Easy Saturday

The last run of the year and what better way to see the year out but to run with Laurence and Brigitte in the forest towards Corra. I managed to persuade Nico to come along too and take it easy for once. I know Saturday is sacred and devoted to running to Corra and back at ever faster pace, but it was the 31 December and all traditions should be rested every now and then.

Brigitte will be running her first ever marathon in 2012 and she will officially be starting her training next month. Laurence has agreed to run with her in order for her to achieve her objective of 4 hours for the race. With this in mind, we set off easily into the forest and Nico and I chatted with the girls as we ran around being able to enjoy the surroundings for once without being completely knackered and focused on the trail ahead. There was a slight drizzle that was not disagreeable and the temperature was mild - perfect conditions for a marathon !

We ran the 14.2km in 1:18 or an average pace of 5:30/ km which would be sufficient for a sub-4 hour marathon. Nico came back to the house to taste the famous chocolates and we had to wrestle the box back from him before they all disappeared at a rate of knots. It was at this point that he explained his eating habits when his wife is away: frankly 1 kg of M&Ms in a night is not good for racing. At any rate, we've almost converted him to becoming a tea-drinker. It won't be long before he's singing 'God save the Queen' and saluting the Union Jack.

Anyway, turning into an Englishman is a far better prospect than his other antics recently reported on the web where he's taken to running in flowery pink shorts. I'm in the process of acquiring photgraphic evidence of these antics so that the world can realise the shame that he's bringing to himself, his club and his country.

Watch this space...!

Fitting one in

I struggled to get out of bed Friday morning when the alarm went off so I rolled over hit the snoozze button and went back to sleep. Laurence was no help at all telling me that I needed the rest and that I shouldn't go out. She's a bit of a devil actually, tempting me to take it easy, and the sad thing is that I listen to her and then feel all guilty afterwards.

It was a good thing then that I left work early on Friday evening and told Laurence that I'd go for a run when I got home to compensate. It was still early evening when I got abck so I put on my running kit and headed out along the usual route. I'd been planning an interval session in my head to put in a bit of quality but running after work by yourself is hard to get motivated and the 3 x 2km that I'd been planning took the back seat.

Despite this breather I allowed myself, having run the first couple of kilometres at a fairly brisk pace for the start (about 4:20 / km), I decided to push it a little and to turn the run into a tempo session. It may have been early evening but it was already dark and I couldn't see my splits as they flashed up every kilometre. I did notice that I ran around the roundabout, or just over 4 km, in 17:10 so I thought that I wasn't far outside my best time for this course when I went through this point in 16:45. This encouraged me so I started to push it harder from here and really worked my stride and felt my quads stretching. I started to really fly in the park as I chased a runner down the path and then noticed that I went through 10km in around 41:00 so the minute I'd lost at 4 km (compared to a 15 km/h pace), I'd pulled back some of this.

I was beginning to tire but the watch kept me going, knowing that I wouldn't be far off my training PB for this route. I was still running my kilometres under 4:00 and looking at the Garmin afterwards, I ran the last 850 metres at 3:35 pace. I finished the loop in 51:40, beating my personal best by 10 seconds in the process. Chuffed to bits and this helped ease my conscience about not doing the early morning run.

12.8km in 51:40 or an average pace of 4:02 according to the Garmin.

Evening Session

Made it just in time, as is my wont, to the evening club session. There wasn't a huge turnout as it's the holiday season and many people are away. It's almost a pleasure driving into work at the moment with the roads empty of people who prefer to profit from their holiday leave, stuffing their faces at yuletide. Am I jealous ? - possibly.

What is most surprising is that these same roads appear to fill up magically in the evening and I'm faced with the same abysmal traffic conditions as usual when I try and get to the club on time. 20 minutes on the ring road last night before I could get to my exit and then another 20 minutes on the motorway, stuck in long queues. As a result, I arrived only just in time to get changed and to head out the door for the group jog as no intervals are planned. No coaches either, just Michel Z happy in his role as stand-in, ready to confuse everybody with a route he makes up as he goes along.

I jogged easily and chatted with Nic, Ilyes, Stéphane, Sandra, Pascal and Anne. We made our way easily through the streets of St Germain running just over 11 km in 1:07. It is now official that Nico's watch is completely uncalibrated as he measured over 12 kilometres for the same run. This clarifies some of the doubts we had recently when Nico claims on his blog to have run 20km in 1:19. His watch is actually recording 10% higher than it should. As a result 20km on his watch is actually 18.2 km and running this distance in 79 minutes equates to 4:20 / km. Perfectly logical for the rest of us but it must represent a huge blow to Nico who was satisfied with his post-marathon form and optimistic about the upcoming x-country season. How the mighty fall!

Myself, I'm still feling guilty about the lack of more speed sessions in my current training schedule and this will have to be remedied in my New Year resolutions.

Debauve et Gallais

I've pinched an idea from my brother here for my message header. This started because he put up a title the other day 'Billecart Salmon'. I frankly had never heard of this brand and it was only after a google search that I discovered that it's a prestigious champagne manufacturer who's been around since 1818. Presumably, he put this up since he'd just drunk a bottle of the precious liquid. It's a shame he didn't tell us more about the champagne instead of boring us all with how he's still recovering from injury, getting over a hangover, worried by his weight, etc., etc.

My title is relative to the ornate box of chocolates that we received yesterday. Absolutely delicious and unfortunately an extreme temptation. Laurence is stong enough mentally to be able to resist this, but Paul and I helped ourselves several times before we had to hide the box for the night. My early morning resolve to go running was mostly due to the guilt that I felt after these chocolates and their possible impact on my waistline. I've managed to be fairly reasonable up until now over Christmas but this was the last straw. I weighed myself after the run and saw the indisputable verdict: 75.5 kg - 2kg heavier than just before Christmas but not too bad all things considered. Perhaps I can have a few more chocolates tonight.

It was a straightforward run. There were no objectives as I'm hoping to get to the club session tonight to do some intervals. I started slowly, almost breaking my legs as I headed down to the Seine in the dark. The track I descend has some speed bumps (not necessary in the slightest as there are that many potholes that speeding is impossible) and I have to keep my legs supple as my feet land slightly higher than I expect from the terrain catching me unawares. This morning was disastrous as I was unbalanced by the first bump and then put my foot in a pothole, lurching me sideways. It was a relief to get out of there undamaged without sprawling lengthways.

I ran the first couple of kilometres at 4:40 pace before speeding up slightly over the rest of the course and running between 4:10 and 4:30 pace. The traffic was very light and I crossed nobody outside during my run. It was only when I got to the park in Maisons Laffitte that I began to feel easier and relax.

55:30 all up for 12.8km so an average pace of 4:20 for the circuit. See how it goes tonight at the club now. At least by doubling up I'll be able to attack the chocolate box (almost) guilt-free.

Doubling up

Since my last post in early December following the Conflans race, I've been finding it hard to keep up. Not with the running, which has been generally going fine, but with balancing the workload between work and blogging. Since work brings in a regular salary and my blogging skills are not yet sufficient to keep me in the manner to which I've become accustomed, I've been concentrating on the former.

Despite the regular runs, I've lost a little focus since the marathon and the lack of a formal training schedule is not helping. I've been slacking into my old ways and enjoying my runs rather than pushing the interval work, lengthening the long runs and generally exhausting myself completely. I'm still on the early starts since I've no alternative but I run them at a comfortable pace and then some.

So after Conflans, I ran an easy 51km week with a run in Brussels while I was on  a work trip. The following week I increased to 63km with a few more mid-week runs and then last week I managed 89km with a Tuesday session doubled up and then a couple of runs with Laurence over the weekend, including a lovely Christmas morning run when there was just the 2 of us running through the forest and not a soul in sight - fantastic.

This week is a lot quieter at work with many people away between Christmas and the New Year, leaving us to close the accounts in relative serenity. I ran my usual course around Maisons Laffitte this morning before work and really enjoyed my run. The temperature has got a little colder, which is about time for the season, and it was nippy this morning without dropping below freezing point though. I ran easily to start with and once warmed up, I pushed the pace a little running at around 4:10 pace through town and back to the house. This was fast enough to keep me warm and I was surprised by how fast I managed to recover this morning once I arrived back at the house. I won't go as far to say that it feels comfortable at this pace, but it's not the huge effort it used to be.

I was able to get out of work at a reasonable time this evening but unfortunately this evening's traffic was a lot heavier than this morning and I only arrived in time to change as the others were leaving on their warm-up. This meant that I had to catch up 4 - 5 minutes on the warm-up so I chased them around St Germain at 15km/h ! Having managed to catch them up half-way around the St Germain loop, I jogged back with Nico, Momo, Simon, Mireille and Ilyes to the track. The session for the evening, without any coach in attendance, was 20 x 200m. I was happy enough knowing that Wilfried and Simon were doing this so it meant that I wouldn't have to attempt to stay with Nico and Ilyes over the intervals.


We started off together but Simon was soon dropped, despite the taunts launched by Nico about being a big girl's blouse (or something to the same effect in French). I would start off the interval then Nico and Ilyes would come past finishing 5 metres ahead while I held off Wilfried on my shoulder. I ran every 200m in 36 seconds off a 38 - 40 second recovery. After the 7th interval, Wilfried pulled out claiming that he'd had enough. For someone used to running 100km races this was a bit of a disappointment. Frankly these younger runners just lack the stamina. To prove my point, Nico dropped out after 16 without any explanations. In fact, he didn't really need to explain as with the jet propulsion he'd been firing for the last few intervals, stopping was a relief for everyone. No wonder Ilyes made that extra effort to stay ahead of him. I just lack the speed and had to breathe in the equivalent of a day's pollution in Paris city centre and it was quite frankly a huge relief when he pulled aside. Too much turkey and foie gras over Christmas methinks.

