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.

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.

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 ?

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.

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!

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.

Track session

Well all I can say is that I was responsible for none of this - not one little bit.

It was part of Nico's plans for the long weekend to run every day over the bank holiday weekend and to get some quality training in. Jean-Marc came up with the suggestion for the training for the day. It was to be a track session involving reps of 400m, 500m, 600m x 3 off 1' recovery and 3' between the blocks. Then nico suggested that instead of getting up early, we start this track session at 11:00am.

I was in the car with Nico, heading to the track, wondering why I was going to run in bright sunlight at the warmest time of the day with 2 of the faster members of the club, both of whom are almost 10 years younger than me. My masochistic tendencies always lose out to reason when it's too late and I'm already committed.

We saw Damaso and Roger at the club who'd just finished their track session. They're at least 20 years older than me and I regretted not having run along with them. I'm sure it would have been more fun than this was going to be. Anyway, too late, Jean-Marc turned up spot on time and all three of us headed out towards the forest for the warm-up.

It was a typical Nico and James warm-up: 5:00, 4:27, 4:12, 4:02 (and I jogged the last 100 metres). Jean-Marc was being reasonable and he let us go after the first 1.5km, catching us up at the track. It felt even hotter than before now and after a quick slurp of water, we all set off.

I managed to just about hold on for the first 400m with Nico finishing a second before me and Jean-Marc just ahead. A quick look at the Garmin: 1:13 - no doubt about it, this was going to be a quick session.We jogged back a 100m and set off for the 500m. Same fnishing order with a slightly bigger gap between Nico and Jean-Marc who finished alongside each other and me a few metres behind in 1:35. Then finally the 600m where the gap was bigger still and the lactic really kicking in over the last 200m - 1:56.

It was the same story for the second block where I managed 1:14, 1:35 then 2:00 and the lactic was harder than ever. I was quietly looking forwrad to the last block if only to get it all over with and finish the session. I set off before Jean-Marc and Nico, cutting my recovery time to 2:24. The 400m went alright and then the 500m was just bearable but as I started the 600m and went around the first bend, the wind picked up and the sun beat down and I flagged mentally and pulled the plug. I was cross with myself and Nico came past to finish his series, having run them all very regularly. I'm just not ready for these VO2 max sessions yet.

12 km all up in 1:00. Tough session and I need to get back into these types of sessions if I'm to improve my speed. My endurance is there but I'm not used to pushing my heart rate so high over these track sessions.

Thursday club session

Got off to a great start this evening by smashing the car before I arrived at the club.

I was in a hurry, leaving work slightly too late to be comfortable for the drive to the 6:45 pm club session. I left at 5:55 and 50 minutes is just a little tight with the evening traffic coming out of Paris. With this in mind, I negotiated the roadworks around the Paris périphérique and then just as I turned left to stop at a traffic light the woman on my left who I'd been overtaking (on the wrong side admittedly), decided to change direction and drove into me. 20 minutes later, having filled in the insurance declaration together, I was back in the damaged car, in a bad mood, and wondering why I'm always in a hurry for these sessions.

I turned up 30 minutes late, got changed in the car and headed to the track. François was doing a marathon training session with Nat of 6 x 1000m at 4:15 pace. I decided that I would run with them and set off almost immediately.

It was a really good session and François has been training hard to achieve his 3h00 marathon in Paris next week. I'll be disappointed for him if he doesn't pull it off because he's followed the plan that I've used for the last 4 marathons most diligently.

The times for the intervals were as follows:

4:14, 4:11, 4:07, 4:09, 4:08, 4:08

So all very consistent and both François and Nat looked fresh at the end. 11 km all up in 50:21 so an average of 4:36 for the session. A whiff of scandal surrounded the session though following the declaration that one of the latest female runners to have joined the club (and closely watched by other married women runners) invited a male runner to share the female changing romms with her before the other runners arrived to open the male changing rooms. This is the sort of news that could change the reputation of the club permanently... and we wouldn't want this to happen, would we. Would we? Anyway, my only risk following this announcement is to smash up the car more frequently in an attempt to arrive earlier!

