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.

Sunday run

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Short recovery

I was short for time so I just ran a shortened version of the Maisons Laffitte loop cutting up after the castle into the park rather than running along to the racecourse.

I refused to look at the Garmin this morning as I was suffering in the legs after yesterday's efforts. I just enjoyed the early morning run and the peace and quiet, cutting back through the forest just to prolong the pleasure of the tranquility of the morning.

9.1km in 41:17 or an average pace of 4:31 / km.

Doubling up

Got a good morning run in this morning around Maisons Laffitte town course. Felt good all of the way around and the kilometres went by quickly. I put this down to the race training and the speed that this brings just afterwards.
13.4 km in 55:08 so an average of 4:07 / km.

To make my day, I also managed to get out of work in time to get to the evening session. Well almost. I was a bit late but then found Michel and his group in the forest doing a 4', 6', 8', 4', 2' pyramid session. This was the group without the fastest runners from the club so I thught I would just take it easy after this morning's session. I couldn't help myself and ran to the front encouraging Philippe and Benoit over the intervals. I blasted the last couple running at 3:35 then 3:25 pace to finish.

A good session too especially with the humidity in the forest which made the effort particularly hard. 11km in 58:00 bringing the total distance to 24km for the day.

Recovery run

Despite racing last night with another race tomorrow, a recovery run was in order and I set off in the direction of the forest to enjoy some shade and an easy run.

It was very peasant in the forest and my legs had not suffered too much from the race last night. I had a little twinge in my right knee but nothing too painful. A good regular rhythm running through the forest at about 4:40 pace but gaining a little speed towards the end.

12.75 km all up in 58:22 or an average pace of 4:35 over the circuit. Felt great to be out and a good start to the day.

More recovery

Pentecost is a public holiday in France. Well sort of - it's a very French thing. Whenver you can take something simple and make it extremely complicated then you can be sure that it's done in France.

Pentecost was made a public holiday in France in 1886. Everybody enjoyed a day off work, except under special conditions for jobs which require permanent presence (police, firemen, air-traffic controllers etc.) Then in 2004, after the summer of 2003 which extreme heat caused thousands of old people to die in the country, the french government decided to cancel the bank holiday and make everybody work this day. Companies were required to pay a special tax as a contribution for the elderly financed from the extra productivty gained from having an extra days labour from their employees (I won't go into how this doesn't work anyway following the amendments to the labour laws following the introduction of the 35 hour working week, as that's a different story ...). What a great idea - everybody agreed half-heartedly. This is when the confusion began. Some schools continued to not work on Pentecost meaning that many parents took the day off to look after their kids. Nobody knew whether it was a holiday or not anymore and so it has continued.

I was working today. But apparently, I was one of the rare people in France to be doing so. Driving into work was a real pleasure - 30 minutes instead of my usual 1h20 drive. We arranged to go for a run at 7:00pm at the club to recover from the Paris St Germain race for most. Laurence, Nico, François, Sandra, Pascal, Philippe, Catherine, Stéphanie, Christelle, Nabil and Nicoletta also turned up for our easy run.

I led the group through the woods towards Le Mesnil from the clubhouse and then wound our way back through the forest back to the clubhouse. It was 10km in total and an hour's leisurely run at a very easy pace for all. A lot of banter and joking went on and if only every day could be a bank holiday like this, life would be so much more pleasurable.

10km all up in 1 hour. I'll let you do the maths for the average pace!

Long run

Nico was running the Paris St Germain course tomorrow and I wanted to put in some distance to try and achieve a 100km week. Sunday's run was going to be hard to fit in as Laurence was running the same race as Nico and I'd promised to accompany them both on the bike and make the most of the race as a spectator.

François agreed to come along with me and although he wasn't keen on doing the 30km that I proposed initially, he would run 20km with me. That was decided: I would run t the club and meet him there for a 20 km run together and then I'd run back. This way I'd get my 30km in and he'd run 20km with me.

With the prosect of the CCC approaching, I decided on running in Marly forest to put in some hill training. I ran through the forest to the club and picked up François there and we set off together in the direction of Princess Road.

It was a very pleasant run together at a very relaxed pace. François had eaten a large breakfast and this was obviously weighing on him to begin with but after the first 8 km, he began to feel better and the pace picked up. We ran around Joyenval golf course and then through the forest on the far side of the A13 before coming back and contourning around the south side of the golf course on the way back to the club. Realising that if we headed straight back to the club from the lycee horticole, we ran towards down some little paths through the forest back to St Germain golf club and then back to the club.

I left François at this point and headed back home. I'd been feeling great all of the way around the run despite having only eaten a cereal bar before leaving. All of a sudden, I could feel that my energy levels were running low and it was a relief to finally arrive back at the house. I still managed to run these last 5km between 4:00 and 4:20/km pace.

30.7 km all up in 2h30 or 4:55 / km on average.

