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.