So 20 intervals at a very regular pace 35 - 36 seconds and I was pleased by the fact that I managed to stay the course after the run this morning. I'd been worried that I 'd been slacking recently but this little session showed me that I'm still in shape and ready to take on Wilfried and Simon any day. Nico is still ahead but running a 35:35 at Houilles just showed his recent form and potential too.

No sign of Gérald so looking forward to seeing him improve in the New Year and getting back into shape too.

25 km all up for the day and a 90 km week is on the cards.

Sunday run

Turned up at the club intending just to see the others and to take it easy. Miguel announced the session : 3 x 10' at threshold pace. I decided there and then that I would jog these intervals and catch the others while they were recovering.

There was a big turnout and Anis, Ylies, Nico, Gérald, Simon, Bruno etc. were all there. We warmed up easily and then the intervals began. I let myself be overtaken by everyone and ran at the back, picking up my jogging speed so as not to lose touch with everybody completely. Nico ran off to the front to challenge the leaders whereas I watched runners I don't normally run with overtake me and pull ahead.

By the second interval I'd had enough of this and pushed on slightly harder catching Régis and Bruno in the process and pulling Mireille on over the end of the interval. Gérald had given up mentally and was running behind me now. Then on the third interval, I gave it a bit more effort as I was back into the groove by now and chased down Nico who'd gone off too hard over the first two and was now paying the price. We were running at about 15.5km/h through the forest and this felt hard after all of my recent efforts. I was glad when it stopped to be frank.


16.5 km all up in 1:30 so no great shakes for the average time but it was good to be abck at the club and running with the others.

Conflans - 15km

I set out to do this race easily. It's not even been a week since I ran the marathon in Florence and I told Gérald that I would run with him to ensure his podium in the departmental challenge. He only needed to achieve 90 points to secure 3rd place which amounted to around 1:05 for the 15km, so the task was not arduous. I have to admit that I also had the objective set by Nick in the back of my mind: 58:13 for the 15km but this seemed well out of reach on the relatively tough course around Conflans, especially with 42km of racing in the legs and an improvement on last year's time of some 40 seconds.

The image above gives you the profile of the course with a steep downhill at the 3km mark and then 2 sharp uphills at 5km and then at 12km. The rest of the route follows the Seine up until the confluence with the Oise, where the course doubles back on itself and heads back to the start. I've run this race twice before and love the route through town, despite the hill, and the long straights by the river where you can set a rhythm and race properly. Last year was an epic ordeal though with a fresh layer of snow that fell in the morning prior to the race, making every corner a nightmare and the last lap of the stadium was reduced to one lane.

Photo from last year's race, heading back along the Seine around the 9km mark.












I lined up at the start this year with Gérald and it was a different kettle of fish altogether. The sun was out, the temperature was not too cold and there was only a strong breeze to spoil the conditions. We decided to take it easy and not to sprint off initially. This was indeed the case; for the first 200 metres at least. We then began passing runner after runner and when the Garmin beeped to indicate the first kilometre in 3:36 I shouted out to Gérald to ease up. We slowed slightly and I found a nice rhythm that I was happy with at about 3:45 pace. This was too much for Gérald though as he lacks a little race practice and training at the moment and dropped behind me. I felt bad for a milli-second before deciding that I was enjoying the run and the pace and that Gérald should use me to pull him along.

I was watching another runner Fred at this point who beat me last year by 5 metres (wearing red in the photo above). He was running well and we'd spoken before the race and I could see that he was in great shape and that the chances of staying with him this year were slight. I was encouraged by the fact that nobody was overtaking me and that, on the contrary, going uphill through Conflans, I was actually keeping up and overtaking others while reducing my stride and increasing the rhythm.

When we went around the turning point at 8km it was bliss. The strong breeze was now coming from behind, helping to push the pace and I stretched to make the most of this. I thought about the marathon and the necessity to maintain the pace no matter the different thoughts in my head about easing off as nothing was at stake. A quick look at the Garmin and a rapid calculation and I realised that I could actually beat the 58:13 target now, if I could maintain 4:00 pace average over the last few kilometres. Admittedly, there was the steep hill, la Sente des Laveuses, to manage but if I could speed up again after this, the record was on the cards.

Amazingly, everythhing went according to plan. I used a flagging runner to accelerate before the hill, overtaking him just at the foot and then leaving him rapidly before focusing my attention on another 2 runners just ahead. I never caught them but they pulled me unconsciously as we neared the stadium and the night of free beers was a feasible proposal.

A last sprint around the track and I crossed the finish line in 57:54 almost a minute faster than last year. What's more, I'd beaten the 58:13 target time set by Nick earlier this year. I'd achieved 4 out of the 5 targets, failing only in the half-marathon which I haven't run competively in 2011. Gérald finished 3 minutes behind, a broken man, in 1:00:48. He was so upset with his race that I wondered whether I should call suicide watch or not. The fact that he could have beaten his course record if he hadn't eased off completely over the last kilometre, letting another runner from our club come past, Charles, was beyond me. He felt that he'd hadn't run well enough to deserve to beat his own time, so he slowed. Gérald has a logic from another world so please don't try to understand. The fact is now that the counter shows a 7-0 victory in my favour and he'll have to pull his act together if he wants to get closer next year.

A great way to end my racing year for me. Really pleased with this final result.

Frankfurters

I'm in Germany on business and last night I got to meet a new bunch of people when I sat down to dinner. After chatting with the guys next to me, I discover that one of them runs, cycles and swims regularly. He's even done a half ironman in 5 hours 10 and run a 10km race in 37'. Perfect, I have a new running partner. As any half serious runner, he had his kit with him and we made arrangements to go for a run the following morning.

We set out from the hotel at 7:30am and the city was already very active. Most Germans, it seemed, had already arrived at work and the city was bustling. We headed down easily to the river as my running partner claimed he needed to go slowly to warm up before making any exertions due to his age. "What age is that exactly?", I enquired ? "40", was the reply. We sped up.

We ran by the Rhine on the north bank before we ran out of path and then along the railway line, before we ran out of space beside the railway. We turned and headed for home at this point and he pushed the pace, so I followed. I overtook him and I pushed the pace and he followed. We ran the kilometres back along the river in between 4:10 and 4:20 pace so I was pleased to achieve some real exercise, feeling good too after the marathon.

We ran 8.5km all up in 41:05 or 4:50 per km on average. Not bad and we'll do better tomorrow, now I know what he's capable of.

Champion's return

A special effort to get out of work in time for the club session last night in order to go and soak up some praise from my fellow athletes after the resounding victory over Nico at the weekend. I almost got stuck in traffic but I arrived at the club just in time to be welcomed by a round of applause as Miguel was giving the pre-run chat. I made the most of it and put on my most modest face even though I was brimming with pride.

I was only up for a warm-up jog with the group accompanied by Fred, Gérald, Ilyes and Simon who all congratulated me on a great race. I got back to the track to be met by Régis and Dominique who joined in on the congratulations and wanted to hear how the race went. Of course, I told it how it was, with no embellishments, especially the part where Nico crossed the finish line distraught and full of anguish following his humiliating defeat, or something to that effect...

A few laps around the track and Gérald joined me at the end and we discussed tactics for the race at Conflans on Saturday. I'll see if I can keep up with him around the course and help him to the 90 points he needs now to clinch his 3rd place on the podium in the departmental challenge.

All in all, I must have run 9km without the Garmin at a very easy pace. Just what the doctor ordered.

Florence Marathon - showdown

I am not doing well in the 2011 Nico v. James challenge. We have run 8 races so far this year and he's won 7 of them. I have excuses of course: we always have excuses when we fail to do well. But the truth is that I am not able to run as fast as he can over the shorter distances. We knew this when we pulled the challenge together. It was supposed to be a mix of events ranging from 5km to marathon. I wanted the longer distances as I knew I had a far better chance whenever we race over 15km. I also wanted to take into account the time difference in the various races rather than just taking a win over a loss. Whatever, he is now 6 races up and it looked as though he was entering the marathon with some solid training and a good chance on paper of beating me over this distance too.

As members of the St Germain running club we also have our supporters. As a veteran I tend to find a lot of support from the older members of the club but also veteran marathon runners (thanks Gérald), whereas Nico has plenty of support from Jean-Marc. So basically, Jean-Marc was betting on Nico while 90% of the club was behind me (average age in the club is close to 50 so this wasn't surprising). Nico had been doing plenty of swaggering prior to the race about how he would beat me hollow, pick me off the road at 35km, etc. but I could tell that his mouth was talking but his brain didn't believe a word he was saying. The race was on.

Laurence and I flew into Pisa Saturday morning and picked up a car to get over to Florence for lunch-time. The adventure started here. The Italians are great at many things: food, wine, opera, art but they are lousy at one thing - road signs. It took us an hour to get around Florence and to finally find the stadium to pick up our bibs for the race the following day. I'd had enough of driving by this point and just wanted to dump the car. After a quick tour of the marathon expo and utter disappointment at seeing my bib for the race with my number 223 and then 'James Highnam FRA' written beneath it, we drove into Florence centre and to the hotel. Lunch in the city centre calmed us down nicely and we were finally able to soak up the atmosphere of this amazing Italian city that must be one of the most beautiful in the world. The sun was shining and the temperature hovering around the 16°C mark and the light on the buildings and the river Arno was just incredible. A quick shop in the centre and we headed back to the hotel to meet the others.

