Rain at last

It was a real shock when I opened the front door to go for my run this morning when I saw that the ground was wet outside. I'd forgotten what it looked like when the rain is falling, leaving a film of humidity on the path and causing the slate tiles to turn into a treacherous slipway down to the stairs. I'd been prepared to face another early morning of heat and sunshine and had dressed accordingly. As it was, I opened the door, took stock of the situation, turned back inside and grabbed a cap and left for my run.

It's been over 2 months now since we've had any rain in the Paris area and the situation is becoming critical. The water supplies are already dangerously low and summer hasn't arrived yet. Famers are having to kill their livestock as they can't afford to feed them as hay and animal food prices have almost doubled these last few weeks. We tend to forget about the basics of life such as clean water and food as we take them for granted. It's situations such as these that bring back home the fragility of the economy and the importance of natural resources on our lifestyles. I have to admit that my thoughts over the first part of the run were about these issues despite the early hours of the morning.

Well, one aspect of the slight drizzle that was falling was that the temperature had also cooled considerably, falling to around 10°C at 6:00am. It made for very pleasant running and I took it easy down to the Seine and along the river to Maisons Laffitte castle. There was a lot of activity going on in the river as the rainfall seemed to encourage the fish to jump and the ducks and moorhens were having a field day chasing them. I was managing about 4:40 pace and quite happy at this speed, keeping some energy in reserve for the club session this evening when we'll probably return to the track.

I ran through the park and back through the forest to Le Mesnil. Feeling fresh still, I decided to add on a little loop to push the distance over 11 km for my outing and ran down past the church towards the townhall but cutting back left before getting to the bottom of the hill. A great feeling this morning globally but I'm still feeling some stiffness in my right thigh when I run these recovery runs. It doesn't bother me in races or on the track though.

11.3km all up in 52:18 or 4:37 / km average. The drizzle had already stopped by the time I got home and it looks as though this will be the last of the rain for the next week at least. 1mm of rain fell this morning - this will not be enough to resolve any water problems for the moment.

Photos of Les Clayes 10 km

A few photos taken during the race on Friday night.

I look far too relaxed and definitely not determined enough so I'll need to correct this in the next races !! Laurence is more concentrated. Nice photo of some of the runners from the club at the end of the race during the prize-giving ceremony.

  

Laurence and Katia proud to be on the podium

Laurence concentrating with in 200m to go

  

Laurence, Katia, Ephrem, Charles and myself discussing results

Finally, during the match on Saturday night there was a lovely quote behind the bar: "Imogen Thomas has taken up singing. She's started her tour by doing Giggs in Manchester"

LSR - again

It had been a hard night with the boys. Nico, Nick W and myself had decided to go into St Germain to watch the match in the pub. To be perfectly civilised, we thought that we could get a burger there and eat out. Unfortunately by the time we got to the pub there was no space left at their tables so we had some pasta next door accompanied by a nice bottle of red wine. Things became less civilised from then on when we went back into the bar and met Nick B and a mate over from Oz for some beers while watching the match. Man Utd took a well-deserved beating much to Nick W's delight, being a long-time Liverpool fan. So when I woke up this morning, the last thing that I wanted to do was go for a 33k run with a camelbak on my back.

Laurence saved me at this point by saying that she wanted me to run with her over the first portion of the course as it's a little isolated in the forest and she was a little concerned about who she might meet. I instantly comforted her by telling her that Nico had met a guy in the middle of the forest while out for a run last week who was wandering around completely starkers. Personally, I think that Nico came up with this excuse as he was worried that somebody had caught him on camera with a naked bloke... Anyway, I was the perfect gentleman and eagerly agreed to accompany my lovely wife around the course.

We set off easily at a pace just below 10 km/h. I thought that Laurence was capable of getting around the course in 6' kms though and by the 5km mark we were running regularly 5:45 pace. I was perfectly happy at this speed as I needed to recover from yesterday and was just keen to burn off the calories and alcohol from last night's excesses. When we got to the top of Princess Road, Laurence stopped for a quick rest and told me that she didn't want to run with me anymore as I "stressed" her. I was ordered to run on and finish at my own pace and even to beat last week's time. I announced that this would be difficult as at the same point last week I had passed some 11 minutes earlier. But, since there was no point in arguing I set off again; this time on my own.

