Easter Monday

Easter Monday has arrived a few days late. After our bike and run on the Sunday, Laurence and I went out for a recovery run on Monday morning.

Well, it was a recovery run for me but since we averaged 5:30 per kilometre around the usual 10km course, Laurence complained that it was no free ride for her. It was just what the doctor ordered: a beautiful morning, an easy run at a very steady pace and the prospect of an easy day ahead.

Legs felt stiff to begin with but they had improved significantly by the end of the course. Laurence is running well and it's a real pleasure to run with her and chat while she pants alongside me, unable to answer back as she's breathless.

Good start to the week. 10.1 km in 55:00 or an average of 5:28 per km.

Bike and run

Struggling to find time to write up my training runs at the moment what with odd-jobs to be completed around the house and the workload for my job. However, this is no excuse for not keeping a track of what's been going on in the exciting world of running here in Le Mesnil.

Laurence is training hard, preparing for the big event in June when we head off to Britanny to run a 58km trail in Guerledan. She's been building up the mileage and mentally I've never ever seen her so strong. When we first started running, she'd prepare herself for a run by saying that she'd run for 20 minutes. If we weren't back at the house within those 20 minutes all hell would break loose. This evolved afterwards into running for 5km and then 10km and so on. If I dared suggest that we add in an extra loop or anything involving a little extra effort that she hadn't prepared for a week before mentally then she'd become furious with me and then sulk for the following week (there is a slight bit of literary exageration in this desciption - but believe me, it's minor).

Recently though, I've been noticing some major changes. A little extra loop to fit in a scenic detour? No problem. A few extra kilometres to keep up the mileage? Why not! It must be the three shredded wheat in the morning that are doing the job. Laurence has become seriously addicted to runnning and charts all of her mileage in copy books that are full of colours indicating different efforts, paces, weekly mileages and outings per week. She decided that it would be nice to go out together last Sunday for a long Sunday run. Since her biggest regret in life is not to be able to run a marathon in under 3 hours, we decided that the easiest way to spend time together on a long run and to enable both of us to obtain maximum benefit was to do a bike and run.

We packed a camelbak and planned my long 35km running route into sections of around 5km. Laurence ran the first section, beginning slowly and then building up the pace to 5:30 kilometres. I enjotyed the forest scenery, peddling easily beside her on the mountain bike. I ran the next section of 6 kilometres finishing at the top of Princess road after 2 kilometres of uphill achieved in in under 10 minutes (a good gauge of my fitness is to beat this time so I was well chuffed). Laurence set off on another 5 km section running faster than ever at around 5:15 - 5:20 pace. And then I took oever again.

The sun had risen by now and the morning that had started coolly was beginning to warm up considerably. Laurence was running faster and faster and I was wilting in the heat. I ran 5km to St Germain terrace and decided that 16km was enough for me. I finished at 4:40 pace along the flat, dehydrated and deprived of energy. Laurence took over and since her goal was to run 26 km in total she ran the last 11km back home in a convoluted loop from St Germain. Not only did she manage the distance far better than me, she was running at 5:20 pace at the end which she considers to be marathon pace. Impressed ? I would have been even more impressed but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself and my sore bum, unused to riding a bike for so far and for so long...

3h35 of effort in total to cover a marathon distance. I was well and truly beat.

Cora with Nico

8:00 am start this morning for an easy run to Cora and back with Nico. Woke up again nice and early and the weather is beautiful once more: beautiful blue sky, sun is already out and very pleasant.

We set off easily enough but as we run through the forest, I find that I'm struggling to keep up at 4:30 pace. Nico eases off to run with me and he looks easy while I'm feeling that I'm making a meal out of the whole affair. We run steadily now to the pond, chatting while we run. This is good as it helps keep my mind off how hard this all is.