Easy club session

I hadn't made it out running once this week, so I was pleased to be able to get to the club on Thursday for an easy session with the guys. I wasn't bothered about not running as I was tapering before the Ecotrail but I couldn't help feeling a pang of remorse for not having been getting out before then.

I turned up with nothing special on my mind for the session. I was pleased to see François and to chat after his excellent run in Rueil where he beat 1:24 finishing 2nd in his category in the process. He was planning a 12x200m session with Nat and I was happy to join in with them.

Before starting we made the most of the evning light by all heading into the forest for the warm-up. There was a good turn-up and plentyn of discussions around the forthcoming races and the events in Aubergenville. Nico ran a good 35:17, slightly disappointed I think not to beat the 35 minute barrier and Jean-Marc pulled out, together with Ylies and Eric C. Most of best runners from the club pulled the lever, leaving Momo to rock home in 31:50, a new club record over the distance.

Back to the track and the seriousness began. Not for me, but for Nat and François who were both aiming for their 200m intervals in 38 seconds with a 100m recovery. They went as follows:

37, 37, 37, 36, 37, 36, 37, 36, 36, 36, 36, 32 (just playing for the girls!)

Recoveries were all around 50 seconds long.

10.7 km all up in 1:05. Nice, easy session as it wasn't too long but allowed me to stretch my legs for the week.

Ecotrail here we come.

20 x 500m

This is the classic interval session in the marathon training programme and last year I felt that I'd upped the ante when I ran this with Nico at an average time of 1:43 per interval off 1:15 recovery.

I turned up at the club late with Laurence waiting for me to let me into the changing rooms with the keys. She'd been kind enough to propose this over the phone as I called in from the Paris ring-road, stuck in a jam caused by the ever popular agricultural show at Porte de Versailles. I turned up 10 minutes late and we set off together on a warm-up in the opposite direction to the others in order to catch them on the way back to the track. Laurence was running a 6 x 1000m session with Sandra and Katia while I was hoping to find someone who'd run with me.

Back at the track, it soon became obvious that no-one was willing to take on such a big session so close to Rambouillet or Paris half-marathons. They were doing a pyramid session and I couldn't even convince Nico to act as a pacemaker for me. I hesitated for a moment about joining in an easier session and then decided that I had committed to doing this training so do it I would.

I set off by myself on the track and ran the 500m intervals with a 200m recovery.

They went as follows:

1:38, 1:35, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37,
1:38, 1:38, 1:37, 1:37, 1:38, 1:38, 1:38, 1:39, 1:38

And I stopped after 18 calling it a day as I was alone on the track now. I'd decided that as soon as I slowed to 1:40 I'd pull the plug. This just didn't happen so I stopped anyway - too tired to make it to the end. Thighs were aching, legs were sore and mentally it was tough. Better than the session with Nico last year but off 1:30 recovery which was about 15 seconds slower.

16.5km all up in 1:14 or an average pace of 4:29. Chuffed with this session as it bodes well for the half-marathon.

5x400m + 2x1600m

Arrived late to the club session and so had to change into my running kit in record speed before heading out for the warm-up with Robin who arrived after me. We chased after the others as I'd seen them leaving just as I got out of the car. I noticed in particular that it was my own wife who was leading the whole group, which was a huge turnout aswell, at breakneck speed. Was this a subtle message for me?

Caught up the others towards St Germain and so missed a chunk of the warm-up before heading back to the track. Nico and Basile were ahead, closely followed by Laurence and François. I jogged with Laurence and François talking about our planned trail races for this year which will include the Paris Ecotrail (80km) and the CCC around Mont Blanc (98km). Once back to the track I chatted with Gérald, Fred, Thierry and José before a few straights and lining up for the first of the 400m to be run at VO max speed.

