Houilles - 6.9 km popular race

There are 2 races at Houilles, the last 'corrida' or town centre race to finish the calendar year in France each year. The most important of these is the 10km race, open to registered club athletes and providing a spectacle for both those participating and those watching from the sidelines. This year was no exception with 10 runners finishing under 29' and a sprint to separate the first 3 runners who cross the line within 2 seconds of each other.

This year however, I had decided to enter the popular race over 2 laps of the same circuit as the 10km race. Paul, my son and my brother and nephew, over from Australia also decided to run so we set up a little France v. Australia challenge to spice up the event. A quick warm-up and then we were down to the start line where I struggled to get a decent position. I was a good 10 - 12 rows back from the start with probably 400 hundred runners ahead of me. The streets around Houilles are narrow and I knew that the first kilometre would be difficult.

The gun went and we were off. Well almost. I shuffled forward for a few seconds before I crossed the start line and only then was I able to break into a jog. The next 500m were spent slaloming through the crowds with some other club runners who were obviously in the same situation as myself. I saw the split for the first kilometre - 3:59 ! I was only just managing marathon speed for a 7 km race.

As the runners spread out over the next couple of kilometres I was able to accelerate but I couldn't maintain either my motivation for the race, or my pace for that matter. The splits went as follows:

3:59, 3:28, 3:37, 3:40, 3:44, 3:42 and 3:34 pace to finish.

I was disappointed with myself as I couldn't bring myself to run faster and to push the pace or my heartrate any higher. I ran faster splits at Andrésy which was almost twice this distance. I finished the race and saw Jahom (or Philippe) who blogs regularly and who I follow. He ran a good 30 seconds faster than me to finish 8 places ahead and I spoke to congratulate him on his run and to tell him face to face that a sub 3 hour marathon was surely on the cards.

For the record, Australia won the challenge easily with my nephew running just under 2 minutes slower than me followed by my brother another 2 minutes behind and then Paul who ran 9 minutes less than me but off no training whatsoever. Paul and I need to improve by 3 minutes to beat them next time around.

Some photos of the race:

Aurillac circuit

I told Laurence that we would get off to a good start in Aurillac with a long Sunday run around the town so the Aurillac loop was decided on. This loop is 20km around the extremities of the town and not only is it a very pleasant circuit with some excellent views, but it also has a load of hills, especially towards the end making it an excellent work-out. There is around 300m of uphill that has to be negotiated over the last 8km of the loop, just when you're beginning to feel it.

I told Laurence that I wanted to accompany her around the circuit as after the Corra run yesterday, I had made all the effort I wanted to for the weekend. We set off and I felt easy whereas Laurence assured me that she was already at 5:35 pace which was not the relaxing start she wanted. I adjusted my pace to hers from then on and we continued to accelerate over the first half of the course. The flat sections would be run at around 5:10 pace and then on the uphills we would slow to around 5:50 pace.

Just after half-way, I began to tell Laurence that she would beat her record over the loop if she continued on at this pace. I had to manage my communication carefully at this point as we have an unspoken agreement that I am not to push her or in fact say anything that can be construed in any manner possible as either a criticism or encouragement when she is beginning to feel tired and hungry. We have started this tour of Aurillac several times in the past and only on a couple of occasions have we managed to finish the circuit together. In fact, possibly all I ever learnt about tact and diplomacy was thanks to running with my wife.

However, the improvement in Laurence's running is really noticeable now and it was obvious that the circuit was less tiring on her at this faster pace than on any of our previous runs. We finished the 20km loop in 1:49 or an average pace of 5:29 per kilometre and I promptly told her that within the next couple of years she'd be able to run this circuit another 10 minutes faster. Damn, I knew I should have waited until after breakfast before slipping this in. A refresher course in tact and diplomacy is definitely necessary...

Map of the loop:

Corra

After a few days off with the achilles tendon still sore from the trail, I felt it was time to try and get back into the usual training routine with Nico and head out to Corra. I can't remember who invited who, but I do remember that I made Nico promise to take it easy.

It was my first session back after a while and I didn't want to kill myself. We set out and I had energy abounding. After being cooped up in the house for a while, it was a relief to be out again and feeling good on a run. The niggle in the achilles was still there but it wasn't such a distraction that I felt the need to ease off or stop running.

Caro and Laurence were out with us too, but both on their bikes. It was drizzling lightly and we were all equipped for the cold but it looked as though it would be the wet and not the mild weather that needed to be dealt with. We set off esaily and after a couple of kilmetres Nico started to push the pace unconsciously. I followed and then moaned after a couple of kilometres that quite frankly 3:49 pace was not easy in anyone's books. He promised to ease off after Corra which is what we did and then we gradually increased the pace again on the route back.

We arrived back home with the girls completely soaked on the bikes. We'd completely the circuit in 1:01 whch was an excellent time by anybody's standards.We had to strip all our clothes off in the basement before traipsing through the house and sitting down to breakfast after a relaxing shower. The Christmas holidays could begin...

Forest run with club

It was an easy choice tonight: a track session with Miguel or an easy run in the forest with Michel and the girls. My ankle has not improved much from Tuesday and I decide that it's not wort risking further injury or prolonging the injury I have by running hard over a track session. This was a shame as José and  Jérémie were there and I'd been enjoying our regular track sessions these last few weeks.

I put on the headlamp and ran with Katia and Laurence after the usual warm-up run around St Germain. We set off and ran towards Poissy at the end of the cycle track, we waited for the slowest member of the group to catch up and then we set off again. And then we repeated the exercise. It wasn't as though we were running fast either. At an average pace of 6'45/km, we weren't exactly pushing it. So, I was basically very frustrated, regretting my choice of sessions for the evening, despite the fact that it was pleasant to chat with Katia and Laurence. The achilles felt alright and the dull pain that was present at the start of the session had virtually disappeared by the end. I did, however, have other niggles that started such as pain in my right knee and pain under the sole of my right foot.

A couple of laps around the outside of the track when we got back to the club with Katia and Laurence and we managed to complete 12.2 km in all. It just took us 1:22 to manage this though! I'll just count this as a very slow recovery run, helping the achilles back into shape.

Club session

It was with pleasure and a little intrepidation that I went to the club session tonight. The achilles is not completely better but a few strides with casual shoes on convinced me that it was no longer as painful as before and that an easy warm-up with the club couldn't do any harm.

I met François, Momo, Nico at the club and we warmed up together. When Nico and Momo asked if I wanted to speed up a little during the warm-up, I agreed as the achilles was pulling and I could feel a dull ache, but nothing like the pain I experienced on the trail when it all started. We sped up to around 4'30/km pace - I can't be sure as my garmin was still charging on the bedside table when I left for the club.

After the warm-up, the group was running 20x200m and I decided that I would definitely give this a miss. I ran with Laurence and Katia instead on their intervals with 20x200m run in 41 - 43 seconds per interval with a 200m recovery. Katia was slightly ahead with François, who was also in recovery phase after the trail too, and Laurence and I were about a couple of metres behind. Both the girls were very constant and it was good to see them working on some VO2 max sessions for a change. I checked this pace on McMillan when I came home and it corresponds to a 44' 10k pace and it would be good if they could both go under this for their next race.

A quick warm down at the end and we were done. I calculated that we ran 14km in all for the evening.

Trail du Tour du Canton - 82km

"Why was I here ?", was the first question I asked myself on Saturday morning when I got up at 4:15am. It was only the promise of obtaining 2 points for completing the trail around the Normandy countryside that would then allow me to enter the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) and its 160km and 10000m of uphill that pushed me to participate. You might find this hard to fathom, and I have to admit the logic isn't clear to me either, that someone only enters a 82km trail to be able to compete in an even harder, even longer trail next year. Well, not only was I here, but I'd persuaded François to take part too whereas Laurence and Katia were running the 42km trail a little later in the day.

After an early breakfast, we hitched a ride with Fabrice (a guy we met the previous night at the hotel who was running too) and by 5:45am we were all ready, dressed in running tights, compression socks, a couple of warm layers and the headlamp ready for the briefing by the organisers. So there would be lots of mud, plenty of refreshment stops and the hardest parts were at the end - that was as much as I could take in at this time in the morning.

We walked down to the start from the gym and waited patiently for the off. They lit the red flares, played the loud music and we were off. It waas an impressive sight as the headlamps flickered down the streets in the red shadows cast by the flares.

