours in the space of 3 weeks, so he's legitimately excused.

Interval finished with Thierry about 30 metres ahead and José and Gérald another 50 metres ahead of him. I was really pleased with the session as I still have some speed and the endurance is not too bad compared to previous years at the same time.

18.8 km all up in 1:41 or an average of 5:24 per km.

Cora slush

The snow and ice had virtually disappeared and the temperature had risen to 5°C to almost autumnal conditions rather than the severe winter weather we've been experiencing lately. I decided to celebrate by putting on a pair of shorts and leaving the running tights in the drawer.

Nick still being injured and Nico racing in a cross-country tomorrow, I decided to set out on the Cora run by myself and to enjoy the peace and quiet of the forest first thing in the morning. I left the house with Laurence and then ran on, leaving her to go for her run with a friend. I set off very easily and then as soon as I got into the forest, I picked up the pace. The tracks were very soft with the remainder of the snow melting rapidly, leaving large pools of slush lying around. I couldn't avoid all of these and very soon my feet were soggy from my trainers having absorbed a jug of water in each shoe.

After that first kilometre, my pace had already increased to around 14km/h with each kilometre being covered in around 4:25. When I saw that I'd managed to complete the 4th km in 4:17, I pushed on still, trying to catch an old man on a bike and completing the 5th km in 4:03. I eased off from then on but still managed to run each kilometre in 4:20 or under. I definitely had the energy for the run despite the ground conditions.

Nothing remarkable to report on the way back. Not many people were around in the forest this morning and I only spotted a couple of runners. Made it back to the house in 1:07 which is probably one of the fastest times I've done over this course, especially since I took the long way back through Le Mesnil along Ave Pasteur.

15.2 km all up in 1:07 or ana average of 4:27 per km. Lovely morning and great run.

Friday thaw

I was this close *shows no gap between fingers* to not getting out of bed yesterday when the alarm rang at 6:00am. I had just under 7 hours sleep which was almost 2 hours more than I'd managed during the rest of the week and my body was telling me that it had had enough. But a commitment is a commitment and I was glad to be able to get out for a proper run (jogging around in the snow for 7k on Tuesday night didn't count) and to put in a bit of mileage before the weekend.

The weather was warmer as the temperature had risen to 0°C ! I pulled on my kit and went outside. The car was in the drive as with the retreat of a little of the snow, I'd finally managed to get it up the slope. Unfortunately, we hadn't been so successful with the electric gate which had refused to work as soon as the thermometer dropped below zero. I had to yank it open and stepped onto to the road to wait for the Garmin to pick up the satellite signals.

The road was still very icy, although there was less snow, it had been compacted and had turned to ice in places. I started running along the road as the pavement was virtually unuseable. It felt great to be out and exercising again after a really hard week at work. I started out at a reasonable pace despite the conditions underfoot: the ice and compacted snow causing my feet to slip and slide and preventing me getting a firm grip to push off with.

I decided to make up for the 7km run earlier this week with at least 13km today. I ran the first kilometre at 4:35 pace and then continued along the river at this pace for the next few kilometres (5 extra in fact). I then hit my magic 6 kilometre mark, realised that I'd warmed up and then set about picking up the pace. I accelerated to 4:30 then 4:25 before finishing at 4:15/km pace.

13.3 km all up in 59:57 or an average of 4:31 per km.

Having managed to get the car up the drive, I couldn't turn it around when I left for work so Laurence and Henry had to push me. They were most pleased !!

Snow

Managed to get out of work at a reasonable time and made it to the club session just in time. Just in time for what exactly? Well I turned up but we were only a handful (well 11 precisely) to have made it in. I don't know whether it was due to the snow or to the after effects of a hard weekend but very few people had turned up.

Luckily Miuchel had turned up to act as coach for the evening so we were all saved. Since there was a good 5cm of snow lying on the ground, he decreed that we should all run into the forest along the large tracks as the snow would light up the way. There were no disagreements as nobody wanted to trudge around town, so we all set off.

In fact, it wasn't so bad an idea as I had at first imagined. It was pleasant running through the forest along the tracks and the snow lying everywhere helped reflect what little light there was making it perfectly possible to see where you were going and where you were putting your feet. It was a very easy pace as we didn't want to lose anyone so we were running at about 6:30 pace per km.

We went around the forest once before heading towards the swimming pool and then back to the club.

7km all up in 47 minutes. Very easy evening all around but very pleasant. Shame that no more runners had turned up for the session so as to push the pace a little more.

Sunday recovery

Laurence and I made a special effort to get up this morning to go running with the club. It wasn't that the club was running earlier than usual, just that we'd got to bed at 2:45am and were still determined to make it to see the others and burn off the excess of alcohol/starters/cheese/desserts (delete as appropriate!). It was no easy job to rouse my wife, whereas I was as fresh as a wilted daisy. No breakfast, jumped into our kit, jumped into our shoes and jumped into the car and got to the club just in time for the morning brief.