We'd only just digested lunch when we attacked dinner with Sandra, Pascal, Katia and François and their families. Talk about carbohydrate loading: the pasta starter was enough for a regiment, let alone the chicken and roast potatoes that followed. Nico and his family had also arrived safely in town as I'd exchanged texts wth Nico earlier. Despite my initial worries that he'd had problems arriving, it turned out that his delay in answering the phone was due to the fact that he'd turned it off while enjoying a long siesta. He was obviously dead serious about the race and determined to be as ready as possible.

Laurence and I got up the following morning fully prepared for the race. This was not like Marseille. We'd learned our lesson and packed cream, safety pins, caps, the whole caboodle. A quick breakfast with François and Katia and we headed off through town to the start down by the river. We met Sandra and Pascal as arranged and bumped into Nico, Benj and Greg. The day was perfect: sunny, blue skies, no wind and about 3°C. As the sun rose above the skyline, it elt warm on your body and the cold temperature was not a problem. Nico was nervous and had slept badly, whereas I was eager to start and to get running, not having trained since Tuesday previously. The organisation was good and runners disclipined as they entered the different timing pens. 30 minutes wait in here and a couple of pee stops later and we were ready to go.

I had the Garmin on virtual partner mode with 4:05 entered as the pace to stick to. Nico was going to head out faster and I thought that I'd be picking him up at about 35km as he suffered over the final stages. That was the race plan - clear cut, simple, straight-forward. This was redemption time as with my marathon experience, there was no way that Nico could beat me over this one. Despite his training, I wasn't convinced that he would be able to hold on at the end when the going gets really tough. We would see if I was right.

So much for the plan. I set off and after a few hundred metres I was behind schedule. No problems it was a slow start and I missed the first kilometre as I concentrated on not running inot other runners and trying to find a pace I was comfortable with. I relaxed and stretched out into the second kilometre and when the Garmin showed 3:56 I wasn't surprised but since it felt that comfortable, I decided not to worry and to just go with it. I began looking ofr runners that I could tag along with now but at this stage in the race this can be risky. I spotted a Scandinavian (Swedish I thought but he turned out to be Norwegian) in a red top and I judged my pace by him. If I got too close, I would ease off but judging how relaxed I felt, I figured that I had the pace about right.

There was no sign of Nico now and I came to the conclusion that has behind me. I'd been running a few kilomtres under 4:00 each now and there was no sign of him in front. This was confirmed at 6.5km when we went around a hairpin before entering Le Cascine park. He waved and shouted out to me. I stuck a thumb up at him in return, happy to know he was behind and feeling great about my shape. This spurred me on and my next few kilometres all hovered around 4:00 with my slowest in 4:03 and my fastest in 3:54 depedning on whether it was a slight uphill or slight downhill. At 11km, I was caught by a small group of 4 Italians, 2 from the same club sharing the lead, with another talking to the spectators or his fellow runners. I tagged along on their shoulders and as we passed the feeding station, I ran to the front and shared the lead. I looked at the Garmin as the pace felt slightly uncomfortable: 3:55. In fact this was a series of kilometres where I was flirting with the danger zone but too happy to be with the group and to ease off the pace - 3:55, 3:55, 3:57, 3:57, 3:56, 3:53. It was this last kilometre that decided it, I had to let them go. We were at 19km now and I couldn't afford to overheat now. I relaxed and ran a 4:03 watching the group ease ahead and then I saw the clock as I ran through the half-way point: 1:24:13 - I was averaging under 4:00/km. I wondered now if I could keep this up until the end and beat 2:49. Still, I figured that going under 2:50 would also be fantastic.

My Norwegian runner came past me again at this point and he looked stronger than when I'd passed him around the 18 km mark. Apart from another runner who passed me at around 30km, I would not be overtaken by anybody from the 15km point onwards. I still felt good now and the first signs of tiredness set in after 28km. I began a countdown in my head now. Only 14km to go - that's not too far! They had a clock set up for the 30km mark and another thrill here as it showed 1:59:51 as I hit the timing mat. Still on for the 15km/h target. Only, there's no esacaping the general fatigue that settles in over the last 12km and I was no exception. My feeding had been well planned and I'd excecuted strictly: sugar tablet every 5, 15, 25, 35 km and then almond paste sweet at 10, 20, 30 km. Water every 5km and sponge every 7, 12, 17, 22, etc. There was always something to look forward too !

I slowed imperceptibly now and I couldn't fight. The Garmin was showing 4:03 more often now but that was soon stoppped when we headed back into the town center and the crowds around the cathedral. What a boost a bit of crowd support brings: the next 2 kilometres went by in 3:54 and 3:57 and thoughts about the target reappeared. It wasn't to be though and as we headed back out of town westards for the final loop before heading back in over Ponte Vecchio the little slopes and the sun got to me and I slipped back to 4:05 - 4:07/km. I wasn't bothered though as Nico wouldn't be coming back now. I'd thought about him at 30km when there was still a chance but at 35km I knew I just had to finish and win. The last 500m were amazing: I managed to finsih at 3:39 pace and clinch the sub 2:50 result. I was thrilled ecstatic. I saw Henry and Paul and put my forefinger in the air to show that I'd done it - I'd beaten Nico and my PB. This race was worth 10 in the chellenge and the first thing that Nico said when he crossed the line was that he was cancelling his entry to New York. He's suffered in the final stages, as predicted and the minute difference at the half-way point had extended to 5 minutes by the end - 2:55:02.

The others came in shortly afterwards: François ran a blinder in 3:06, Katia and Sandra finished together in 3:38, Laurence just afterwards in 3:45 having suffered an optical migraine at 30km with the tiredness and the sunlight. Pascal and Greg ran together in 3:27 and Benj was a little disapppointed with 3:11 having dropped 10 minutes due to cramps in the last 5km. However, everybody beat their record, if not their target and overall we were all pleased with such a good event. My honour is safe and sound now until next yearwhen we start the challenge again. Now where did I put that entry form to Millau 100km - Nico ?

Easy Monday and new shoes

No stress. Just a pair of running shorts, a couple of long-sleeved tops to keep warm and a buff to keep my throat covered and stop me from catching a cold. The last week of marathon training is not stressful in terms of running expectations as all the hard work is over. It's in the bag, under the belt. No the real worries are elsewhere.

Both Laurence and my main concerns now, and they are shared by all our marathon-running colleagues, is avoiding catching a virus that incapacitates us this weekend. We take extra precautions to stay well away from our virus-coughing eldest son, we avoid contact with any surfaces that he approaches and we make sure we take our vitamin supplements. We have become insufferable. We watched 'Contagion' just over a week ago and if we were bad previously, we became almost paranoid after this film. The manner in which a virus can spread is almost infinitessimal. Scary.

I went out into the cold, anaesthetised pre-dawn air and sucked it into my lungs as I warmed up down towards the river. I daydreamed from the start as I had no objective, if only to make it round the usual 13 km circuit through Maisons Laffitte. I started slowly and gradually built up speed until I was running at around 4'30 pace. I was wearing my new Nike Pegasus 28 bought this weekend in Decathlon for €70.

I have to admit that my feelings about this shoe are mixed. First impression is very comfortable. The insole is well cushioned and hugs the foot well. This feeling of comfort, however, is then overridden when you begin to run by a lack of dynamism in the shoe. I had the same sensation with the Lunarglide which I only wore 3 times before abandoning. Admittedly, this shoe is a vast improvement on them but still not my favourite. The Saucony Kinvara has a far more dynamic feel, whether this is due to the lightweight nature of the shoe I'm not sure. It just feels right.

So, I spent the first half of the run blaming my shoe for my relative lack of speed. Then I relaxed after 6 kilometres, having arrived in the park and I sped up naturally and decided the shoe probably wasn't to blame after all. They were all right and I completed my run in a better mood and happy to have been out.

12.8km all up in 57:25 or an average pace of 4:29 / km. Arrived back in time to the smell of fresh bread from the bread machine and a lovely granary loaf that I prepared last night. No foreign germs guaranteed in this loaf.

Sunday club session

Nico had persuaded me to do the club session today as it fitted in fairly well with the marathon training plan. There is now 1 week to go and it wasn't feasible or reasonable to do a long or a hard session. The club session today was for 1h30 with 3 x 10 minutes at 85% max HR. Compared to the 2h00 marathon training plan with 45' at marathon speed, this seemed a viable alternative. The clincher was that neither Nico nor I believed that 2 hours training was strictly necessary this last Sunday and having checked last year before Toulouse marathon when I didn't run at all on the last Sunday, this is probably true.

The marathon training is all but over now and the ingredients have been thrown together and we just have to see how long it takes in the oven and whether the result is comestible or not. These last runs are more to reassure ourselves about our condition than for any tangible effect on the final result. Havig said all of this, I have become accustomed to longer runs and the thought of a "mere" 1h30 run with the club and all of the stopping and starting that this generally involves convinced me to run through the forest to begin with at an easy pace and then do the training session with the others afterwards.

