20 x 500m

It was that time again. The classic session in every marathon training that I've done for 4 years now: the 20 x 500m interval session. It's like a hump in the back of the marathon training programme, probably the worst session of the plan, and when you've done this, you can finally feel that you're over the worst.

It was hot (26°C) and I didn't want to start. I even felt pretty lousy on the warm-up with a pain in my inner thigh on the right leg. Nico was full of energy and running well and that just served to make me a little more despondent.

A 4km warm-up through the forest and then we began, having decided to let each other lead for 2 intervals each before swapping the lead etc. There was a little debate as to the recovery as I wanted 200m and Nico 100m. We finally agreed on 100m and 1'15" of recovery after each interval.

A quick hello to Momo, Mireille, Bruno, Philippe, Sébastien on the track and we were off. They went by fairly well with Ilyes accompanying us for the first 6. Times were as follows :

1'43", 1'40", 1'40", 1'39", 1'39", 1'37", 1'42", 1'40", 1'40", 1'39",
1'40", 1'40", 1'39", 1'41", 1'40", 1'40", 1'39", 1'39", 1'39", 1'39"

So very regular and a good pace. Happy to finish as the last 5 started to tire me out with an accumulation of fatigue on the legs.

17.7 km all up in 1hr20 and an average pace of 4'31"/km for the session.

More intervals

Regular Tuesday night club session with a strong attendance this evening. All the regulars were there. In fact anybody who counts was there, with the notable exception of Jean-Marc. Miguel had some more fartlek planned for us with 2 blocks of 7 x 1'/1' but since I was still negotiating the participation in the Berlin marathon for September 2013, I missed the brief.

I ran the warm-up with François who is getting stronger and stronger in swimming for the June Ironman, while I'm getting more and more worried and not doing much about it for the moment. So how will this Ironman go ? Well if I manage not to drown in the Mediterranean during the 3.8km swim, I'll probably collapse of heat exhaustion following François' rear wheel on the 180km bike ride but I should at least be able to complete the marathon if I get that far. François is putting me to shame so I need to pull my finger out and get to the pool and on my bike.

François followed Katia and Laurence on their trail training half-way round the warm-up while I headed back with the others to the track. I hesitated for a while about the fartlek before following Nico around the track on his 10k preparation with a 4 x 1000m session off 2' recovery. He set off like a bullet and left me in his wake and it was all I could do to struggle around 60 - 70m behind him.

The intervals went as follows:

3:19, 3:24, 3:23, 3:27

I was pretty consistent and pleased with the result. I was feeling the lactic on the last interval but closing on Nico which cheered me up. I probably could have managed another 2 at the same pace as the last.

11.5k all up in 1:15.

Sunday club run

Another short night after dinner out with friends and Nico and I drove to the club for the Sunday run. We both said that we'd take it easy after yesterday's session but we knew that this would be hard as we were running to Joyenval around the golf course with Michel's group. There was another good turnout with notably the return of José after some hamstring problems. The plan for the session was to run up to the golfcourse at Joyenval and then do 3 x 8' at cross-country pace around the golf course before heading back.

After our warm-up to the edge of the golf course, it was obvious that the session wouldn't be as straight-forward as it appeared since heavy rain had turned the paths into mud pools. In fact when Miguel blew the whistle for the first interval, Nico put his foot in a mudbath and promptly lost his shoe to the mirth of all around him. I ran with José, seeing how he was doing after a few days off and in his normal trailer style, he ran hard up and down the hills, shortening his stride and it was all I could do just to stay with him.

The second interval saw the same runners ahead with Yoan running from the back to the front of the group followed by Ilyes, Sébastien, Jean-Marc and Frédéric. I was just behind with José who started to slow as the pain reappeared in his thigh. Nico caught us at the end of the interval and we all started together for the third. 8 minutes later and it was finished. I hadn't run too hard, feeling the stiffness in my legs from Marly and the hills. My breathing was easy but the legs were tired and it was nice to run back to the club at a comfortable speed (4:20 pace) with Yoan and Ilyes.

18km all up in 1:42 and it brings my total mileage to the week to around 60km so not too high. My achilles is improving but still aches at the end of each run at the moment.

Cross country training at Marly

What happened to the usual Corra run today? Saturday is reserved for running to Corra lake and back with Nico unless there is some major world crisis that means that we can't manage it. Until now earthquakes in Japan, bushfires in Australia and the current world economic crisis have not influenced this weekly ritual so it was with some surprise that I received a reply to my text to Nico suggesting we run at Marly instead.