As we run around the pond, we leave the shade of the forest and immediately the temperature rises by a couple of degrees. Memories of London come flooding back and I can feel the effort to keep up the pace. There is a pain in my left thigh as though I've been stabbed there. Laurence often complains about this after a race but this is the first time that I've felt this. Nevertheless, Nico shows no mercy and we maintain a sub 4:30 pace back to Le Mesnil. He's been suffering all week from what he considers to be disappointing performances in training and I'm sure that the fact that he can see me suffering is helping him mentally !

No records for the course as we finish in 1:08 for the 15km but I'm really glad to be back training. This was hard today and the sweat is already dripping from my head as I get back to the house. I check the thermometer and depsite the fact that it is only just after 9:00 am, the temperature has already risen to 19°C in the shade.

Wednesday recovery

I went running with Laurence this morning for a recvoery run following the London marathon. My legs had been aching for 2 days solid and I thought that an easy run might help ease the pain and the stiffness.

We left early in the morning and it only took a few steps for me to realise that my legs were far from recovered after Sunday's race. My thighs felt like 2 tree trunks and the pain in them was incredible. I don't remember having been so affected by a race before but the, after most previous marathons, I think that I took the first week off completely and didn't run at all.

We ran the 10km loop and Laurence is running very well. We were running at about 5:10 pace which was ample for me and Laurence looked very comfortable. It was only after 7 or 8 kilometres that I started to feel slightly better in my thighs though and even at the end, the pain was still present.

10.3km all up in 55:28. Lovely morning and pleasant run

London Marathon - 3:07:01

I'd been scrutinising the weather forecast for several days prior to the race and I was disappointed that the high pressure sitting over the UK was refusing to budge. I thought that this was part of the deal when I committed to running London: a slight drizzle, temperature hovering around 10°C, and a light breeze. Global warming is definitely having a negative impact on my race times.

The travel to London and the hotel went smoothly. Eurostar is most impressive now that the journey time in the UK has been cut in half. It only takes 2h15 from one capital to the next and you arrive in the centre of London. I woke up on Sunday morning just before 6:00am and had a good breakfast. The race was due to start at 9:45am so I didn't want to be hungry in 3 hours time. The start time was a handicap too. 9:45am in London is 10:45am in Paris and it would be getting warm. Temperatures were forecast to hit 23°C today and I was far from the 10°C I had initially imagined.

The tour operator had organised a bus transfer from the hotel on the Strand (just a few hundred metres from the finish line) to the start in Greenwich. Getting off the bus in Blackheath Park was already impressive. Hot air balloons were spread over the park, including one in the shape of a motorbike.


The start area was extremely well organised with lines of portaloos everywhere (apparently there are 1 250 portable toilets for the London Marathon organisation !). I queued up initially for the loo behind a guy who I started talking to, asking him if it was his first London marathon. He replied no, that he'd already run it 4 or 5 times but that he runs a marathon almost every week and around 40 per year. It was reassuring to know that my own participation in these events is far more reasonable.


All of the St Germain runners sat together on the grass in the blue start enclosure before the start. Despite all of my talk about enjoying the atmosphere and just finishing the race, I could feel the adrenaline building up inside me and the questions about whether I could finish the marathon at 4:15 pace. I agreed to run with Bruno P and Bruno B and told them that I'd set the Garmin to 4:15 pace and that I'd be trying to keep to this as close as possible. We entered our race pen and again the organisation was just amazing. There was no pushing or shoving, the barriers were removed and we were gently shepherded to the start line about 10 metres behind the elite male runners.

A few chats with both Brunos and we were off. It was dense at the start and not so easy to find my pace. After the first mile, this had sorted itself out and we were on target running around 4:10 pace. The first 3 kilometres of the race are very slightly uphill but all of this changes in the 4th and 5th kilometres as the road heads down to the Thames and there is a long section of downhill, which I ran with Bruno B in 3:53 pace. Bruno P, despite all of his injuries and lack of full training, had set off even faster and we could no longer see him. I held Bruno B back at this point and said that we were already running too fast and that we needed to slow or we would pay later. Despite my warning, we went through the 5km marker in Woolwich in 20:28, almost a minute faster than the target pace.