I ran from the house to the club at a steady trot, just under 5' per km and when I arrived the turnout was not huge. There were plenty of other commitments today with the Boulogne half-marathon, Nice - Cannes marathon, the 4 castles race, and the maxi cross-country where Gérald was taking part in his quest to hold on to third place in the Yvelines department challenge. Biggest surprise was not to see Nico there already and I was wondering whether I would have to run back home too when he turned up late.

No official trainer today but the route we would be taking explained and the 3 x 10' exercise outlined. I ran with Nat and Nico chatting about the ultra-trail in the south of France where Nat took part for 116km. He managed to block his knee in the process and had to walk the last 50 km. Frankly, you have to be nuts - a marathon is nothing in comparison. we waremed up easily and then there was a little confusion about whether we should be running another 30' at endurance pace before the 3 x 10' intervals or whether we should start immediately. I just followed Ilyes and Jean-Marc, happy to let them build a slight lead and hearing Nico and Simon just behind me. The 2 behind put on a spurt just before the end of the first 10' and caught me but I wasn't bothered as I'd been prepared mentally to carry on at that pace for 30' if necessary!

The second interval was more serious and Simon took the lead and the pace to just above 16km/h for the 10 minutes. We weren't at 85% max HR but closer to 90% in my books. Anyway, I was happy to stick in this leading group with the 5 of us and when the 10 minutes were up we doubled back to let the others catch up. A final 10' now and Nico took to the front with Jean-Marc and Ilyes following. I dropped off the lead pace despite a kilometre in 3:38 - this was too fast a pace for me a week before the marathon and the aim had never been to run myself into the ground. Jean-Marc suffered too, dropping off the lead group with 4' to go and Simon and I caught him just as the interval ended. Nico proved his great shape of the moment and even Ilyes was struggling to stay with him.

21.5 km all up in just under 1h50 or an average pace of 5:04/km. I tested my new Nike trainers and a new almond paste energy bar and both proved conclusive. I'm still not too sure about the chalk climbing bag that I used to test as a carrying pouch for the bars and whether I'll keep this in Florence. To be meditated upon...

Corra - with company

Nico was on for a run to Corra this Saturday which was good. He said that we had to run it easily and not force the pace with the marathon so close which was better. I managed to persuade François to come along and to run with us just to ensure that Nico did not get out of hand which was even better still.

We set off at 8:30am to a crisp morning and a beautiful blue sky. As we ran through the forest, the morning sun was just rising above the trees and burning off the low lying mist. Rays of sun would illuminate the mist creating a poetic impression to the forest scenery. It was so stunning that one runner we passed stopped and pulled her i-phone out of her pocket to take a photo. Unfortunately, we weren't so well prepared so all you have are these words to try and describe the scene briefly.

Everyone was true to their word and François, Nico and myself set off at 5' pace and gradually sped up to 4'30 pace over the course of the usual Corra circuit. It was a good run and we chatted easily about the forthcoming marathon, training and the political situation in St Germain. There were suite a few other runners out and about but the best surprise was bumping into Laurence, Brigitte and Hélène on their Saturday morning training station just after crossing the bridge by Pavillon de la Muette. Congratulations to Hélène on her first training run after the New York Marathon which has now inspired Brigitte to take part in Paris marathon with Laurence agreeing to accompany her.

15 km all up in 1h10 and the most reasonably paced Corra run that we've done in a while. Average pace of 4:41 / km.

6 x 1000m - Club session

Damn, damn, damn. Despite leaving work at a reasonable time, or at least what I considered to be a reasonable time, I knew after 10 minutes stuck in a jam on the périphérique that I just wouldn't make it in time. I called Laurence to warn her and to get somebody to keep the changing rooms open for me. This was exceptionally important tonight, of all nights, because I had all my shower stuff with me to get changed after the training to take part in that other important club business - Beaujolais Nouveau !

I arrived at the club over 5 minutes late. I'd seen the runners at the beginning of their route around St Germain for the warm-up but I wasn't too bothered as I'd figured that I could get changed and go on the warm-up in the opposite direction and still cover a couple of kilometres before hitting the track. Jean-Claude and Miguel let me into the changing rooms and chatted while I changed into my running kit. Apparently, the annual cross country chellenge organised by the club is only 2.9km and not 3km! Scandal or what ?

I ran out to find the others and after just over 1.5k I passed them in the other direction. I looked for Laurence in the dark, but not seeing her, I tagged onto the back of the last group, running with Anis and catching up on his news. No sign of Nico who'd obviously chickened out nor my wife which was more worrying. I ran back to the track passing the groups as I accelerated and saw Gérald once I'd got there. He agreed to run my 6 x 1000m session with me and we saw Nico who'd started his 4 x 2000m already, having to hurry as he had a council meeting just afterwards.

We set off on the session almost immediately. The marathon training plan was to run every km in 4'. I reckoned that this was a little easy and decided that I would run each in 3'45 to keep the pace honest. I started with Gérald and I found the first very easy, finishing without breathing excessively in the slightest. This was too easy and didn't demand enough effort. We ran a 200m recovery and started again, this time a little faster. This is how the session went and with Gérald running with me to the end for which I was very grateful.

3:46, 3:39, 3:37, 3:35, 3:32, 3:28 all off 1'15 recovery for the 200m.

A brilliant session which encouraged me no end for the marathon. I'm in top form and runing better than ever.

13.1 km all up in 1:06 or an average pace of 5:01 per km. Laurence, Katia and Sandra looked good running their 2 x 4km and Nico averaged 7:30 for his 2km stretches. All is looking good for some excellent results in florence. Fingers crossed now for the final week and the last sessions.

Good evening with the beaujolias nouveau. José and Laurent were on top form. Nico suffered from his absence. No comments now but all will be revealed after Florence !

Tempo run

I woke up after a reasonable night's sleep and I felt good. I felt better than good as I was full of energy and raring to go. I was also feeling guilty and had been thinking about my morning run from last night and how I could compensate for the lack of interval training from the marathon plan for both Monday and Tuesday. I finally decided on a tempo run. A run at threshold pace around the usual circuit and to see how I would cope.

I literally hit the street running and set off at a decent clip down the road. The weather was clear and cold and the sun had not yet risen to warm up the air. I ran down to the river and it was too dark to see my pace when the autolap beeped to indicate the end of the first kilometre. I had negotiated the track in the dark and now I was flying along the road beside the river, opening up as I no longer had to worry about potholes and twisting my ankle. The garmin beeped again for the second kilometre and I still couldn't see what pace I was doing but it felt not so much fast, as uncomfortable. I figured that I was running about 15km/h and I could manage this for 4km before I would need a break.

The discomfort grew as I pushed on and by 4km I allowed myself to slow down, figuring that I would accelerate again after a couple of minutes and try and run a second 4km at this pace. I'd seen that my pace was just under 4:00 for the last kilometre and I allowed myself a little relaxation before starting again. This section I ran into the park and the path towards the castle. This is my favourite spot and it was no hardship to run fast along here. In fact, I felt so good here that I didn't stop again, my muscles warming up to the pace and the discomfort. I pushed the pace all of the way back to the house, telling myself that I could create a new record for completing this circuit.

I ran back to the house in 51:50, completing the 12.9km at an average pace of 4:01/km. I felt great and not even that tired. The kilometres went as follows:

3:55, 3:58, 3:54, 3:59, 4:30, 4:11, 3:58, 4:00, 3:59, 3:59, 4:03, 3:57 and then 3:39 pace to the end.

The guilty feeling had gone and a big smile of satisfaction had replaced it.

Brussels running

I was in Brussels for work on Monday and Tuesday this week and I'd packed my running kit to keep up the training schedule despite being away from home. I've got a bit of a reputation at work now and am known as a running fanatic. Personally, I think that this reputation is a bit exagerated as anyone who runs regularly knows plenty of other runners who are more hardcore, more excessive, more fanatic than them. I see plenty at the club who run further per week, who run longer races up to 120km across the hills, who race more often than me and as such I consider myself as "normal". Unfortunately, it appears that running clubs are already perceived as exceptional havens for running fanatics, and runners who attend only judge themselves by the fanatics they train with.

Anyway, whatever my own opinion of myself, I'm perceived as excessive by my work colleagues. Luckily, there are other runners who also pack their kit when travelling and I knew that Bruce would be there this week and that he would probably accept to go running with me. Bruce and I and a few others had dinner together on Monday night and as I went to the bar for a last coffee, I noted that Bruce had slipped away off to his bedroom without organising a meeting time for a run. My last ally had deserted me. Not to be thwarted, I e-mailed him accusing him of backing out and he gave in to my hassling, arranging to go for a run at 6:00 am the next morning. I checked out google maps for a suitable route and the run was on.

We met in the hotel lobby the next morning for the run and the weather had turned distinctly colder. There was a layer of frost on the cars in the hotel carpark and we headed outside with a little trepidation, fearing the bitter nip as the cold hits the body before you start running and warming up. It was not easy to find a good route to run as we were staying at the Holiday Inn near the airport and any paths in the direction of the airport were impractible whereas in the other directions, main roads were the barriers.

We headed out of the office zone and across some tracks through the fields. We were running at just below 12 km/h and I was enjoying the pace, and feeling guilty that I wasn't running my 2 x 30' at marathon pace as specified in the marathon training. We reached the end of the countryside paths and hit the main road and after 1.5km, we turned around and headed back so that Bruce could get to his first meeting. We got back to the hotel after 45 minutes and 8.5 km and I headed back out for a couple of laps of a 2km loop that I discovered, running both of these at around 15 km/h before calling it a day and stopping at the hotel.

13.1km all up in just under 1:03 so an average of 4:48 per km.

