LSR (Long Saturday Run)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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