The next few kilometres to Feucherolles were far more comfortable than last week and I managed them at 4:40 pace. I'd run 16km now and I was tired so I stopped to walk for a while. I just didn't have the energy to continue running permanently and it was this for the rest of the way around the course. When I was running, I was a lot easier and faster than last week but my legs and head were telling me to stop whenever it got a little hard. I accepted the fact and just focused on getting around. In the end, I finished the loop in 2:55 so 11 minutes solwer than last week and exactly the same time difference as at the 11km mark. So despite the more frequent stopping, I managed to complete the last 22 km at the same pace as last week.

33.3km all up in 2:55 or 5:15 per km. This brings the total mileage to the week to just under 97 kilometres. Another week like this before I taper for a week before the trail.

Cora - recovery ?

The idea was to take it easy with Nico around the usual 15 km of the Cora loop to recover following yesterday's race and to prepare for my long run tomorrow. Since we were feeling extremely tired from the efforts of the race, we pushed the start time back from 8:00 am to 8:30 am!

When I got out of bed, I could feel the tension still in my right thigh from the race. This has been a constant problem since the London marathon and I'm considering a long massage to try and get rid of the problem once and for all. I left the house and saw Nico just emerging from his house at the same time. We set off easily, and it was a real pleasure: the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the temperature was only around 12°C following the recent drop as the high pressure has moved on slightly. The pace was very gentle and I was relieved that Nico was also keen to recover and not push the pace. How long would this last though ?

We entered the forest and ran downhill towards the end of Maisons Laffitte park. The initial pace was speeding up and by the time we had done 7 k we were now cruising at 4:15 per km, marathon pace. So much for a recovery ! We continued around Cora like this until I pointed out to Nico that this wasn't the recovery I'd imagined. He agreed to ease off the pace and we slowed dramatically to 4:32 for the next kilometre. Not quite the reduction in speed that I'd been imagining and what's worse was that we now hit the uphill back to Pavillon de la Muette and we carried on at 4:32 ! The good intentions were over and we ran the flat section by the Pavillon in 4:15 before slowing slightly back along the sandy paths through the forest uphill towards Le Mesnil.

It was a relief to leave these tracks and hit the tarmac to finish. Just to prove that I was capable of staying with my young friend, I chased him back home, completing the final kilometre at 3:56 pace.

15 km all up in 1:08:24 or an average of 4:35 per km. So much for the recovery. This will have to wait now until tomorrow where I intend to repeat last week's long run at a faster pace.

Les Clayes sous Bois - 10 km

I lined up at the start of the race with the usual apprehensions: what was I doing here, why had I entered and I could be at a nice restaurant with my wife rather than running a 10 km race. Still the butterflies hadn't been around for that long and it looked as though the race would be starting in a couple of moments. I looked over to the lefthand side of the road and watched the starter as he raised his hand to fire the gun and we were off.

The first 200m were downhill which helped. I always find it hard to understand why so many runners inisit on pushing their way into the front of the race, only to be overtaken in the first 200m. Following this downhill, we swung sharply right and began the climb of the course, an uphill section that lasted a good 500m before dropping down slightly and then another shorter climb to finsih the major uphill sections of the course. I felt fresh at this point and wondered how fast we were running. Nico was only just ahead of me and I was matching his pace on this first uphill section. We had 3 loops to do and it crossed my mind whether I would find it quite so easy on the subsequent loops.

After these climbs we left the residential areas and ran down some larger roads and then onto a long flat section with some fairly long straights before completing the loop and restarting. I watched Nico pull ahead and then focused on staying with a runner who he'd spoekn to before the start of the race, François. We ran together from the second kilometre to the fifth and we continued exchanging the lead around the course. At 5 kilometres, after the hilly section on the second loop, he began to pull away and I had a stitch in my right side at this point and let him go. For the 5 th and 6th kilometres, I managed to look at my garmin to see how fast I was running. I'd resisted the temptation to look at the watch until now and I saw 3:48 then 3:55 flash up on the screen. The last split disappointed me as we were on the flat section, but I'd consciously eased off the pace, just like I did in Pontault Combault. It was at this point when an older run caught me up and I hung onto his shoulder as he pulled alongside.

This final loop was just the 2 of us together. I pulled him up the hills and tried to break himw on the downhill. I could hear his breathing which was heavy and told myself that he was suffering and that I should beat him. We came onto the flat section and he pulled away and I didn't have the mental strength to stick with him. He was able to make a little gap and it was only after the ninth kilometre that I decided that I didn't feel so bad afterall and made an effort to cross the finish line.

37:34 was the final time, although the course was slightly short by the Garmin and we needed another 150m to make the full 10km. This would have added another 35 seconds to the final time, but with the hills I think that this was probably more or less compensated. I finished in 20th position in the race with Nico 9 places ahead in 11th spot in a time of 35:56 and his best time yet over the distance. 