The next 5 kilometres were virtually flat and we were heading back to Greenwich. The atmosphere was simply amazing. I've never run in a race where there are so many crowds and the buzz was just tremendous. Groups were playing music beside the road and as we ran through different boroughs the music changed. Going through Lewisham and Deptford there was reggae and jazz; in Greenwich it was rock. The sun was fully out now and the initial clouds and overcast weather that we experienced before the start had been burnt away with the strength of the sun. We went through 10 km in 41:17 and I began to feel the pace slightly.

The ease with which I'd been running until now became more of an effort. It wasn't significant, but I tried to find the shade, I ran through the showers provided, I picked up water regularly and soaked my cap and rubbed my face down. Bruno B was still beside me and when I asked him if he felt alright, he still replied positively. The pace slowed to 4:15 per kilometre now and the 2 minute advantage we had over the Garmin virtual partner stayed steady at this point. The crowds were cheering, drinking beers and shouting out the names of all runners who'd printed their names on their shirts. It was around this point that we were overtaken by a runner dressed as angel complete with white tutu and wings fixed to his back. I was impressed both by his pace and the outfit.

We were just approaching Tower Bridge when I spotted Bruno P on the left-hand side of the road obviously suffering from the early pace. I have to admit that I wasn't surprised as in training, I'd been significantly faster than him around the track and I knew that he'd been suffering from ankle problems too. Bruno B was still with me and we crossed Tower Bridge and then the half-marathon line together. The crowds were thicker than ever and the cheers and encouragement made the hairs on my arms tingle with excitement.

It was just after crossing the half-marathon line that I began to think that I wouldn't be able to manage it. I was suffering from the heat and my legs were feeling very heavy. I wondered if I'd fully recovered from the Ecotrail and that the 3 week gap between races of this length was not enough. I got to 25km and I'd had enough. I wondered whether to drop out and get a tube to the finish. No, I couldn't do that. I'd told everyone that I was not going to beat my record and just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere so why not ease off the pace and do just that. Even this wasn't easy. The crowds wouldn't let you walk because as soon as anyone stopped they would shout and cheer and encourage you to continue. I slowed to around 5:00 pace and Bruno B caught back up with me and I told him to continue as I was beat. He looked tired too and told me that he was also suffering. About 2 kilometres further on, Bruno P came past and I let him go too.

I shuffled on until the 30 km mark which I passed in 2:08. Theoretically, this was still in line with a 3 hour marathon but I just looked at the watch knowing that it wouldn't be possible today. I ran steadily from then on, trying not to stop and when I managed this I was running at about 4:35 pace. I passed Bruno B who I wouldn't see again, and then Bruno P. From now until the end Bruno P and I would exchange the lead of the St Germain contingent another 2 times.

At around the 35 kilometre mark, I spotted a Sydney Striders top and caught up to the guy to ask him how he was. He told me he was called Stephen Jackson and that he was suffering from a hamstring injury from a week earlier. He knew my brother Tom and said that he was a great runner. This remark proved that the guy was delirious and suffering too from the heat and injury. ;) I would have run with him but he was tiring badly and he waved me on. The last meeting was looking out for Dad along the route and just before the 40 kilometre marker, there was a voice from the crowds for me and I turned to spot Dad who'd only seen me at the last moment.

I picked up the pace to finish at 4:35 pace in 3:07:01. I was disappointed with myself and the time but have put this down to the heat, the sun, the Ecotrail and the lack of training following my achilles injury. I'll definitely do better in Florence in the Autumn. Bruno P finished 50 seconds behind me, having picked up the pace himself towards the end of the race.

The London marathon is amazing though with the crowds and the whole atmosphere. I really enjoyed this aspect of the race. I'll have to return to do this again in better conditions: 10°c and a light drizzle would be lovely, thank you.

Easy jog

I left the house this morning a little later than usual as I allowed myself a mini lie-in and had decided that I was only going to run a shortened route around Maisons Laffitte for about 7.5km.