François and I set off together, slowly working our way through the runners until we were in about 20th position and running at a steady 5'15/km pace. I'd hoped that we'd be able to manage 5'/km for most of the race but François was unsure of his capacity to maintain this, never having run further than a marathon before.

I was a little cold despite my 2 layers on top with a cold wind that was cutting through the fabric. My jacket was in my rucksack but I couldn't be bothered to stop and unpack it, besides which it was too big for the elements as I'd erred on the side of caution with a jacket adapted for heavy Normandy rain. The paths went through fields and we soon had an idea of the mud that we'd have to run through. Nevertheless, the first kilometres were also along plenty of tracks which were generally dry and fairly rapid. 1 hour already and the first 11 km were under our belts. A couple of kilometres later and we were at the first feeding station and I took the opportunity to eat and drink rapidly.

It was still dark for the next hour too and we ran another 11km at a steady pace. François was slowing slightly and I would wait every 4 or 5 km to let him catch up and to start again together. Despite trying to run alongside François and to let him set the pace, naturally I would drift a little ahead, building a gap of 300 - 400m in 20 - 30 minutes. This was not a problem since we didn't talk much with both of us focusing on the job in hand. The second feeding station was at 25km and day was jsut beginning to dawn when we arrived. We both enjoyed a nice soup here and some more food before setting off again. I could see that François was feeling more tired now and the pace was around 5'30 / km compared to the initial 5'15 we'd been averaging. I was still feeling very easy at this stage and wondering if I'd feel this good until the end. There were fewer road sections now and more fields and tracks through the woods. Would this have an impact?

A typical muddy field that we'd have to cross. The terrain was generally mostly flat in the first half of the race.








At 37km we entered Bolbec, the main town in the area, for the third feeding station and the roughly halfway point. We had organised a bag to be here with a change of clothes but neither François not I felt the need since it had not rained. We were joined by Fabrice, our driver, who asked if he could run with us so we set off again after some more soup as a little group with a couple of extra runners who'd also tagged on. I chatted easily to Fabrice about our experiences on the CCC and waited every now and then for François. It was just before the next feeding station at the 50km mark that disaster struck. I was crossing a muddy cornfield with the plants reduced to a cut down stump, forcing a higher stride when I felt a pain in my left achilles tendon. No doubt that I'd strained this again. However, it was when I left the field and ran along the road to encouragements of how it was tarmac until the feeding station that I realised just how bad it was. My achilles pulled incredibly and the agony was almost unbearable. I adjusted my stride to a shuffle, gritted my teeth and carried on to the next stop where I had some soup and waited for François. I told him about the pain and that I continue at my own pace in the best manner possible.

To make matters worse, the course began to get difficult from here on. there were virtually no roads until the end. We ran down paths that had been washed away and that looked like riverbeds that had dried up, twisting your ankles as you ran and sending pointed stones into your ankles as you scuffed them with your feet. I was tired with the pain and the distance and to add to my woes, I had problems with my eyes focusing on the track ahead. I was seeing double and my only solution was to close one eye as I ran. This was the low point of the course : cold, wet, in pain and unable to see properly, I seriously thought of abandonning now. I just wanted to get to the next feeding station to see how things would be, knowing that this was situated at 64km and there would only be 18km to go.

When I finally reached the feeding station, it was lovely and warm inside. I called François to see where he was and to encourage him with the news that the resting place wasn't far. He arrived a couple of minutes later and he looked as tired as I felt.We sent a couple of messages to the girls and after another cup of tea and some food, we headed back into the cold to finish the final legs. I ran with François all the time now and we felt good knowing that there was only one more feeding station before the final leg of 8kms back to Beuzeville. I encouraged François to try and overtake an older man we'd seen at the last feeding station who looked like he was a V2 (over 50). We caught up with the runner in front, only to find it was a young man (who was running like an 80 year old due to the tiredness!).Having overtaken this runner, we were soon able to see another runner 250m ahead. I didn't dare tell François that this was our guy, having made the mistake once already. I caught up with him and checked first. It was the V2 runner, so I waited again for François and urged him on. We didn't catch up with him for another kilometre and then we stopped and chatted together at the last feeding station. I felt better now, knowing that we'd made it as there was only another 7 - 8 kilometres before the finish.

François asked for a cup of tea and I couldn't believe it. Here we were next to the runner he wanted to beat and he asks for a cup of tea. The V2 leaves the feeding station and I hassle François to finish his tea and go. This last leg is the muddiest section yet. There are 2 deep ruts full of water and mud or the middle of the track which is deep mud. Hobson's choice: I chose the ruts - at least the water wasn't as slippery as the mud in the middle. We caught the V2 runner and I left François at this point, trying to accelerate to catch Laurence and Katia who I knew were ahead having run the 42km with the same last 8 kilometres to the race. The phone rang and it was Laurence asking where I was as she had just finished. I explained that I was about 5k from the end but didn't know exactly as my Garmin had died after 4 hours. I spent the next kilometres chasing down the competitors from the 42 km (and 1 from the 82k race) and overtaking them. I finished exhausted and waited for François who came in 10 minutes behind me. What a relief.

It was a good race with an excellent organisation but unfortunately my achilles wasn't up to it in my trail shoes. I finished 26 overall in 9h11 with François in 9h21 in 28th place (and just in front of the 4th V2!). The girls ran well finishing 2 and 3rd from scratch and 1 and 2nd in the V1 category. Laurence was thrilled.

The recovery went well from the race and I'm only nursing the achilles which I hope will improve in the next few days. Quiet now until the end of the year.

Injured

Some things are hard to write. I left off writing my blog for what felt like a very long time a few months back as I was unable to run, to train and to take part in any competitions. It was very frustrating and I wasn't able to put this into words and pretend that eveything was fine. I think that the pressure I was feeling at work didn't help and I kept these feelings bottled up for a while. Well, I'm injured again after yesterday's race, for which the race report and photos will follow shortly, and I thought it was more important this time to get this out of my system than to write about the race.

When the achilles started aching yesterday, I was half way across a very muddy field at the time. I remember the moment exactly and I just thought "s**t". I left the cornfield and the woman on the road gave me encouragement by announcing that it was all tarmac now until the feeding station. The pain got worse running on the road. I felt like pulling the plug and abandoning. I couldn't run properly and was hobbling as I ran, gritting my teeth with the pain as every stride caused a lance from my heel up my calf. It was bearly bearable.

I waited for François at the feeding station and told him about the achilles. I couldn't give up now as I didn't want to leave him and I wanted those 2 points for the UTMB. I would just carry on as best I could and see how far I could get. The pain as awful for the next 10 kilometres and then it died down a little, letting me run but not letting me forget that it was there.

That was yesterday. Today I'm wondering how I managed to run yesterday as the few strides I made today were awful. My ankle is clearly swollen around the achilles and I've applied ice to try and reduce this. However, this time it's my left ankle and not my right that is injured. I've been through this twice before and I feel better about it this time as I'm sure I'll be able to get over this more quickly and deal with it better. God, I'm even able to write about it.

Race report tomorrow. For those of you who watch 'How I met your mother', in the words of Barney, it was legend.... wait for it... dary !!!

Club session - random

Officially there was no club session tonight. Officially it was declared a rest day before the Sartrouville cross country this weekend for the best runners and for the St Germain corrida for some of the others. Officially, Miguel didn't even turn up to coach the session as he had sent out his training plan weeks before and it said rest and recuperation. Officially, I should never listen to Nico...

There were very few people at the club tonight. the fact that it was only 2°C, with a nasty ice-cold wind and offically a rest and recuperation evening might have had something to do with this. No José, no Wilfried and no official session. We went for a warm-up and then back to the track with Nico, Bruno, Jérome, Gérald and Jean-Marc to decide what we'd do.

Nico was all on for 500m intervals but I talked him out of this, explaining that Tuesday evening was speed workouts and Thursday evening was threshold plus. He accepted and then declared we'd do 1000m, 2000m, 1000m, 500m off 200m recovery. I reluctantly agreed, thinking all the time about the 82km trail that I'm doing in 2 days time on Saturday, and declared that I'd run at 3:45 pace.