Running easy

The sacrifices that you are prepared to make to go for a run are incredible. I sacrificed Sunday morning in bed today as having agreed to run with the girls, Laurence finally admitted that the training was to begin at 7:30am so that Katia could fit in her daughter's confirmation this morning. She then told me that we weren't running from home but had to drive 10km to get to the meeting point aswell. At least since I didn't make too much of a fuss, I should have earned some wife credits in the process.

It was a beautiful morning outside. Or, at least it must have been a beautiful morning, but for the moment it was still dark so we couldn't see anything of it. Autumn has arrived, so the temperature was a brisk 6°C this morning and when we arrived at the car park and met Katia and François, we decided to start immediately before we all caught colds. Sandra and Pascal had pulled out of the run at the last minute, informing us that they weren't ready to forsake their Sunday lie-in. Some people are sensible.

We ran up Princess Road to start at a steady pace and I felt very easy, recovering after my long run yesterday and easing the ache in my thighs and calves. I was concerned about my left achilles since I woke up this morning with a dull ache here, but everything went well as I ran. I chatted with François, while Laurence and Katia ran together just a few metres behind. As we ran I tested a theory about the difference between men and women and their running styles.

Women have an amazing propensity to talk when they run at speeds that leave men breathless. Katia and Laurence were running now at marathon pace, still chatting to each other. When Nico and I run at marathon pace, we grunt at each other and normal conversation is impossible. Today, by the time we'd covered 5 kilometres, they'd managed to discuss their children, life at school, weekend activities, you name it, it had been covered. François and I had just had time to discuss our respective training schedules. Chat about the family was on the programme, but only in 5 weeks time!

François had 2 x 20 minutes of marathon pace (around 4:25 / km) to do during the session this morning, so we set off together once we arrived at the top of Princess Road. We began at 4:25 pace but then sped up to 4:20 before finishing downhill into St Nom la Breteche at 4:15 pace so averaging 4:18 over the first interval. We ran back to the girls and then accompanied them up through St Nom and back onto the forest road towards St Gemme when we set off on the second interval. This we ran slightly faster than the first averaging about 4:15 / km for the 20 minutes allotted.

The sun was risen now and we could really appreciate the morning as the sun lit up the mist in the forest, creating an eery effect. The temperature rose a couple of degrees too which made the run very pleasant. To finish, I made the most of the last few kilometres back down Princess Road to stretch out and let loose downhill. Last kilometre in 3:38 feeling very easy which is all very promising for the test in 2 weeks time.

25 kilometres all up in 2:04 which brings me to 110 km for the week. This is probably the farthest I 've ever run in a weeks training and if this doesn't pay off I'll go back to enjoying my lie-ins on Sunday mornings.

LSR (Long Saturday Run)

First, the good news. In fact it was good news from yesterday that I forgot to tell you about: I weighed myself yesterday after my run and the scales gave me some excellent news - 73.4 kg. I'm not obsessed about my weight but after several weeks weighing in at 75.4 kg, I began to lose hope about the marathon training programme having any impact on my weight. Just when I thought there would be no change and that I'd reached my optimal weight for the training at the moment, I lose 2 kg overnight almost. I was so encouraged by this that I suggested that Laurence should weigh herself too. Nothing doing - she refuses to approach the scales, in fact she barely glances at them in the bathroom.

I switched my marathon training for Sunday to Saturday so that I can run with the girls (Laurence, Katia, Sandra) again tomorrow. They actually wanted to run with both Nico and I as they feel that it's encouraging to run with superstars such as ourselves (this is not invention but a quote from the girls - not sure whether tongue in cheek or not). Nico has decided that the attraction of running with 3 attractive women is not enough for him and has left for Chartres for the weekend to run with a couple of blokes. There's no accounting for taste.

The plan for today was the last long run before the marathon. 2 hours 30 minutes of effort including 3 x 20 minutes at marathon pace and the remainder at endurance pace. I thought that I would run my usual long route through the forest to St Germain, up Princess Road into St Gemme, down the hill to St Nom la Breteche and along the main road to St Germain before heading back home through the forest. It's a 33 km loop and would be just perfect for the running time alotted. I set off easily as I didn't want to tire myself out before starting the first interval which I planned once I was at the top of Princess Road. So I jogged easily through the forest, pulling my running top down constantly to stop the camelbak rubbing against the base of my back.

It was a lovely morning and clear blue skies with a crisp temperature of about 9°C. It was nice to be out but I could tell that yesterday's recovery session was still in my legs and that I would be struggling to push the pace today. I crossed the paths of a couple of runners, including Guy from the club, but generally it was very quiet and peaceful. I reached the top of Princess Road in just over 52 minutes, managing both of the uphill kilometres at the end in under 5 minutes, my reference for this section. A quick recovery and I set off for the first 20 minutes. It was a struggle from the beginning and my pace went 4:11, 3:57, 4:05, 4:08, 4:06. I had problems holding the pace at the end and I just wanted the interval to finish. By this time I had gone through St Gemme and was heading downhill to St Nom during my 4 minute recovery. This ended all too soon and I set off again: 4:00, 4:01, 4:00 and I stopped there. It was too much. My left achilles was feeling sore and I was hurting too much. I missed the challenge of running with somebody, suffering together and I wsan't prepared to push myself alone today.

I spent the next couple of kilometres taking it easily, recovering as I ran the uphill through St Nom la Breteche. It wasn't that I was tired from the distance (and this would be the case right until the end of the run) but tired in my legs despite the 'skins' that I was wearing. Once I reached the top of the plateau above St Nom and St Germain, I relaxed again and pushed on to 4:20 then 4:05, 4:11, 4:18 before getting to the hill in St Germain where my pace dropped to 5 minutes again. I ran through the town centre, avoiding the Saturday traffic and then back besides the swimming pool and into the forest. My pace quickened to 4:25 on average here until home.

So 33.4 km all up in 2:31 and an average pace of 4:32 over the distance. Just to compare with my run last year 2 weeks before the Toulouse marathon where I ran the same course - I did exactly the same time!

I jumped on the weighing scales when I got back home, thinking that with all the fluids that I'd lost over the run that I'd be lighter than ever. The result ? 73.4 kg. I'm taking those scales back.

Recovery (!) run

Today is Armistice today when the country remembers those that died in the first world war. This gives me the chance to have a lie in for once and then to fit in a recovery run before Laurence is fully up and about.

What a difference a good sleep makes. Despite my tiring session from last night, and an initial stiffness in my right knee, I soon found that I was covering ground at a decent pace and breathing very easily. My heart rate must have been low as I was very comfortable and enjoying the usual route in the daytime for once.

The Garmin played up for the first kilometre, refusing to beep at the kilometre marker and forcing me to run another 150m before finally declaring that I'd covered 1km. I ignored this, havinf looked at the watch and seeing that I'd run at 4:55 pace despite it feeling a much slower. The next kilometres went by in 4:30 in average and they felt slow too. I upped the pace, but still kept well within my comfort zone and was soon running at 4:20 pace for the remainder of the course.

The bank holiday and the late starting time meant that I was not alone in the streets and there were plenty of joggers cluttering the pavements and park paths as I ran around my usual course. I felt great all of the way around and kept the pace steady to the end.

12.8km all up in 56:07 or an average pace of 4:23/km around the circuit. I think that this is a new record for this run, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a recovery. If I can get a good week's sleep before the marathon, then I'll be onto a winner.

20 x 400m

Work is manic at the moment and if I'm not running I'm working. In fact, Wednesday I was working so much that there was no time at all in the day to fit a run in so I skipped my recvoery run and postponed this to Friday instead. The marathon plan for today was one of the final long interval sessions before the 2 week taper until Florence and the event.

I lke to be able to compare my sessions now with those that I was running just before last Autumn's marathon. It's reassuring to see that I'm running all of my intervals faster and better than before but I couldn't remeber running this session last year so how would I do? Nico had arranged to run with me tonight as it's always easier to motivate yourself to do these hard sessions with somebody beside you. I had to call him after I left work though as the jams were just incredible and I knew that I'd be late for the club session. He agreed to wait for me and I was thankful that Iwasn't going to run these alone.

I turned up at 7:15 pm, half an hour late and changed in the car. Nico was waiting for me ready to go and we ran a 10 minute warm-up around the outside of the track before running onto the track and starting the session. Nico suggested taking it in turns to head up the intervals in bursts of 2 and I agreed. He would run the first 2 in front and then I would take over and so on.

The first interval felt ridiculously easy but we were running these off 100m floats and by the 3rd or 4th it was already getting slightly more complicated. Half of the effort when you're running this number of intervals is mental as you count down how many you have run and how many are still left to do. Luckily there were some distractions at the track to take our minds off the effort as we teased Laurence, Katia and Sandra about their own 3km intervals that they were running.

Gérald joined us after the first couple of intervals and it was also reassuring to hear his heavy breathing as we ran each 400m. So it wasn't that easy for us but we obviously weren't coasting judging by the strength of Gérald's panting! Our intervals were very regular too. Nico had suggested that we aim for each interval between 85 and 90 seconds but after the first few, we were running constantly at around 84 seconds or less, so we just maintained the pace there. The recoveries were regular too with each 100m in just over 35 seconds.  Gérald pulled out after running 9 intervals with us, telling us that he couldn't take any more.