It's still not light at this time of the morning but it is just before dawn and as I'm running around town, dawn begins to break and the first light of the day reveals all of the hidden potholes on the roads around town. The idea behind today's session was to take it very easy and to intersperse some faster sections at marathon speed over 300 metres.

I did a couple of these in a half-hearted manner, not bothering to measure either my speed or the distance. It was more of a "let's stretch the legs" exercise than anything more scientific. I was enjoying taking it easy to be quite honest and wondering what time I would achieve in the marathon if I took it this easy. At 5' per km, this equates to a marathon time of just over 3:30 which is fairly respectable - I could be tempted. Then I started thinking about whether I was capable of holding out at 4:15 per km for 42.2 kilometres and how it had taken me 3 marathons before I was finally able to achieve this at the 4th attempt. Proof that it isn't that straight-forward, etc., etc. Basically all of the negative thoughts that you're supposed to banish before a race were going through my mind. I've been kidding myself that I don't really care about this marathon and that I haven't got the same depth of training that I had for my last so I can just take it easy. However, I can't fool myself and I know I'll be disappointed if I don't break the 3 hour barrier.

Just when I was having all of these misgivings, I bumped into Sylvie coming into the park in Maisons Laffitte. She'd seen me running around the castle and had come to check that it was me to run a few kilometres together. It's amazing the effect of running with somebody else and having a chat can have on you. I instantly felt better and we were able to run around the park for 3 k at about 4:45 pace chatting easily. Sylvie runs in the V2 category in France (between 50 and 60 years old) and is still capable of running 10k in 39'. She told me about finishing third in her category in the European cross country championships this morning in Gand, Belgium. Quite an amazing character and very modest about her achievements.

So after adding 3 kilometres to my intended course, I left Sylvie and headed back home to run just over 10km in total in 50 minutes. Beautiful morning, temperature just perfect for running at 9°C and the run went by really quickly thanks to the company.

Final straight

Well it's one of the last sessions before the marathon and for today the training guide suggests 3x1000m at marathon pace with 2' recovery between each interval. So not the toughest of sessions as the idea is to imprint the marathon pace as the reference these last 2 weeks so that the day of the race everything is controlled.

I woke just before the alarm and wondered whether I shouldn't just lie back down and go to the club session this evening. I thought that this would probably be even more frustrating as I would want to join in the session and it wouldn't exactly be the taper that I need. I put some kit on and left the house without the garmin which was showing a battery level of 4%. It was going to be the usual course and I know the kilometre markers by heart.

I set off easily and ran the first 3 kilometres at recovery pace before starting the first interval. It was hard to accelerate and I could feel my legs struggling to cope with the increase in pace. I don't know whether I was running at marathon pace (4:15 / km) or faster but I could feel the effort and all the doubts as to whether the 3 hour barrier is feasible or not flooded my mind. The next 2 intervals passed in the same fashion but as usual I found that they were easier and easier to manage as I progressed.

3 kilometres to warm down at the end and a total of 10.3kms for the session. It's now just a case of wait and see.

Recovery run and tapering

Last week before London and I'm supposed to be winding down. The marathon training programme instructed me to run for an hour at 70% max HR so I went out with the sole objective of taking it easy.

Good job I had planned to take it easy as anything else would have been nigh on impossible this morning. My legs were very tired and a slight lack of sleep didn't help. I'm not sure whether the tiredness was due to the weekend runs or the tiling I started yesterday for the small patio and the path and steps in front of the house. The kneeling down to place the tiles seemed to have worn my legs out almost as much as the 2 runs.

I set out around my usual route and added in an extra loop in the park. My initial speed was 4:54 per km and I built up gradually before finishing at 4:17 pace. The recovery run worked well with the initial tiredness wearing off by the end of the run.

12.3km all up in 57:55 or an average of 4:42 per km.

Sunday club run

There was only a smallish turnout at the club today which wasn't surprising as most people were running marathons either in Paris or at Rotterdam. Nevertheless, yesterday's running companions, Nico and Jean-Marc were there together with Gérald, Mireille, Simon and Ylies. I had decided to take it easy and just put a little bit of distance in before the race next week. So while the programme was 3x10' at threshold, I decided to run these at marathon pace instead.