We set off and Nico went ahead with Jean-Marc from the start. I followed at a pace that was hard but not exhausting. The distance between us grew immediately and my legs felt heavy and the back straight into the wind was just awful. The cold permeated my body and the going felt very hard. I couldn't see what pace I was running at but I just gritted my teeth and bore the whole session as every rep was the same. Jean-Marc pulled the plug and the others did 1000m intervals instead so it was just me following Nico at a distance.

We ended the session and he said that he was running 3:20 pace all evening very steady. It was only when I got back home that I saw what I'd managed :

3:26, 7:03, 3:29, 1:37

All of this 2 days before a race. Happy to see the progression and the achievement for a session where I didn't bust a gut. Not ideal race preparation though.

11.6km all up in just under the hour.

Club session - tired

Miguel's training plan for tonight was for 8 x 1' / 1' with one minute's effort off one minute recovery. It didn't sound too difficult and I was happy to go to the session, especially after the great race results this weekend, and soak up some praise.

There was an average turnout with Momo, Ilyes, Nico, Wilfried, José, François and Gérald amongst others and Sandra and Laurence with the girls. I received plenty of compliments which was great and then Miguel announced that he would be timing 10 intervals with 8 for the less enthusiastic and 2 extra for the deadly serious. I warmed up with Nico, which was really necessary since the temperature was close to freezing and I was particularly feeling the cold in my hands . We chatted about Saturday evening and the race and then it was back to the track for the evening's exercise.

Momo, and the fast guys took off (including Nico) and I ran with Wilfried and José. Those one minute sprints are a killer and I must be feeling the tiredness from 2 consecutive weekend's races as I struggled from rep 3 onwards. The pace was between 2:58 and 3:08/km for all of the reps and I was struggling to hold on by the end. José and Wilfried both came past from rep 5 onwards and I was just holding on to both of them as well as I could. A real tough session.

Thank goodness that there are only 10 of these as I would have been hard pushed to do any more. The legs were full of lactic and a nice recovery at the end helped.

 10.8 km all up in 57 minutes. Tired as hell now and looking forward to an easy week before Saturday's race.

Sunday run

I woke up this morning feeling slightly the worse for wear. I'd missed the club session and had preferred to spend an extra hour in bed, encouraged by Laurence who got up to go running with Katia. The excess of alcohol from the previous night still hadn't worked its way out of my system and I decided that a good easy run should do the trick.

I headed down to Corra with the intention of coming back along the wall so as to run 18km and complete my week with over 100 km of running. I set off steadily at 5:00/km pace and after a couple of kilometres, I was into my stride at 4:30/km pace. It felt very easy and my breathing was effortless with the legs feeling slightly fatigued.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning with a clear blue sky and crisp temperature of about 2°C. It was great to clear my head, just what the doctor ordered, although when I bumped into Andy out on his mountain bike, I wasn't able to express myself clearly at first. Steady run back after that slowing to 4:40 pace as I went through a part of the forest I haven't run through before, only recognising my path when I was back alongside the road to the military camp next to Maisons Laffitte.

I was just starting to get very hungry when I reached home after 20k in 1:32 so an average pace of 4:35 for the run. 102.5 km this week in total.

Conflans - 15km

The objectives were laid out. I knew the course and everybody turned up and then some. I managed 2 of my 4 objectives and am globally pleased with the end result.

I drove Nico to the race and he seemed to have fully recovered from his cold. He was obviously rested, not having run since Tuesday evening but what impact would the marathon have on his legs, his mental state, etc. We would soon find out.

Having looked at last year's results and even 2010, we figured that we had a fair chance with a team result too. Ilyes, Nico, myself then Gérald or François were all running and the first 4 counted for the team result. Gérald and François are both capable of running this distance under an hour which would normally put them in the top 30 places and leave us a chance of carrying off the trophy. Fred Poirier had turned up too and he was my main rival for the day and number 2 on my list of objectives.

It was a clod but sunny day. The temperature was somewhere around 5°C but there was little wind and it was actually quite pleasant in the sun. We went out for a quick warm-up with François and then lined up for the start. It only took a few minutes to get everybody in place and we knew that the standard of the race would be higher than in previous years.

The race started and there was a little pushing but I was soon able to sort myself out and get into my stride. I quickly noted where Fred, Nico and Ilyes were and then stuck to Fred as my main objective for the afternoon. The pace felt quick but since Fred has a habit of starting relatively conservatively, I had some doubts at the start as to whether I'd be able to stay with him. We'd have to wait and see. The course heads slightly downhill over the first kilometre but even so, when the Garmin beeped and showed 3:17, I thought I was a little too fast for the distance.

Nobody showed signs of easing and Fred overtook me here and gained a few metres but as soon as the road rose slightly uphill, he came back to me and we ran shoulder to shoulder. Nico had put some 25 metres on us already and was with a small group of 4 - 5 runners. I told myself that he was too strong to envisage making an effort to catch him and resigned myself to racing Fred instead.

As you can see from the course profile above we dropped down in the 3rd kilometre to the Seine, down a steep incline., In fact, this slope is so steep that you can't gain much time in terms of pace as you have to hold yourself back to stay in control. We went through kilometres 2 and 3 in 3:32 then 3:38. Along the flat stretch towards Conflans town centre now and the pace was steady at 3:33 and then in the 5th kilometre, we started the climb up towards the museum and the little park. The pace slowed here with a succession of 2 hills and Fred and I were still taking in turns to take the lead and apply the pressure on each other. Nico was a good 200m in front now and I figured that, bar a major mishap, I would not be able to catch him before the end.

We dropped back down to the river and I settled on finding a good pace to maintain for the next 6 kilometres. This pace was about 3:42 /km and I admit that I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going any faster. Last week, I'd been running at around 3:38 pace and I figured that I should be going faster. It was still cat and mouse with Fred along the Seine. He would surge ahead and then fall back as I ran steadily. He would come back at me and take the lead again - it was non-stop. At the same time that I was racing Fred, I noticed that Nico's group of runners was getting closer and the gap was narrowing. Not sufficient to give me hop of catching him, but narrowing nonetheless.

We turned back up the Sente des Laveuses, the steep 16% incline that leads back up to the plateau and the finish. Nico was just ahead, but as I began to climb the gap grew again and when we left the slope, the distance between us was back at around 100 - 120m. Fred took off again and I focused on following him, digging in deep to my reserves. I looked up and Nico was coming back rapidly, so rapidly that I was convinced that we would catch him. We went past the 13km marker and I told myself that I wanted this and I should have no regrets so I had to push now. I dropped Fred at this point and focused on Nico and another runner ahead. Unfortunately, Nico had caught back the other runner and although the gap was closing slightly, I wouldn't have enough distance to catch them both. 14 km and the stadium came into sight. I knew that there was 400m to do on the track inside the stadium and I tried to get within striking distance but it just wouldn't be. I was at 3:33 pace now to finish and I had 2 of my objectives in hand: a sub 56' race and beating Fred. Beating Nico and getting a podium would just have to wait another year.

Gérald finished just ahead of François in 1:01:XX and with a good race from Ilyes in 54:11, we picked up second team prize behind Conflans. This was always going to be tough and without Momo or Mustapha, it wasn't possible. I ended in 21 place in 55:39, 11 seconds behind Nico. 8th vet though with the first 3 going under 54' this year. The standard of the race was far beyond previous years wher my performance would have put me in the top ten and on the podium. Tough !

A great race and I was pleased with myself for having tried hard and having given everything. This must have been visible on my face because in the changing rooms afterwards, a guy came up to me and asked if I was a V3 runner (over 60!!!!). Cheers !

Taking it easy

I'm posting this video that I really appreciated after having seen it on Dave's blog and now Scott's. It's just the usual stuff showing a runner ranting and raving about his injuries:

It's the Conflans 15km race tomorrow and there should be a good turnout from the club. Nico is pretending to be ill, preparing his excuses early prior to the race.

My objectives for the race are here, in order of priority :

i) Beat 56 minutes. 55:XX is a good time for me and looking at past results and the times of runners who achieved this, I think that it's a feasible proposal.

ii) Beat Fréd Poirier. He's beaten me over the past 2 years by a few seconds and despite his improvement this year, he is the man to beat for me.

iii) Get on the veteran podium. This is ambitious and depends on the field that turns up tomorrow.

iv) Beat Nico. This is my last opportunity (bar Houilles but I don't particularly appreciate this race) to claw back a race victory over Nico this year. He's feigning illness but if he turns up, he will push it hard to the end, even having run Florence marathon last Sunday.