Marly is reserved for corss country training sessions with Miguel and the last time I looked at the training schedule, there were no more Saturday sessions before late 2013. However, since I'm not an avid reader of the training schedules, I was prepared to admit that I'd overlooked this session and would accompany Nico and the others nonetheless. I then listened to my voicemail. In fact, the session was just with Yoan, Nico and Jean-Marc and possibly Sébastien. I felt worse now. Training with the best athletes from the club and knowing that I'd be struggling behind on my own was not motivating and a long lie-in in bed was looking infinitely more preferable.

We arrived at Marly park and Jean-Marc and Yoan turned up just after accompanied with the plan for the morning. 5 hills to begin with (roughly 100m), then 12' threshold, 6' threshold, 6' threshold and 5 hills to end off 2' recovery between each block. An easy warm-up around our usual cross-country training route and then we began. The 5 hills were straight-forward but I could already feel a little tension in my hamstrings from forcing up the slope. We then attacked loops of the pond, heading down through the trees to begin with before turning left across the grass and then back along the conifers in the long grass and then a couple of short slopes to end the loop.

The first interval saw Yoan loping away in front, Nico being gapped behind and me being gapped by Nico. Jean-Marc had run off to do a couple of slopes instead. I was running slightly under 4' pace due to the uphill slopes at the end of each loop. They were taking their toll on my legs and I'd end each loop in trepidation of the uphill to finish. A couple of minutes recovery and Nico and Jean-Marc (back from his slopes) ran back to me so that we could start on the next interval. This was exactly the same story and the following 6 minutes I'd run at the same pace as the first interval. Bis repetita for the next interval too and it was a huge relief to finish this and to just have the last 5 hills to complete the session.

Nico said that we were late for the interval. Sorry ???!! It was now he announced that we still had another 4' of threshold to run before we attacked the hills. I'd missed this completely and I now ran the last loop using sheer willpower uniquely. My legs were shot, my achilles was aching and I was hungry to boot. What a session. The last hills were hard but quick and we then warmed down to complete the 16.5k run for the morning in 1:29. Give me a fast run to Corra anyday over this...

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...

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.

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 !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Hell starts here - Marvejols Mende 22.4km

The half marathon of Marvejols Mende is a classic in the French running calendar. About 5000 people take part in this 'half-marathon' as they like to call it while the official distance is 1.3 km longer than the description would lead you to believe. This race has been the favourite of Dominique Chauvelier for many years, he having won it on 5 occaisions and having finished 2nd another 4 times. It was a race that had to be run and I can't remember now if it was Nico or Jean-Marc who suggested that we all took part, but whoever, we were all now in Marvejols picking up our numbers on the eve of the race.

We had run a warm-up on the Saturday morning along the start of the route and had seen the beginning of the the first hill. When I was young, we used to live on a hill overlooking Hexham and for me Causey hill was the worst hill that existed. Living half-way up meant that every run either started with a nasty uphill or finished with one. There was no escaping it. Well, next to this hill Causey hill was a piece of cake. 400 metres of uphill over 4km so an average slope of 10%, with sections over 16% in gradient. This was no joke and had to be taken seriously. We were warned from the start and the writing was on the wall (well the road actually)

So having done a recce of the route both by foot and then later by car, we lined up for the race some 45 minutes before the start in order to get a good position behind the elite. Laurence, Nico, Jean-Marc, Greg and myself waited patiently for the start wand we were joined by Stéphane from the club who was on holiday in the region. The gun went and with it some joker had set off a tear gas or pepper gas bomb. I spent the next 500 metres coughing and spluttering to get rid of the awful taste in my mouth and throat. Not a good start to the race.

Profile of the race with the 2 hills to be managed.









Nico had pushed his way through the crowds in an agressive fashion to get a better start and I only caught him after 500m telling him that he would have to do better than this if he wanted to lose me so quickly. The first 5 kilometres before the hill were relatively flat and I was trying to make the most of this section to run at marathon pace before the hard work began. The kilometres went as follows:

4:11, 3:53, 3:58, 3:56, 4:03

I hit the hill and just grinned and bore it! Knowing that uphills are not my strong point, I shortened my stride and concentrated on running at a pace where my heart rate didn't race too hard and that I knew I could maintain for a while. I was just waiting to see Nico who'd I'd left behind me at the start come past me. I was actually surprised that most of the runners around me were not overtaking me and that I was maintaining my place and actually gaining a couple of places, passing runners who had obviously set off too hard. Ireached Goudard where the road flattens for about 500m before continuing uphill again for the final section of the first hill. I began to believe that I would get to the top of the hill before Nico and that I wasn't beaten in this race just yet. Someone on the side of the road shouted out that there was 800m of uphill to the top and I pushed again eager to begin the downhill where I knew I was stronger. The last few bends were completed and I passed the feeding station on the top of the col, gulping down some water before the downhill.