I was pleased with the race for a few reasons:

i) A good start and I felt easy for the first 2 km at 3:32 pace.

ii) Potential is there to run under 37' over 10km with a little race practise.

iii) Can easily improve the second half of the race with stronger competition and more determination.

Highlight of the evening was watching Laurence run in with a time of 45:55 and 3rd veteran woman. Her first podium as a runner and she was well proud. Will post photos when I get them. The runners from the club managed some good performances with Katia finishing just ahead of Laurence to pick up second prise for the veteran women, managing 3rd place in the mens team prize, and Ephrem and Madeleine picking up prizes in their respective categories.

Recovery

An easy recovery run around the usual route with the forest variant this morning.

Nice morning which clouded over by the end of the run. I took it very easily and ran about the same pace as on Tuesday morning over the same course. The only difference with Tuesday was that then I couldn't have run faster even though I tried and today I could easily have accelerated but I'm keeping some in reserve for the race tomorrow night. As a matter of fact, I'm wondering what my race tactics are going to be tomorrow: try and stay with Nico until I buckle at the knees or try and stay with Gérald and hope to overtake him in the second half of the race. I'm currently prefering the second option but the first has not yet been discarded completely.

10.7 km in 50:55 or an average of 4:45.

Tuesday club session

Turned up at the club for the Tuesday night session and I was very wary about the plan for the evening. It was a lovely evening and the sun was still out with the temperature hovering around 21°C, so almost perfect conditions.

The turnout was down on the last few weeks and it looks as though most people have either finished training for the season or are easing off before Les Foulées 10 km race in 10 days time. Jean-Marc was there but is still injured and it looks as though if he participates in his first marathon ever in Normandy, it'll be off the shortest marathon training plan ever devised. Nico, Romain, Fréd, Ylies were there ready for action and Miguel was taking the session. Momo and Mireille arrived late, cruising in on their bikes already looking slightly peaked. Most notable absents were Gérald and Thierry, preparing some long runs somewhere most probably.

Miguel announced the plan for the evening 2 x 10 x 200m off 100m recovery. Nico and I were looking for a little longer intervals before the 10km race on Friday evening and we suggested 6x800m. A quick warm-up through the forest before Miguel ordered all of the track runners back to the stadium to do our intervals. Most decided to do the 200m, but the hard-core runners, including Miguel, changed the plan at the last moment to 4x500m, 2x1000m and 1x2000m off 200m then 300m recoveries. With the group I was with, I quickly decided that my only ambition was to stay ahead of Mireille for each interval.

We set off on the first intervals of 500m and I was soon at the back with Fréd. Mireille started fast and I was just trying to hold on to her. Luckily she probably set off too fast and eased slightly at the 300m mark, where I seized the opportunity to go past and to finish alongside Fréd and just ahead of Mireille. Miguel was a good 5 metres ahead and I wondered how he was managing to run so well, having been injured recently and lacking some solid training.

These 500m intervals went as follows: 1:38, 1:38, 1:37, 1:36. So very consistent and getting faster and faster. I was already suffering and my only consolation was to hear Mireille's breathing getting heavier and heavier. At least if I was suffering, I wasn't alone!

We attacked the 1000m next and Fréd moved ahead of me now. However, I was closer to Miguel and Romain at least for the first interval, droppping slightly behind for the second. Nico and Ylies were well in front finishing over 10 seconds ahead of me on each one.

3:22 then 3:25 for these intervals and then only the 2000m was left to do.

I flagged mentally at this point. I'd taken my top off with the heat and the thought of another 5 laps at speed was tough for my mind to cope with. I'd been hitting the lactic with the 500m then the 1000m and another 2km of torture was hard to bear. Everyone set off slower now and for the first 400m we were all bunched together. I lost it at this point and let them gap me with only Mireille behind. The small gap that started grew and grew until they finished almost 100m ahead and I was all alone. Mireille dropped out, so I didn't even have the satisfaction of finishing ahead of her. Still, I managed 7:18 and I was pleased given the efforts I'd put in on the intervals leading up to this. If I can pull this off over the 10km on Friday, I'll be well chuffed.

Laurence looked great on the track running with the girls doing their 200m intervals. She should run well on Friday too. Looking forward to a new PB from her over 10k.

13.6 km all up in 1:15 and 24km for the day. Was thinking that if I could run this every day, my next marathon would be a dead cert. Now, if only my left ankle holds out without collapsing soon ...

