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.

20 x 500m - club track session

This session is the one that is feared by all of our club runners preparing the marathon. This is by far the longest interval session that is in the marathon training plan. The original training plan that I was given for my 3 hour marathon stated 20 x 500m in 2m16 with 300m recovery. I never understood the point in running intervals slower than marathon pace, so I had modified the plan to 20 x 500m in 2m00 off 200m recovery. This seemed more than ample for the marathon pace that I want to achieve in Florence.

The first challenge was to get out of work on time and to make it to the club without getting stuck in a serious traffic jam. This hurdle over and with all of 30 seconds to spare before the club departed on their run, I made it to the changing room and into my kit. Thanks god that the coaches were chatty tonight as that meant that I was able to get ready before anybody set off.

As soon as I was out of the changing room, Nico and Fred came over to see if I was doing the 20 x 500m tonight and as this was the case then we should cut short the warm-up and to start as soon as possible. I managed to hold out on this suggestion and since we all warmed up in the forest for 4.5k, this seemed perfect and we began the hard work.

So much for 2m00 for each 500m. Nico's 2h45 marathon plan stated 1m48 for each interval and we set off with this in mind. Fred was worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up but he too decided to try his best and to keep in touch for each interval.

20 x 500m around the track is mind-boggingly boring. The others had all finished their sessions long before we did and spent minutes watching us as we circled interminably around the track. Fred, despite his initial doubts, was with us all of the while and we weren't taking it easy. Nico kept the float reasonable off 200m and we spent about 1m15 for each recovery. Intervals went as follows:

1:53, 1:50, 1:48, 1:47, 1:46, 1:44, 1:46, 1:44, 1:44, 1:43,
1:44, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:41, 1:40, 1:41, 1:40

19.5 km all up in 1:32 or an average pace of 4:44. Fantastic session and blew my previous intervals at stockholm by myself out of the water. There, I was only able to manage an average pace of 1:47 per 500m whereas here the average was more like 1:43. Chuffed to bits and the great thing was that we all stuck together for the whole session making it a darn site easier than running by yourself.

Wednesday tempo

Well this wasn't really a tempo as the marathon training plan for Wednesday is always the same: 1 hour to 1h15 of easy running.

AS soon as I left the house and began to run I could feel a whole load of energy surge through my body. It was fantastic and I wasn't going to waste it dawdling through the streets at 12 km/h. Mind you, since I never run at 12 km/h there wasnt much chance of this happening, but you never know. I wasn't going to start now in any case.

I ran the first kilometre in 4:28 and this was my slowest as I warmed up. From then on I hit the accelerator and just bounded away. I ran 4:21 on average at the beginning and then after I arrived in the park and the soft gravel track beside the road down towards the castle in Maisons Laffitte, I sped up to 4:10 pace and then stayed there for the remainder of the run. 3:47 pace down the hill towards home and the last stretch to the drive.

12.8 km all up in 54:58 or an average pace of 4:17 per km. It felt very easy and I'm in a real purple patch at the moment. Let's just hope that it lasts until Florence and the marathon.

3 - 2 - 1

I made an adjustment to the marathon training plan this morning. Shock, gasp, WTF ! I was supposed to be running 3km in 12:00 followed by 2 km in 8:00 according to my 3 hour marathon running schedule off a recovery of 3 minutes. This seemed a little too easy so I told Laurence the night before that I'd add a kilometre at the end and try and run 11:30, 7:30, 3:30 just to be a little more ambitious. The first interval was achievable, the second uncomfortable and the third decidely stretch. But what the hell, I'd give it a go.

I allowed myself a 2 km warm up first thing in the morning before accelerating away for the first interval. I had that post-race strength in my legs that often happens after a 10km or less race. Racing these shorter distances gives me a boost a couple of days after the race and today was no exception. The only problem with these post-race boosts is that they don't last long and after the first kilometre, I was wondering if I'd be able to keep it up. I saw the Garmin after the 3rd kilometre and it showed 3:43 so that was the first target surely under the belt.