1000 + 3000 + 2000 Club session

No Nico this evening at the club session. This was a complete surprise. Apparently the marathon has taken more out of him than he could cope with and the thought of an evening on the track, attempting to keep up with me was just too much to bear and he copped out. I was sorely tempted to go around to his house to see if he was slouched on a couch, playing CoD with a tub of M&Ms beside him. It's so sad when you see a highly strung athlete go over the edge like this, and I couldn't stand to see another human being in such distress so I left him alone and concentrated on the job in hand.

There was a smaller turnout tonight (obviously with Nico at home with his M&Ms) with no Wilfried from our little group either. José, Jérôme and Mireille were there to act as sparring partners and after a short warm-up, we were on the track ready for the off. Miguel had announced that the workout was supposed to be done at half-marathon pace less 5 seconds, so a sort of threshold plus pace. I figured that we whould be attempting 3:40 / km pace and to take it easy on the first 1km in order to not explode on the longer distances after.

José, Jérôme and Mireille were fine with this and as we watched Momo and Yoan set off  with a small group including Sébastien and Frédéric just behind, we took off ourselves. Jérôme set off fast and I let him go, figuring (correctly) that he'd be with us for the longer distances. I ran very steadily with José on my shoulder all the time and Mireille just behind me - 3:36. Perfect.

It was the same scenario for the second interval except this was 7 and 1/2 laps of the track. José running wide on my shoulder and Mireille and Jérôme just behind. 10:56 for this interval (3:38/km) and so we were very consistent with the pace. For the last 2km, following our 200m recovery, I set off again as per the previous 2 intervals but José came past me with 400m to go and I couldn't stay with him. It was his turn tonight to show us all who the man in form is and it's great to see him running hard again in the club sessions. Mireille was encouraged from the sidelines by Momo and she stayed with us until the end too - 7:10 (3:35/km)

Another good session and running very consistently on the track with a good little group to emulate and stimulate each other. 13km all up.

Now, where's my tub of M&Ms ?

Recovery run

I set out this morning with the intention of easing off the tightness in my thighs following the combination of last night and Sunday's session with a little recovery run. The idea was to head out into the forest and do a loop of the old circuit we used to run every Sunday. It has turned a little cooler here lately, so I put a cap and a buff on together with a windstopper and I headed out.

I ran up towards the church to begin with, clocking the first kilometre in 4"40 which pleased me. I could feel the ache in my thigh re-awaken and I just continued on waiting for this to wear off. It took me the best part of a loop to get the ache to fade and since I was in no hurry and it wasn't such a bad day after all, I decided that I'd do a second loop just to manage a little distance.

It was at the end of this first loop that I saw another couple of runners in the forest training too. I looked and saw that the second runner was a woman, dressed in blue and running very fast. I coldn't help wondering which club they were with and what they were doing there. I crossed them again in the opposite direction 20 minutes later as they were at full tilt. I understood a little better then as the woman was Christelle Daunay, out for a training run with her running partner. Her style and stride just looked so easy that I tried to improve my own over the next 4 minutes before I was exhausted!

The first 10km I ran in 45'28 so an average of 4"33/km. I was picking up the pace now for this second loop and every kilometre was managed in under 4"20. I went through 20k in just over 1'28 and felt good with my running if only a little hungry. Glad to get back home as I was just beginning to run out of energy.

22.8 km all up in 1'39 or an average pace of 4"21 /km over the distance. Not a great recovery run with such a relatively long distance but a good feeling to have completed this nonetheless.

Hills - club session

I even checked the training schedule before setting off to the club with Laurence today. And hills were definitely on the programme. This was confirmed by Miguel with the pre-session speech. Luckily we were only going to do 8 short hills. The big question was where?

Laurence and Katia decided to take it easy following Michel's advice, while I set off with Nico, Mireille, Momo, Romain and others towards Chamburcy. It was a long warm-up and we eventually got to the place where the action was to take place - the far end of the golf course at Joyenval with a suitably steep hill.

Miguel did a quick recce and decided that we'd run 4 short hills (roughly 100m) on the odd reps, and 4 long hills (roughly 200m) on the even reps. Clear ? Well Nico was struggling with the maths as he's obviously still suffering from the after-effects (or the jet-lag?) of his excursion to Florence this weekend. He wasn't letting me forget that he beat my marathon time by 90 seconds and is now the man to beat over the distance. He went on and on about it and how he can reduce this time by another 5 minutes at least that we almost beat him up and left him in a quiet ditch in the forest. I'm surprised he was still able to run with his head swollen so big.

I thought that he'd be pushing the hills too just to shove my nose in it but he was obviously very tired and taking it easy. He just ran a couple hard to show that he's still a contender but we could see that his heart wasn't in it and he's obviously very worried about the forthcoming showdown in Conflans this Saturday. I ran average with some tiredness in the thighs still from Sunday but overall not too bad. Give me a track session over this anyday though.

The best part was running back to the club for our warm-down afterwards when Nico and I decided to run along the road rather than crossing through the forest. The last kilometres went 4"40, 4"10, 3"50, 3"48. The traffic shooting by in the dark less than 10 centimetres from us as we ran in dark tracksuits probably influenced the pace somewhat. Visages of being mowed down by a reckless driver were only too vivid as I ran along. I made sure that Nico was behind me along this stretch so that he would take the force of the shock from the vehicle first...

13.9km all up in 1'18.

Recovery run

A run around Maisons Laffitte this morning along the usual route to try and eliminate the toxins after yesterday's race. The breathing was easy enough but the legs were definitely tired.

I was running at just under 4:30 / km pace after the first kilometre down to the Seine and I managed to maintain this pace to the end. In fact, I felt as though I needed to run a little farther than usual to get the legs back to normal so I carried on down to the town hall and back along the main road to complete the circuit.

Lovely morning and wam for an autumn day. Legs are still suffering though with the thighs particularly tired. So much for a recovery run. I just seemed to have prolonged the agony.

14.3 km all up in 1:02.

Andrésy 13.5km

It was a last minute decision to take part in this race. It's Katia's home territory and she convinced Laurence to take part, so I decided to come along for the ride. It's been 4 years since I raced here in the race  in Andrésy and I thought that with my recent form that I could finish in around 50 minutes and with a bit of luck even go under this time. I'd also noticed that Olivier from the club had entered  and that I could give him a run for his money. Since he's a member of the club elite, this could be a little "feather in my cap" and an added bonus.

It was a perfect day for running with the temperature hovering around the 11°C and only a little wind to make the going hard on some stretches. The whole town had been cordonned off for the race and Laurence and I jogged a couple of kilometres to the start line to register and pick up our bibs. Due to our late decision to enter, I was runnning under another vet's name from our club and when I explained this to the organiser, they couldn't be bothered to make the changes and asked if I minded. Since the distance wasn't officially recognised and I knew the club would make the changes on their website, I let this go.

A quick warm-up with Katia, her nephew and Laurence and we lined up for the start. I stood next to Olivier and told him my plan to stick with him throughout the race. He said I should try and beat him instead! That was enough to spur me on. When we set off, I sat on his shoulder and felt comfortable with the pace. So comfortable that I upped the ante immediately and overtook him after 500m, taking off after the front runners. I was in 7th position here and the 2 leaders had made a large gap immediately and there was a group of 4 just ahead. The garmin beeped for the first kilometre, showing 3:28 which I felt happy with. I wasn't going to explode at this pace and I knew that we'd soon settle down.

The race was over 2 loops with a first loop of 6km and then a longer loop of 7.5km which takes in a steep hill which I remembered from last time. I ran that first loop which is practivally flat at a steady pace watching the group ahead as one guy pulled up and stopped while the 3 runners he had been with carried on and now had a 15 metre lead on me. I contemplated moving up a notch just to protect myself from the headwind but the effort necessary was just too much for me to muster. I finished the first loop with the following splits:

3:27, 3:30, 3:38, 3:40, 3:38, 3:37

I kept thinking about Olivier and wondering how far behind me he was. I dared not look in case that this should spur him on and I just watched as a runner from Andrésy dropped back off the group ahead and I wondered if I could catch him. The hill came: a 300m long wall at 16% gradient. I'm not a good hill runner so it was a surprise when the gap between me and the runner ahead shortened to 5 metres by the time we got to the top. He accelerated away though at the bend at the top and I paced it a little easier as I figured that there was still 5 km to go to the end. I chased him the rest of the way and I really thought that I could catch him as I closed down the last hill before the final straight with the wind in our backs. He knew I was there though and as we slalomed between the other back enders doing the 5.8km race, he pushed the pace just sufficiently to discourage me from making a move. I think that had he been a veteran himself, I would have sprinted to try and beat him to the tape. The motivation wasn't there though and he crossed the line 5 seconds before me while I managed a 49:26 and 6th place from scratch. I was second veteran and waited 50 seconds for Olivier to cross the line a place behind me and 3rd veteran. What elation!