I'd got to the top in the following times:

5:44, 5:30, 5:32, 5:27

And now it was downhill and I let blast. I just let myself go and stretched as far as I could down the slope, letting gravity do the work for me. I was easy on my lungs but my legs were hitting the orad hard and I tried to improve my stride to reduce the road slap as my feet and legs turned over. I couldn't believe it when I caught up with another St Germain top and passed Mustapha on the downhill. I had a couple of words and told him that Nico was behind and he dropped back to run with him.

3:20, 3:17, 3:22, 3:38

The downhill was over too soon and we turned left onto the main road which roase steadily before the second hill a few kilometres beyond. This transition was hard and I now realised how much energy I'd lost in the downhill and the going became very tough, very quickly.

4:00, 4:21, 4:43, 5:44, 5:43

and I walked. I just couldn't take any more :too hot and too tired, I stopped running for 15 seconds and walked before jogging again. I figured that if I could reach the top of the second hill before Nico then I had a very good chance of beating him. Unfortunately, the walk was just enough to lose the ground I had over him and he appeared on my should towards the top of the second hill. I was running again but I didn't have his pace uphill and he managed to put another 20 seconds on me before the top of the second hill and the last downhill section.

3:56, 3:41, 3:24, 3:46

and I was catching him down the hill. He had about 20 metres on me as we truned into town to run the last 500m up the hill to the finish line. I'd lost in my head though by here as I knew that I couldn't stay with him uphill. Sure enough he gapped me again and passed the line 25 seconds in front of me. It had been our closest race in a while and I was thrilled to have gotten so close to pulling it off but a little disappointed with myself not to have run to the top of the second hill and to have grit my teeth when it counted.

I finished in 1:37:30 in 168th position, 9 places behind Nico in 1:37:08. Jean-Marc finished in 1:41:00 in 232th place, Mustapha in 1:42:42 in 269th position, Greg in 1:57:33 in 863rd place and Laurence in 2:01:58 in 1176th place and 32nd in her category.

A great run by all and the hardest road race I've ever run. My muscles are still aching 2 days afterwards and I'm wonderinng how on earth I'm going to complete the CCC with all of the uphill (5600m +).

Thanks to Caro for the photos and for finding the short cut through the cemetary to take us home. It really was one hell of a race.

Orgerus - 15 km

My prayers had been answered. God exists.

It rained last night. It rained and rained and rained and then it rained some more. When we went to bed last night it was 21°C and we left the window open all evening. When we got up it was 16°C and a lot fresher in the atmosphere. The one downside was that with the window open, the sound of the rain had kept me awake most of the night and I'd slept quite fitfully. The whiskies, wine and cider after our evening out hadn't helped either and I was definitely a little rough around the edges when I woke up this morning. Still given a choice of running in 24°C, which has been the average temperature recently and 16°C, I would chose the latter anyday.

We drove to Orgerus with Nico and Ilyes and met up with François, Katia, Pascal and Sandra before heading off all together for a warm-up around the start of the course. It was fairly ideal conditions with a cool temperature but a stiff breeze that might prove to be difficult to manage on some of the more exposed parts of the course. As we warmed up, we noticed some of the other good runners taking part. Already from our club we had Mustapha, Anis, Ilyes, Nico and Eric - it didn't look as though I would be even part of the first 5 members of the club home.

I lined up at the start with Nico and Fleg who suggested that we run together. I didn't know what sort of shape he was in in but I thought that we would be closely matched. The gun went and it was soon obvious that I wouldn't be able to stay close to Nico today. He was running well ahead and was just behind Eric on the initial downhill section of the course. I ran with Fleg and we shouted out 3:30 as we went through the first kilometre. After 1.5km we head right and start up a muddy track and I picked up a few places here and felt very good in my legs. I saw that I had closed on Nico and Eric and I began to feel that perhaps if I maintained this pace that I would be in for a shouting chance at the finish.

