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.