After a 4km warm-up (at snail's pace it has to be admitted) we set off and I let the leading group of 6 mentioned in the first paragraph shoot off. I stayed with Alex and Jean-François happy to run at a more moderate pace of 4:30 then 4:11 for the first 10 minutes. After this first interval we tried to pull the group back together during the 3' recovery but the diversity of capabilities was too large and te distance between the runners too far. We set off again towards Poissy now and a nice downhill stretch to begin with. The pace was a little quicker with the Garmin recording 3:50 then 4:04 during this interval and I dropped Alex towards the end as I found a comfortable rhythm and chased Gérald as he fell off the back of the leading group.

Another recovery and we set off again. I tried to encourage Alex to stay with me but we were running at 15km/h and it was just faster than he was comfortable with. I focused on Mireille and Simon to begin with and then Mireille and Gérald as he dropped back again towards the end of the interval. I ran these in 3:58 then 4:02 so I'm happy with my performance. I was happy too that I wasn't running a marathon as it was very sunny, even in the forest and the heat was making itself felt. Hopefully it'll be cooler next week in London.

Results from Paris and Rotterdam are on the club site now and a few disappointments and surprises. Only 2 runners managed to beat 3 hours: Vincent then José just behind in 2:58 and 2:59 respectively. I imagine that we'll hear the full story later on this week. I'll keep you posted.

15km all up in 1:29. Would have like to run a little further but rushed back to see the end of the Paris marathon (well for the elite anyway) on the television.

Cora with the boys

Nico asked if I was going ot Cora this Saturday and whether we could run together. Nice idea I thought. It's good to run with some company and Nico and I have a good chat together, talking about the club and what goes on and the forthcoming races etc. I receive a mail on Friday saying that Jean-Marc is coming along too. Now I know that I've been injured and made a fairly good recovery so far, the thought of running with Nico was fairly daunting but running with Jean-Marc is a step up again. It's an easy run James. Don't worry. They'll be taking it easy.

I left the house at 8:00am and Nico was ouside a couple of minutes after. Jean-Marc arrived, parked his car and we set off though Le Mesnil and up to the crossroads before heading off into the forest. The first kilometre was easy enough in 5:12 but as soon as we got into the forest, the pace heated up to 4:33 and it felt quick and then 4:23, 4:30, 4:27.

We left one part of the forest and crossed over the road and then down the wide path into the second section of forest that surrounds the Cora lake. Nico and Jean-Marc were increasing the pace gradually and I was just concentrating on not acting like somebody not able to keep up and clenching my teeth in the process. They looked easy; I didn't feel it. 4:03 and I thought that the Garmin had gone wrong. We were close to Cora now and I thought that we could ease the pace going around the lake. And we did: 4:14, 4:14, 4:11 and then up the hill to Pavillon de la Muette where I always slow down to accommodate for the hill. Well I slowed down but Jean-Marc and Nico didn't - 4:20.

This carried on to the end of the run when we hit the tarmac again and the roads back though Le Mesnil to the house. We finished at 3:47 pace and a total time of 1:04:25 or an average pace of 4:20 per km for the 15km. I was shattered but pleased to have made it around so fast. Nico and Jean-Marc both admitted to having felt a slight tiredness in their legs towards the end. But I think they were just being kind. I felt a large void where my lungs and heart were supposed to be, but it's improving. Gradually.

6 x 1000m intervals

I'm trying to salvage the last of my marathon training before lining up at the start of London marathon next weekend. It's a little desperate as out of my usual 10 week training schedule, I think that I've managed 4 or 5 weeks in total and that includes the last 2 week taper. I have an old scrappy piece of A4 paper with the marathon training schedule that I first used for La Rochelle, then Toulouse that I now consider to be my bible. It's covered in tea stains from its secondary purpose as a mug mat to protect the wooden flooring, and the ink has faded so I have to strain my eyes to see what the programme is for the following day. Today the announcement was 6 x 1000m at marathon speed (4:15 per km).