3 minutes recovery and I set off again for 2 kilometres now. I figured that I only needed to repeat my last kilometre from the previous interval and repeat this twice to achieve the goal. With the little light that was available in the park, I wasn't able to see the time when the Garmin indicated the end of the first kilometre and the second kilometre felt interminable but soon enough the watch beeped again and I rested for 2 minutes this time. One to go and the hardest, I tried to push the pace as fast as possible but I was tiring now and just looking forward to getting the thing over and done with. Garmin beeped again and I was done.


Analysis back at home showed what I'd managed:

3:32, 3:42, 3:43 = 10:57

3:37, 3:37 = 7:14

3:38

So I failed to achieve the last target but managed the 2 others. Pleased with this session as it's also a vast improvement on anything I was achieving last year in my preparation.

12.9 km all up in 56:08 or an average pace of 4:22.

Post race recovery run

Just took it easy on this run, savouring the pleasure of having beaten my record and letting this thought sink in slowly. It's been a while since I beat a record, almost 1 year in fact when I beat my marathon PB in Toulouse. There is this feeling of satisfaction, of a job well done and also that there is still scope for improvement.

This was what I was feeling this morning as I jogged around quietly. I was savouring my victory over myself and wondering how to ease out another few seconds to get closer to 36:00 the next time out. There was the end of the race that I could have managed better. I was too focused on my watch and my advance on my virtual partner and not concentrated enough on beating the runners around me. I was cursing myself for not having made a better attempt at losing Fred after I caught him and slowing on the 9th kilometre when the path rose ever so slightly through the forest, causing just enough pain for me to ease off the pace. It's ease to over-analyse after the event and to under-estimate the effort that went in during the race itself. We forget so quickly about the pain of racing with the joy of achieving...


I jogged and enjoyed my run, feeling very easy and comfortable. There were no aches and pains and the cool down after the race with Gérald and Nico must have helped in this way. Usual route through the park, after the start down by the Seine. No point changing a winning strategy.

12.8km all up in 58:58 or 4:36 per km. Felt great and relaxed and was even happy about going to work afterwards.

Vélizy 10km - 36:32 and new PB

I've given it all away in the title and there'll be no suspense in the race description now. I have nothing to suprise my readers with but since most of them were at the race anyway and know the results, I'll just get on with it.

I picked Nico up this morning to drive him to the race. We discussed our respective form and how the day was perfect for achieving a new record. He was aiming for 35:00 and I was aiming to beat my record and be not further than 30 seconds behind him. In fact the 30 seconds was a lie to myself as internally I was ready to accept a gap of up to 1 minute. If he was going to achieve 35:00 then I would have to do 36:00. I've been running well in training recently and I was convinced that I could beat my record. My intervals and reps and distance work have helped build up my speed and stamina and the weather was perfect: sunny, dry, no wind and a temperature between 8 - 10°C. There were no excuses for not achieving.

Neither Nico nor I knew the course nor where to park in Vélizy for the start and after a little visit of the town (thank God Vélizy is not a big place) we found the stadium and the start of the race. We were both focused on our marathon training and although we were here to run the race, we were also aiming to complete the training for the day of 1:45 with 25 minutes at marathon pace. The 10km would resolve the marathon pace issue but we decided on a 30 minute warm-up followed by a 40 minute warm-down after the race. All was set.

We warmed up around the small loop of the course to begin with after having picked up our bibs and met with a number of other runners from St Germain including Gérard, Françoise, Thierry, Simon, Robin, Aude and Gérald. The course was organised into 2 loops: the first a short loop of 3 kilometres, followed by an extended loop through town and then through the forest back to the stadium for a 3/4 lap to finish.

We got in line for the start about 8 minutes before the race was due to begin. In all of my racing experience, which admittedly is not extensive, this was by far the worst start I've ever been in. The officials forced us to back up so that nobody was over the start line and we were compressed like cattle in a pen. I was leaning over backwards with the pressure from the runners in front and I couldn't move my feet backwards as there was no space behind me. We "stood" there praying for the race to begin so that we could be released from our misery. Finally the gun went and we were off and miracle of miracles, nobody fell in the first 10 metres and was trampled to death.