3:39, 3:42, 4:25 (with the hill), 3:49, 3:43, 3:35, 3:33 and 3:31 pace to finish.

I ran back along the course now to encourage Katia and Laurence. Katia was first woman and Laurence was a couple of minutes behind in 3rd place for the women. I could see that she'd given everything and I ran into the finish with her, chuffed to bits. 1h00 for Katia and 1h02 for Laurence in 1st and 2nd place as vet women and 1st and 3rd place for overall women. What a great result.

Photos of the podium. Too bad that my moment of glory was spoilt slightly by being called Philippe!











A quick warm down and 21.5km for the day.

Threshold+ club session

A very exclusive turnout at the club tonight. Apparently the cold weather had put a few people off and then when Miguel stated in his opening brief that Michel proposed 40' jogging and for the others it was 1500 + 3000 + 1500 + 1000, well most people's eyes turned upwards and I could tell instantly that the track wouldn't be crowded later.

François, Katia and Laurence were there together with the hardcore runners such as Jean-Marc, Momo, Mireille, Sébastien, Wilfried, José and Bruno. We warmed up quickly with François leading the warm-up at the breakneck speed of about 5' / km or at least 1'30 faster than is usually acceptable. Back to the track where the serious business was to start. Ilyes turned up at this point asking for the keys to the changing rooms, so it would be a short session for him. We set off.

I set the pace for our little group for the first interval at a speed which felt fast but not uncomfortable. I knew that we had 7 km of intervals tonight and I didn't want to blow everything on the first. Wilfried was just on my shoulder and José just behind him. Jean-Marc and Sébastien were well in front. This would be the pattern for all of the intervals except that Jean-Marc and Sébastien drifted back towards us and as I pushed the pace faster and faster with each interval, they were slowing down until we caught them at the end and overtook them. I was particularly pleased with the last 1 km when Ilyes came to the front to run with me and take the pace. We were flying and it was a great feeling.

Intervals went as follows:

5:20 (3:33 pace/km) ; 10:52 (3:38 pace) ; 5:11 (3:28 pace) : 3:17

Another great workout and I'm feeling very confident for the next few races. We'll see how it goes.

Laurence and Katia ran well too with Laurence very happy with her efforts. She's back on track. François is running well too and focused on the 82 k trail in December. We'll be fine.

14km all up.

Club session - 10 x 300m

François is turning to the dark side. Not only has he just invested in a nice new Salomon rucksack with the latest Camelbak, but he has now bought a new headlamp for those night trails too. His conversion is almost complete. He only needs a pair of poles and he will have completed his mutation from Mr. Marathon to Mr Trail Runner.

While we're on the subject of running, I found this video which captures the essence of my conversations with people who are non-runners.

So, back to the club session. Fewer runners than last Thursday, but then the absence of free wine on offer post-run probably had something to do with this. I warmed up with François, Katia and Laurence and then met the group with whom I'd be running my 300m intervals: Momo, Mireille, Jean-Marc, Sébastien, Jérôme, Grégory and Robin. So, a group of youngsters with only 3 veterans : Mireille, Robin and myself.

I set off, telling myself that to go under a minute for each 300m would be good so when we set off on the first interval and I find myself in the lead, I'm very surprised and wondering if I'm going too fast as there are 10 to do. 55 seconds, so it was not excessive and I still feel comfortable and with 100m recovery, we set off again quickly. A repeat performance, except this time Momo has set off with us and he leads from the start to finish 5m ahead but I lead Jean-Marc again down the back straight. 54 seconds this time.

The series carries on in the same fashion and although there are a few intervals when Jean-Marc overtakes, I finish within centimetres of him and I'm always faster on the last straight.

Intervals went as follows:

55, 54, 53, 53, 53, 52, 53, 52, 52, 51

So thoroughly pleased with this result and it confirms my shape at the moment. I've decided to run in Andrésy this weekend as a result over 13.5k.

Nico was doing his last sessions before the marathon and was running strongly. Laurence was delighted with her return to the track too, completing the same workout at about 1'08 per 300m on average.

11 km all up.

Rain, rain, rain ...

It wasn't as cold as I'd expected when I got outside and started running with Nico. I'd put a windproof jacket on to keep the windchill off me as I ran and this could be described as water resistant rather than waterproof. No that this was a problem now, as the rain had abated and the major problem was avoiding the puddles that were 10cm deep.

Nico had a whine about clearing leaves in his garden having spent all Saturday afternoon doing the job, he awoke this morning to find that the garder preety much looked like Friday night before he'd started with the wind and rain having brought down a fresh, new packet of leaves overnight. I think he felt a little like Sisyphus. I was glad that I'd persuaded Laurence to postpone this job ;)

We spent the next half an hour dodging puddles and branches in the forest as we ran past the club and through to the stables by Chambourcy before turning right and heading towards Katia's for the girl's run. Nico left me after 10k and 45' to head back home in his last long preparation before the rerun of Florence marathon. He was looking easy whereas I was finding the going a little tougher after the cross-country training yesterday.

I arrived at Katia's house after 12.7k and 57'30 to meet up with Laurence, Katia, François, Sandra and Pascal. François was modelling the latest trail sack from Salomon and looking very dapper with his training for ironman t-shirt on too! A quick chat and we headed out westwards through Orgeval and along Katia's trail rout with the intention of a 2 hour run and 20  - 22 kilometres. It was very easy going but the drizzle began to fall and the puddles seemed to get bigger with every stride. Avoiding the puddles was one preoccupation with the second being to avoid the shotgun pellets with hunters in every field that we passed. I presumed that we'd be fairly safe until they started on the aperitifs and then we'd need to be more careful.

We carried on running and the drizzle bewame more persistent and then finally decided to turn into rain. My water resistant jacket became less resistant and more of a heavy, wet mess wighing down on my shoulders. The belt with the water bottle now runnbed against the jacket which in turn was rubbing a lovely little red patch into my waist causing severe discomfort. It felt colder and my leg muscles began to stiffen with the cold. The water dripped down my neck and back, making me regret not having worn my buff which I'd brought especially for the run but had left on Katia's kitchen table. I was feeling great.

It was a relief to get back to some wrm and dry at the end of the run and to be able to change into a dry set of clothes that Laurence had thoughtfully brought along in the car. A couple of cups of tea, some toast and jam later and I was feeling almost human again and ready to attack Sunday lunch.

33km all up in 2'45 and 103km for the week. Running well and will probably fit in a couple of races in the weeks to come.

Marly cross country training

Laurence agreed somewhat reluctantly to come with me for the annual cross-country training sessions that take palce in Marly park prior to the start of the cross-country season. The improvement in form of the girls (Laurence, Sandra and Katia) has encouraged a healthy pressure to be put on them to take part in the races this year to represent the club. I encouraged them to do some specific training as, even if the cross-country season is not a specific objective as such, these races do help in general performance with the hills and cardiac work in training.

We arrived in Marly to find a smaller turnout than the usual track sessions (thank goodness as the track is very crowded at the moment). Miguel was there to encourage everybody on and to make sure that there was not too much slacking. I chatted to François, who was there for the first time, and we spoke about the benefits of this training. We warmed up around the course, showing the newcomers the difficulties: the first long slope lasting 440m with an average gradient of around 8 - 9%; the second stepper slope lasting 200m at 15% and then the final 1.5k with it's fast downhill and then the long slog in the tall, wet grass before the final bumps to the end of the loop.

Miguel had decided that since it was the first session that we'd only be doing 2 loops instead of the usual 3. Yoan arrived at this point and ran to the front with Ilyes. We set off up the first hill and they both distanced me immediately. A new guy, Stéphane, comes past me up the first slope but I'm closing on him towards the end and I catch him up again on the recovery. I resolve to stay with him and on the next slope I can see that he's suffering already, having gone into the red too soon. On the last section of the first loop, he passes ahead again but I catch him in the grass and overtake, gaining the satisfaction of finishing the first loop ahead of him.