It was early when the alarm rang and the usual thoughts of "should I" or "shouldn't I" went through my head before I told myself to shut up, stop being a big girl's blouse and get out of bed. I set off for the run secretly hoping that I would make that special effort this morning and be able to run all of my intervals under 4 minutes. I got off to a bad start from my first paces along the road as I could still feel the tiredness in my legs, notably the hamstrings, probably from the steps and hills on Tuesday evening.

Tough. I had no choice but to get on with the session as I'd programmed the garmin and I wasn't going to give up now. I slowed the pace, delaying the moment when I would have to begin the intervals now that I was down by the river. Off I set and the first interval was easy on the breathing but hard on the legs. The recovery was 200m and then I'd start again. Each interval was the same, except in the fifth when I start to think about work and found myself day-dreaming for a couple of hundred metres before I snapped myself out of it. Legs were tired and didn't improve at all throughout the run and my breathing which had been easy at first became more and more laboured. Mightily relieved when I ran the sixth interval and was able to relax and warmdown jogging back to the house.

Intervals went as follows:

4:03, 3:58, 4:00, 3:56, 4:04, 3:58

So not quite under 4 minutes for each but average is just under.

10.3km all up in 47:56 or 4:37 average per km.

Early morning plod

After last night's efforts, a plod was all that I was capable of. Legs were still very tired and I had no inclination to force the matter with them. Furthermore, it was 6:00am and I wasn't capable of any rational thought, suffering still from lack of a decent sleep.

It is still dark in the morning when I leave but dawn breaks during the run now and I finish in the half-light of the morning. The weather is improving with spring well and truly started. I almost went out in a running vest but a quick check out of the bedroom window convinced me that this was still a little optimistic for this time of the year. Standard running top instead and I was off at a snail's pace for the 10km of the circuit.

Not much else to say except that at no point did I feel like increasing my snail pace as my legs were simply not up to it. Aches in the thighs and calves and general apathy all over. Even the nice path in the park that I like to accelerate along due to the very slight downhill and springiness underfoot was no temptation this morning.

10.3km in 51:50 so just over 5:00 per km. Will do better tomorrow - promise!

Club session

Made it to the club session after all. Since I'd done a session this morning, I decided not to push it and to just do a recovery run with the guys who'd raced the 10k at Aubergenville on Sunday. Nico, Romain, Jean-Marc and Simon were all part of this group while Bruno, Philippe, Nat and Thierry headed back to the track for some marathon training.

Miguel was taking the session and since the guys had run well it promised to be a relaxing session. We headed out to the St Germain terrasse before heading down to Le Mesnil along the road. There was plenty of complaining going on athis point as several runners (me included) wanted to head into the forest to make the most of the lovely weather this evening. We ran into Le Mesnil and then turned towards Le Pecq along the road. As we headed back beneath the terrasse in the direction of Le Pecq, we picked up the pace and were soon running at 4:15 pace.

This speed didn't last long as we headed up some steep steps back up to the terrasse and then back down some steep steps when we couldn't run any further in the St Germain direction. Another couple hundred metres later and we ran back up the steps into St Germain itself. There was a race up the steps but despite my initial enthusiasm, reality soon hit me and the others left me easily up the steps.

I was tired now with the combied effects of this morning and the hill-climbing but the pace picked up from here. Miguel did his trainer act of who has the biggest "cojones" and the pace picked up further and soon the front runners were running at 3:25 pace and I just had to let them go. I managed 2 kms in 4:10 then 4:05 before the front group split up and I caught some of them at the end. Miguel did his 'I need to stop for a pee' trick when the going got tough which is just as well as he's got the pace but not the endurance at the moment.

11.5 km all up in 1:02. So much for an easy recovery run. Will do that tomorrow now!

St Germain terrasse from Le Mesnil end looking towards Le Pecq

Early morning intervals

Wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it to the club session tonight so I dug out my old marathon training schedule and looked at what I should be doing. I saw that I'd crossed out the initial plan when training for Toulouse and put in 3x2k. It worked then , I thought, so I decided to do more of the same and programmed the Garmin for the morning.