I was behind Thierry, Simon and Robin and I could see Nico and Gérald well in front. However, there was no way through and I didn't want to slalom the first kilometre. I held back on the pace and waited for the gaps to appear dso that I could slip through. After a 90° left bend and then a 90° right bend the road widened out and I was able to pass down the left-hand side where there was plenty of space. I noticed that Nico had gained a little lead and after passing Thierry, Simon and Robin, I focused on Gérald who was running well and tried to pull him in.

I caught Gérlad after 1k and put some space on him immediately so that he didn't decide to tuck in behind me. I now looked ahead and watched Nico run with Fred, a former St Germain runner, who had told us just before the start that he ran 36:50 last Sunday, qualifying for the French nationals over 10k in the process. This was my time objective for today's race and I figured that I wasn't running as well as I thought or I should be with these guys ahead. Having thought this, I carried on at my pace which felt fast enough for me and the virtual partner showed that I was already 20 seconds up on the 3:40 pace I had programmed on the Garmin.What really surprised me though was that after the first short loop, I could see the gap between Nico and me reducing with Nico dropping off the pace set by Fred and others in their little group.

It was really happening. At about 3.5km, I knew that I'd catch Nico. The gap was now about 8 - 10 metres and my only thoughts were whether I could keep this pace up and how would he react when I pulled alongside. At 4km, I caught him and didn't even make a sign to let him know I was there. I was too worried that he'd tuck in behind me and I wasn't sure how I could cope with this mentally.I saw on the Garmin that I was 33 seconds up on my virtual partner at this point and although I was tiring, I still felt that the pace was not unsustainable. I passed Nico and made a mental effort to dig in and to keep pushing.

I don't have many recollections of the race for the next couple of kilometres only seeing Momo looking as though he was leading as one section doubled back on itself and the leading pack came past going the other way (he was in fact in 5th position but the first 4 were well ahead). We went past the 6th kilometre now and the gap between Fred and myself was closing. I focused on reeling him in and when I pulled alongside at 7km, he spoke to me "I'm not going to give in easily James" and the bugger tucked in behind me. We took it in turns to lead through the forest and the last track section with a slight uphill. He gained a couple of metres on me and despite my acceleration over the last kilometre, I couldn't pull him back. The motivation wasn't there as I knew I was on for a new PB and overtaking him was not going to give me any more satisfaction (Complete bo**ocks of course as I regretted this after the race - but I wasn't thinking this at the time).

I entered the stadium and half-sprinted the last 300m to finish in 36:32 a new PB by 25 seconds. Really pleased with the time as it confirms my form at the moment and is promising for Florence. Nico finished in 37:46, having walked at one point and almost DNFed, before deciding that he wouldn't drop out of a race and ran to the end. Gérald did much the same but ran slower finishing in 40:40 and one of his slowest 10k race's ever, but he'll be back soon. Pleased to beat Thierry and Mireille which is also a new first and finsihed 2nd from the club behind Momo.

Splits went as follows:

3:29, 3:28, 3:35, 3:38, 3:39, 3:36, 3:42, 3:42, 3:46, 3:34 and then 18 seconds for the last 100m to the finish.

23.5 km for the day including the warm-down and 98km for the week. If I'd known I was so close, I'd have insisted on another 2km today!

Early Friday

Decided to run Saturday's run one day early on Friday and give myself a chance to recover before running a 10km race on Sunday at Vélizy. Why bother doing a 10km race when I'm training for a marathon ? Tough question this one, but since I'm feeling so good at the moment, I'm positive that I can run a good time and it seems like a chance not to pass up. Besides, I'm nowhere near to completing the challenge Nick set me a few months back so I need a few races under my belt to win some beer.

I set out first thing and I felt good from the start. No tired legs or other excuses this morning, just some good old recovery running at a sustained pace.I didn't need to look at the Garmin to know that I was running around 4:30 pace after a few kilometres. IT was one of those days when running is just the perfect sport. You feel good about your body, your performance, the weather, even life in general! I just enjoyed the feeling and let myself go, not worrying about splits, times or anything else.

I noticed that as I ran through Maisons Laffitte park that there were a good deal of runners out and about, even at this time in the morning. I chased a few down the path, catching them and passing at speed. The acceleration tested the legs but they felt good with a little bit of effort applied and the overall sensation was positive. The weather helped with a clear but cooler morning with the temperature hanging around the 9°C mark.

