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.
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