Aaargh - first disappointment: no Thierry, no Miguel but Michel who was the self-appointed coach for the morning with his usual clarity and quickness of mind, he explained what we were supposed to do. We had a special guest in the person of Dominique Chauvelier, the patron of the club's 10km corrida last night, who was kind enough to come and run with us all this morning.

José, Nico, Bruno, Jean-François were all there and despite the fact that Laurence and I had turned up expecting a 90' easy recovery session, 2 blocks of 10' threshold training were announced. We warmed up easily enough and then began the session proper. I set off with Nico to begin with but soon felt the efforts from yesterday's race in my legs and let him pull away with José in tow.

The second interval was harder still since both Nico and José were ahead from the start. I was following them at a distance when I heard footsteps behind and "Chauchau" caught me. I told him to catch the others and he tried to let me latch on but I lost energy and motivation in the slight uphill section after the bumps. He cruised on easily to catch José and Nico and to push them to the end of the interval. His ease when he runs is most impressive.

We let everyone catch up at the end of the interval and then ran back to the clubhouse. This run back was supposed to be easy but with our "guest" we all got carried away and were running at 14km/h for the last 5 km back home.

16.4 km all up in 1:24. Nice run but not the recovery that I'd initially intended.

Berges de Conflans - 15km

Some days you just don't want to know. You wake up and you feel under the weather. Something is not quite right: lack of sleep, onset of a cold, too much stress from work. Choose any one of these and then combine this with freezing temperatures and the onset of a heavy snowfall and the thought of heading out into the weather with a ball and chain of other woes and concerns and frankly, any alternative is more tempting.

Paul B. called me at 11:30 to ask what shoes I was going to wear for the race. This question is normally not necessary. The 15km at Conflans is a road race with about 300m along some tracks but the vast majority is on the road, running alongside the river Seine until it meets the river Oise. However, 10cm of fresh snow had just fallen and the thought that trail shoes might actually be useful was mooted. Having discussed this possibility we also discussed our lack of motivation to participate. Admittedly, my motivation was stronger since 5 members of the club had signed up for the race, the minimum necessary for the club to score points in the championship whereas Paul B still wasn't entered. A commitment is a commitment and an Englishman's word is his honour and all that b****cks - so we went.

Picked up a mate of Paul's on the way, another Englishman named Nick and having got changed we warmed up together around the start of the course. Again, warming-up is relative and with an ice cold wind and temperatures below freezing, I was wondering seriously about heading back to the changing room and just waiting there until the last moment before the race. Nick asked me what my race plan was at this point and I explained that I only had 2 objectives: beat the hour and a guy called Fred in the process. I was going to start easily (remembered all too well my race 3 years ago where I set out too fast and suffered from km 4 onwards) and start pushing the pace after the hills around the town centre, from km 6 and after alongside the Seine.

About 550 people were lined up for the start, including one nutter only in shorts and running vest. Most were dressed with long sleeved tops, tights, gloves and hats. I'd left my hat on as a concession to the cold, but regretted my thick ski hat compared to the thin fleece affairs that the rest of the field had adopted. The gun went off, not too soon enough for my liking, and we were off through the residential streets around the stadium.

Despite all my race plan theories about setting off slowly and building up speed after the town centre, I ran the first kilometre in 3:34. I felt easy though as I was fresh from not having run hard since previous Tuesday. The first 3 kilometres are flat and I ran these more steadily after the first at around 3:50 pace, only quickening over the 4th kilometre as we dropped down the hill to the Seine and towards the town centre.

I kept my eye on the runners around me and tried not to let them distance me or be caught by others from behind. Just before the 5th kilometre, we began the climb up the hill into the town and to the castle. I was overtaken on the first steep section by a runner but that didn't worry me as my aim was to keep as constant a pace as possible and in fact as we dropped down slightly to attack the second climb, he came back to me as he suffered from his initial effort and I was able to cruise (well more accurately: plod) past. We made a quick loop of the castle grounds and as I left, I saw Paul enter and shouted encouragements to him. It was then a steep icy section downhill and down to the river again. Well, this is what I imagined but I'd forgotten that they bring you up another hill before you can finally coast on down to the Seine.

Back alongside the river again now and the serious pacing begins. There are now 5 kilometres of flat as you run to the meeting of the 2 rivers (Seine and Oise) and back along the Seine in the direction of the start before you pull up another hill and run in to the finish. I seemed to find myself alone at this point with a couple of runners behind me and some individuals ahead. I concentrated on the runners in front and began the process of chasing them down. I felt good in my legs and very steady in my pace. I was at a point, similar to the marathon, where I felt that I had the energy and the pace to go faster but knew that there was still plenty of running to be done.

I caught a couple of runners now as I got to the turning point and was heading back home when I heard shouts of "Come on Fred" just behind me. A runner caught me now and it was Fred who I'd not seen at the start of the race but was my challenge for the day. I stayed with him as he pushed on and we quickly caught another younger runner. I had time to listen to his breathing and compare it to my own: he definitely didn't sound in any better shape than me which gave me encouragement and I figured it might just be my day. I looked at the Garmin and the virtual partner showed that I was 40 seconds ahead of schedule. I figured that this was just enough to manage the hill ahead and still finish under the hour. I pushed on.