12.9 km all up in 56:18 or 4:23 per km. Looking forward to Sunday now and to set a new benchmark.

12 x 200m

Funny workout in the marathon training plan for this morning: 12 x 200m. Early on in the plan, we do 2 blocks of 12x200 but today was just one block with the 200m to be run in under 42 seconds off a recovery of 200m ! I have to admit that this is probably one of the easiest interval sessions in the plan and I was quite looking forward to it.

After the last few days, the run began well and I felt a lot better in my legs. I had the chance to do a relatively long warm-up of 2.5k and then began the session. The reps went as follows:

38, 42, 38, 39, 38, 36, 38, 37, 37, 36, 36, 36

I felt really good towards the end as I had really warmed up and the leg muscles were moving better. I was giving it my best shot on each of the intervals, rather than keeping a little in reserve as I normally do. I compared this session to the same one last year when my average interval was run at 40-41 seconds (albeit off 100m recovery when I used a 150m recovery today)

McMillan shows that my sprint workout for 200m should be run between 34 and 37 seconds so this was pretty good going. I think that the second interval was a problem with the Garmin rather than a slower run.

10.4km all up in 51:00 or an average pace of 4:54/km. The average pace was slow since I forgot to stop the Garmin when I was caught short and had to slip into the bushes for a Paula - but this is perhaps too much detail...

Recovery - of sorts

After doubling up on Tuesday and taking it easy on Tuesday evening, I thought it would be easy to go out and run on Wednesday morning and that I wouldn't feel the tiredness. How wrong I was.

The thinking was that if I did my recovery run on Tuesday evening that the following mroning I would have flushed the tiredness from my legs, I would regain the jump in my step and that I'd be feeling far, far better. I knew as I limped down the stairs and my right knee nearly buckled under me that this wouldn't be the case. It was too late now, I was up and out of bed and I had a plan to stick to. I had to get my run in.

This was the hardest session this week. I'm tired and suffering from sleep deprivation. I could easily have stayed in bed but here I was pulling on my New Balance ready to face the mild autumnal weather waiting for me outside in the dark. I set off down the road and I was really plodding. Sometimes I have to run with work shoes on in the street and I feel like stopping after 50 metres as it somehow feels a lot harder than running with trainers on. Well, I felt exactly the same this morning but I had trainers on already. It was a real effort and from a slwo start, it didn't get much better.

Let's cut this short: I got out. It was hard but I made it round.

12.8 km in just under the hour at an average pace of 4:39 / km.

Doubling up - 8 x 1000m

The marathon plan had a killer scheduled for today: 8 x 1000m. This was supposed to be run at 80% of max HR but since I don't have any idea of what this means for me personally, except that it's supposed to be around marathon pace, I figured that I'd try for 3:45 per interval. The recovery was 400m but since I had very little time to warm-up and couldn't afford to spend more than an hour on the run, I reduced this to 300m.

I ran down to the river and as soon as I got off the track section and onto the road, I started the intervals. I began well and pushed the pace from the outset. I was pleased with the first interval but the recovery was barely sufficient and I wondered how I would fare for the remainder. The second interval went well too but as usual, with the Garmin on interval mode, I wasn't able to see what pace I was running them at.

It got harder and harder from then on. The recoveries went by too quickly and it was all too soon before I was off again. I tried to picture myself at the track, cruising kilometres in front of Thierry and Fred, but I was on the road and it was dark and it was nothing like the track and I was hurting. My legs would begin to tie up towards the end so I was obviously running lactic, or still not fully recovered from the weekend. I felt slower and cursed myself for not trying harder.

Back home, I was able to see the results:

3:44, 3:40, 3:38, 3:45, 3:36, 3:46, 3:46, 3:46

I was pleased with this as the last 3 intervals I found really hard and I thought that I was running closer to 4 minutes than 16km/h.

12.9 km all up in 58:19 or an average of 4:31/km.

To cap a good day, I was able to make it to the club session. Nico wanted me to accompany him for his 8x1000m but with the session this morning, I decided just to tak eit easy. I admit that I was very tempted by the VO2 max test over 2km but reason stepped in, and I just jogged around the track.