We set off on the second and this time I'm in no-man's land. Yoan and Ilyes are way ahead on the hills, Stéphane is behind. I ran at my own pace and am slightly slower than the first loop, going up the first slope in 2:00 compared to 1:55 for the first time around. I missed the competition from José was was taking it easy before a half-marathon race tomorrow.

I ended the session by running the last section again behind Laurence and Sandra and could see that Laurence was enjoying herself and finding it easier than she had imagined.

13.3k all up. With a long run tomorrow morning, I should hit the 100k again for this week.

Club session - Threshold

Another good turnout at the club tonight. I don't really know if this was for some quality training as promised by the training schedule sent out by Miguel, or rather for the Beaujolias Nouveau which was organised for after the training session. All the usual alcoholics runners were there: Jean-Marc, Momo, Ilyes, Stéphane, José, Bruno, François, Pascal, Nico and all of the girls too.

I ran around the warm-up with François talking about our next race in Normandy, an 80km trail on the Saturday. I'm fairly relaxed about this one and the idea is just to finish and to collect 2 points for the Mont Blanc trails next summer. If I manage this, then I'll have all 7 points necessary to qualify for the UTMB, the 170km tour of Mont Blanc with around 10 000m of uphill.

We finsih the warm-up and I agree with Mireille, Wilfried and José on the pace for tonight's session of 2000, 1000, 2000, 1000, 1500 off 200m recovery. We'll run the 2k's at 3:45 pace and the 1k at 3:30 pace. To finish we'll run at 3:40 - 3:45 pace. We're all agreed so we set off. I'm very comfortable for the first rep just on the shoulder of Wilfried with José, Mireille and Jérôme just behind. We end this rep and I ensure that the recoveries are kept honest and we push on for the 1k now. This is the same story except that it's José who leads this one and I stick to his shoulder as we go around. I can feel the increase in the pace and it's just a little harder on the legs and breathing but I definitely do not feel unduly tired when this rep ends either.

I check the time with José on this one: 3:28 he assures me. Alright we're pretty much in line with what we were forecasting so we carry on. The session ends the same way with me following whoever takes the lead and then ensuring that there is no slacking off the pace once it's set.

The reps went as follows:

7:22, 3:27, 7:11, 3:24, 5:15

So much faster than we initially envisaged but I felt good all of the time and really satisfied by a good workout by the end. Nico joined us for a warm-down having done some plodding on his own (4 x 2000) prior to Florence. Good to see Laurence back on the track too with some intervals despite the fact that she's vary wary about pushing it at the moment to avoid further injury.

14.9k all up. And the Beaujolais went down very nicely too. In fact, so nicely and such a good turnout that they ran out!

Recovery with Nico

I agreed to accompany Nico again tonight as long as we didn't do his 2 x 30' marathon pace session. He wasn't too keen either and he agreed to an hour at 4'20 pace. Perfect.

We ran the usual route around Maisons Laffitte adding on a little extra as we ran down to the town hall and back along the main road to complete the loop. We ran easily, chatting about plenty of subjects and all of the time telling each other to slow down; which neither of us did.

Hitting 3'45 for the kilometre down the hill chatting as we went was probably the highlight of the run which was most enjoyable. It's so good to feel so fit that you just want to make the most of it as you always have this feeling that it won't last.

13.7km all up in 57:43 so 4:12/km on average. So much for an easy 4'20 pace. Good stuff though.

Club session - 10 x 500m

I went down to the club with Laurence tonight to do the 10 x 500m session that had been programmed by Miguel. Laurence was going to the club for the first time since her injury and it was nice to see how many people came up to her to welcome her back :)

There was a good turnout at the club with François and Pascal along. The good runners were out in force too: Momo, Ilyes, Jean-Marc, Sébastien, etc. and a couple of new runners that I didn't recognise. I was relieved to see a fellow vet with both José and Bruno present so I had somebody to run with. Gérald was back too - not yet in top form but better than I've seen him in a long while.

We warmed up and I chatted to François about the forthcoming trail in Beuzeville in December. We agreed to take a hotel room so that it would be easier for the race which starts at 6:00 am. At least this way we can get some sleep and a decent breakfast before the start.

Back to the track and the serious stuff begins. I tell José and Mireille that I'm wanting to run the 500m in 1'40 and we can run together if they're interested. We set off and José runs to the front and I follow about 5 metres behind. This feels fast and I'm not used to it. I feel a slight pulling behind my right knee as I stretch tendons that don't normally get this sort of treatment. I finish in 1:39 and I tell José that we're a little fast.

Guess what ? the second one is faster and the third faster still but I'm up and running now and the pain and the breathlessness is not too hard to bear. Better still for the morale is that I'm in front of José on each one now and only just behind Jean-Marc and closing on the final straights. The last couple are tough but I grit my teeth and we're done. Splits went as follows:

1:39, 1:36, 1:34, 1:35, 1:34, 1:34, 1:34, 1:33, 1:34 and 1:31 to finish.

Another great session and I'm flying at the moment. Nico turned up at the end moaning about another marathon session where he had to jog for an hour. He really needs to man up a little. Laurence was suffering from a sore knee which has nothing to do with her previsous injury. This didn't stop her doing a session but she'll need to watch this situation carefully.

13.5km all up.

Marathon training

Nico obviously needed to rub yesterday's victory home to me, as if sharing a car with him back home yesterday wasn't enough. He invited me to go for a run with him this evening so that he could have a running partner to moan too about how tough his marathon training is, how he's going to beat my time in Florence, how sore his foot is, etc., etc. Masochist as I am, I agreed. So what was on the cards ?

2 x 15 minutes at marathon pace. "Who's marathon pace is that then?", I asked innocently. Mine apparently, as we were to run at 4'00 per kilometre for 15 minutes and it would have been 15 seconds slower if we were running at his marathon pace.

We set off to run my usual route around town and luckily Nico managed to avoid breaking his ankle down in the dirt track leading to the river. Damn! We got to the 4 kilometre mark and set off. I told Nico that we should forget the 15' idea and just run 4k and then recover for a few minutes before another 4k. Agreed.

3:53 (whoa - this is a little fast), 3:49 (weren't we supposed to slow up?), 3:45 (slower?), 3:43 (wtf !!!)

A little breather now and we agreed that this was a little too fast and that Nico should lead the next block.

3:46 (I can't trust this guy), 3:50 (I take the lead and control the pace), 3:46 (efficiently), 3:48

Admittedly Nico had dropped back a little by the end, even shouting out to me to turn right when I wanted to run down to the castle. We then jogged back home at amore comfortable pace.

Nice session and just shows the great shape that we're both in at the moment. The start of the second block felt easy at 3'46 pace and we were both surprised as the Garmin's beeped together showing this split time.

14.5 km all up in 1:02. Great running.

Cross Toto

Well, what to say when Nico has said it all already ?

Back home in time to take part in the annual cross-country event organised by the club for the club members. 2 laps of a 3 km loop for the men with one loop for the women. I looked at the potential  competition when I arrived and I fancied my chances for the top veteran position since Bruno W and Eric weren't around and I remembered how comfortable my advance was on José at the start of the year in the cross-country races. Things were looking up.

We warmed up by jogging to the start of the race in the forest close to Poissy and Nico was there waiting. He'd just run 3 x 20' at marathon speed but apparently he'd overdone it and had been running at around 3'45 - 3'50 pace. He said he was tired and I just smiled and thought that I would be able to pull back a race in the Nico v. James challenge. I'll rephrase that: I thought I'd be able to win my first race in the challenge this year as at 8 races down, things were not looking good.

We ran another loop of the course so that the new-comers could see the route and the difficulties. These are few in that there is a slight rise towards the end of the first kilometre and then a couple of long drags for the last 800m of the course. The rest is flat or downhill.

I lined up next to Yoan, Jean-Marc and Sébastien as these were the favourites and after the gun went I settled in just behind them. I let them pull away slightly after 1 km and then for the second kilometre I was running by myself. I felt relaxed and wasn't pushing too hard as I couldn't hear anyone behind me and I knew that I had no chance against the 3 in front. 4th place and 1st vet was fine by me.

