Running easy

The sacrifices that you are prepared to make to go for a run are incredible. I sacrificed Sunday morning in bed today as having agreed to run with the girls, Laurence finally admitted that the training was to begin at 7:30am so that Katia could fit in her daughter's confirmation this morning. She then told me that we weren't running from home but had to drive 10km to get to the meeting point aswell. At least since I didn't make too much of a fuss, I should have earned some wife credits in the process.

It was a beautiful morning outside. Or, at least it must have been a beautiful morning, but for the moment it was still dark so we couldn't see anything of it. Autumn has arrived, so the temperature was a brisk 6°C this morning and when we arrived at the car park and met Katia and François, we decided to start immediately before we all caught colds. Sandra and Pascal had pulled out of the run at the last minute, informing us that they weren't ready to forsake their Sunday lie-in. Some people are sensible.

We ran up Princess Road to start at a steady pace and I felt very easy, recovering after my long run yesterday and easing the ache in my thighs and calves. I was concerned about my left achilles since I woke up this morning with a dull ache here, but everything went well as I ran. I chatted with François, while Laurence and Katia ran together just a few metres behind. As we ran I tested a theory about the difference between men and women and their running styles.

Women have an amazing propensity to talk when they run at speeds that leave men breathless. Katia and Laurence were running now at marathon pace, still chatting to each other. When Nico and I run at marathon pace, we grunt at each other and normal conversation is impossible. Today, by the time we'd covered 5 kilometres, they'd managed to discuss their children, life at school, weekend activities, you name it, it had been covered. François and I had just had time to discuss our respective training schedules. Chat about the family was on the programme, but only in 5 weeks time!

François had 2 x 20 minutes of marathon pace (around 4:25 / km) to do during the session this morning, so we set off together once we arrived at the top of Princess Road. We began at 4:25 pace but then sped up to 4:20 before finishing downhill into St Nom la Breteche at 4:15 pace so averaging 4:18 over the first interval. We ran back to the girls and then accompanied them up through St Nom and back onto the forest road towards St Gemme when we set off on the second interval. This we ran slightly faster than the first averaging about 4:15 / km for the 20 minutes allotted.

The sun was risen now and we could really appreciate the morning as the sun lit up the mist in the forest, creating an eery effect. The temperature rose a couple of degrees too which made the run very pleasant. To finish, I made the most of the last few kilometres back down Princess Road to stretch out and let loose downhill. Last kilometre in 3:38 feeling very easy which is all very promising for the test in 2 weeks time.

25 kilometres all up in 2:04 which brings me to 110 km for the week. This is probably the farthest I 've ever run in a weeks training and if this doesn't pay off I'll go back to enjoying my lie-ins on Sunday mornings.