I watched Nico run some impressive intervals around 3:25 off 90 seconds recovery. He's flying at the moment. I chatted with José, Charles and others managing to clock up 12.6km in 1:12 or an average of 5:42/km. Nice to relax for once.

Easy Monday

This was a run that I was looking forward too. There are several of these runs dotted here and there throughout the week and in the words of the rock goddess Tina Turner, they are simply the best. I was particularly happy about this one as it meant that I could finally recover from Saturday and Sunday's run, which I have to admit weren't exactly easy.

The marathon plan stated 1 hour at 80% max HR, but I was having none of that. I had converted all of these 80% runs into recovery runs. I have always done this in the past and it seems to have worked so far so I wasn't going to change anything now. I planned my usual extended route around town with an extra loop in the park to add on a couple of kilometres.

As soon as I left, I knew it was going to be hard. I had absolutely nothing left in my legs: my thighs were sore, no energy, no juice, no oomph; nada! I plodded.

I often think about my blog as I run and wonder what I'm going to write about. It was easy today. I was plodding. Incapable of managing anything faster than a plod, I satisfied myself with this feat and plodded my way around 13 km.

Weather is still warm which meant that even my plod left me completely drenched in sweat.

12.8 km in 59:35 or ana average pace of 4:40 - quite reasonable for a plod.

Sunday run

For this first official Sunday run of the marathon training programme, I decided to run with Nico and to do some specific marathon training rather than running with the club and doing some specific 10km training. The idea was to run for 2 hours today at an easy pace so that the max HR remained around 70%.

When I woke up this morning with Laurence who was heading out earlier with some girlfriends, the weather was clearly not on our side. What has recently been sunshine and temperatures in the 20°C, was returning to traditional autumnal weather with some drizzle and heavy cloud cover. I put on an extra layer with my Gore waterproof top and half-filled a camelbak with some orange/water mix and a couple of chocolate bars in case energy levels ran low. The discussion as to where we were heading had already taken place and we were heading up to Princess Road and the long climb up before heading back left and back through St Germain.

We set off at a very easy pace completing the first kilometre in 5:24 and then sped up running the next just under 5 minutes, before falling into a steady rhythm at around 4:35 per kilometre. We chatted easily and the comparison with yesterday where we were unable to talk to each other with the effort was flagrant. The first difficulties came at the foot of Princess Road, where there is a 2.5km pull uphill until the crossroads at the top. I fell in just behind Nico and was happy to see the first kilometre uphill in 4:57 and then the second in a record 4:43! I knew we were pushing the pace because I was already hurting when we got to the top.

The road flattens out along the top and we fell back into our cruising pace immediately. I caught my breath back now and with plenty of other runners along the route, the temptation to catch and overtake them was just too great and we sped up again first to 4:20 pace before the main road and then around 4:05 pace along the road. It was now Nico's turn to hit a harder patch and he dropped off the pace slightly while he had a gel and some water. Taking on water while running at pace is some marathon training that he has yet to master and after recovering from a quick coughing fit, he accelerated again and ran alongside me.

It was the usual coast down the hill into St Germain and we went under 4:00 minutes here for a couple of kilometres before the big hill by the Musée de la Prieuré stopped me in my tracks and left me gasping with our last over 5 minute kilometre (just) for the day. Nico took the pace now and we ran through town and then back through the forest at 3 hour marathon speed, covering the half-marathon in 1:36 and then running all kilometres from here on in in 4:15 or under.

Even the last kilometre where Nico called time-out to recover before we got back home was covered in 4:31 showing that there was clearly energy left in both of us. Another great run proving the shape we're in at the moment and my last pleasant surprise was to see that I weighed under 75kg on the scales back at home, which hasn't happened since the beginning of the year. Things are definitely looking promising.

27.25 km all up in 2:02 or an average of 4:29 per km.

Corra again

A week has gone by already and it's back to Corra again. The marathon training plan for today is 1h15 at 70-80% of max HR, which I interpret as an easy run around to the lake and back. I arrange with Nico to go at 8:15 so that we can get back in time for the rugby.