Short recovery

The original idea had been to run 100km this week. Unfortunately, with business and late nights and early starts, this was proving to be impossible and today was no different. An early morning meeting meant that I couldn't fit the normal run in so I planned to cut it short and run a 10km loop instead.

This was my original 10km loop around Maisons Lafitte where I skip the loop in front of the castle which was a later modification. Having said this, I could resist the temptation to come back through the forest and enjoy the early morning temperatures in the shade of the trees.

11 km all up in 48:44 or 4:27 / km.

Recovery run

The normal tour of Maisons Laffitte for which I set off easily first thing in the morning and gradually sped up as I went around.

I made the most of the summertime to come back via the forest variant.

13.2 km all up in 58:17 or 4:26 / km average.

Ascension day intervals

Bank holiday here in France and it was a pleasant change to be able to go to the club this morning and to run with the others.

Laurence and I arrived late and so we missed the morning briefing as to the details of the session from Miguel, but no stress it was a holiday so we took off with the others to see what would happen. There was a good turnout with Jean-Marc, Ylies, Nico, Olivier, Fred and Wilfried amongst others at the front for the men and Laurence was running with Katia, Brigitte and Michèle.

After the 25 minute warm-up, we stopped for the last prep talk and discovered that the menu for the day was a 3', 6', 9', 6', 3' pyramid session. I set off for the first interval with Ylies, Nico and Olivier and was pleased to see that I was keeping up with them, feeling fresher after a day off yesterday. This lasted into the second interval when they pulled away slightly towards the end, but I managed to stay ahead of Olivier.

It was on the 9' and third interval that the going got tough. We started on the 'bosses': the mounds besides the railway line with a short, steep uphill to start and then a long drag into the second half of the interval. I suffered now and eased off the pace, letting Ylies, Fred and Nico gap me with Olivier and Wilfried just in front. I managed to catch and overtake Wilfried towards the end as he flagged and finished with Olivier.

Nico began to complain of a full stomach now, a result of an excess of hamburgers and M and M's downed by Desperados (for the non-French amongst you, this is a foul concoction pretending to be beer with a dash of tequila. It is in fact purely chemical, but attracts youngsters who don't know any better). He ran with Olivier and myself for this 6' interval and then we ran the last 3' together before he pulled away towards the end.

A good session and I was pleased with the results. It's my first speed session in a long while and I'll need more of these if I'm to be competitive over 10 and 15km. The intervals were run at the following pace approximately:

3:39, 3:25, 3:49, 3:45, 3:42.

So a total of 16.2km all up in 1:23 or an average pace of 5:08.

la Mare aux Canes

An easy run with Nico this morning as we were both down for the Ekiden the following day and didn't want to tire ourselves out. As we wanted a change from the usual Corra route and a slightly shorter run to keep fresh for Sunday and the ekiden we ran one of Nico's favourites: out to the Mare aux Canes and back through the forest.

It was a beautiful day and our run through the forest from Le Mesnil out to La Mare aux Canes was great. A slight uphill run heading out, before a slight downhill coming back.

We were also very reasonable in the pace we adopted, running around 4:45 pace out and around 4:25 pace back.

9.5km all up in 44:26 or an average pace of 4:40 per km. Good preparation for the race and feeling good again to come back from injury.

La Mare aux Canes

Back again

It's certainly frustrating to be forced to retire from running for a while. Mind you, there have been that many business trips and early starts recently that even if I had wanted, finding time to get a run in would have been difficult enough anyway. I had compensated by doing a couple of mountain bike rides, but this had only resulted in me straining the base of my back and walking around like Quasimodo for a few days. I told myself that I would take it easy over the weekend and then start again today with Laurence agreeing to accompany me on the bike.

Laurence had been worried about letting me go out for a run on my own, thinking that I wouldn't be reasonable and continue running even if my calf started hurting. She proposed an alternative: a bike and run whereby she'd accompany me on the bike and if at any time I felt that I needed to stop, rest or take it easy than the bike would be there to take me home while she ran. This sounded like a sensible proposal and I wasn't sure how my calf would hold out so I seetled for this.

It was a fairly nice day although the clouds were looming and the rain didn't seem to be far off. I put on a waterproof top (later discovered that this was a mistake) and set out with Laurence in the direction of Corra. I ran the first kilometre easily enough although the Garmin was playing up and beeped at least 100m beyond the usual spot, recording 5:30. As is often the case after an injury, you focus largely on the areas of the body where you've suffered and I spent the next 20 - 30 minutes analysing internally every little ache and pain coming from either leg. The calf was holding up though and despite a few pulls every now and then, there was nothing untoward and I was happy with how it was doing.

I felt good along the path towards Corra and I stretched out to see in what sort of shape I was after 2 weeks of forced rest. My breathing was actually not too bad but my legs were finding the going harder, especially in the thighs. I ran 3 kilometres at 3:55 pace before easing off towards Corra and dropping down to a more sedate 4:15 pace. I tried to maintain this pace up the hill to the Pavillon, running in 4:20 and then accelerating again to 4:13 then 4:08 back up to Le Mesnil.