As we hit the rise towards the end of the first lap, I heard footsteps behind me and knew that it was Nico. Having run kilometres and kilometres with him in training, I recognised the footfall and didn't need to turn around to see who it was. He caught my foot as we pushed up the hill and I stumbled slightly. He then proceded to pull alongside me and mentioned something about not letting me get away so easily. I thought that I'd hang on to him as he must be tired and try and pull away again if he flagged. We finished the first loop and I heard shouts of encouragement for us and José too so I knew he wasn't far behind. This was bad news as I knew that I couldn't let up now and  had to maintain my speed if I was to keep pole position for that vet spot.

Photo of Nico and I neck and neck at the end of the first lap with José 10 metres behind.











Nico pulled ahead slightly now and I had to accelerate to keep with him. The slight hump in the track appeared for the second time and as Nico put on a burst, I dropped back and he gained the 5 metres that he needed to pull away from me gradually now. I couldn't fin the willpower to go any faster and I just listened out for José's footsteps behind me now as they got closer and closer with 1 km left to go.


Nico had a good 40 metre lead now and José overtook me on the first slope before the finsihing line. The track flattens out for 50 metres and then slopes up another 350 metres to the finish. I pulled back past him on the flat section and accelerated hard towards the finish. A young lad (Jérôme) came past me here but I was sprinting now ensuring that José stayed behind and was discouraged from pulling off a sprint finish of his own. And it worked! He finished 4 seconds behind me while Nico ended 7 seconds ahead. I ran 22:27 which is my best time ever by 37 seconds for this course so I was still well chuffed. Shame that Nico is still better as it would have done him the world of good to learn a little humiliation. Still, his head is so big now that it'll weigh him down for his next marathon attempt... let's wait and see. Good to see José back in shape too. We can look forward to some good cross-country races in the new year.

Nico's version of the story is here if you have the guts to stomach the self-glory. 20 km all up for the morning.

Lisbon

Spent a week in Lisbon on holiday with Laurence and one of our sons, Paul together with some friends and their daughter. Great week and enjoyed a little bit of running with lots of eating and drinking (mostly whisky!).

Sunday:

Easy jog around Lisbon discovering the city with Laurence and Katia. 11.3 km in 1:02 so an average pace of just over 5:30 / km. Boy the city is hilly though. Unless you're running alongside the river there are hills wherever you turn.

Monday:

Hill training with a 15 minute warm-up around Edward VII park and then 6 hills lasting 550 metres up the right-hand side as can be seen in the photo.

Reps went as follows:

2:42, 2:34, 2:29, 2:27, 2:26, 2:24

Completely knackered by the end.

12 km all up in 58 minutes.


Tuesday:

Went out in the evening with Katia, Laurence and Jacques around Lisbon. We did a couple of reps up the hill in the park and then headed off around town, almost getting lost in the process. Very easy pace and we did just over 10km in an hour.

Friday:

Laurence wanted to test her leg after the thigh injury she's been suffering from for over 2 months now. We down to the river and along to Belem before turning back and heading diagonally across town back to the flat. 16 km all up in 1:24 - a really good effort.

Easy week overall but lovely to be able to run in reasonable temperatures again instead of the autumnal weather back home.

Hill session

Bank holiday today in France so the club session was at 9:00am instead of in the evening. I cycled in on my mountain bike and saw that the turnout was fairly scarce in the absence of both of our trainers Miguel and Michel. Still François, Philippe, Jean-Marc, Ilyes, Romain and others were there so there was plenty of runners for company.

We decided to respect the programme that had been posted by Miguel and head up to Princess Road to do 10 hill repeats. It was a long warm-up at just over 30 minutes when we reached the last section of the hill up Princess Road before the crossroads at the top. This is the steepest part of the hill and although it is just over 200m, it begins fairly shallow at first before reaching a gradient of around 10% by the end. Perfect for training.

The first repeats went well and although I was slower than Jean-Marc and Romain, they were slower on the downhill recovery and I was soon ahead of them and they would pass me on the uphill. Ilyes was well ahead and intent on running 12 repeats instead of the 10 for us mere mortals.

After 5 repeats Jean-Marc and the others called for a longer recovery before re-starting. I didn't feel that I needed this and it was a good incentive to keep going and to stay ahead. The last 5 were difficult with my breathing a lot shorter and tiredness settling in. The last 3 were hard as the lactic rose in my thighs and I wondered if I could keep running to the top. Happy to finish them and satisfied with the quality of the session.

Jogged back with Ilyes at recovery pace (4:30/km !) and got back to the club after 16.4km and 1h26. A short bike ride back home to finish.

New mantra

Surfing the web, looking at some running posts I came across this photo of Steve Prefontaine and a quote of his. I like this so much that I'm posting it on my blog and will try and remember this in my struggle to beat Nico this year :

Gutsy runner who could have gone on to achieve greatness but was unfortunately killed in a car accident at the age of 24.

3 x 12' threshold

Nico drove me to the club on Sunday for his last long session before the New York marathon. I came along as I have more time available now and I'm able to make it to all of the weekly club sessions. What's more, my speed is improving and I'm feeling a whole lot better about my running. The time in the Amsterdam marathon really helped me to regain my motivation and want to pull out all the stops.

We listened to the brief about the session - 3x 12 minutes at threshold off 3 minutes recovery and then set off on the warm-up jog. There were not many people out for this session despite the fact that there weren't any big events on either. It was the start of the school holidays and perhaps many had left for a short break. Nico and Anis were there together with Bruno, José and a new guy, Sébastien. The warm-up lasted for just under 30 minutes and we found ourselves by the cabin in the forest, ready to begin the exercise.

A little discussion with Nico ensued as to which path would lead us to the car-park in Le Mesnil but José convinced us of the track to take and we set off. Nico and I agreed that we would run at 15km/h or 4'/km since he was running the marathon and wanted to run at marathon pace and I didn't want to tire myself out after Amsterdam. This was soon out of the window though as I told him that we were running too fast and he carried on nonetheless.

3:48, 3:44, 3:36, and then 4:00 pace for the last 200m.

Admittedly, the last kilometre was downhill but we were above threshold. I decided that I would tone down the effort and Nico and José announced that they would only run 2 blocks and not 3.

We set off again and this time Nico took the lead and I couldn't follow if I tried.

3:52, 3:46, 3:43 and then 3:53 pace for the last 200m.

This section was harder as we ran over the bumps and then uphill alongside the railway line in the forest. I decided that I would really ease off for the last block as both Nico and José (although he was already well behind) were pulling the plug. So off we set and I followed Anis and Sébastien :

4:09, 3:55, 3:53

So a great session in which I put some effort in over the 3 blocks and was realled pleased with the result. I felt good running too and I'm definitely back in shape after this summer and the achilles injury.

17.6km all up in 1:25 and just over 60km for the week with another 100km almost of cycling.

Photos

Just a couple of photos for the blog following the marathon in Amsterdam.

Firstly, the reason for our success as a group in running marathons is probably down to the trust and confidence that we have in each other. The only way to build such confidence is to be very close... and here's the proof :

 First of all a bed big enough to sleep 6 in guaranteeing an excellent night's sleep in (or not as the case may be!)

Secondly, plenty of food and beer to build up the complex sugars necessary to run a good marathon























Finally, the event itself and looking easy (and lonely!) at the 30km mark.

Amsterdam marathon

We'd been planning an autumn marathon for a long time after the success of Florence last year. The decision was taken to try and do as many international marathons as possible, starting in Europe and perhaps moving further afield in the future. Amsterdam was decided upon as the course was flat and fast and the date was perfect allowing everyone to begin marathon preparation after the summer holidays.

My own race schedule this year has been very chaotic and not very logical. I started with good intentions and try to plan my race calendar around 2 marathons per year: one in the spring; and the second in the fall. Any more than this is simply too tiring and the preparations are not feasible if you really want to do your best over the distance. However, my spring marathon was dropped in favour of the Paris ecotrail, an 80km jaunt from St Quentin to the Eiffel Tower, and so the only marathon on the programme for 2012 was in Amsterdam. What I hadn't realised when I made these plans was just how tired I would be after the CCC and how little time I would have to prepare this race seriously.