I meet nico as planned and his marathon training plan is the same except it is to be run at 80% of max HR. So we already have a slightly different perspective on the run in view. I follow Nico from the start and whereas I'm normally the one who shoots off and sets the pace, today it's definitely Nico who has taken the matter in hand.

We set off relatively suickly through town and then into the forest and then the pace starts to hurt slightly. It's not as though we're flat out but I'm definitely outside of my comfort zone and would be happier running more slowly. I look at the Garminas it beeps for the third kilometre now: 3:52. Alright, we're running downhill and the going is still not too hard but surely Nico can't mean to keep this pace up for the whole of the way around the course?

We both agreed that we were well over 80% max HR at this pace and we slowed down. This lasted until we hit the wide forest track on the other side of the road and we sped up again. So basically our efforts to reduce the pace lasted for some 600m or so. We accelerated again and we were at 3:57 pace again before we upped the pace further to 3:53 and then stayed there. The conversation between us at this point was very limited. There's not much you can say when you're trying to catch your breath with every stride and I was just concentrating on keeping the rhythm. Nico asked if I could keep this up until the end adn I just replied that I'd try and we'd see.

Despite the effort, I was also pleased with our progress as compared to the record-breaking run we did last with Jean-Marc and Nico, I felt infinitely better and I knew that these are the signs of my improvement recently. The slope up to Pavillon de la Muette went by well and although the pace slowed to 4:05 for the kilometre uphill, we hit 3:55 again for the kilometre straight after. The gap between Nico and myself was far smaller in terms of performance too. On this run in the past, I've felt that he'd slowed for me so as not to gap me whereas now, I was able to pull him in and when he left me on the second uphill section, there was only a few metres between us.

I could see that we would beat the course record now with only 3 kilometres to go and I held on with all the remaining strength that I could muster. We hit town and it was a relief to feel the tarmac under my feet again and we made a final acceleration to 3:36 pace to finish the loop in 59:26, a new PB. Average speed over the course 4:00 per km or 15km/h. Really stonked with this result as was Nico. It's just a shame that the England boys couldn't pull off the same level of result in the rugby match afterwards.

10 x 400m

Some aspects of the marathon training look deceptively easy on paper. Today's training schedule was one of these: 10 x 400m. Ok so that's only 4km of effort in total. That's not going to take long is it and how fast does the 400m need to be run ? 1:35 per 400m, but that is only 3:55 pace, I can do it at least 10 seconds faster than that for 10 reps. Thus went my Wednesday night thinking.

As the total distance was not huge, I was able to put in a decent warm-up and ran for almost 3 kilometres before I started. Then I began the intervals. The first interval was straight-forward, made easier by the fact that I started slightly downhill. My legs turned over quickly but my stride was still short so I figured that I could improve on this as the intervals went on. But all too soon, I was off again. I forgot to mention that the recovery was 30 seconds. And this was where the session became difficult.

It's all very well to imagine that 1:25 per 400m is possible on paper but you have to remember the recovery and after 30 seconds, you simply haven't recovered. This is like 30/30s but with 90 seconds of effort, the session is completely asymetrical and very soon the lactic is building and you simply can't go any faster despite the apparent rapidity of the intervals and the relatively low number that need to be carried out.

My times went as follows:

1:25, 1:24, 1:28, 1:21, 1:24, 1:26, 1:29, 1:24, 1:26, 1:27

So they were all fairly consistent and consistently under 1:30 which is perfect. This was definitely an exercise that would have been a lot easier on the track and a lot easier if accompanied. It was very tiring and much harder than I first imagined.

10.7km all up in 50 minutes or an average of 4:42 per km. Shame that I couldn't get to the club in the evening to manage this one and had to content myself with another early morning run. Where was Nico when I needed him ?

More recovery - much needed

The night was short and the recovery from last night's interval session too. I just managed to finish writing up the blog before getting to bed and before I knew it the alarm had gone off and I was getting up again.

I took my time getting dressed (all of 4 minutes) and headed out of the house wondering what my legs would feel like. I wasn't wondering that much as even going down the stairs before I left, I could feel my knees aching and almost buckling beneath me with every step.