In fact, this effort was so good that it took me past Fred and I started on another couple of runners in blue tops (Andrésy and Achères). The hill to leave the river was approaching and I was calculating how much time I could gain before this last effort. I caught the 2 runners and overtook them before attacking the hill. This hill lasts for about 300metres and is around 15% gradient. I shortened my stride and slowed my pace as I ascended. I was convinced that I'd be overtaken here as hills are not my forté, but I managed to make it to the top without being caught and I made a conscious effort to lengthen my stride and get back into a serious rhythm.

Damn! I heard foosteps behind me and knew without looking that it was Fred who'd caught me again. He came past and shouted "Relance (Kick again)" as he came past. I gave all I had and stayed on his shoulder. We ran the last 2 kilometres like this with me trailing him by 2 metres as we headed back to the stadium. As we entered the stadium, I was prepared to push him right to the end and I was just on his tail as we ran the last lap of the track, in fact so close that I clipped his shoe. My problem was that there had only been one lane cleared of snow and to attempt to overtake meant running onto the snow and ice and at this speed there simply wasn't the traction to allow a burst of pace.

The inevitable happened and he accelerated over the last 100 metres and finished 2 seconds ahead of me.

So, out of my 2 objectives I had achieved the first (58:48) and failed the second by 2 metres. I was still very pleased with my run and the way I'd managed the race. The course was good and the competition was intense. I'd caught a good number of runners in the last 7 kilometres and that had felt good too. I was actually quite glad that I'd made the effort and run the race after all.

Paul finished just 3 minutes behind, having overtaken Nick in the final stages of the race, to finish in 1:02:41. Nick ended up 20 seconds behind and then promptly spent the next 30 minutes coughing his lungs up from the effort!

Good race and a new record for 15km in the process despite the hilly course.

Photo of Fred and I in the man to man battle!

Wednesday recce

I couldn't trun down the invitation from Nico to go and do a recce of the St Germain corrida course on Wednesday evening. Work meant that a run on Thursday was impossible, so a nice easy jog around St Germain in the evening sounded very pleasant.

When I arrived in the town centre, there were already a couple of runners waiting: Gérald and Jérémie and both were wearing shorts. I'm not a fairy myself, but when the temperature drops below zero and there is snow and ice on the ground, I tend to avoid shorts. Gérald went one step further and was sporting a t-shirt too. He's obviously got some northern blood in him as the typical Frenchman goes into cocoon mood and pulls on several layers when the thermometer begins to fall.
This was confirmed a few minutes later by Nico when he turned up in tracksuit bottoms and 3 layers on top. So even Nico, renowned for his immoderate use of basketball shorts even in the coldest temperatures had resorted to tracksters. Mireille showed up a minute later and we set off to measure the course for this weekend's race.

We made a small loop to begin with starting from the market place and looping around back to Place de la Victoire. We then set off on the big loop of the town which was to be run twice to complete the 10km. This headed down from the marketplace towards the Place Royale but cutting off right before the square. The route then headed off downhill past Laurence's school and then turning right with a slight incline before a steep downhill section past the museum and then a hard pull uphill befoe turning right again and completing the circuit. When we ran it was slippy, icy and the uphill sections looked hard work, especially if they were to be run at 10k pace.

It was good to see the course before the race, despite the fact that I wasn't taking part as I wanted to be able to judge the performance of the athletes on the day.

10km all up in 47:50. Nice easy run to finish the day.

12 x 500m

Well it is now definitely brass monkey weather. I wrapped up warmly to go out for my early morning run this morning at 6:00am and just as well as it was -4°C. Not many spies around either to spot me going for my run with a woman :
i) Because it was 6:00am and only complete idiots get up and go out at this time in the morning.
ii) Because it was bloody freezing and hanging round for a minute in that weather would leave any monkey emasculated
iii) Because no woman was insane enough to accompany me

I had decided after this weekends attempts to keep up with Nico that I needed some interval training and a little speedwork to improve my running. What better than a nice session of 12x500m to cheer myself up ? I remembered my marathon training back in September and running an even longer session similar to this in Stockholm where I ran 20x500m averaging 1:47 per interval. So how will I compare to that today?

I ran down to the Seine and began after a kilometre warm-up (warm-up being quite a ridiculous expression in the circumstances - it would have been more appropriate to refer to it as a 'refrain from freezing'). I felt quite good running the intervals and I seemed to recover quite quickly off a distance of 200m. It was only when I got back home that I was able to see what I'd achieved:

1:54, 1:53, 1:58, 1:54, 1:57, 1:51
1:51, 1:54, 1:52, 1:55, 1:52, 1:51

3rd and 5th intervals are due to crossing the main road and then a slight uphill, but average is still around 1:53 without these 2 anomalies.