I started in the middle of the pack and quickly headed towards the front of the group already suprised by the pace and effort it was taking. I'd discussed with Nico what speeds we should be running these and I suggested 80 seconds whereas he proposed a couple of seconds faster. We finished the first interval and I looked at the Garmin - 1:13. No wonder it felt hard. Nico, Fred and I were the only ones to respect the 100m recovery jog and we set off in the lead after this. The next couple of intervals were even faster and I stayed with Nico with Fred just behind running 1:12 for these. We eased on the fourth running 1:15 and the final in 1:17 in preparation for the 1600m to follow.

I set the pace for the first couple of laps for the first long interval and when Nico came past after 800m I couldn't respond. The effort from the 400m intervals had tired me and my legs felt too heavy to react. Laurence told me afterwards that I had my 'effort' face on: pale, determined, red around the eyes and spit around the mouth - charming! He built a 40m lead and finished 7 seconds ahead while I finished in 5'42 (3:33 / km). The second interval went the same way when I led for the first lap before being caught by Anis and Ilyes who past me taking Nico with them. I was more constant on this second interval while running by myself and finished in 5'35 (3:29 / km).

A tough session but I was happy with the result. According to McMillan and based on my marathon time, I should be running 400m in a speed session between 1:16 - 1:20 and 1600m between 5:33 and 5:46. Based on this, my first intervals were fast and the second spot on. There's definitely room for improvement and I should beat my 10km and half-marathon times this year. We'll just wait and see. I'll post a 2011 review and 2012 objectives soon.

12.5km all up in 1:10.

6 x 1000m

I'd been looking forward to this session from Tuesday. Work and late nights meant that I hadn't been able to get out in the mornings, so I was determined not to miss this one. The only dampener at the moment with the club sessions is Nico being on holiday skiing and Gérald nursing a calf injury. Nevertheless, on arrival I saw that there were loads of faces, including many that I had never seen before. Still some of the regulars were there: Mom, Ilyes, Mireille, Fred, Thierry, Jean-Marc to mention a few. Good this meant that there'd be some fighting up front over the session and that I 'd have a few runners to push me hard.

At least tonight it was dry. Conditions weren't perfect though with a strong wind blowing in gusts up to 50km/h. We set off on the warm-up and ran around St Germain before heading back to the track to start. A few warm-ups along the back straight and we were off from the 200m mark.

Ilyes and Momo pushed to the front from the beginning and I tucked in just behind Jean-Marc using him as a windbreak along the back straight where we had the wind directly in our faces. We passed the 500m mark and Miguel shouted out 1:39. Bloody hell, I thought, I'm running at 3:20 pace when I'd been aiming for some 20 seconds slower than this. Jean-Marc pulled away from me down the home straight and I battled to stay in contention down the back straight as I lost my wind shelter. He tired at this point and I caught him around the bend following him home down the home straight to finish the first interval in 3:24. Ilyes and Momo were a good 8-9 seconds ahead.

We ran back to the 200m mark and set off again after this 2:25 recovery. It was exactly the same story with Jean-Marc just ahead and then a group with Fred, Simon and Thierry about 5 seconds behind us. We finished in 3:24 again and I ran back to the start pushing the others by reducing the recovery to 2:00 now. We ran the next 3 in this manner with Jean-Marc and I finishing together every time. On the fifth interval though, Jean-Marc was using me as the wind-breaker and finished behind me. He didn't run the last.

I ran back and didn't wait for Mom and Ilyes who were taking longer recoveries. I ran the last interval on my own in 3:28 so slightly slower as I didn't have the same incentive to run as hard but still competitive nonetheless.

A fantastic session then with 3:24, 3:24, 3:23, 3:24, 3:25 and 3:28 to finish all off 2' recovery.

Couldn't help but tell Miguel that Nico would have struggled to keep up especially after so much 'après-ski'.

14.1km all up in 1:17.

Drenched

I didn't manage to make it for an early morning run so I concentrated on making it to the club for the evening session. The weather was lousy and I mean really lousy. It was blowing a gale and the rain was falling sideways. I wondered why I bothered attempting to get out to go running in this weather quite frankly.