Nike Lunarglide 2

Nike have perfected something incredible in this shoe. This is the third time that I've worn them now since buying them on Saturday and my suspicions are confirmed: these shoes are designed to go slow.

On Saturday, it was not immediately obvious. I was with Nico going around Cora and we had intended to head out slowly from the start. We sped up over the course but our fastest kilometre (apart from the fast finish on the tarmac) was 4:18 pace.

On Sunday, it was immediately obvious. From the word go, I struggled to find any pace. My only achievement with the new shoes was to get 2 enormous blisters on my left foot and a black toenail which I have not experienced in years with Brooks, Asics or Mizuno.

This morning I tried a new tactic and changed the orthotics and replaced them with the original Nike insoles, hoping that this would improve the shoes. A complete waste of time. My first kilometre was in 4:50, the second 4:54. What on earth was going on ? I was still sore in my thighs from the long run on Sunday, but even when I'm doing a recovery run I normally manage under 4:40 per km. The shoes were unresponsive, flat and heavy. I've never had such a feeling of lethargy emanating from my feet before. It felt as though gravity had doubled overnight and lifting each foot took twice the amount of effort previously needed.

There was a slight improvement from the 5th kilometre onwards where I managed to accelerate to 4:35 pace. Pathetic. I'm putting the shoes up for sale on e-bay this evening. One pair of Nike Lunarglide 2 size 45.5 used 3 times with 59 km on the clock. Anybody interested ?

10.7 km in 50:38 or an average of 4:43 per kilometre.

LSR - and I mean slow !

Something went wrong today. It was not immediately obvious but not everything clicked into place as I wanted. I'm not able to identify the causes either. Was it yesterday's run and trying to do too much, too soon? Was it due to the excess of alcohol with Laurence, Dad and Liz last night? Was it due to the lack of sleep accumulated during the week and the stress of work at the moment ? Whatever the reason, it didn't feel good and all the recent enthusiasm I've been having with the improvements in my training on the track went right out of the window.

I've got a couple of races coming up very soon: the 10km on Friday evening and then the 58 km trail in Brittany in June. I reckoned I needed to get some distance in for the trail and I was quite happy to run the long course around Feucherolles and St Nom la Breteche for a little over 30km to put some distance training in.

I filled up the camelbak and set off running the first kilometre in 5:11 into the forest. I increased the pace very gradually to run each kilometre in 4:50 after 5km. I wasn't able to increase the pace but I wasn't too bothered to begin with as I was focusing on completing the circuit in good conditions. By the time I got to the top of Princess Road after 11km, I was still feeling fairly fresh, if unable to go any faster. It was peculiar the feeling that I still had energy, but I wasn't able to summon any to increase my speed and I stopped looking at the Garmin at this point and just concentrated on maintaining a steady pace.

The highlight of the circuit was going through Feucherolles and seeing the end of the 24 hour running race: 24h des Yvelines.The runners looked surprisingly spritely and fresh despite the 24 hours on their feet, running around a 1600 metre circuit in the St Gemme quarter of Feucherolles (the winner managed to run 217km in this time or 135 loops of the circuit!). I pushed on and ran back into St Nom la Breteche and back up the hill towards St Germain. This was the killer for me and by the time I got to the top, I was exhausted and my energy drained from me. I was just looking to finish now. My fastest kilometre was in 4:18 downhill into St Germain whereas I normally run this in 3:50 or thereabouts.

I ran/walked quickly up the hill into St Germain and then limped home the last 7 or 8 kilometres. It was not impressive and I felt that not only had I not managed to run steadily, I hadn't managed to run reasonably at any point. It can only get better.

I ran the 33.5 in 2:44 which is my slowest time ever for this course and 17 minutes slower than my record. Average speed of 4:57 over the distance. Will try again next Sunday. Hopefully, it'll be a lot better.

Cora with Nico

I'd organised to do the usual Cora run with Nico on Saturday morning. It was promising to be another beautiful day and so we left at 8:00am to avoid the worst of the heat.

We set off easily as there were no record attempts for the course today. I was trying out my new Nike Lunarglide 2 trainers, recommended by the chiropodist to avoid achilles tendon injuries. The first feelings were not brilliant. The shoes felt flat, not dynamic and despite the cushioning, I could feel the honeycomb structure at the front of the foot. Not good for the first impressions. It was definitely not love at first sight.