So in summary, I've still got a lot of work to do to regain my form prior to the marathon. I am aiming for a reasonable time for the 10km in Houilles so more effort is needed. I'll see how I do over 15km at the weekend.

12.5 km all up in 58:47. I'm off to top myself now: hypothermia would be suitably ironic.

Snow season

Laurence doesn't work on Mondays. No, let me correct that: Laurence doesn't go to school on Mondays but spends her time preparing lessons for the week and correcting homework. I had a day off and to make the most of my day off I decided to spend it with my wife while the kids were at school.

So what better way to spend a whole day with your beloved than starting by going for a run ? We planned a nice little saunter out to Cora and back along the wall to Maisons Laffitte down by the castle and home. A 20 km saunter to be precise. Having planned all of this, we almost changed our minds when we woke up this morning and saw a nice 5cm of snow that had arrived during the night. The thermometer was showing -1°C and it was looking decidely cold. However, being the determined folks that we are, and a plan being a plan, we wrapped up warmly and went out.

We set off slowly and headed into the forest. The forest was absolutely stunning with a light sprinkling of snow covering all of the trees and the paths. There was a distinctive silence as we ran with the surrounding snow absorbing the noise of the few roads, traffic or even the occasional pedestrians out walking their dogs or exercising. It felt as if Christmas had arrived early and we ran down to Cora at a very steady pace of about 5:25 per km.

Laurence was running really well and looked comfortable at this, her marathon pace. But, she told me that we needed to ease up as the initial schedule had been to run at around 6' per km pace. We slowed at Cora to 5:35 pace but this was as far as we went and we both carried on back from Cora along the old wall through some of the most isolated part of the forest back towards Maisons Laffitte. The conditions were ideal with the snow but no wind and the forest was fresh and crisp around us. It looked just like a Christmas card as we ran and I wouldn't have been surprised to see deer and robins appear. All we managed were a couple of squirrels though !

Ran back into Maisons Laffitte and then down Avenue Albine towards the castle where we managed our fastest kilometre at 5:18 pace. This was good going after 90 minutes of running in our legs already. Back along the Seine to finish in 1:54.

20.3 km all up in 1:54 or 5:38 average. Nice meal in St Germain at a new Italian restaurant to celebrate. What a great day off.

Sunday club session

Sunday already and Laurence and I headed off to the club for our 9:00 am rendez-vous with Miguel and the other runners not taking part in any of the various events around the area this morning. It was a cold morning again with the temperature just hovering around the freezing point. There was no wind and no snow had fallen during the night.

I wrapped up warmly with 3 layers on top, ready for the warm-up session rather than the intervals themselves. When we got to the club, there was a good turnout despite the number of local races and Laurence was happy to find a number of fellow female fun-runners (couldn't find an appropriate noun with 'f' - any suggestions ?) with whom she could natter during her session and I saw Nico, Thierry, José, Bruno, Vincent and Anis. A 5x5' session had been planned off a 2'30" recovery so with these running companions, it didn't look as though I be doing much talking for my intervals.

We ran down to a section of forest near Poissy known as Les Mouchoirs. Didn't see many handkerchiefs hanging around so no idea why this is named like this. Anyway, I was surprised to see that we managed to make it in the first place since Michel was leading the way and as usual he tried to take the most complicated, tortuous route possible but luckily for the group, his sadistic unconsciousness failed to surprise any victims today.

We set off on the first interval and I took the lead. Not that I am the fastest amongst the group but nobody else seemed willing to make the pace. So, despite the fact that I didn't have the faintest idea of where I was supposed to be going, I led the first interval with Nico just on my shoulder. I took the wrong turning at the end, but since we were just about to complete the first 5 minutes this didn't really matter. Flushed with success after this first interval, I took off in the lead again for the second, but quickly let Thierry past to lead since he knew where he was going. Nico and I hung on to him closely and we let Anis come past, running a good kilometre per hour faster than us, another league entirely.

The third interval went well too with me leading for the first 3 minutes and then Anis coming past initially closely followed by Nico. I let them go as I was beginning to tire slightly, which in retrospect, is my biggest mistake in that I am not ready mentally to make the effort when it counts. We finished this interval with Vincent and José just behind me with Bruno just after them. The fourth interval was the hardest as I entered the red zone and could feel my legs tiring, especially after yesterday's hills. We took a wrong turn near the start of the interval and then had to chase hard to go past the rest of the group and get to the front again. I trailed Anis, Nico, José by a long way and just concentrated on staying with Vincent, catching him at the end of the interval with Miguel just on my shoulder.

Disappointing last interval as we took the wrong path again and ended up running along the disused railway track, and then walking, scrambling a section to get back on the right track. All in all a good session, and feeling the effort in my legs at the end. Nico is still a level above in terms of speed on these intervals, and I came away telling myself that I need to push myself harder still. I always try and keep a little in reserve, instead of just going all out and not thinking about what will happen next.

15km all up in 1:26 with the intervals run at around 3:50 pace. Only 51km this week in 4 sessions so it has been a light week in terms of mileage.