Unfortunately, all too soon I was running by myself. I stuck with a runner for a while but he moved ahead and I saw him catch Eric who'd now been left behind by Nico.

The kilometres went by as follows:

3:31, 3:45, 3:53, 3:46, 3:47, 3:48, 3:59, 3:57, 3:53, 3:53, 3:50, 3:52, 3:53, 3:50, 3:38

I tired at the half-way point as the continuous hills took their toll and I began to look over my shoulder just before 10km to see where Fleg was behind me. There was a good gap at 10km but this had narrowed rapidly by 12km and I was convinced that the group of 4 runners that he was with would catch me and overtake me. I prepared myself for the worst but it never happened and I was able to maintain a pace to hold them off.

I could see Nico and Eric in front all of the way around but they never came back to me and Nico, particularly, ran a great race finishing 2 minutes ahead of me in 55:41 while I crossed the line in 57:39, my best time ever for the course. Fleg finished only 12 seconds behind so I was grateful that I had the energy and guts to push until the end.

François had a good race beating Jean-François home with Pascal finishing not too long afterwards. I ran back to see how the women were doing and Katia beat Sandra in a final sprint to finish in 1:11:24 and 1:11:25 with Laurence finishing 30 seconds behind in 1:11:53.

Pleased with the run overall as I felt good at the start if a little drained by the finish in the legs from Les Clayes on Friday and lack of sleep. I checked some previous year's results and saw that I beat Eric's times from 2 and 3 years ago so I can still hope to improve in the next couple of years.

Les Clayes sous Bois - 10km

Piecing it all together afterwards, I still can't figure out why I was down to run this race. I can't remember who started the discussion about doing 2 races in the same weekend and how we managed to be 5 friends (Laurence, Katia, Nico, François and myself) with our names down on both lists for participation in Les Clayes on Friday night and then Orgerus on Sunday morning. Whatever the reason I spent most of Friday ruing the decision and wondering what on earth was going to happen.

When I drove into town at 7:30pm for the 8:30pm start I already had a load of excuses ready: it was too hot (23°C), I was tired after a tough week at work, I was lacking sleep. Meeting the others and then warming up around town only confimed what I already feared that the heat was going to be the main issue. We ran just under 3km as a warm-up and I was dripping with sweat already. The good news was that the course had been modified from previous years and instead of doing 3 loops with a bugger of a hill to manage, there were 2 longer loops this year.

I lined up at the start with the rest of the gang and when the gun went I made a mental resolution not to set off like a looney. I was surprised to see François ahead of me for the first 200m when he finally saw reason and Nico and I ran past in a small group of 4. We ran the first kilometre downhill together and then turned and ran up a long slope for the next 500m before turning into a little park for some greenery and views of the old part of town. This was the little respite before pulling up 2 more steeper hills albeit shorter, and then the road flattens out and heads downhill with some long flat straights to complete the circuit.

Nico had taken the lead on our little group heading up to the second kilometre marker and I concentrated on getting past the other 2 runners and not losing touch with Nico. The steeper hills killed me though and with the heat, Nico made some good ground on me here and I would never be able to get back in touch after this. I was now focussed on losing my adversary from Gally who was getting a lot of local support. He came past me at the 4km marker and I hung onto him going through the end of the first lap and then on the downhill section of the second loop.

As we ran back up the slope to the park, I put in a little effort and came past him again. I just concentrated now on maintaining the best pace I could manage as the heat had drained all motivation from my body. I could see Nico about 100 - 150 metres ahead now and knew that I had no chance of catching him. I slowed even further on the steeper hills, putting in a kilometre in 4:04 and I was just praying that the runner behind wasn't feeling any fresher than I was. I could hear him just behind and didn't dare turn to see where he was as I didn't want to encourage him. Instead, I tried to accelerate away on the flat and put some distance in to discourage him if he thought of attacking again.

I was by myself now and watched Nico turn at the 8 km marker and spot me 150 metres behind. I saw him ease off the pace and smiled to myself as he had nothing to race for now. I wasn't going ot catch him and there was no chance of a time in this heat and on this course. I couldn't ease off as I had my Gally runner behind still and he hadn't given up the chase just yet. I pushed on until the final bend and then had the last 150 metres of uphill to the finish line which I sprinted as hard as I could. If he was going to beat me now, he'd have to put the effort in with the crowds cheering him on. He finished 2 seconds behind me. Relief.

