Long Sunday

The Sunday training plan for the club stated that a 1:40 training run with 3x12' intervals was on the cards. I decided to run over to the club to add a few extra kilometres and then run back at the end in order to put in a good long run this Sunday.

I ran over to the club and spoke to Laurence who'd arrived in the car. It was at this point that Miguel announced that 2 sessions were on: the initial 1:40 run and a marathon training session of 2:40 with 4x20 minutes off 4' rest. I chose the latter and ran off, leaving Laurence for the first session and headed off with Thierry, Fabrice and Bruno B. We met up with José, Nathaniel and others at the Lycee Horticole after a 3km warm-up to get there.

We all ran to the top of Princess Road and instead of turning right to go to St Gemme, we turned left to take the long way round to get there. We started the first interval and I ran with Nathaniel just behind Thierry and José at around 4:05 pace. I felt really good, despite the tiredness of the week and I found the pace fairly comfortable.

The second interval was into St Gemme and I was running by myself now, behind the same 2 in front and just ahead of Fabrice and Bruno. I finished this interval and I definitely didn't feel as fresh as the start. No, I definitely felt knackered already. I'd been averaging 3:57 per km over this interval, admittedly mostly downhill. I wasn't looking forward to the next interval as we had to run uphill through St Nom la Breteche now.

My worst fears were confirmed as both Fabrice and Bruno came past me on the uphill section through the town. I felt like giving up but as soon as the road flattened out and we were heading back to St Gemme through the forest my feelings came back and I caught back up with them both. I ran just behind them for a while catching my breath back and then I pushed on past them. We were running at 4:08 per km pace now and I was shattered. I didn't know how I was going to manage the last interval. My legs were very heavy now, but my breathing was still relatively fine.

Another 4 minutes rest and we were off on the last interval. Hell on earth. I'd already run about 28km now and I was wondering how on earth I was going to get home. We were heading back to the top of Princess Road and it's precisely 11km back home from here. If I couldn't find a lift back, I was on for a 44km run. This weighed heavily on my mind, plus my heavy legs and my heavy breathing, all of this made the going hard. I concentrated on staying ahead of Fabrice and Bruno. At this point José pulled up and started walking with an Achilles problem. I carried on and was relieved to begin the downhill down Princess Road and finally stop. I'd managed the session depsite the mileage in my legs and I'd stayed ahead of Fabrice on every interval. I was pleased and confident in my running at the moment. A good marathon performance is definitely on the cards if I can hold my body together.

Garmin ran out before the end of the run, but I'd already clocked 33 km when the battery gave out. Around 40 km all up in just over 3 hours. Definitely a long Sunday run.

Oh and the really good news: Laurence picked me up from the club at the end of the run. I was on my knees by now and my knight in shining armour showed up! Best part of the run.

Weak week 11

After last Sunday's race, it was always going to be hard to fin the motivation immediately to get going again. This wasn't made any easier by a taxing week at work and having to travel to Madrid for business. So Monday morning it was up really early to catch a plane rather than go for my usual morning run.

Tuesday 16/03 - Finished the business presentation and decided to make the most of the clement Madrid weather and the sunshine to go for a run in the evening. After 2 days of inactivity, I had loads of running in my legs. I thought I was running easily until I looked at the Garmin to see that I was running at 4:15 per km pace. I headed out on the main road of town looking for some countryside and ended up at the airport ! I ran around the perimeter of the airport for 5km and then turned back. 10km all up in 43:20 and tired by the end.

Wednesday - Got up early to use the treadmill and found that it was already occupied. Did a little cycling on the machine and then jumped on the treadmill when it was free. Managed 6 km at 13km/h as a recovery run.

Thursday - Back at home and an early start to do the marathon schedule for the day: 15 x 200m in 43 seconds. 200m recovery. An easy enough plan but it was hard enough to fin the speed at the start of the session. Fastest 200m in 38 seconds but most around the 40 second mark. 12 km all up for the run in 55:16.

Friday - early morning recovery run. Steady pace just to get the tiredness out of my legs. Not easy as the events of the week had been tiring and the late nights and early morning were beginning to take their toll. 13 km all up in 56:53.

Saturday - back to Cora by myself as Andy and Nick were both indisposed. I took it very calmly to begin with and then got into a rhythm of about 4:20 per km. Tired again by the end of the run, the half-marathon really drained me and the exertions were hard going. 15 km in 1:08:34 or an average of 4:30 per km.

Ended the week with a total mileage of just over 80km. Not bad considering I didn't manage a long run on the Sunday.

Rambouillet Half Marathon - Yvelines

The gauntlet had been thrown. I'd declared that this year I would beat my 24 year old half-marathon personal best set in the Great North Run when I was 17. My running objectives for the year were public and declared: the half-marathon had to be run in 1:22:30.

I spoke to Tom about this last weekend and he asked me why I wasn't just trying to beat 1:24:30 as this is 15km/h or 4:00 per km over the distance. I decided that this wasn't sufficient and since the 20k in Paris last year, I knew that I was capable of beating this but a 1:22 target was more ambitious.