Our group of Laurence, who wouldn't be running as she's still injured, myself, Sandra, Pascal, Katia and François made our travel plans to the city. Pascal and Sandra would take the plane, while the rest of us would drive there. We left early Saturday morning and by lunch time we'd arrived in the Olympic Stadium to pick up our bibs and explore the marathon exhibition stands.It was relatively quick to pick up the race numbers but the organisation was less successful for the race t-shirts where a huge queue had formed. Whereas there were around 30 people distributing race numbers, there were 2 for the shirts. This was a sign of some of the failures in the organisation that we would come across later. The stands in the pick-up area were scarce and not that interesting either in the products, the presentation or the special offers. We didn't waste any more time and left to check into the hotel and see a little of the city centre.

There are a few things to avoid before running a marathon :

i) Spicy food - too many spices can upset your stomach causing cramps and lack of sleep.
ii) Alcohol - causes dehydration to the body and impacts sleep
iii) Late nights - rest and recovery is essential before the race and a good amount of sleep can help performance.

Of course, I knew about all of these but the temptation of a fantastic Indonesian meal (where only Laurence, Pascal and I ate the really spicy dishes) and a few beers was just too good to avoid. This combined with lack of sleep from getting up early to drive to the city was not the best marathon preparation but what the hell...

We woke up early for breakfast and ate what was available at 6:00 am - not much unfortunately as the restaurant wasn't yet open. Sandra hadn't slept all night, anxious about the race and her and Katia's attempt to beat 3:30 and their PBs over the marathon distance. We got the bus into the city centre and then a metro from Central Station. The first of our problems began. Several hundred runners got on the same metro and the doors wouldn't close. We stood on the train for a good 10 minutes like sardines while the train driver made a further 15 attempts to close the doors to no avail. We changed trains but were now heading east out of the city so had to change trains again at a station 5 stops down the line. Unfortunately, several hundred runners who were on our initial train had the same idea and we then waited with an additional several hundred more runners who were arriving in from the east in the first place. I've never been so squashed for so long on a train before and it was a relief to get out of the metro at Amstelveensweg just a few hundred metres from the stadium and the start of the race. We now had almost a thousand runners trying to get out of the metro station with no officials around and nobody to open the barriers, just the automatic barriers controlling each ticket individually to leave the station. This could have been a disaster with runners pushing from the top of the escalators and stairs, conscious that there was very little time until the start now due to the train's delay.

We walked to the stadium and after a quick toilet stop (many thanks to the Total service station for a lovely clean, warm toilet - gosh that meal last night was spicy !), we entered the stadium, or at least we tried to. We had to queue here too in order to get into the stadium with hundreds of other runners (presumably the same as those on the train with us) and we were actually getting quite anxious as the organisers had stated that the stadium access would close 15 minutes prior to the start of the race. We were in and I left Pascal, François, Sandra and Katia to go their starting pen while I went to mine. I looked for Bruno from the club but there was no sign. I wasn't really surprised as due to my late arrival, I was actually quite a way back from the start line. I did see a former colleague from Mitsubishi, Armel, and I chatted to him and his friends before the gun went. They were attempting to beat 3 hours and were all wearing t-shirts with 'Under 3 hours or death' which was probably a little radical and something they might regret a few hours later.

The race started and we were off. Well ,almost, I jogged to the start line was the field was too dense to go any faster. Leaving the stadium was just as bad and the roads beyond were no better. I was disappointed as the start was so difficult and I spent the next 3 kilometres cursing the organisers for their route choice. In retrospect, it wasn't as bad as I felt and my split for the first 5 kilometres were as follows:

4:20, 3:56, 4:00, 3:58, 3:51

The route had come through the first park, Vondelpark, and was now heading down to complete the first small loop before doubling back on ourselves and heading back out to towards the east of the city.

I saw Laurence cheering me on at this point with Stéphanie. I had been looking for her earlier at the spot where we had arranged for her to stay so I was a little surprised (and slightly annoyed admittedly) when she shouted out. It must have been at this point that I overtook Bruno too although I never actually saw him and was disappointed not to have met him all day :)

Bruno in white, while I head off around the bend in red!

I settled into a rhythm now at around 4:00/km. I wondered if it wasn't slightly fast given my preparation but I thought that I was breathing easily enough and I felt relaxed so I just went with this. My legs were tying up slightly: every now and then I had a problem with my right knee blocking, causing me to limp for a few strides; and my calf muscles felt tight too but nothing too painful. I was still passing other runners regularly and happy with the situation and it was only towards 15km that I started to feel some tiredness creeping in.

3:59, 3:56, 3:55, 3:59, 3:57, 3:56, 3:51, 3:59, 3:56, 3:47

This 15th kilometre was too fast as the Garmin played up when we went underneath the ring road. It's a good job that I didn't see this one as I would have scared myself but I watched the timing block that the organisers had put at every 5km interval and this showed 1:00:24 and with the 20 seconds it took me to cross the start line, I knew that I was running a 15km/h average pace and on track to compete with my time in Florence.

We were heading down the canal now and the wind was slightly behind us. I remember wondering what it was going to be like on the other side when we had to run back into it. I'd deal with that problem when it happened. I was focused on staying with a couple of runners at this point, firstly a female runner (Jenny Knass a British female elite athlete) and an Israeli (Yossi Elia). The Israeli looked the strongest and I tried to stay with him and the small group that he was with. We turned at the bottom of the canal and headed back into the wind which wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I was able to hide behind some of the bigger runners and avoid the worst of it. I was beginning to tire seriously now though and I was focused on passing each 5km marker at my 15km/h pace. I went through the half marathon in 1:24:49, faster than my half marathon at the Great North Run a month ago, which pleased me no end. Now I only had to finish the race and preferably under 3h00.

The 15 - 25km actually went relatively well and despite the fact that I knew I was tiring and slowing, my lap times were fairly steady.

 4:01, 4:03, 4:00, 4:00, 3:59, 4:04, 3:56, 4:00, 3:59, 4:01

From this point in, it was simply a case of grinning and bearing it. I let Yossi go as he accelerated from this point to finish in 2:47 and Jenny dropped off the pace slightly. I was on my own now and running with a couple of English runners. Laurence and Stéphanie were at the 30km mark and that was a real boost as they cheered me on while I went past the electronic time board in 2:00:57 so an effective 2:00:37 in real time. I was almost a minute down on my Florence time now and this would be how it would stay until the end. I was calculating how much slower I could go and still make it under 3h00 but since this seemed easy I then recalculated to see the pace necessary to go under 2h55. I could afford to drop 30 seconds per kilometre and still make it so I relaxed and just maintained my pace. I looked at the Garmin and I was still running under 4:10/km so I knew that I wasn't suffering too badly. The mental arithmetic was still working too so I wasn't in too bad shape.

4:01, 4:11, 3:58, 4:01, 4:02, 4:06, 4:07, 4:11, 4:09, 4:08

At 35km we headed back westward towards the finish and the wind was behind us now. This was a refreshing change and it helped over these last few kilometres. I was eating a chunk of Ritter Sport every 5km and washing this down with water since I forgot all of my almond bars and sugar tablets in my bag that morning at the hotel. Idiot! They worked well though if only a little hard to swallow while running.

4:09, 4:04, 4:06, 4:10, 4:11, 4:09, 4:08 and 3:51 to the finish.

We ran back through Vondelpark and it was then only 2km to the stadium and the end. I counted down the kilometres as it was hurting now. My right foot had been hurting for a while under the sole of my foot just before my toes. It was getting worse and I wanted to stop. I entered the stadium and as I rounded the final bend a Belgian caught up with me and grabbed my hand so that we could cross the line together. Since I hadn't seen him in the race up until now, I found this rather peculiar but he was Belgian so that probably explains matters.

I crossed the finish line in 2:51:15 in 192 place out of 10 144 finishers.

Result James Highnam

Pleased with this time as, despite the comparative lack of marathon preparation, I was still able to pull off my second fastest marathon ever showing my improvement in form of late. Oh and by the way, Jenny came in almost exactly a minute later in 2:52:11.

Katia and François came in next, closely followed by Sandra, in 3:24:22 and 3:24:59, both smashing their PBs by 5 minutes and posting some excellent times whilst finishing in 14th and 15th place in their category. Pascal followed closely in 3:28:55 suffering from his achilles and lack of specific preparation.

So a good, flat and fast course only to be let down by a lousy organisation that could do a lot better. We'll definitely have to try Berlin next year.