When I turned up at the club there wasn't a huge turnout which considering the state of the conditions outside was hardly surprising. Momo, Mireille, Fred, Jean-Marc and Ilyes were there though togther with José and Thierry so there was some chance of a decent session. Miguel announced that the training schedule was 2 x 2000m of slow/fast/slow. Since I arrived only just intime I didn't manage to hear what was being announced and besides, it was now chucking it down and any plans looked to be optimistic.

After a quick warm-up in which everyone managed to arrived drenched back at the stadium, it was decided to change the plan and to run easily around the track and then do some running up the steps of the stadium seating and back down. With Fred, Ilyes and Jean-Marc we created a renegade group and stayed on the track running 5x300m off 100m recovery and then a second set of intervals. This was our own interpretation of the initial training plan and it seemed fine to me. We did the first set of intervals and Ilyes ran well ahead whereas Jean-Marc, Fred and myself stayed together. At the end of this first set, Jean-Marc called it a day and went to run up some stairs while I decided to run 2km at 'active' recovery pace before attacking my second set.

Fred tried to stay with me but when he dropped off complaining that I was going too fast, I realised that my active recovery was 15km/h and after 8 minutes, I started a second set of intervals with Fred acting as a pacer.
We ran all of the 300m intervals in 55 -56 seconds and was very regular. I was pleased with the session which under these conditions was nothing short of a miracle.

13 km all up in 1:03. We didn't hang around before heading home!

6 x 1000m - Club session

Damn, damn, damn. Despite leaving work at a reasonable time, or at least what I considered to be a reasonable time, I knew after 10 minutes stuck in a jam on the périphérique that I just wouldn't make it in time. I called Laurence to warn her and to get somebody to keep the changing rooms open for me. This was exceptionally important tonight, of all nights, because I had all my shower stuff with me to get changed after the training to take part in that other important club business - Beaujolais Nouveau !

I arrived at the club over 5 minutes late. I'd seen the runners at the beginning of their route around St Germain for the warm-up but I wasn't too bothered as I'd figured that I could get changed and go on the warm-up in the opposite direction and still cover a couple of kilometres before hitting the track. Jean-Claude and Miguel let me into the changing rooms and chatted while I changed into my running kit. Apparently, the annual cross country chellenge organised by the club is only 2.9km and not 3km! Scandal or what ?

I ran out to find the others and after just over 1.5k I passed them in the other direction. I looked for Laurence in the dark, but not seeing her, I tagged onto the back of the last group, running with Anis and catching up on his news. No sign of Nico who'd obviously chickened out nor my wife which was more worrying. I ran back to the track passing the groups as I accelerated and saw Gérald once I'd got there. He agreed to run my 6 x 1000m session with me and we saw Nico who'd started his 4 x 2000m already, having to hurry as he had a council meeting just afterwards.

We set off on the session almost immediately. The marathon training plan was to run every km in 4'. I reckoned that this was a little easy and decided that I would run each in 3'45 to keep the pace honest. I started with Gérald and I found the first very easy, finishing without breathing excessively in the slightest. This was too easy and didn't demand enough effort. We ran a 200m recovery and started again, this time a little faster. This is how the session went and with Gérald running with me to the end for which I was very grateful.

3:46, 3:39, 3:37, 3:35, 3:32, 3:28 all off 1'15 recovery for the 200m.

A brilliant session which encouraged me no end for the marathon. I'm in top form and runing better than ever.

13.1 km all up in 1:06 or an average pace of 5:01 per km. Laurence, Katia and Sandra looked good running their 2 x 4km and Nico averaged 7:30 for his 2km stretches. All is looking good for some excellent results in florence. Fingers crossed now for the final week and the last sessions.

Good evening with the beaujolias nouveau. José and Laurent were on top form. Nico suffered from his absence. No comments now but all will be revealed after Florence !

20 x 400m

Work is manic at the moment and if I'm not running I'm working. In fact, Wednesday I was working so much that there was no time at all in the day to fit a run in so I skipped my recvoery run and postponed this to Friday instead. The marathon plan for today was one of the final long interval sessions before the 2 week taper until Florence and the event.