I began to struggle with the laps over the last 5 intervals when we picked up the pace slightly and I found that the recoveries weren't quite long enough for me. Despite this I managed and we completed the session together, really pleased to have run so regularly and in such a good manner. I compared this performance to last year when I was averaging between 1:27 and 1:28. Admittedly, I wasn't on the track and this does help, but we were averaging 1:22 - 1:23 by the end. The intervals went as follows:

1:24, 1:22, 1:26, 1:23, 1:22, 1:24, 1:23, 1:23, 1:22, 1:24,
1:23, 1:23, 1:22, 1:22, 1:22, 1:21, 1:21, 1:20, 1:20, 1:19

15.6 km all up in 1:12 or an average pace of 4:39 for the session. Really chuffed to have gotten this one under my belt.

3 x 2000m

The marathon training plan for today stated 3 x 2000m in 8m20 off 2' recovery. That sounded simple enough bu this plan was designed for a 3hour marathon. My own aim is faster than this and I thought that if I could bring the time down to 7:45 for each 2km then I wouldn't be doing badly.

The aim on these sessions now is to not bust a gut and treat them as VO max or lactic sessions. We're building up to the marathon  now which is in just under 3 weeks. The aim is to increase the mileage and get the body used to sustained speed with shorter recvoeries, hence the 2' recovery off 2k. When I did this session last year in preparation for the Toulouse marathon, I was aiming for 8' intervals for 2k and I achieved a little better. This time, I feel that I'm in even better shape and wanted to see what would happen but without putting too much pressure on me for the run.

I set off and already felt better than yesterday with the energy having returned to my legs. I figures that I could lengthen the warm-up slightly to just under 3km and still fit the intervals into my usual training route around Maisons Laffitte. I ran down to just in front of the castle and started. I pushed the pace form the begining, notably because I started on a slight downhill section on purpose. This soon ended and I found myself dozing off on the rhythm after about 1km and I had to wake myself up to boost the speed a little towards the end. Not a bad start finishing this interval in 7:40.

2 minutes recovery go by very quickly and it was all too soon before the Garmin was agressing me with a frantic beeping and I had to set off again. I felt easier on this interval right from the start and I was able to maintain my speed better over the distance. It helped to run into the park in Maisons Laffitte which is my favourite section of my morning runs and I completed the 2k down the track towards the castle - 7:24 for this interval and an improvement over the first.

One to go now and I put in another burst after what felt like an extremely short 2' recovery. My legs began tiring towards the end and I was glad that I wasn't running another interval after this one. I pushed the pace a little to finish and completed the last interval in 7:26. So 2 of the 3 under 7:30 my usual target for the 3-2-1 off 2' recovery. Things are going well.

12.8km all up in 56:14 so even the total time was fast with my recovery going well and able to run the last section home at a decent pace. Average pace over the run 4:24.

Recovery run

After yesterday's race, I was expecting the worse for this morning and I wasn't disappointed.

Sometimes after a short race, I get a buzz the following few days and I'm full of energy. This didn't happen today and I'm sure that the warm-up and the warm-down combined with the race meant that I was still suffering from the total running volume of the previous day. I felt slow to begin with so I didn't push it and just took it as it happened.

I have plenty of work on at the moment so even with the early start I couldn't afford to spend too much time on my run this morning. I went around the usual loop and skipped the extra little loop in the park in Maisons Laffitte. Feeling better after 6 km, I increased the pace slightly from 4:45 / km to 4:30 per km.

All up in 47:45 for 10.4km or an average pace of 4:37 / km.

Ekiden - 5 km first leg

The marathon training plan for today was 1h30 with 20 minutes at marathon speed. This was a short session for the Sunday runs in the marathon training programme but since it came after the race last weekend and before another long, hard training session next weekend, perhaps this was logical. Anyway, logical or not, the club was entered in the French nationals for the ekiden race today and both Nico and I were necessary to complete the senior and veteran teams. Just to keep us on our toes and to ensure that we ran as fast as possible, we were both running the first leg in competing teams.

The race was at St Amand des Eaux in the north of France, just like last year when we ran in scorching heat. Only this year, it's November and we would be lucky to avoid the rain. Three teams were qualified for the event: the seniors (2:23 in Pontault Combault), the veterans (2:39 in Pontault Combault) and the women (2:59 in Pontault Combault) and we would be racing against some of the best teams in France.

We all met in St Germain to begin with and drove the 2 1/2 hours to the event. Nico and I talked with the others for a while and then decided to begin our warm-up / marathon training plan with a 45 minute session which we thought we would cover approximately 10 km. We ran from the finish line up to the start and then looked at the hill from the start which comprised most of the first kilometre. Lovely, the windiest section with a regular uphill and the wind in our faces: things were looking promising. After this first kilometre in which we turned off the main road into the forest we then hit a downhill section, winding its way gently through the forest before flattening out and ending in a long straight. At the end of this straight we took a right at the junction and ran along the forest road before turning right again onto a gravelled forest track. This section lasted for about a kilometre before turning into road again and heading back to the start.

Our warm-up comprised of a couple of loops before I arrived back at the start line and had 10 minutes to spare before the begining of the race. I had to call on Françoise to help undress me by removing my trousers and then my top and I was ready to start. There were about 200 teams in all at the start from the 3 categories. I was looking especially closely at the veteran runners who were obliged to have a "VE" bib stuck to their backs. Nico was in sight on the right hand side of the field, concentrating on the road ahead with an intent look on his face. I was slightly further back, wondering how many runners I would have to slalom from the start. The gun went and we were off, the field setting off very suickly and the slaloming I imagined was limited as all of the runners around me were at the same pace.

I passed Nico quickly up the hill and he looked to be starting easily. I pushed on and turned right into the forest where the road continued uphill to the kilometre marker at the top of the hill. Nico passed me back just after this point and I was unable to keep up on the next downhill section, but I knew that we were running fast. We went past the 2nd kilometre marker and I looked at the Garmin - 6:40. Ok, this was fast, even with the uphill. I was pleased at my progress now and knew that a PB was on the cards. I just had to keep going and runas steadily as possible without losing pace. Nico was well ahead now and running a stormer. I could tell that I wouldn't catch him unless he blew a gasket seriously which over 5km was fairly unlikely. I concentrated on staying with the veteran runner beside me. He would go ahead and then tire slightly and I would overtake him before he would pass me again, ad nauseum.

This continued for the next couple of kilometres and  the end was now in sight. Miguel was encouraging us on from the side now and told me to take the veteran and to push on. I, however, was spent at this point and was just running as fast as I could to hold on in there. We rounded the final corner and pushed on around the barrel where we swung round 180° and ran the last 100 metres back up to the finish line. I gave it all I had and passed the bracelet to Thierry for the next leg, stoping my watch as I did. Finish time for the 5km : 17:28 and a new PB with an average pace of 3:30 per km. Chuffed to bits and went over to Nico to congratulate him. He'd increased his lead at the end and finished around 30 seconds ahead of me. The first run I've seen from him where he's realised his true potential.

I was coughing my lungs up now and had evidently given everything I could. I calmed down a little and then nico and I set off for the warm down. I ran another 2 loops and a bit of the course, completing another 11 km in total. Marathon training completed, I spent the rest of the race watching our teams before heading down to the finish line to get something to eat. Never has a sausage and chips tasted so good.

The senior team finally finished in 2:29 and the veterans in 2:36 which was pretty good and in line with expectations for the teams that we'd pulled together. I ran the fastest 5km for the veteran team beating Olivier and José in terms of speed over the course. Nico ran the fastest 5km for the seniors. The women finished in 3:06 ending up about halfway through the field, down on their qualifying time due to Mireille's absence.

27 km all up in 2:03 or an average pace of 4:37 for the day. A good session and a great race.

Corra and back

Arranged to run with Nico this morning to Corra and back on the understanding that we'd be taking it easy. I'm running 5 km in the ekiden tomorrow with the vets team from St Germain and I didn't want to compromise my race too heavily by blasting today's session. Anyway, the marathon training plan for today was to run 1 hour at 75 / 80% of max HR which I figured equates to 4:25/km or nearabouts which was fine for me.

I waited for Nico for a couple of minutes in front of his house before he appeared. The weather was still warm for the time of year with the thermometer showing around 13°C even at 8:30 am. Nico announced that his plan was for 1h15 at 75/80% of max HR with the last 15 minutes at marathon pace. Still he announced that we'd take it easy. And we did, for the first kilometre at least, running this in just under 5 minutes. And then we ran into the forest and a slight downhill, and the easy flew out of the window at the same time.

I was just out of my comfort range as we came out of the forest and although my breathing was easy, I could feel the tiredness and a little strain in my legs, notably my thighs. The problem when we run together is that Nico and I tend to like running just a shoulder ahead of each other. I feel relaxed when I'm just in front and I get the feeling that he does too. The result is that the pace gradually, almost insidiously, builds up and before long we were at just under 4:10 pace running through the forest. I pointed this out to Nico and we agreed to slow down which we did for 1 km before starting the same process again. At least I understood why I was not quite comfortable, but the only solution to reduce the pace was to drop back from Nico and I just can't let myself give up that easily.

Respite came after 6km when he felt the call of nature and had to stop and I ran on slowly. A kilometre in 5:09 before he caught me up and we ran the next exactly a minute faster!  After running around Corra, I tried to keep up the same pace up the hill to Pavillon de la Muette and we succeeded fairly well at around 4:20 pace before Nico sped up again along the flat and the last uphill section back to Le Mesnil. I let him go this time and he gained 15 metres on me before I put in a little more effort and kept the gap constant. It was just after this that I asked him what his HR was: 83% of max with the uphill at 90%. So much for the 75 / 80% in the training plan.