Nico and I ran easily, accelerating gradually around the course starting at 5:42 (!), 5:04 before speeding up to 4:30 pace. We managed to peak at 4:18 around Cora before slowing slightly back up the hill towrads home. Nico looked easy despite complaining about pains in his calf and thigh. My aches and pains were more in the left knee and ankle. This didn't stop us running well and managing the last kilometre in 3:51.

15km all up in 1:07:45 or an average of 4:33 per km. Nice run.

Easy recovery

I managed to get up early despite last night's session to go for a recovery run first thing this morning. I'd initially planned the 10 km loop in my head, but seeing how tired I wsa when I woke up, I transformed this into my shortened 7.6km circuit.

I set off running with a lot of stiffness in the right knee and thigh. This has been a problem for the last 2-3 weeks now and although it doesn't hurt, it is uncomfortable and a nuisance when I begin to run. I took it easy from the start with no real objective but to loosen up after the intervals. I looked at the Garmin after the first kilometre - 4:58 !! This was fine: I was definitely taking it easy and my leg was loosening up with every step I was taking.

I turned up into the park after Maisons Laffitte castle and decided that I would take my alternative forest route home. This is slightly longer than the road route but a lot more pleasant and I was beginning to enjoy myself. Another look at the Garmin and I was at 4:30 pace now and getting into a nice rhythm. Nobody else was around and the only wildlife were a few rabbits I startled as I ran through the forest.

Since it was such a lovely morning and a really pleasant temperature, I made another modification to the route and ran down to the Le Mesnil town-hall, adding on another kilometre in the process. A good run in at 4:20 pace.

9.3 km all up in 43:38 or an average speed of 4:42 per km. Ready to tackle some more intervals tomorrow morning now.

12x300m

I was really pleased to make it to the club session tonight. I thought it was going to be out of the question when I got onto the periphérique and saw that an accident had occurred 5km further on. 24 minutes was announced on the overhead gantries, instead of the usual 4' for the next exit. Luckily as soon as I'd got past this, the traffic cleared and I arrived, miraculously, with 5 minutes to spare.

There was a good turnout tonight and I was able to pass on our beautiful trophy for 3rd place in the ekiden to Fabrice. This was a good thing as Laurence had declared the trophy persona non grata in the house and was close to offering it pride of place in the large black, cylindrical object just outside the house, aka the dustbin.I even passed on our winnings of 10€ Decathlon vouchers despite the temptation to keep the 6 of them and have a good contribution to a new pair of shoes, instead of a good contribution to a new pair of socks that I now have. Still, it's nice to take part in an event and come away with something, compared to the normal feeling of simple satisfaction from having participated. Still, as Coubertin would have stated: it's not the winning that counts but having taken part. These are wise words indeed and probably from somebody who never won anything and just wanted some form of satisfaction from that.

Thierry, Nico, Fabrice, Charles, Ylies, Romain, Gérald and Frédéric were all there and we decided that after a warm-up in the forest, we would head back to the track and do some 300m intervals. Charles and Thierry were not interested and they stayed with Miguel to do some longer intervals in the forest. We got back to the track and I have to admit that I was very apprehensive in such prestigious company. Furthermore, it was hot and sunny and I didn't have a cap. My bald pate is still suffering from too much sun on Sunday and I wasn't looking forward to an extra dose this evening.

After a few strides and shuffles down the back straight, we began. Nico and Ylies quickly took the lead, with Romain following in their footsteps. I was happy to try and hold off Fréd, while Gérald and Fabrice were just behind. This was the case for the next few intervals too and each one Nico and Ylies would finish about 10 - 15 metres ahead of me and I was consistently around 56" for 300m. I had no reference for this distance, so I didn't know whether this was good or not. As we ran these, there was a discussion as to how many we should do too. I had agreed to do 12 with Fabrice in the afternoon, but the others wanted to run 10 in one block. They settled on 10 and I decided I needed to toughen up mentally and would run 12 even if it was hurting like hell.

Intervals went as follows:

56", 56", 55", 55", 56", 57", 58", 59", 58", 58", 58", 58" so very consistent and all under the minute.

11.4 km all up in 1 hour exactly.

The scoop for the evening was the sight of Nico in cycling shorts. This is the guy that swore that he'd never be seen dead in "moule boules" or revealing underwear. To give you all an idea of what he looked like this evening, paperazzi were spotted in the grounds and I managed to get a photo from them :

 

Nico in full flight around the track this evening. What do you think ?

Ekiden - Pontault Combault

We came, we saw, we ran hard and we kicked ass.