I lke to be able to compare my sessions now with those that I was running just before last Autumn's marathon. It's reassuring to see that I'm running all of my intervals faster and better than before but I couldn't remeber running this session last year so how would I do? Nico had arranged to run with me tonight as it's always easier to motivate yourself to do these hard sessions with somebody beside you. I had to call him after I left work though as the jams were just incredible and I knew that I'd be late for the club session. He agreed to wait for me and I was thankful that Iwasn't going to run these alone.

I turned up at 7:15 pm, half an hour late and changed in the car. Nico was waiting for me ready to go and we ran a 10 minute warm-up around the outside of the track before running onto the track and starting the session. Nico suggested taking it in turns to head up the intervals in bursts of 2 and I agreed. He would run the first 2 in front and then I would take over and so on.

The first interval felt ridiculously easy but we were running these off 100m floats and by the 3rd or 4th it was already getting slightly more complicated. Half of the effort when you're running this number of intervals is mental as you count down how many you have run and how many are still left to do. Luckily there were some distractions at the track to take our minds off the effort as we teased Laurence, Katia and Sandra about their own 3km intervals that they were running.

Gérald joined us after the first couple of intervals and it was also reassuring to hear his heavy breathing as we ran each 400m. So it wasn't that easy for us but we obviously weren't coasting judging by the strength of Gérald's panting! Our intervals were very regular too. Nico had suggested that we aim for each interval between 85 and 90 seconds but after the first few, we were running constantly at around 84 seconds or less, so we just maintained the pace there. The recoveries were regular too with each 100m in just over 35 seconds.  Gérald pulled out after running 9 intervals with us, telling us that he couldn't take any more.

I began to struggle with the laps over the last 5 intervals when we picked up the pace slightly and I found that the recoveries weren't quite long enough for me. Despite this I managed and we completed the session together, really pleased to have run so regularly and in such a good manner. I compared this performance to last year when I was averaging between 1:27 and 1:28. Admittedly, I wasn't on the track and this does help, but we were averaging 1:22 - 1:23 by the end. The intervals went as follows:

1:24, 1:22, 1:26, 1:23, 1:22, 1:24, 1:23, 1:23, 1:22, 1:24,
1:23, 1:23, 1:22, 1:22, 1:22, 1:21, 1:21, 1:20, 1:20, 1:19

15.6 km all up in 1:12 or an average pace of 4:39 for the session. Really chuffed to have gotten this one under my belt.

Doubling up - 6 x 300m

Another early morning run from the hotel with Bruce at 5:30 am this morning.

We ran the same route as before and then continued on up the hill towards Camberly together before he turned back and I continued on. I ended up running 13.6 km in 1:07 or an average speed of 4:56 per km. I noticed that I was feeling better despite a hevay cold and sore throat. My speed picked up to 4:30 pace when I left Bruce and carried on down the main road and back.

I was back in France in the afternoon and then managed to get out of work and to the club for the evening session. Nico was waiting for me and we had an easy schedule to run for marathon training : 6 x 300m which we ran off 100m recovery.

We ran a warm up to begin with the others and then back to the track for the session. All the others were doing a lot tougher workout for once and it was a real pleasure to finish before them and watch them suffer around the track while we were warming down.

The intervals went as follows:

57, 57, 54, 55, 54, 53

So pretty consistent and all under 1 minute which were the instructions.

10.2 km all up in 57 minutes.

20 x 500m - club track session

This session is the one that is feared by all of our club runners preparing the marathon. This is by far the longest interval session that is in the marathon training plan. The original training plan that I was given for my 3 hour marathon stated 20 x 500m in 2m16 with 300m recovery. I never understood the point in running intervals slower than marathon pace, so I had modified the plan to 20 x 500m in 2m00 off 200m recovery. This seemed more than ample for the marathon pace that I want to achieve in Florence.

The first challenge was to get out of work on time and to make it to the club without getting stuck in a serious traffic jam. This hurdle over and with all of 30 seconds to spare before the club departed on their run, I made it to the changing room and into my kit. Thanks god that the coaches were chatty tonight as that meant that I was able to get ready before anybody set off.