Bis repetita X-country training

Second week of cross-country training this morning and Nick and Anne very kindly picked me up to take me to Marly for the session. Nick has been suffering from a bad back lately with both neck pains and lumbago causing him pain and to ease off on the running recently. I know just how frustrating this type of injury can be and the tension that it causes within the family. When Laurence and I have been injured, after a week of not being able to run, the partner just avoids confrontation totally as any disagreement turns into a row within instants.

So I was intrigued by how Nick had been managing this week to treat the problem and his explanations were a real eye-opener for me. Firstly, treatment by the osteopath (nothing too unusual here), then massages and electrode treatment on the buttocks (now we're getting kinky!), followed by an in-house yoga session with a class of females only and a female instructor. Apparently, the instructor (a young, dark, foreign beauty by all accounts) was not satisfied at Nick's attempts at suppleness and proceded to force him to the floor by pushing with her hands then treading on his back. It was only Nick's male pride (and the fact that he was overwhelmed by the instructor) that stopped him from crying out in pain at the treatment. Anyway, this might not have done the trick to heal him completely, but he seemed determined enough to want to return for more punishment next week. He was ready to come to training at least.

A far larger crowd at the training session this week with the runners from last Saturday joined by Bruno, Jérémie, Mireille and Delphine amongst others. Nico turned up on time for once and even looked as though he'd managed to have a decent night's sleep; so either his poker friends were away for the weekend; or, more likely, he'd burnt through his pay-packet again and was waiting for next month's salary. Whatever the reason, it had done him some good and he was fresh and eager to start the session. Delphine was back from Les 4 Chateaux race, flushed with success and the fact that she'd been chased around the course by 2000 men.

Miguel had planned the same session as last week (3 blocks of 3x3') and after a warm-up lap, dictated by the trail runners who insisted on finding the muddiest, steepest tracks in Marly park, we set off on the session proper. Nico and I started the first flat session and I stayed with him, closely followed by Jérémie until the first slight uphill when I fell back slightly and Jérémie came past. The second interval was uphill and Jérémie showed both Nico and I the power he has, leaving us for dead up the steep hill as we finished our interval about 2/3 of the way up. He paid for this from then on though as he hadn't realised that there were 3 blocks to do and he was already in the red. We then attacked the next hill where I stayed with Nico until about 3/4 of the way up and he pulled slowly away from me again.

This was the pattern for the rest of the session but I was a lot closer to Nico than last week and I felt far more regular in my effort. We finished the session with a warm-down around Marly park, chatting about the session and how we both did better than the previous week's efforts. I could feel the improvement already and I am convinced that a few more sessions like this and I'll be able to maintain far higher speeds up the hills. The flat sections are not a problem and I can hold my own with Nico and Jérémie but as soon as we hit the hills - I'm useless.

15km all up so a good long session in the cold. Snow/heavy frost/hail on the ground and the park was absolutely beautiful to run around. A real pleasure this morning. My only regret: that the kind runner who brought along the Thermos with the tea for the stretching at the end of the session didn't do the warm-down and so ther was none left by the time we finished!

Early morning run

I allowed myself the luxury of lying in bed for an extra 45 minutes Friday morning before getting up to go for my usual early morning run. This week at work has been even more hectic than usual and I had to be at work early Thursday and then left late so Friday morning was my only alternative.

The fact that I hadn't been running for 3 days, plus the 45 minutes extra sleep, showed in my starting pace. Although I was wrapped up with as many layers of clothing was feasibly possible whilst still permitting movement to the legs and arms, I set out quickly probably to avoid freezing solid within 5 minutes. It was pretty cold and every breath sent a blast of icy air into my lungs. But, I was happy to be out, relieved to be able to stretch my legs after what felt like an eternity being cooped up in an office.

So first km in 4:21 then second in 4:20. I eased up after this and ran the next few between 4:30 and 4:35. Again, I felt a weight coming off my shoulders after the 6th kilometre and I really enjoyed the run home, thinking about all and nothing, daydreaming as I ran.

10.3km all up in 46:26 or 4:28 per km on average.

I was asked today by some French friends about the meaning of 'Wot'. I've added the cartoon caption below featuring Kilroy and his famous 'Wot no .....' whatever was appropriate depending on where the graffiti had been written.

If you want any more information, I suggest that you look here.

Wot no intervals

Still taking it easy. The strain from work is taking its toll and it's extremely hard to get out of bed in the morning after 6 hours of sleep again.

The good news is that yesterday I had too much work to stop for lunch so when I got on the scales this morning, I weighed in at a spritely 74.8kg. However, due to the fatigue, I haven't been able to make the most of this small weight loss and I struggled around this morning at a very leisurely pace.