I finished in 37:16 in 7th place and 2nd vet with Nico one place ahead in 36:48. François finished in a slightly disappointing 41:18 as he's capable of beating 40 minutes regularly now - too much cycling and not enough running recently. Katia finished just ahead of Laurence in 46:52 and 47:06 respectively with them picking up 1st and 2nd place in the female vet category. Another podium and this one is becoming a regular in their racing calendar.

Good to have a meal all together afterwards after an interminable wait with one of the most verbose presenters ever encountered for the prize winners.

Club session

It looked as though it would be another relaxing run. Miguel was proposing a quiet run through the woods around Le Mesnil, very simlar to the one that I had led yesterday, and Michel was holding a session of 12 x 2' in 2 blocks of 6. Laurence decided to take it easy and I looked at Nico and we decied mutually to do the interval session.

It was another warm evening and with the temperature around 22 - 23°C, it wasn't long before I was sweating heavily. Nico had been saying that he was keen ono taking it easy, but as soon as we set off and I took the lead, setting the pace, he sped up and ran alongside. The remainder of the session was determined by him setting the pace with Bruno just behind until Anis and Mustapha caught us and they then dictated the terms.

The pace for the intervals went as follows: 3:30, 3:30, 3:21, 3:18 3:26, 3:21. I hadn't understood about the 2 blocks and Michel wasn't imposing any rhythm in particular. When it came to the second series, I just took it easy and hung back. It was too hot to do anything else anyway.

11.9km all up in 1:02. Nico and Bruno looked in good shape and it was good to see Bruno at the front again, pushing the pace at moments after having spent so long out with injuries.

Sunday club session

The culmination of our 4 day weekend, and our drive to make the most running time out of that available, Nico and I decided to run over to the club this morning before starting the session. Laurence would take the car.

It was tough from the start. Despite the relatively easy pace to begin with, I could feel my legs and the tiredness from yesterday. Nico said as much himself and we took it fairly easily through the forest to the clubhouse. What made matters harder was the global improvement in the weather. It was 14°C at 8:30 am this morning and although there were no blue skies the warmth was accompanied with a high level of humidity. By the time we reached St Germain, I was sweating heavily.

There was a good turnout this morning and 2 groups formed: one with Miguel for 3x12' at threshold and the other with Michel for 2x20' at threshold along the Paris St Germain course which takes place next week. After a quick warm-up, I headed off with Nico, Jean-Marc, Anis, Ylies, Fred, Olivier and co for Miguel's session, leaving Laurence with the vast majority of the women to do their own thing. We finished the warm-up by the Légion d'Honneur retirement home and then began the session proper.

I started off easily enough, happy to follow Olivier along the tracks towards Le Mesnil while Anis, Ylies and Nico powered off in front. We were running at about 3:50 pace and when I felt that Olivier was slowing slightly I took the pace and carried on at threshold pace, which by my reckoning is 3:45 / km. We were just over half way through the first interval when I heard footsteps behind and I turned expecting to see Jean-Marc but ended up face to face with Fred. We ran together for a while but when we got to the horsetrack with less stable footing, he pulled ahead chasing the group of 3 in front. I was glad when the 12 minutes were up and we had a 2 minute recovery.

It was all over all too soon and we set off again. The track soon turned into a harder surface and despite the fact that I was now running at 3:42 / km the group of 4 now (including Fred) was pulling away from me and I had to run by myself. I ran a good interval here, feeling stronger than the first and more consistent in my pace. Another 2 minutes recovery and time to pull everyone back together again and we set off on the last interval. I struggled now as we ran along the Salamander route around La Mare aux Canes. I could see that I wasn't the only one to find the going hard as Nico got dropped from the leading group on the uphill section. I managed to make it to the end despite the temptation to drop out and finish at a jog. A jog back to the club and then the 5km run home with Nico at 4:23 pace before culminating in a last 3:58 kilometre as we ran down from the church home.

Very warm and very sweaty but a good session again. It's been a good weekend with some quality runs over the last 4 days.

26 km all up in 2:05 or an average pace of 4:51 / km. Some juicy news from Laurence when I got back home from her group this morning but too good to share with you all here ;)

Thanks to Nico for a great breakfast at his house when we got back. I was almost fainting from hunger having left home with nothing more than a cereal bar in my stomach. The cups of tea and bread and jam did the world of good.

95km for the week.