Well, it didn't really turn out this way and definitely not as I intended. I woke up and got ready for the race at some ungodly hour on Sunday morning, ready to meet the others at the club for 6:45am. Pontault Combault is on the other side of Paris, in the east and we needed to be there for a 9:00 am start. I picked Nico up and we drove to the site of last year's race after a little tour around Pontault Combault, taking in the sights (ok - we go a little lost but a quick call to Jean-Marc soon sorted that out. So much for a GPS if you don't know where you're supposed to be going. I'm blaming this one on my copilot).

It was a reasonable day and the weather wasn't quite sure what it was doing. When the sun came out it was glorious and warm, but when the clouds came over it was a little cool. We warmed up and I felt fine. The main contest for the day was whether the second senior team would beat the first veteran team. The secondary contest was whether our first senior team would win the race outright. Last year the race was won in 2:24 and they thought that they were in with a shout this year.

The race started and the first leg were off for 5 kilometres around the flat course. The start is from a shopping centre, just outside the Decathlon shop - the main sponsor, and then you follow the road around the forest before turning right onto a cinder track down a long, long straight (and even longer if you're running the last leg) before doubling back on yourself and down the other side until a left turn back inot the forest down another track which loops back around to the start. Our first runner was Fabrice who's been out with injury for a few months and this was his chance to shine in a comeback race against Gérald. Gérald was favourite to win this leg with most estimates giving him 90 seconds over Fabrice. In fact, there was only 52 seconds between them and Fabrice handed over to Vincent.

Vincent was racing Robin and it was a close challenge but Vincent gained the upper hand by making 27 seconds over him and closing the gap to 25 seconds between the seniors and the vets. Bruno went off now, fully recovered from his marathon  with me in London where I'd run with him over the first half of the course. He was chasing Simon and I was over the moon when I saw Bruno coming around the final corner ahead of Simon by 2 seconds. To say that this race was close was an understatement. I didn't have a clue what the other teams were doing, apart from our first senior team who were around 4th or 5th position and not as high up as expected, the field being distinctly faster this year compared to last.

With a whole 2 second advantage, I was confident now as Thierry was running the next leg for the vets against Frédéric. As I'd seen for myself in Tuesday's training, Frédéric had a good level and had kept up with us for the 3:30 1km repeats, but Thierry is capable of 36 minutes for a 10 km race and I was sure that we would extend our lead. After 5 km I was even more convinced as Thierry went through the 4 kilometre mark well ahead of Fréd. However, Thierry was tiring and when we next saw them both at 7 km, Fréd had made a good 70 m on Thierry and was going away from him. Fréd was most impressive, never having run a 10km race before and finishing this leg in 36:45 almost a minute faster than Thierry. I've rarely seen a guy finish his leg or a race so completely wasted. To say that he'd given everything was an understatement.

Disaster struck the senior team at this point when their 5km relay man, Nick, had been too busy following the race and wasn't in position to take the relay. Thierry came into sight and it was only then that Nick took off, not even 15 seconds ahead of Charles. We were still in the running! Charles ran an excellent leg and handed over to me.

I took the baton, or rather hair elastic which had snapped by now, wrapped it around my finger and set off. I didn't know where Romain was, the anchor leg for the seniors, just that he'd be chasing me seriously around the course. I set off cautiously, worried that I'd burn myself out too quickly and wouldn't be able to respond if Romain caught me. I caught a few runners and passed them but nobody was running at my pace and I didn't have any more runners to chase after the first 2 kilometres. My first kilometre was in 3:41 which I considered reasonable and even sensible on my part, but the second was in 3:46 so I thought I should speed up a little or at least not slow any further. My legs didn't respond and it was as if I couldn't be bothered to race harder. My mind wasn't completely in this event and I just wasn't feeling competitive enough. I'd been prepared to cheer on the others and push them, but I wasn't prepared to push myself.

3:51 then 3:50. I heard footsteps and knew instinctively that it was Romain. Damn 3.2km to go and he was with me already. He looked at me and said 'Let's run together' but after a couple of hundred metres, he began to pull away and I just couldn't stay with him. I ran like this until the end, surfing the race and not immerged in it. I was too hot, not comfortable and straining. I managed a sprint finish to try and catch a final runner who looked like a vet before the finish line, but even he crossed the line a couple of seconds ahead.

I finished in 27:29 by my watch, averaging 3:49 over the distance. The official split was 27:33 as it takes it from just before the handover. Anyway the team finished in 2:39:38 picking up the 3rd vets team prize in the process (1st and 2nd finishing in 2:36:18 and 2:37:14 respectively so no regrets). Hats off to the seniors 2 for beating us as it was a good, close race. Senior 1 ran 2:23:57 and ended up in 6th position and would have won with that time last year. Shame.