I'd run 6km again before I even imagined running a little faster and I moved up a gear from 4:45 pace to 4:35 pace before dropping back down again after a couple of kilometres effort. Thighs are still aching and right knee is playing up which isn't helping things. The only real solution is a couple weeks of rest and recuperation on a nice sandy beach somewhere. Since this isn't going to happen in the short term, I'll just keep plodding on and thinking about my alter ego somewhere in the multiverse, training for my next sub 2:30 marathon ! I've been reading a book lent to me by Nick called the fabric of reality, and it's inspired me (somewhere in the multiverse).

Thoughts to Nick who's struggling to get rid of his back problems - best of luck mate.

10.3km all up in 46:47. No great chills.

Sunday training

A relaxing training session today. Turned up at the club with Laurence and planned to do either the 1:20 session with 20 minutes at threshold or the 1:45 session with 2x10 minutes threshold. 2 radically different choices now which one would I chose?

It was a muddy, wet, dismal morning and Laurence and I both felt tired after going out last night. It was already a challenge to get out of bed and to get to the club for 9:00am. My legs were tired, my soles were aching after running in trail shoes yesterday and I didn't want to do anything strenuous. I told Laurence that I would run with her, but from the start she headed off to the front so I spent time chatting to Bruno about marathons and to Nico about everything else.

We ran through the forest in the direction of Cora, but I was content just to follow the crowd. When the first group, supposedly the easy group, took off for the start of their 2x10 minute intervals, I set off in pursuit, worried that Michel would lose them all in the forest. I checked with Jean-Claude where we were supposed to be going and then ran to the front and alongside Pascale and Christelle. We managed to run the 2 intervals and it was mostly uneventful, I was just happy to coast along at about 4:35 pace. Laurence was running well and was just behind the leaders. We finished the intervals and since we still had another half hour to run, Laurence, Pascale and I headed off on another small loop around the 'Mare des Canes' before heading back to the club.

17km all up in 1:40. Relaxing run.

Cross-country training

Cross-country season is looming on the horizon and approaching quickly. I can feel the atmosphere already: cold, frosty mornings with a thin layer of ice over waterlogged fields that crack underfoot, plunging your feet into pools of icy water. Fields that are rapidly churned into full-blown mudbaths with clods that cling to your soles as you try to plow through the ruts without twisting your ankle. Courses designed to take you up the same steep bank 14 times in the space of one loop and where 10km races last well over 40 minutes. Delightful.

This was the first session of training for the cross-country organised by the club and coached by Miguel. The same Miguel who had prepared any potential candidates for training very carefully by basically informing everyone on Thursday that if you weren't Superman, it wasn't worth turning up. It was with a little trepidation that I waited to be picked up by Nick and Anne this morning to head to Marly park where the ordeal would take place.

We were only a small group (not surprising after Miguel's prep talk) comprising of Nick, myself, Philippe, José, Miguel and a couple of other male runners I didn't recognise. The ladies were better represented with Anne, Christelle, Pascale, Catherine and Aude. We weren't prepared to hang around as it was chilly so without wasting too much time we set off on a warm-up around the circuit. We reached the far end of the lake when we saw a familiar figure running towards us: Nico who'd obviously slept in, judging by his dishevelled look. Another rough night apparently.

We finished a first loop and then began the session proper: 3 blocks of 3x3' off 90 seconds recovery. The aim was to attack all of the hills at the beginning of each 3 minute acceleration so as to work out the legs good and proper. I set off with Nico for the first interval which was mostly along the flat. I was able to stick with him until the first slight uphill and then off he went. My problem is definitely on the hill work where everytime we hit an uphill, I would fall off Nico's shoulder and José would come past. José advised me to take smaller paces up the hills at a faster rhythm. This worked to some effect but it wasn't sufficient to stay with the 2 of them.

By the end of the session I was well and truly knackered and coughing my lungs up due to the effort involved. It was good to see Nick run all the session, bar the last hill, following his recent back problems. He was sporting a nice new pair of trainers which looked about 2 years old by the end of the session.

14 km all up in 1:26 but a really good workout and one which I'll try and keep up over the next few weeks.

Thursday club session

Following my session in the morning, I was able to get away from work early and since I was at La Defense, it only took me 30 minutes to get out of Paris and to St Germain for the club session.

There was a farily good turnout at the club with a lot of unfamiliar faces. Some of the faster runners were absent such as Jean-Marc and Bruno but the regulars were there (Nico, Gérald, Nick back from injury, Thierry, José etc.). Ther really good news that I learnt on arriving was that in addition to the Beaujolais Nouveau tasting after the session (which was probably my main motivation after all), we were supposed to take it easy this evening with 45 minutes of jogging on the cards.

I set off with Gérald and Nico, having wasted 4 minutes with the Garmin struggling to find enough satellites to start. We caught up the others and then stayed at the back for an easy loop around the streets of St Germain. Most of the runners headed to the track at this point, including Gérald, but Nico and I sped up a little with Thierry, Jean-Michel and some others to complete a second loop. Most relaxing with a good chat about the upcoming races and aches and pains we're currently suffering from.