We arrived at the race with plenty of time and Nick, Laurence and I got ourselves ready before going out ofr a warm-up. A nasty accident happened before we even started as I put out my hand to shake hands with Bruno and Laurence rose at the same time catching my fingers directly in her left eye. I felt really bad before we'd even started and hoped that this wouldn't have any impact on Laurence's own objective of beating 1:45 in the race.

Plenty of runners from St Germain were present: Nico, Olivier, José, Bruno, Mireille, Gérald, etc. and the quality of the runners was high. I expected this as although the number of runners that can take part in the race is limited to 2000, the quality is very high and I epxected to arrive only in the top 10%, compared to 5% in a standard race.

We lined up in the first starting block, pretending to look like runners capable of running under 1:20 !! Unfortunately, there is no timing mat on the start line so only the gun result counts, meaning that plenty of runners try to start as close as possible. The gun went (on the second attempt) and we were off. I ran with Nico as I'd set the virtual partner to 3:53 per km and he agreed to stay with me at this pace. We could see Bruno and Mireille running together just ahead and we caught them up in the second kilometre to give ourselves a chance of beating Mireille over the distance.

The first kilometres were quick but I felt good in my race shoes and there was no pain from the ankle. Nico and I ran together and we overtook Bruno on the first hill at around 3 kilometres when he dropped off Mireille's pace. I couldn't keep up with her either now and she pushed on, racing another female for 2nd place. We finished the hill and turned off into the forest and I pushed again, making the most of the slight downhill. I was really happy with my pace and my sensations here: my legs were comfortable and fresh (was this due to the new Skins I was wearing ?), my ankle was fine and my pace was around 3:50 per km. At about 7km, Nico dropped just behind me and I pushed on, hoping that he wouldn't be able to follow. Mireille was still in front and showed no sign of coming back to me. I tried to tag on to a little group of runners and stayed at the back of this group until the 10km point. There was a timing mat at this point and I crossed the mat in 38:29, not bad for a 10k and faster than my last race in Houilles !

I felt good again at this point and between 10 and 12km I stretched and pushed the group a little. At 12km though, I began to tire and wondered if I could keep this speed up. I was hungry and despite the little water that I'd taken on at the feeding stations, I was losing energy and had a little stitch. It was the countdown from then on. The kilometres seemed longer and longer although my speed didn't reduce drastically. My 3:50 per km pace slowed to 4:02 by kilometre 17 and then kilometre 19 went by in 4:13. This was due to the fact that I stopped to take on water and had to negociate the slight uphill out of the forest back towards Rambouillet.

I could still see Mireille about 300m ahead but she was not coming back to me. I was just hanging on in now, praying for the finish to come into sight. I guy in a triathlete suit came past and encouraged me but I couldn't stay with him. I passed the 20km marker and with 1km to go I was encouraged and put in a last little effort. Even so, I only managed the kilometre in 3:58 and then the sprint at 3:39 pace. I crossed the line in 1:22:12 a new PB and beat Fabrice's time in Paris of 1:22:35 so I was pleased. Nico had been dropped but I hadn't caught Mireille who'd run a stormer and the best half-marathon time for a female vet in France by over 5 minutes this year !!

Gérald finished next in 1:23 then Bruno and Nico in 1:24. Nick ran a personal best in 1:26 and then I ran back to find Laurence. I figured it was going to be close when I got to her but she was looking good, not red in the face, so she'd obviously run steadily and intelligently. We turned the corner and into the last straight with 250m to go. I could see the clock hit 1:44 and told her to sprint. She said she couldn't but she picked up the pace towards the finishing line to finally cross in 1:44:56 - a new record by over 5 minutes. She was stonked.

Good race all round. Definitely back next year to do this one again.

Wobbly week 10

Well the week started well enough but unfortunately it went downhill, almost pear-shaped from Tuesday onwards.

So to give you all the details, how did the week go exactly ?

Sunday 7th March - An easy Sunday run was planned for the club since most of the members were either running the Paris half-marathon or the Rueil half-marathon (and both races turned into a bit of a farce). I ran across to the clubhouse, catching up with Nick, back from his week skiing, along the way and had a chat together. We got to the clubhouse, only to find a very small turnout and no trainer. Instead of chickening out and doing the easy option of a jog around the route towards the railway track at Maisons Laffitte, we maintained the initial programme of some intervals 12', 10', 8', 6' off 3 minutes rest. I ran from the front for a change as Nico, José, Thierry, Bruno, Mireille etc. were all absent. I had Nick and Jean-Claude for company and I managed to run the intervals well without pushing it to the limit. We all ran back to the club and I ran an extra 4 km loop with Laurence before running back through the forst to home. 2h40 all up and 32km. A good long run and I needed a nap in the afternoon to recover.

Monday - skived as had to get to work early.

Tuesday - marathon schedule interval training planned for the day. 8 x 800m off 300m rest. The 800m were to be run in 3:10. I set out early and started the session after 1km warm-up. The first interval was run in 3:07 and I then improved on this for the following. Intervals went as follows: 3:07, 3:01, 3:05, 3:03, 3:02, 2:57, 3:06, 2:59. Good session despite the freezing cold. 12.6k in 56:09.