I set off and it wasn't glorious. The pace was slow, my legs were tired and I almost felt like walking after 1.5km. The temperature was warm and there was plenty of cloud cover, which meant that after 2 km I was also drenched in sweat. I just kept going. It was one of those mornings where there is nothing else to do but to get the bit between your teeth and keep going. My body fell into a sleepy sort of rhythm after this and I no longer paid attention to my pace or my surroundings. I'd been running around 4:50 pace to begin with probably and the first time I looked at my watch it was at 5km and I saw the lap time of 4:43.

I ran around the park in Maisons Laffitte, happy to feel the gravel of the path as opposed to the tarmac on the road as it gave my knees a little rest. I maintained my pace to the end, too tired to envisage an acceleration.

13km all up in 1:00 or an average pace of  4:44 / km. Should be better tomorrow.

4 x 2000m - chicken

The marathon training plan called for 4 x 1500m so that was decided. I like the marathon training plan as I don't have to make any decisions about the training that I have to do for the day. Everything is decided for me and written down in ink on paper. There is a sort of satisfying finality to it all, something immuable that can't be modified : it is on the plan so it is final.

I texted Nico just to make sure that he was doing the same workout. He was and so we had an agreement to run together. At the track. At the club. Final.

I was able to get out of work early which was a miracle in itself. 3 of my managers off sick (from a 6 manager team), the ERP went down during the night, the accounts and sales accounts department were technically unemployed - I just had to get out. I turned up at the club early and got changed in a relaxed manner. I half listened to the prep talk by Miguel and talked to Nico about the training session. I envisaged the 1500m in 5:50 - 5:55 (just under 4:00/km pace). He envisaged them in 5:15 or less (3:30 pace) - we had a problem. Fred was running 4x2000m off 400m recovery at just under 4:00/km pace. I had a solution.

So I chickened out of the session with Nico. I just couldn't see the point in following him around the track at a pace that I couldn't follow, exhausting myself and becoming utterly demoralised. Running with Fred was a far more interesting prospect even if it involved increasing the mileage over the initial plan. I was on.

We warmed up in the forest quickly witht the rest of the group and then headed back to the track. A quick warm up at the track doing a few straight lines and then we were off. We picked up Thierry who was also interested in some intervals and not up to running 1500's with Nico either. I set off in the lead and very soon Thierry was on my shoulder with Fred a few metres behind. I felt very relaxed and easy, pleased to be at the front and coping with the intervals easily. I would listen to Thierry's breathing, knowing that he was suffering far more than I was, which was normal as he's only just coming back from a urinary infection and a heavy dose of antibiotics.

The same situation for the second interval while Nico and Gérald would pass us doing their 1500m and 1000m intervals respectively. Fred a few seconds behind, looking as though he was struggling with the pace. In the third interval Fred was right with us although we were were running slightly faster than before. And then the final interval where Thierry dropped out after 1200m and I pushed the pace with 600m to go. Fred passed me with 400m to go and I overtook him again with 300m to go before launching into a sprint from 200m out. I could here him behind and we finished together as he caught me up and drew alongside down the final straight.

And the times ...

7:35, 7:34, 7:31 and 7:03. Really pleased with this performance as I felt good all of the way around off a 400m or 3' recovery. Last kilometre was run in around 3:20.

Just under 15km all up in 1:12. Great session but I'm sure that I'll pay for this tomorrow morning.

Monday recovery

It was just another early morning recovery run: nothing more, nothing less.

God, it felt hard this morning. The reps on Sunday may have felt easy but they had left their toll. It was either the reps or the distance. Thos 25 km had been long off an empty stomach and no water. Perhaps it was a combination of both but whatever the reason, running the recovery run was not the easy task that it had been destined to be initially.

I set off slowly and maintained my pace! No accelrations today. No increase in pace over the distance. I set off at 4:50 pace and I pretty much finished at 3:50 pace too. Sore thighs, tired legs and general lethargy all around. At least the weather was nice.

10.3 km all up in 49:00 so an average pace of 4:43/km.

Sunday run

I wanted to maintain some mileage this week as part of the marathon training and to increase these Sunday runs gradually until I'm running 35km prior to Florence marathon. With this in mind, I decided to jog over to the club session and back today adding an extra 10 km to the distance that the club was organising. Nico decided that this was too much for him at the moment, as he's still in the process of wearing in a new set of orthotics. Despite his relatively young age, he does act like a pensioner sometimes.