The alarm rang and I almost had second thoughts about the whole affair. 6:00 am is inhuman for going running but since I'm in a determined mode at the moment I got ready and left. I dawdled over the first kilometre putting off the dreadful moment when I'd have to start trying. In my mind, I imagined doing under 4:00 kms as I'd been achieving on the track lately. The first kilometre marker arrived and I was down by the Seine so I hit the lap button and started.

I was just getting into full stride after about 500m when I saw a figure alone in the middle of the road. I was a little wary as: firstly I never see anyone or rarely on my runs; secondly, I was in the darkest spots of the loop and wondered what on earth he was doing there, looking lost. He called out to me and I stopped and he turned out to be a newspaper delivery man looking for an address. I wasn't much help but relieved he didn't turn out to more dangerous. So much for the first interval as I lost about 23 seconds (quick analysis from SportsTrax on 200m splits - no I did not time my conversation with the old geezer - what sort of geek do you think I am ?) and ran this first interval in 8:26.

A 2' recovery and I set off again. Normally I speed up on these intervals but today I was losing concentration and dozing off. Going up the slight hill from the river slowed me down too and I never really recovered on this interval. Ran this one in 8:20.

Set of again for the last interval and was sweating buckets by now. Still not much faster as I ran into the park and ran this one in 8:12. Well down on my pre-Toulouse times which is what I have been expecting.

12km all up in 55 minutes so an average of 4:35 over the course.

Cora again

I dropped Laurence off at school so that she could begin her trip with the class to Shanghai and drove to the running club to see who was interested in a long run.

Actually, not many people had turned out as several were running the 10km race at Aubergenville and a large part of the remainder will be running Paris marathon next weekend. Then as Thierry addressed everyone before setting off, I learnt that there were 2 options on offer: a 2h15 long run, or some 10km training for about 1h40. I volunteered to accompany the runners on the long run and found myself in a group with Jean-François, John, Jean-Michel, Brigitte, Jocelyn, Michèle and several other runners that I didn't recognise or know.

We set off through the forest to the cabin, a well-known reference point for many of the club's runs, and then the group split up into the long-runners and the 10k trainers. I ran with Jean-François and Michèle down to the bumps and then along the railway line before reaching Pavillon de la Muette. I then led our little group down back along the path that I'd taken yesterday with Laurence in the opposite direction down to Cora. We ran around the lake and then waited as the group met together again as we'd left some of the slower runners behind. I was then told by Franck that we hadn't followed the route as initially planned and my diagonal cut down to Cora had shortened the route (at least this allowed us to do a lap of Cora and meet up with the others without wasting any time).

We ran back along the proper paths to Pavillon de la Muette and back to the clubhouse, having run 23km in total. I'd been running at the front with Jean-François and I struggled towards the end to keep up. The weather was a lot cooler than yesterday and very overcast. Whatever the reason, I found it hard going and consoled myself with my mid-week runs. This consoling business is becoming a bit of a habit and I'll need to pull my finger out soon and get some real effort in!

Having got back to the clubhouse, I dropped the rucksack and my jacket and headed back out again to put in another 7 km or so to run more than 30km in preparation for London. I ran in the direction of St Germain terrasse and then decided to run the triathlon loop and finish at the swimming pool before heading back to the clubhouse. I picked the pace up slightly and was running around 4:40 per km now, as opposed to 5:00 - 5:20 with the group.

I got back to the club having run 30km exactly in 2:35 or an average of 5:10 per km. So no speed but some endurance training and a long slow run before London. I saw Nico, Jean-Marc, Jérémie and Gérald on the carpack as they'd just come back from Aubergenville. All had beaten their records with Nico running 36:10 and beating Mireille in the process by a second. Jean-Marc ran 34:29 or thereabouts with Jérémie only 30 seconds behind. Disappointed I wasn't there to take part but pleased for all of them on such fantatsic performances. Nico's time has me doubting now as to whether I'll be able to beat him over this sort of distance. I'll run this marathon and then start some more speed training to beat my own records.