We stretched out through town to finish at just above 16 km/h and to complete the course in 1:04 exactly for the 14.9 km. This time would have been a record at the start of the year for me but now it feels almost comfortable. It's over this circuit that I'm able to judge the extent of my improvement since I began the marathon training and I can confirm that I'm running better than I ever have before.

The big event is the ekiden in St Amand tomorrow and I'm running the 5km first leg for the veteran's team against Nico who's running for the senior team. The objective is to beat 18 minutes and another target from Nick's "free beers all evening" bet of a few months ago. I've got to fit this into the marathon training plan which calls for 1h30 tomorrow too.

15 x 200m

It rained, rained a little more and then it chucked it down. This is not normally a problem but unfortunately when you're a driver in Paris it is. Parisiens don't like driving unless it's dry and visible. The rain that was now falling was causing chaos on the roads. The periphérique had turned into a carpark and when I came off the ringroad, it was worse still. I had left work at the usual time to go running at the club, but today I was stuck in gridlock. It took me just short of 2 hours to drive the 26km between Paris and St Germain. I arrived too late to do anything.

My plan had been to run the intervals with Nico and barring that, to run them on the track with other runners around at least. The plan went out of the window and I arrived just in time to see Régis leaving and then to watch Gérald, Bruno, Wilfried and Stéphane running their warm-downs. I watched Laurence, Katia, Sandra and François finish the end of their session and went home with Laurence, too late to see Nico who'd finished early and didn't want to hang around in the rain.

The planned session was postponed to the next morning, by mself, on the roads, in the dark with only the Garmin for company. At least when I woke up it had stopped raining and the temperature was very clement. I gritted my teeth and set out, not looking forward at all to the marathon training plan and the 15 x 200m intervals that I'd programmed into the Garmin. The plan said that they had to be run in 42 seconds or less off 200m recovery, but this seemed far too easy so I had in mind to run each sub 40 off 100m recovery instead.

I ran past the roundabout in front of the castle at Maisons Laffitte, so a little under 3km warm-up before starting. Then I began.

The first couple of intervals passed easily enough and I would recover quickly setting off slightly before the Garmin beeped at me to begin. The pace felt quite fast but I had no idea of the time I was running them in. I concentrated on keeping them as fast as honest as possible and slowly those recovery times lengthened and each interval felt harder and harder in the legs as the level of lactic rose. The times went as follows:

40, 40, 39, 39, 39
38, 37, 38, 39, 38
39, 35, 39, 36, 35

Recovery time was about 40 seconds for the 100m between each interval. McMillan says that I should be running these between 34 and 37 seconds per rep but that's on the track, so I'm not too disappointed.

13 km all up in 59:27 or an average pace of 4:34.

Back home

Arrived home yesterday and it was good to be back. Ok the weather was a good 5 °C colder than in the south but it was home and our normal bed instead of being forced onto the sofa bed by our kids. Amazing all the sacrifices you have to make to bring up 2 boys and then the gratitude you receive...

It was no sacrifice to go running this morning. Well, slightly, as I had to sacrifice a couple of hours sleep that would have gone down well. The alarm went too early as per usual and I jumped out of bed like the good robot that I am and pulled on my running kit.

I enjoyed my run this morning as I didn't have to think, or worry, or do anything that required much effort in any respect really. I just jogged and daydreamed and then thought and evacuated all of the stress that accumulates from work etc. This is why we all run: to achieve our goals; to relax and find some form of balance in our lives; to keep fit; and to achieve a level of fitness that makes us feel good about ourselves. This last part is the most important: of course we can get even fitter but that requires more sacrifices, more training and more effort. We find that balance where the effort is equal to the return in the image we form of ourselves. I know I could go faster if I was able to devote a full days effort to my training schedule and do precious little else. However, the effort I do now keeps me satisfied with how I am and what I achieve. I strive to run better and more efficiently but I'm not prepared to sacrifice everything else in my life to achieve that goal. You have to find that balance.

I daydreamed today as I ran. Just a little. I knew that I could run faster but I told myself that I was on a recovery run so why bother. I asked myself those unaswerable questions: what if I run my intervals too fast (or too slow); do I do enough threshold mileage; do I run my recovery runs too fast ? None of these questions has an answer as they are all too personal and vary between each of us as runners. I feel good about my recovery runs when I'm able to switch off and think about something else. I don't need a heart rate monitor to tell me that I'm at the right pace: if I can achieve this then I'm running right. This is what happened this morning and as a result I'm unable to describe in any detail what happened as I was daydreaming. Which was perfect.

12.8 km all up in 58:24 or an average pace of 4:34 per km.

3 - 2 - 1 again - Marseille style

I convinced Laurence to run with me this morning which was no mean feat. She had a day off yesterday, recovering following Sunday's race but after my lovely run yesterday morning, I wanted to show her the nicer side of Marseill down by the coastline and the scenery towards the calenques.

We ran slowly through town while we both warmed up and then I left Laurence at the end of the harbour to run my intervals as programmed in the marathon training. I was running my 3km, 2km, 1km off 3 minutes then 2 minutes recovery and I was targetting the same times as last week (11:30, 7:30 and 3:30)

The intervals went as follows:

3:39, 3:50, 3:42 = 11:11
3:32, 3:48 = 7:20
3:33

So I wasn't quite as quick as last week but I ran the final interval better and was more consistent overall.

I caught Laurence back up along the Prado and we ran back together.


16.9 km all up in 1:23 or an average pace of 4:56 / km.

Recovery run

When I left the hotel in Marseille this morning for the recvoery run, I knew it would be tough. The familiar ache from the thighs and the speed that I could manage was pathetic.

I didn't force it and ran down to the old port as fast but as comfortably as I could manage. I was running at 5:05 - 5:10 pace and it felt fast enough. It was one of those days when you've accumulated so much fatigue that you just can't go any faster as your body won't let you.

I enjoyed the early morning sunshine and the relative quiet of the city as it awakes. I ran past the old port towards le Pharo palace at the end of the harbour.

The sun was cooler than yesterday and as I ran I began to feel better about myself and the city. I ran past the Pharo and along to the Vallon des Auffes where the famous Bouillabaisse restaurants (Fonfon and l'Epuisette) are situated.

I was running at 4:25 pace now and feeling a whole load better. I coasted back to the hotel much fresher and more relaxed than in the previous few days. A good run.

13.4 km all up in 1:01 or ana verage of 4:35 / km.

Marseille - Cassis

I really thought that I would fly this one. I've been running really well recently in training, I've just beaten my PB over 10km and I thought that this would be the next step. It was hard to arrive and run this one with an objective due to the hilly nature of the course and the peculiar length (20.3 km) but from what I'd read, this should be run only slightly slower than a half-marathon. With this in mind, I reckoned that I should be close to 1:20 over the race and a good chance of beating Nico.

It just wasn't to be. In fact, this race was pretty much a curse for me. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. It startedn on the Saturday when I turned up for registration thinking that I'd got myself a preferential bib. Despite arguing with the organiser for 15 minutes, there were no more preferential bibs and he wouldn't do anything to help. I would have to start with the masses and I mean masses as apart from the 1000 preferential bibs, the 14 000 other participants all start together.

The second upset was discovered later that evening when we undid the contents of the running packs: there were no safety pins. For once, we'd brought a running bag that had no safety pins in either. To make matters worse, the timing chips were included in the bibs and not as chips to be strapped to the laces. Despite a last minute race around Marseille at 11:00pm, we couldn't get hold of any safety pins having tried at a chemists, the firemen, and numerous corner shops. Disaster. I was tired, fed-up and hot and wondering what we doing here.

The next morning began a little better as the first runner we saw coming out of our hotel room had spare safety pins: first problem resolved. We arrived at the start 90 minutes before the race was due to begin at 8:00am. We'd had nothing to eat as we'd not come across any bakers and we were hungry and starting to get warm. Despite the early hour, the sun was rising and it was getting warm. We sat in the road with thousands of other runners and waited for time to pass by chatting with a German living in Marseille and a Marseillais, both giving us advice on the course and the expected time compared to a standard half-marathon.

We stood up about 30 minutes before the start and got as close to the front as we could. When the gun went it took us just over 30 seconds to cross the line and to begin to race and I set my virtual partner to 3:50 per km and used that as my basis. It was tough from the word go as first of all I had to slalom my way through the runners for the first kilometre and then as the road was still flat, I was disappointed when I saw my split for the second km at 3:59. I could feel the fatigue in my thighs from the sitting and waiting. I was short on energy too and I knew from the start that this wasn't the day. I had forgotten my cap and the sun beat down now so I ran as much in the shade as I could wherever I could find it.

The road began to climb after 5 kilometres and the splits began to slow too. I'd averaged 15 km/h until now but as the road rose, my splits dropped to 4:35, 4:42, 5:04, 5:11 and there was nothing I could do. At this point, Nico ran up to me from behind and asked how I felt. The truth was that my lungs were alright but my legs tired, so I told him not good and then saw him pull away slowly up the hill to the summit of the col. I pushed on over the top and caught back the 5 seconds that separated us down the slope. I lengthened my stride and began to feel better but all too soon another slight uphill arrived and I dropped off the pace immediately. Nico pulled away again at this point and I wouldn't see him again.