I ran quietly through the forest to the club, managing to avoid being run over by a few hundred cyclists as the forest was once again turned over to their mercy for the annual Mesniloise mountain biking event. This involves cycling for just over 3 hours in relay around an 8 km loop in the forest. It was a perfect day this year and a great change from the usual windy, muddy, rainy affair most years.

Once at the club, I listened to the prep talk and Miguel's programme of a gentle start to his coaching sessions with some 10km preparations involving 6', 3', 6', then 3' off a recovery of half of the time of the intervals. We set off and I chatted to the women who all wanted to know why Laurence wasn't running on her birthday with them. My wife had decided to make the most of her birthday by having a lie-in and finding an alternative gentler run to Maisons Laffitte instead.

We began the session with the keener runners while the others split into 2 groups: one with Michel involving 2 blocks of 20 minutes at half-marathon pace (12 km/h); and the other just running easily for 75 minutes. We started our intervals with a small group involving Ilyes, Jean-Marc and Nico running straight to the front. I followed just behind with Simon and a new runner to the club. I felt good and although I wasn't able to keep up with the first group they weren't far in front. I was running at between 3:30 - 3:40 pace which meant that by the end of the first 6 minutes they finished 15 metres ahead.

Anis joined for the second interval of 3', sprinting off from the start down the hill through the forest towards the railway line. I was running 3:15 - 3:20 pace here and he still gapped me easily with the 3 others slightly in front. The most interesting interval was the next 6' block where the gap between m and the 3 others narrowed after 4 minutes and I caught Jean-Marc and was closing on Nico. Final 3' to finish and this session felt fairly easy after some of the intervals I've been running lately.

We headed back to the club now and Anis decided that his recovery speed was above 15km/h and he proceeded to run away from Ilyes and myself, taking Nico with him. It wasn't to last though and Nico drifted back to us and we ran back at 14km/h and I continued back home at marathon pace.

25.25 km all up in 2:03 and a good run at a very pleasant temperature in the forest.

Corra

I've read Nico's report on our Saturday run to Corra and back and the truth needs to come out as his account is a pure tissue of lies.

Firstly, I had to wait for 5 minutes as usual for Nico to emerge from his pit. His conception of time is unfortunately for me based on another system. When we agree on 8:30 am to start, he works on some peculiar Chartres timescale and is systematically late. He emerged from his house looking as rough as ever. Apparently, he'd been on the tiles again and I had to coach him carefully over the first few kilometres just to avoid any nasty surprises from his well known dodgy stomach. For those of you who don't know Nico intimately, he has regular stomach upsets and doesn't know why this happens. I'm no doctor, but dear readers, I can now reveal the truth on this subject: alcohol. Years of substance abuse have left their toll on his fragile digestive system, reducing him to the near wreck that we now all recognise.

So having managed to run to the forest without Nico retching violently, we began to pick up speed. This acceleration was reinforced when he saw Laurence and Hélène in front of us. Unfortunately, substance abuse is not his only weakness and the sight of 2 female runners in front of us was enough to turn him crazy with a sudden rise of hormones fuelling his increase in pace. The fact that one of the ladies was my dearest wife did not calm him in the slightest.

After running alongside the ladies for a short while, I was able to encourage him to accelerate again and we returned to our marathon pace of just under 15 km/h along to Corra and around the pond. With my return to shape, I left Nico in the first climb back from the pond and he struggled in my wake, obviously disappointed with his performance. It was all I could do to stop him from walking at this point but we pushed on nevertheless. However, the situation did not improve and after Pavillon de la Muette, I had to feign an injury to reduce the pace without him feeling too conscious about his speed. We talked this through and he was quite visibly relieved to run at this reduced pace.

By the time we arrived back at the forest edge, he was tiring again so this time I stopped to retie my laces just to give him time to recover. We finished the 15km loop in 1:06 which was still very good going for someone in his state and we could possibly beat the record for the course in the near future if he's able to cope with his alcohol addiction.

Just remember that if you want the truth, it's on this site and you read it here.