Cora

Woke up to a beautiful spring day. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky and the temperature had risen a good few degrees during the night to be around 15°C. Laurence and I had planned for a run to Cora and back before she heads off with the school to China tomorrow.

I ran with Laurence for 4 km until the entrnace to the main part of the forest and then ran on to Cora and around the lake before running back up the hill to meet Laurence at Pavillon de la Muette where she had run to by missing out the loop around the lake. Having run the first 4 kilometres at around 5:30 pace, I ran the next 7km at as close to marathon pace as I could manage. These kilometres went :

4:14, 4:17, 4:21, 4:19, 4:22, 4:36, 4:46

The second last kilometre was up the hill to the pavillon and the last as I met with Laurence and slowed down. If truth be told though, I was just not ready to run marathon pace today. The first kilometre at 4:14 tired me considerably and I slowed down deliberately in the second kilometre to catch my breath back. It was one of those days when you're just not ready to put everything into your training. I felt alright about this as it's been a busy week and I've worked hard during the evening sessions. I also feel good about treating the ecotrail as a long run and not such a hard race that I need to ease off the training severely to let my body recover. I'll make up for this tomorrow when I go training with the club.

Having met up with Laurence again, we ran back to Le Mesnil, on to the townhall and along the river and up the small hill to finish at the house. All of this was done at 5:30 pace again. Both Laurence and I were tired after the course so probably both need a little more sleep.

16.25km all up in 1:22. Fantastic day.

Club session

Good atmosphere at the club session last night. Programme was relaxation for the elite group who are preparing for the 10km race at Aubergenville on Sunday. The marathon runners were easing off on their preparation for the most part with the marathon in Paris and Rotterdam only 10 days away. The leisure runners were also taking it easy (as always!). As a result of all of this, there was a light-hearted atmosphere and the lighter evening, now that we're in Summer time, helped considerably.

I tried to influence the London marathoners to do a track session and we eventually decided on 6x800m intervals off 200m recovery. We warmed up together and I chatted with Bruno and a new guy, Frédéric, who'd just run the Barcelona marathon in 3h15. We discussed race tactics and training schedules and Bruno told us that after receiving treatment for tendonitis in the achilles, he was now suffering from pains in the heel with each footfall. He added that he had no chance of competing with me in London. Unfortunately, Bruno hasn't regained his fitness following his 2 marathons run almost back to back in the autumn of 2010 and it's hard for him mentally to see the group of runners that he used to beat easily running as fast or faster than him at the moment.

Nico was there too but when we were on the warm-up, he decided to "woose" it out with the girls in the forest rather than doing some serious training back at the track. He's quite clearly very unsure of himself and his capability now that I am returning to health and fitness. I'm lloking forward to racing him in the near future after the marathon. I went back to the track with José, Thierrry, Bruno, Frédéric and Laurent to do our 800m. After a few strides down the back straight, we lined up for the intervals.

José and Thierry set off first training at their VO2 max pace and I set off next aiming to beat 3:00 per 800m based on the Yasso rules. The others were happy to run at marathon speed, or 3:24 per 800 and so I left them behind me. Overall, I felt quite comfortable, although sweating quite heavily in the evening warmth, and I ran the intervals as follows:

2:54, 2:55, 2:54, 2:53, 2:55, 2:56

So very regular and I made sure that José didn't gap me too much. Thierry, although starting fast, dropped back after the 3rd interval and I didn't see him at the end of the session. I wonder whether he still has the motivation to train hard and to run his 60th marathon under 3 hours. His aim is still 2:45 for Rotterdam but it doesn't appear that he has the same level of fitness as José at the moment who is also aiming for this time.

12km all up and another good quality session. Nico, having finished his stroll in the forest, watched in wonder as I ran my intervals. He tried not to show his emotions but I could feel that his fear was quite palpable. Coming back ...