Long Sunday Run (LSR)

Ok, ok - LSR is supposed to be long slow run, but we all know that if you run with Nico this is just not going to happen. I'd texted him last night to see if he was interested in a long run and was pleased to see that he was with the only proviso that he was back for 11:00 am. I suggested a 2 hour run and he texted back that it was a good idea but we should include 2 x 20 minutes of threshold in the run just for the training.

We set out at 8:30 am as I allowed for a little slippage in our timing and didn't want to be held responsible for Nico missing lunch with the family at one of the best restaurants in Paris. Some people just have all the luck. We set off easily heading up inot the forest by Le Mesnil church and corssing the forest in the direction of the club. We gradually picked up the pace over these first 5 kilometres until we were running at 4:20 pace which I find is our natural pace.

We ran in front of the club and passed Laurence and friends off for a 30km run through the forest. Laurence pointed out that I was having a nosebleed which I hadn't noticed. The next bit of excitement was at the end of the road when we tried to cross, only to avoid being knocked down by Jean-Marc. This is probably due to the fact that he's now worried about how close Nico is getting to challenging him over 10km!

We ran towards the other section of the forest now, towards the pony club and we both decided that trying to run 2 x 20' of threshold would be too much for both of us: Nico having run a hard session yesterday and me because I still hadn't recovered from my week in the Alps. We still had Princess Road to manage though, so as to push our bodies a little, I made sure that we ran up the hill as honestly as possible. Whenver I flagged, Nico would push on and when he eased, I would take over. I used to think that if I could run these 2 kilomtres uphill in under 5' each that I was doing well. We ran them today in 4:37 then 4:40 - the best I've ever managed and with a rucsac and water pouch on.

The road flattens out at the top so we hit marathon pace and ran the next 5km at around 4:15 pace before accelerating back down Princess Road and hitting 3:57, 3:40 then 3:52 in the process. A quick breather up by the horticultaral lycée and then we headed home at 4:20 pace.

27.25 km all up in 1:57, including the last 300 metres at 3:30 pace. Average pace over the loop was 4:19 so a pretty honest effort all up.

A photo of the scenery from the centre in the Alps. Mont Blanc is in the background on the left.

 Photo of me in action at the end of the cross country race in Les Mureaux