I found a photo of me at the finish, just to prove I was trying !

 

Will have to do better against Nico at Les Clayes sous Bois now for the next 10k race in 10 days time.

Cora alone

Just an easy run to Cora and back on Saturday morning to keep the legs turning over nicely. No buddies to run with so just planned on the gentlest of jogs.

Of course, it didn't really go as planned since it wasn't too warm, I felt really good, and I couldn't wait to get back for breakfast. Hit 4:30 pace after a couple of kilometres and just stayed there. Slowed down on the uphill on the way home to 4:40. 

Felt brilliant. In fact, so good that I took the long way home around the church in Le Mesnil.

15,4 km all up in 1:10 or an average of 4:32 per km.

...lemon squeezy

This is not a reference to a Led Zeppelin song, but to the manner in which I decided I was going to run my route this morning. Just taking it easy.

Another beautiful today when I woke up. It's only the month of May but the weather is similar to that of the Summer months. We haven't had any rain for almost 4 weeks now and this is beginning to cause problems in the region. No rain is forecast for the next few days either. Anyway, as an early morning runner, this was no problem and I set off down the road at a comfortable pace, enjoying the early morning sunshine.

My legs were aching this morning after the Tuesday session and I probably need to change my trainers again. My left ankle is sore, together with my right knee and my right thigh. The ankle and knee are worrying as it feels as though there is a cartilage problem in both cases. I'll buy some new trainers on Saturday and see if this helps.

I was running at just over 4:30 pace and it felt very comfortable (apart from the joints) and I'm looking forward to the ekiden on Sunday to see where I am for race pace. I ran my Summer variant on the early morning run by heading through the forest at the end, heading back to Le Mesnil.

48:30 all up for 10.7 km or an average pace of 4:32 per km.

Track session

I arrived too late at the club to set off with everyone but Miguel, suffering from an injured foot, stayed behind to let me use the changing rooms and I set off 4 minutes behind everyone for the warm-up.

By the time I reached the road junction, I was within 100 metres of the group but they'd split into 2: one group heading towards St Germain terrasse and the other into the forest. Since Miguel had told me that they were returning to the track to do a session there, I chased the terrasse group, only to catch up with Laurence, John and some women running to do some hill training. Wrong choice, so I ran back to the swimming pool and then back to the track.

I did a couple of laps before Thierry, Vincent and  Frédéric showed up for the track session, closely followed by Mireille and Momo. Mireille and Momo decided to do their training together, so the four of us set off on the session that Miguel had concocted: 5x200m, 2x500m, 3x1000m off 100m, 200m then 400m float.

With Thierry and Vincent we decided roughly on the target times for each interval : 40" for the 200m; 1'45" for the 500m then 3'45" for the 1000m. We started with Thierry and Vincent taking the lead and Frédéric and myself following in their footsteps. It was a brilliant session and I felt good all of the way round despite the heat and the humidity. The four of us were well matched and we stuck together all of the time. Frédéric was boosted by Miguel who was telling him not to drop us and to stick with it.

Reps went as follows:

200m - 38", 38", 38", 37", 36"

500m - 1'41", 1'42"

1000m - 3'32", 3'30", 3'27"

Very regular, except for the last rep when Vincent took off with 300metres to go and we all picked up the pace to follow. I felt easy and could have managed shorter floats and even slightly faster speeds.

Looking good for Sunday. Our vets team is confident and looking good on the track.

Need to make a T shirt with this on, just in case :

 

No sign of Nico at the track tonight. I think he's finding it hard to manage the pressure. 14km all up in 1:11 or an average of 5:02 per km.

Sunday club session

Don't yell. I'm having a bad hair day.

For somebody who has very little hair this is bad news. I rolled up at the club this morning extremely tired from lack of sleep, still suffering from an excess of alcohol and stiff from yesterday's jog with Nico around Cora. I was happy to see Nico arriving in the same state. I didn't want to be the only party pooper at the training session this morning. 

Miguel announced the session to the runners present, fewer than usual due to races at Rosny today. 3 x 5' was on the menu off a 2'30" float at 10km race speed. This seemed reasonable until Miguel said that the stronger runners could do more if we felt like it, all the while looking in Nico and my direction. We looked behind us to check that he really meant us and I thought that noway was I going to do any more than the strict necessary.