Wednesday - recovery run. Left ankle was playing up from the start. I had to stop a couple of times to stretch it and manipulate it to ease the pain. Every time I landed on my left foot it sent a jarring pain through my ankle causing me to reduce my stride and slow the pace. No fun at all and I was almost in tears with the pain and frustration. 10.4k in 48:14. Felt lousy.

Thursday - another recovery run to see if the ankle was better. It was less painful at the start but I could still feel it and had to shorten my stride to run. It was still bothering me and this showed in the time. 10.2k in 49:50. I had to stop running in the last 200m as the pain returned full blast. Decided that the time had come to change my trainers and to not run before Sunday's race.

Saturday - a massage session at Chambourcy. Fully appreciated a gentle rub down of the legs and some manipulation on the ankles. He plugged the Compex on to my thighs for the end part of the session sending the muscles into spasms in different rhythms and speeds. Quite interesting. I think I would have preferred a harder rub down, but great anyway. No shoes from the Marathonien at Sartrouville in the morning: Mizuno Wave Ultima. Felt good to run around the block in. Will see how they work out over the next few training sessions.

66k for the week so a little less mileage this week to taper for Sunday's race.

Week 9

So much for the interesting titles on the messages I'm posting at the moment. I'm into my 5th week of marathon training and I'm beginning to feel the benefits of the interval sessions and the increase in the weekly mileage. So what happened this week:

Sunday 28/2 - woke up at 6:00 am to hear the storm that had arrived from the west coast. Wind was blowing at well over 100km/h and I was worried that we were going to lose the roof or at least most of the tiles. Laurence decided that the wind was far too dangerous for anyone with half a brain to go running and she preferred to stay in bed. Marathon training has obviously had some serious effects on my mental capacity and I decided that wind or no wind, I would go running with the club. When I arrived I saw that plenty of other runners were affected by the same conditions as myself, and had decided to go running too. However, just to show that we're not completely mad we decided to run along the roads through the forest and not along the paths as initially intended. I ran with Miguel, Nico and Nabil and we headed a group of 20 runners who wanted to do 1:40 with a 12', 15', 12' interval session off 3' recovery. Nico soon took the lead and I struggled to keep up with Miguel alongside. It was tough going up the hill to the top of Princess Road and then along towards St Gemme with the wind in our faces. At times, it was almost as though we were running on the spot. I felt heavy at the end of the first session as I'd eaten too much at the restaurant the night before. The second session we turned left and had the wind behind us now in places. We began to fly: Nico was still in front, but not by much and I was second just ahead of Miguel. I eased off a little towards the end and Nabil came past. Final session saw us ending down Princess Road with a following wind. Same positions with Nico in front and Miguel was just behind me, so close that he caught my foot at one point and almost sent me flying. Great workout. Running at around 3:50 pace on the flat, and got up to 3:24 down the hill at the end. 20.3 k all up in 1:41.

Monday - Recovery run through the park early morning. 11.1 k in 50:49. Nice to take it easy.

Tuesday - Same route as Monday through park at same time. Programme was to run 3km in 12' then 2km in 8' off 3' rest. I ran 2.5k to warm up then ran my first 3k. I had problems getting up to speed to begin with but finished overall in 11:59 (4:03, 4:02, 3:54) then ran 2k well under target in 7:43 (3:46, 3:57). 49:26 for total circuit.

Wednesday - Recovery run over a slightly longer distance as I added in a loop though the main street in the park (Avenue Albine). 13.6k in 1:01. Another good run.

Thursday - the day I'd been dreading. The schedule stated 20x500m in 2:10 off 300m rest. I wasn't bothered about the speed of the intervals, but the total distance (at least 16k with a warm-up and warm down on top) was excessive before work. I kept the intervals and reduced the recovery to 200m. Intervals went well with first in 2:07, then another 4 at 2:00 then the remainder at between 1:55 - 1:58. Last interval in 1:48. Total distance of 16.1 km (1km warm-up and 1k warm down) in 1:10

Saturday - Cora by myself as Nick and Andy were on holiday and Laurence was running with a friend. Set off easily enough and then as I got over the other side of the railway line I caught up with another runner just slower than me. He upped the pace and we ran together to the lake. I felt great, having had a rest day on Friday and I ran very easily at 4:15 - 4:20 pace. He stopped at Cora and I carried on pushing the pace a little harder to get to 4:07. Finished the run in 1:04, which is probably the fastest I've ever run this course. Average pace at 4:18, due to the slowish start.

87.3 km for the week so increasing the mileage steadily. Feeling good and looking forward to the next big test in Rambouillet next week over the half-marathon there. Nico is running so there should be some tough competition.

A quick mention to Fabrice, who set the pace to beat running 1:22:35 at Paris today. Congratulations to Paul too who ran 1:29:37 in the same race. Anne, Hélène and Brigitte also ran but had a few more complaints regarding the organisation and especially the finish, where some runners struggled to cross the line to have their times recorded. The organisers, ASO, are under fire on the forums for their poor organisation now.