As soon as I was out of the changing room, Nico and Fred came over to see if I was doing the 20 x 500m tonight and as this was the case then we should cut short the warm-up and to start as soon as possible. I managed to hold out on this suggestion and since we all warmed up in the forest for 4.5k, this seemed perfect and we began the hard work.

So much for 2m00 for each 500m. Nico's 2h45 marathon plan stated 1m48 for each interval and we set off with this in mind. Fred was worried that he wouldn't be able to keep up but he too decided to try his best and to keep in touch for each interval.

20 x 500m around the track is mind-boggingly boring. The others had all finished their sessions long before we did and spent minutes watching us as we circled interminably around the track. Fred, despite his initial doubts, was with us all of the while and we weren't taking it easy. Nico kept the float reasonable off 200m and we spent about 1m15 for each recovery. Intervals went as follows:

1:53, 1:50, 1:48, 1:47, 1:46, 1:44, 1:46, 1:44, 1:44, 1:43,
1:44, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:44, 1:43, 1:41, 1:40, 1:41, 1:40

19.5 km all up in 1:32 or an average pace of 4:44. Fantastic session and blew my previous intervals at stockholm by myself out of the water. There, I was only able to manage an average pace of 1:47 per 500m whereas here the average was more like 1:43. Chuffed to bits and the great thing was that we all stuck together for the whole session making it a darn site easier than running by yourself.

4 x 2000m - chicken

The marathon training plan called for 4 x 1500m so that was decided. I like the marathon training plan as I don't have to make any decisions about the training that I have to do for the day. Everything is decided for me and written down in ink on paper. There is a sort of satisfying finality to it all, something immuable that can't be modified : it is on the plan so it is final.

I texted Nico just to make sure that he was doing the same workout. He was and so we had an agreement to run together. At the track. At the club. Final.

I was able to get out of work early which was a miracle in itself. 3 of my managers off sick (from a 6 manager team), the ERP went down during the night, the accounts and sales accounts department were technically unemployed - I just had to get out. I turned up at the club early and got changed in a relaxed manner. I half listened to the prep talk by Miguel and talked to Nico about the training session. I envisaged the 1500m in 5:50 - 5:55 (just under 4:00/km pace). He envisaged them in 5:15 or less (3:30 pace) - we had a problem. Fred was running 4x2000m off 400m recovery at just under 4:00/km pace. I had a solution.

So I chickened out of the session with Nico. I just couldn't see the point in following him around the track at a pace that I couldn't follow, exhausting myself and becoming utterly demoralised. Running with Fred was a far more interesting prospect even if it involved increasing the mileage over the initial plan. I was on.

We warmed up in the forest quickly witht the rest of the group and then headed back to the track. A quick warm up at the track doing a few straight lines and then we were off. We picked up Thierry who was also interested in some intervals and not up to running 1500's with Nico either. I set off in the lead and very soon Thierry was on my shoulder with Fred a few metres behind. I felt very relaxed and easy, pleased to be at the front and coping with the intervals easily. I would listen to Thierry's breathing, knowing that he was suffering far more than I was, which was normal as he's only just coming back from a urinary infection and a heavy dose of antibiotics.

The same situation for the second interval while Nico and Gérald would pass us doing their 1500m and 1000m intervals respectively. Fred a few seconds behind, looking as though he was struggling with the pace. In the third interval Fred was right with us although we were were running slightly faster than before. And then the final interval where Thierry dropped out after 1200m and I pushed the pace with 600m to go. Fred passed me with 400m to go and I overtook him again with 300m to go before launching into a sprint from 200m out. I could here him behind and we finished together as he caught me up and drew alongside down the final straight.

And the times ...

7:35, 7:34, 7:31 and 7:03. Really pleased with this performance as I felt good all of the way around off a 400m or 3' recovery. Last kilometre was run in around 3:20.

Just under 15km all up in 1:12. Great session but I'm sure that I'll pay for this tomorrow morning.