Mireille, Vincent, Ilyes, Delphine, Catherine and Nat were out too and we jogged up to the Lycée Hortical and into the forest by Joyenval golfcourse before starting the session. It was sunny again but not quite as warm as yesterday which was a relief. My symptoms were already bad enough without having to add sunstroke into the equation. The first interval began with Nat and Vincent charging away with Nico and Ilyes following while I tagged along on Mireille's heels. Luckily, both Nat and Vincent took a wrong turn and their initial enthusiasm having come to naught, they calmed down after this.

Nico and Ilyes were ahead now and I followed them at a safe distance, but accelerating a little from the starting speed. We ran up the hill to the road and then finished the first interval on the road towards the farm. We looked around but there was nobody, only Nico, Ilyes, Vincent, Nat and myself, the rest of the group having carried straight on into the forest, along the track and avoiding the road. We set off on the next interval after them, running up some serious hills at speed. I followed Nico and Ilyes until Vincent pulled alongside me and then I accelerated away as the path flattened out. Problem was that Nico and Ilyes didn't know where they were going and I had to yell out to them to turn left to get back to the track. Second interval over and we were catching the rest of the group during the float.

Set off on the third interval just at the start of the large downhill. I ran down like a looney, passing everybody on the way, and overtaking Mireille just at the foot of the hill. I was on a roll now and I knew that Nico and Ilyes would have problems getting past everybody so I decided to push it on this last interval. Almost made it to the end of the 5' before being caught by Nico, but he overtook before the road and was away. I was running 3:44 pace along this section so the 10km speed was respected. 

I ran another interval with Mireille afeterwards as she had decided with the others to run 4 instead of 3. I followed at a safe distance as I was too tired now to push any harder.

15.4 km all up in 1:26 or an average speed of 5:36. 75km for the week so fairly pleased. Looking forward to the ekiden next week where I'm running the anchor leg for the veterans team. Our main objective is to beat the second senior team including Gérald on first leg as the first team is beyond our reach.

Found this on the web and thought it was highly appropriate :

Have a good week.

Cora at speed

The gauntlet had been thrown, the challenge was public, the exploit had to be realised. Nico had announced that we were to beat the course record for the Saturday training run around Cora.

I slept badly. I knew it was going to be hard running around with Nico at close to 15 km/h and the prospect had the same effect on me as the thought of participating in a race. When I woke up it was yet another beautiful day and the temperature was already hovering around the 15°C mark. So not only was it going to be hard, it was going to be hot too. I went outside and waited for Nico.

Nico finally appeared a few minutes after the arranged time of 8:00am and claimed that he had been up since 7:30am. So what had he been doing geting up 15 minutes earlier than me and arriving 5 minutes later ? Obviously some secret preparation before the challenge and then when he does arrive, he's finishing some sort of energy gel just to ensure that he makes it to the finish line.

We set off from outside the house in order to validate the attempt on the record and I set off quickly, knowing that we needed to be well under 5 minutes for the first kilometre if we were going to have a reasonable chance. I think I took Nico by surprise as he struggled to remain in contact for the first kilometre which we ran in 4:08. After this it was into the woods and the pace picked up again in 4:01 then 3:59 for the next 2 kilometres. 

Nico was obviously already suffering at this point as he kept asking to slow down. I felt pretty good, well as good as could be expected at 15 km/h. The going was tough but it was bearable. I didn't want to upset Nico too much after this by telling him our kilometre splits as I could see he was suffering from the pace and he was unable to talk. We carried on until the far side of Cora at the same pace of between 4:00 and 4:09 per km.

I slowed down at this point as I was running out of energy. The lack of breakfast and proper sustenance was taking its toll and I had to ease off the pace. Nico, benefitting from the effects of his wonder gel, was still in good shape and capable of carrying on at the same pace. We slowed to 4:18 for this kilometre before hitting the uphill back to Pavillon de la Muette and our slowest kilometre around the course in 4:31. I picked up a little after the hill but it wasn't to last: 4:10 and then a series around 4:25 until we got back to Le Mesnil.

Highlight of the course was meeting my groupies out in the forest to encourage me on. Apparently, one of the comments made to Laurence by one of the other girls after seeing me was 'James wasn't smiling today'. I think that this just about sums it up! I struggled towards the end but knew that we had the record in the bag. A final acceleration through town and we finished in 1:02:29, a new record by over 1'30" for the course.

Nico looked easy and next time I'm having some of his magic gel before the run.

14.9 km all up in 1:02:29 for an average pace of 4:11 over the distance. Good going, but looking forward to next week when we can actually find enough breath to talk to each other.