I started to relax at this point and just told myself to enjoy the views and the scenery which were fantastic. I was still hot and taking on water and each feeding station but now I stopped to drink some powerade before continuing, losing 10 seconds in the process. I could see the sea now and the port of Cassis could be imagined behind the outcrop of rock protecting the town. The atmosphere was great as we arrived on the outskirts with literally hundreds of supporters cheering us on. I spotted Caro (Nico's wife) up the last hill and then we dropped down into the port and a last sprint to finish in 1:23:41 just under a minute behind Nico (1:22:44).

Extract from Sportstrax showing the route and the splits on the left.

We both waited for Laurence at the end who crossed the line in 1:49:53 having suffered from lack of energy and the heat in much the same way as me. We will have to come back to improve on these times but we all agreed that the race was most enjoyable. Best part was having lunch after a shower at the house where Nico and family were staying in Cassis. A beautiful town well worth visiting.

Doubling up - 6 x 300m

Another early morning run from the hotel with Bruce at 5:30 am this morning.

We ran the same route as before and then continued on up the hill towards Camberly together before he turned back and I continued on. I ended up running 13.6 km in 1:07 or an average speed of 4:56 per km. I noticed that I was feeling better despite a hevay cold and sore throat. My speed picked up to 4:30 pace when I left Bruce and carried on down the main road and back.

I was back in France in the afternoon and then managed to get out of work and to the club for the evening session. Nico was waiting for me and we had an easy schedule to run for marathon training : 6 x 300m which we ran off 100m recovery.

We ran a warm up to begin with the others and then back to the track for the session. All the others were doing a lot tougher workout for once and it was a real pleasure to finish before them and watch them suffer around the track while we were warming down.

The intervals went as follows:

57, 57, 54, 55, 54, 53

So pretty consistent and all under 1 minute which were the instructions.

10.2 km all up in 57 minutes.

Recovery run

I went running with a new British colleague, who like me, takes his running kit with him whenever he's on the road. We don't have exactly the same pace but it's nice to be able to run with somebody and to chat and relax. We had arranged the previous night that we would meet up at 5:15am to run as he had a telephone conference at 7:00am. I must be mad...

So there we were at 5:15am in the pitch black off for our run and it was really pleasant. We basically looped around the roads around the outside of the hotel grounds looking for a way to run a complete circuit. Unfortunately, there isn't a way through the hotel at the back and we had to run the same way back as we set out. By the time we got back, we'd covered 7.4km so I headed back out by myself while Bruce went and got ready for his call.

This time, I headed back up to where I'd done my interval training the day before and carried on this time into Camberly. The amount of traffic along this road is considerable even at this early time in the morning. I have to admit that it brought back memories of life in England and I don't think that I'm ready to go back for a long stretch.

I managed to relax now and stretch my legs a little, testing my achilles which had been hurting slightly the day before after the intervals. Today there was nothing and everything seems to have sorted itself out which was encouraging.

14.1km all up in 1:12 or an average pace of 5:08/km. The second half of the run was run at 4:45 pace so still slow for a recovery.

8 x 800m

God, I wasn't looking forward to this one. I knew it was going to be hard. Firstly, I was running in unknown territory as I was staying in a hotel in Bagshot, Surrey; secondly, I had been drinking the night before running; and thridly, I still hadn't recovered from the long runs over the weekend.

I set out with the firm intention of running around the hotel's golf course but at just before 6:00am there wasn't any light whatsoever and having tripped over a couple of times, I gave this up as a bad job and headed out on the roads. I was struggling to find any pace at all from the start and I thought that I'd just get up the hill and find some flat sections in the housing estates where I could run the intervals without being run over by traffic.

This intention wasn't as easy as it sounded and it was only after the first interval that I found a block that I could run around that was almost 800m in length. I wasn't looking at the splits on the Garmin but I knew instinctively that I was not running as fast as I'm able and I had nothing left to give. At one point, I thought that the people living in the houses would call the police as I'm sure that they weren't used to seeing a runner at 6:00am circling around their houses 10 times. Still, I managed to finish the session without being pulled over despite one guy staring at me from his upstairts window for at least 3 of my loops.

The splits went as follows:

3:01, 2:56, 2:54, 2:57, 2:55, 2:54, 2:54, 2:54

So a little disappointed as I should be running these under 2:50 now. The excuses were all found however.

14km all up in 1:08 or an average of 4:52 per km which wasn't surprising seeing how I felt.

Recovery run

A quick run around the usual route in the park at a relaxed pace before catching a flight back to Blighty for work this morning.

The going was hard with the legs definitely not recovered from the long hard Saturday run with Nico. It was all I could do to get around the course without abandoning: thighs were that tight.

12.8km all up in 57:24 or an average pace of 4:29 per km.

Accompanying the girls

I promised Laurence that if she rode the bike to accompany Nico and I yesterday that I would run with her this morning for her marathon training of 1h50 at endurance pace. Endurance pace for Laurence is around 6m00 per km and the plan was to start at this pace before building up to 5m40 pace for the last half of the run. Nico agreed to run with us too, early enough in order to get back to watch the France - New Zealand final in the rugby world cup. After some last minute negotiations, Laurence also managed to persuade Katia to run with us, despite the 7:40 am start.

We set off at an easy 6m20 pace before settling down very quickly to a much higher pace at 5m20 per kilometre. Laurence seemed happy enough so I didn't complain, happy to be out running easily after yesterday's tiring session. This pace is Laurence's marathon pace so I was pleased for her too as she seemed very relaxed at comfortable at this speed which bodes well for Florence. Nico and I joked with the girls and I was really pleased when Katia thought that Nico was born in 1971 which would make him a veteran this year. Nico must have been really tired after yesterday's run to look as though he'd aged 6 years overnight. I don't think he'll be speaking to Katia for quite some time...

When we started to run along the forest tracks towards Cora, the pace hotted up again and we managed to cover a kilometre in 4:53 before calming down and attacking the uphill stretch back to Pavillon de la Muette. By the time we ran down in fornt of the townhall and back to the house, we'd covered 20km in total in 1:47 so an average of 5:23 per kilometre, basically Laurence's marathon pace over the whole distance. This takes my total mileage for the week to 115 km which is the furthest I've ever managed to run in a week before. Pretty chuffed and it gives me a solid base for the last few weeks before the marathon.

After a quick shower, we watched France play one of their best games in the final at Nico's house with a cracking breakfast and mugs of tea and coffee. We probably managed to take on board most of the 1500 calories we burnt during the run. Shame that France lost although it means that I've recovered my debt of 2 bottles of champagne to my boss.

I managed to find a photo of Nico practising his own version of the haka prior to the match. Enjoy !

Long Saturday Run (LSR)

We switched the long run around for this weekend purely to be able to watch the rugby world cup final tomorrow morning. What better way to spend a Sunday morning than to watch France being kicked around the field by the All Blacks in the final ! So, having had a hard session on Thursday with the 20 intervals on the track, we now had another marathon training special up our sleeve for today. This one involved a 30minute warm-up followed by 3 x 30 minutes at 85% max HR off 5 minutes recovery before a 30 minute warm-down. So basically 2h40 of run in total.

I was running with Nico and Laurence was accompanying us both on the bike to carry water and some food bars and fruit gels for us. The plan was to start from the club and then run along the top of Princess Road at marathon pace or around 15 km/h for the 30 minute intervals before heading back down Princess Road for the warm-down. It was a lovely morning to begin with if a tad on the cold side as the temperature was hovering around 2°C.

We got to the top of Princess Road in just over 30 minutes, running very comfortably and chatting easily. Then the hard work began. To start with, Nico's shoe pod was playing up so that meant he was unable to gauge his instantaneous speed. The Garmin is not very accurate on this front either, so after an initial start at what was indicated at around 4:14 pace we sped up and the first kilometre went by in 3:52. In fact, the pace never actually really dropped from then on. We ran through the forest to St Gemme and the edge of Feucherolle before dropping down to St Nom la Breteche and the end of the first interval. We'd covered 7.77 km which calculates out to an average pace of 3:52.

Both Nico and I were wondering at this point if we hadn't gone out too fast and whether we'd be able to keep this up. The 5 minute recovery went by too quickly to dwell on the problem and sooner than expected we were off again. This time we had to start by running up the steep hill through St Nom and Nico made a few yards on me up the hill. We turned left along the forest track back towards Feucherolles and I put in an effort to catch him and to stay together. There is an extremely long straight through the forest here and a slight downhill which I used to maintain my rhythm. Nico appeared to be falling behind slightly but at the end of this road we turned right and he went past me now at this point. We would tire mentally at different places and it was the sight of the other pulling ahead that would encourage us both to react and to push the pace again. This second interval we covered slightly less ground with 7.68 km or an average pace of 3:54 but this included that first hilly kilometre in 4:14.

One left to go now and we headed back along the top path to the St Germain / St Nom road and ran around this 4km loop twice. I was beginning to tire now and it was all I could do mentally to manage to maintain the effort. Nico appeared to be cruising and looked more comfortable than I felt. Laurence noted that I was white above my mouth, a sure sign that I was putting the effort in. I'm glad that she didn't tell me this until afterwards. I was able to hang on until 5 minutes left when I suddenly found a final burst of strength and caught Nico up and went past slowly. We finished together covering 7.74 km for the last interval or an average pace of 3:52.

Nico and I after the run with Laurence our sherpa, dressed for the Arctic, for the training.















37 km all up in 2:45 exactly. Another huge performance and with tomorrow's early morning run, I 'll be well over 100km this week in training. If this doesn't work, nothing will.