I went back to the track at this point and then as Nico was stopping to get a shower before hitting the wine heavily, I ran around the track with Laurence and her friends doing 6x300m off 100m recovery. Apparently, my presence stressed the women out (Laurence, Pascale, Christiane, Catherine and Christelle) so I had to put up with a lot of banter from them. The 300m section was honest enough with all of them running between 1:10 - 1:12 for each one, but the recoveries lasted 5 minutes as they stopped; had a gossip; and then began sauntering to the start line for the next interval. Even my powers of persuasion weren't enough to get them to speed up for this part!

12km all up so over 25km for the day. Not bad going, even though there was no quality workouts in either of the sessions.

Not 8x800m

I went to bed on Wednesday night telling Laurence that I had to do some more interval sessions. Since the marathon training, I've been taking it a little easy and I've put on a little weight and the mere thought of a fast interval session is enough to bring on a panic attack. I thought that if I told Laurence about my intentions then it would be some moral pressure on me to do what I had committed to. Laurence did an 8x800m session on Tuesday night with the club, so I thought that I would do the same Thursday morning by myself; at 6:00am; in the dark; after very little sleep; having worked very hard recently.

OK it never happened. I woke up at 6:00am to the sound of the alarm, got out of bed, looked at my running kit lying on the floor before me and instantly wished I was somewhere else - like back in bed! Despite the dark and the cold, I was strong enough mentally to pull on my kit and head out of the door, but my willpower stopped here. No way was I in any fit state to run 800m intervals this morning: my legs ached; my eyes were barely open; and I was still exhausted.

I just ran out of the house and around the usual route, turning the legs over and just telling myself how brave and courageous I was just to have made it out of the house. There are days like this, when your body tells you it's had enough and I wasn't going to argue.

As usual of late, I began to perk up after about 6km when I made it into the park at Maisons Laffitte. I love this section as you come off the road and run along the gravel paths parallel to the road, which is a huge relief to your legs and feet. I decided to make the most of this by running a large loop around the park before heading back out and up to the church in Le Mesnil. I was feeling a whole lot better now and carried on to the townhall and then back along the road to home.

13.7km all up in 1:02 or an average of 4:40 per km. The intervals will just have to wait until another day.

Easy Tuesday

Bloody hell. I didn't think that running could hurt so much. The combination over the weekend of a race Saturday night and the intervals on Sunday had left their toll and my legs and thighs in particular were reminding me that exercise isn't always good for you.

I counted my injuries as I hobbled the first kilometre this morning around my usual course: sore hamstrings - check; painful left ankle - check; sore toes from tight trail shoes - check. I felt definitely sorry for myself as I struggled to get under the 5 minute barrier for the first km. Having made it that far, I told myself to try and relax and enjoy it as the roads were dry and the temperature was cold without being chilly. However, no matter what I was trying to impress on my brain, my body was having none of it and refused to ease off until I passed the 6 km marker.

Splits are here just out of interest:

4:57, 4:48, 4:46, 4:50, 4:47, 4:43, 4:34, 4:32, 4:28, 4:18, 4:06 pace (348m)

So 10.3km all up in 48:13 or an average of 4:40 pace but boy did this feel hard this morning.

Other news is that the challenge is on. Bruno has run his second marathon in 3 weeks in 2:58 again. He has now declared that his sole objective next year is to set a time in London marathon (and beat me in the process). The gauntlet has been thrown ...

Sunday club session

I decided to go training with the club despite the race last night with the intention of doing a few kilometres and runnig some of the tiredness out of my legs ;o)

There was quite a large turnout but all of the fastest members were missing: Nico and Gérald were in Ermont; Jean-Marc was unaccounted for; Thierry was with family; Bruno was in Nice for the marathon. This was fine by me since it meant that I wouldn't have the habitual peer pressure to put in the extra effort for the session. The plan was to run 3x5' then 2' and 4' to finish.

I set off and chatted to Nathanael about his race doing Les Templiers. I still can't understand the motivation to run over 11 hours to do 70km of trail. From what he said it sounded more like torture than enjoyment. Anyway, after 25 minutes of warm-up we set off. Gérard was leading the session and we were running a triangle in the forest close to Le Mesnil.

I set off in the lead to set the pace, running the first 5 minutes at 15km/h almost exactly. 2 minutes recovery and we set off again. I slowed a little over the session as I began to feel the race in my legs. So much for running off the tiredness ...

I managed to stay in front for all of the intervals despite being pushed by Jean-François closely on the last one.

Had a chat with Delphine and Christelle at the end. Apparently Delphine worked hard during the intervals but didn't catch up on any gossip. Most disappointing!

12.2 km all up in 1:10. Have to fix my next objectives now but most likely to be the 10km at Houilles at the end of the year. Will try and convince Nico to take part to so that we can decide our head to head of the year. Congratulations to him in setting a new PB for the 10k at Ermont (37:09). Gérald still managed to beat him but it's getting closer.