We took a longer alternative route back home, running past the church in town before getting back in 1:04:45. I reckon that this equates to just under 1:03 over the usual route. 15.3 km all up or an average pace of 4:15 /km. Good to be back and although I didn't feel as fresh or as easy as I have been recently, I was pleased with this run as it shows I haven't lost too much pace.

Corra variant

After a long party to celebrate the Paris marathon results of our little team, I told Nico that we would take it easy this morning for our run out to Corra and back. We also agreed that in the interests of our respective waistlines that we could extend the run to burn off a few extra calories.

It was tough out there at 9:00am this morning. I hadn't had enough sleep after going to bed after 2:00 am and having tasted 5 different whiskies during the evening, not to mention the different wines on offer, I was a little sluggish to say the least. However, Nico looked as rough as I did so that was a relief. For once, we kept to our promises and set off easily and didn't push the pace too hard, too early.

It was a lovely sunny morning but not too warm and it wasn't too long before we arrived at Corra and having almost finished the loop we changed directions instead of running up to Pavillon de la Muette, we headed parallel to the path by which we arrived, running back in the direction of Maisons Laffitte. This path skirts the wall that defines the limits of the commune and heads towards the racecourse in Maisons Laffitte. The path is fairly direct to begin with before it narrows considerably and winds it way through the trees, turning left and right alternately every 6 or 7 metres or so. This is great fun but hard work on the knees and thighs as you have to push off and pick up speed again after every bend.

We were averaging between 4:10 and 4:20 pace now and arrived back alongside the road that runs perpendicular to the Maisons Laffitte - Achères road through the forest. Some more twists and turns before we hit the bumps beside the railway line and it was the last run uphill through the forest before getting back into Le Mesnil. This last section, we felt the call of home, knew that we had almost finished and so both pushed the pace running just under 15 km/h up the slope.

18.9 km all up in 1:21 or an average pace of 4:20 / km.

Easter Monday

I made the most of the Easter holiday to go for a long run again this morning. The idea was to put in some kilometres at an easy pace and to enjoy a later start to the day compared to usual.

I ran out of the house in the direction of Corra. My idea was to run the same route as a few weeks ago, heading out to Corra and then back through the forest along the wall towards Maisons Laffitte before finishing with lap in front of the castle and alongside the Seine back to the house. The run started well enough with no apparent signes of tiredness in my legs after yesterday and I enjoyed the route down to Corra.

I had put on my Gore over-jacket again this morning and regretted this by the time I reached Corra. I was too warm with the temperature hovering around the 12°C mark. I had increased my pace from 4:30 to start with to 4:10 - 4:15 pace now. There were plenty of other runners around as they were all enjoying their day off by putting in a bit of exercise. I slowed down back from Corra as I began to pay for my relatively fast start. I ran a few kilometres at around 4:20 - 4:25 pace before raching Maisons Laffitte park where I picked up the rhythm again.

I ran a loop of the park in front of the castle before heading down to the Seine and running alongside the river. I went through the half-marathon point in 1:32 and then struggled the last couple of kilometres into the wind and uphill to home.

23km all up in 1:40 so an average pace of 4:24/km. Good start to the week which will be a bit disturbed with business travel. Met Caro on the way back who told me that Nico was busy playing tennis on the playstation. When it comes to the crunch, he just can't take the pace...

Sunday club session

I turned up at the club to enjoy the Sunday session for the first time in ages. What with all of the marathon training and races, I haven't made it to one of these sessions for several weeks and it was nice to see everybody again. The turnout was not a large as usual due to Easter weekend with some people away but some of the usual faces were there including Nico, Gérald, Momo, Ylies and Nat. There was an even larger turnout for the women with Laurence and the girls running their last marathon training session together before next weekend's event.

A threshold session had been planned involving 8', 14', 8' off 3' recovery. After a 30 minute warm-up we began the session. I ran the first interval with Nico, Ylies and Eric feeling good and not too tired despite the pace which was around 3:45 per km. After this first interval though the second began and faster than before. I dropped off this front group as we ran up the "bumps" besides the railway line towards Maisons Laffitte and I never made it back from then on.

This second interval took us alongisde the railway line and then back up the path to the car park in Le Mesnil. I struggled up the hill, catching a stitch in the process, and running at 15 km/h. I was in no-mans land too with Nico, Ylies and Eric in front and the next group a good 300m behind me. I struggled on and was glad when the whistle went to end this second interval. I was tired now and even the last interval was a struggle too. It was the same story as before as I ran about 3:55 pace.

16.8km all up in 1:25 or an average pace of 5:04. A tough session for me and I suffered from yesterday's run and the fact that I ate breakfast too late before starting the run today. I should be aiming to run at threshold pace more often and made a mental note to try and include this in my weekly training schedule for the future.