Les Flambeaux - Montfort l'Amaury

Laurence had entered us into this race following our entry 2 years ago where we'd both enjoyed the atmosphere and the course for this race but where unfortunately I'd got lost in the middle of the circuit. This year, I was determined to do better and to finish the race. Unfortunately, Laurence pulled out of the race due to her continuing problems with tendonitis under her left foot following Toulouse marathon. I was on my own now, especially since Nick had also announced that he was going to pull out since his back problems still hadn't improved and a test run with Anne during the week confirmed that running was still impossible.

I drove Anne to the race and we arrived with plenty of time to pick up our bibs. Despite Anne's fears that due to the lousy weather there would only be about 50 runners, the hall was filled with about 10 times this number. Two races were organised for the evening, the 18km race for which we were entered and a 10km race which started 15 minutes after the first race and which used the same circuit bar a 7 km extra loop which we had to do.

The weather had settled down for the start of the race at 8:00pm and the rain had fallen to a slight drizzle with a temperature of around 13°C. It was actually fairly warm and I wondered if my T-shirt underneath my race vest was strictly necessary. Too late for this now, and we lined up at the start with about 400 other runners and we were off heading uphill into the town centre.

The start of the race was lined with flaming torches shining alongside the road that we were to take. We headed up a steep hill into the town centre and then up some steps to the ruined castle at the top of the hill. I was already feeling my legs at this point and then we headed back down some more steps out of the town and onto a road out of town into the forest. This road was also a steep uphill and I began to remember the route from a couple of years ago. Strange how you remember how hard things are only when you have to do them again! The race had settled now and the fastest runners (about 20 I imagine) had already run off into the distance and I was left with a group of 6-10 runners who were all fairly steady and we settled into a rhythm. One guy beside me was breathing like a steam kettle about to boil and the noise has was making was really unsettling. I just hoped that I could lose him to get some peace and quiet.

This wasn't to happen as when we headed into the forest and along some of the most waterlogged tracks that you could imagine, I just did my best to stay with the group (including Mr Wheezer). We hit another uphill after approximately 4km and I fell off the back of the group. There were 3 runners ahead of me now and another 2 or 3 just behind. The light from my headlamp was just enough to light up 5 metres ahead of me and up the hill I could see my path getting lighter as another runner caught me with his headlamp, far more powerful than my own.

As soon as the uphill section was over, and having managed to keep ahead of my pursuant, I could see the group of 3 about 300m ahead of me now. Surprisingly, they were not making any more ground on me and I was catching them very slowly. We left the forest now and hit a stretch of road which was slightly downhill. I increased my pace immediately and the Garmin showed that I ran this kilometre in 3:53. I was catching the group and I told myself just to keep up the effort and that it would be easier to run with them than to struggle by myself. Another kilometre further and I finally caught them and tucked in behind them to recover slightly. After a minute of running like this, and since we were still on the road, I decided to push the pace and they all followed me now. I was just wondering how long I would be able to keep this up when we left the evenness of the road and went offroad again. The first incline uphill and I was falling off the back again. I concentrated on keeping them in sight and pushing as hard as I could so as not to lose another 100m on them. The track flattened out slightly and we had finished the 7km extra loop of our race and were now catching the tailenders of the 10 km race. This was a new motivation as we overtook runners permanently now. I caught back up with my group of 3 and one of the runners suggested that we took it in turns relaying to stay with the front runner of the group.

I was back into a rhythm again now since we'd left the last of the steep uphill behind and the path through the forest was harder underfoot. The group of 4 of us were still together and we arrived at the road which I recognised from 2 years ago and told myself that there must be 3km to go at most. I took off at this point, telling myself that if I was capable of running a marathon, I had the endurance necessary to win this fight. The 3 other runners fell back now and I accelerated to just above 15km/h. I was encouraged when runners from the 10km race shouted out encouragement with one remarking "Look at this jet go!". Downhill now back into town and I knew that there was only one difficulty left, the climb back up the stairs to the ruins before the last descent to the finish line. I was determined that they wouldn't catch me now, but as I arrived at the bottom of the steps, I slipped and fell, winding myself slightly in the process.

The climb to the top was a killer and I could hear one of the runners from the group catching me, trailing me by about 10m now. I hit the top and let fly again down the steps and then down the cobbles through town. He was still trailing me and I passed the 10km runners at top speed, determined not to lose in this final 500m. A sprint to the end around the last bend and I finished in 1:23:07, about 10 seconds ahead of my rival. We congratulated each other and then the 2 others as they arrived 40 seconds later. Really satisfying to have held them all off at the end and I was pleased with my run which, I have to admit, was mentally draining after the marathon still in my legs. I suffered on the uphills and need some hill training if I want to do well in the approaching cross-country season.

Renault, Stéphane, Anne, Dominique and Pierre-Yves finished after me in this order. Anne ran really well to finish in 1:46 despite losing her shoe in a mud puddle at one point in the process. This was an 18 minute improvement on her time with Laurence 2 years ago and shows how much both have improved since then.

Good fun and shame that Nico wasn't there as I think that I would have given him a good run for his money.

Official results are here: results. I finished in 23 place in 1:23:05 and 8th veteran.