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...

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.

Easy Friday

Nico has planned a serious weekend, making the most of the bank holiday yesterday and the day off today to put in some miles and intervals. Today though was the rest day before the hard work begins again tomorrow. We planned to go for the usual route to Corra but with Laurence and Katia to ensure that no excess incurred in pace and natural competitiveness. Jean-Marc also agreed to come along and unfortunately Sandra is injured and François unavailable, otherwise it would have been the best part of the Florentine marathon expedition on the easy run today.

It was not exactly marvellous weather when we woke up: grey skies and threatening to rain. I put on a waterproof jacket and a cap to keep the rain off me, but this would prove to be a waste of time and just cause a little over-heating. We set off at an easy pace and had a good chat all of the way around. The girls were chatting plenty to start with but when the pace went below 5:00/km, it started getting a lot quieter at the front. The gentlemen that we are, we let the girls dictate the pace and made sure to stay behind them so as not to be accused of having to have forced them to run at speeds that they were uncomfortable with. Overall this worked fairly well over the circuit.

We set off at around 5:40 pace and then they sped up to 5:20 and then 5:00 and below before they realised that this was supposed to be a recovery run and not a tempo run. I could see that the effort was beginning to show on both of their faces on the far side of Corra at about the 8km mark. This didn't deter them from pushing on and we finished the whole loop of 15km in 1:17 with a 5:08 average pace.

A good way to start the day and we discussed the upcoming races, having signed on for Les Clayes (10km) on the Friday evening and then Orgerus (15km) on the Sunday. Quite looking forward to both of these now and a little stretch before I start the trails at the end of June.

Doubling up

With a manic Monday and an early start with a first meeting at work scheduled for 6:30 am - yes, you did read that correctly - I put my recovery run back a day to Tuesday and ended up by doubling up with a session at the club in the evening.

The recovery run went well but I could definitely feel the impact of a hard Paris-Versailles race in my legs. The thighs were still aching slightly and I didn't have the same energy as of late. I set out on my usual course around Maisons Laffitte as it's the only route where I can see where I'm going now that the days are closing in again. I have added in a extra loop in the park which brings the total circuit to just under 13km. I set out slowly but as the body warmed up I gradually gained in speed.

By the end of the run I'd begun to feel better and the thighs had loosened. It was a pity that I hadn't been able to do this a day earlier. I finished the loop in just under 58 minutes at an average pace of 4:31 per km.

After a day in the office, I was able to sneak out from my myriad conference calls that I'm having to participate in at the moment and got to the club just in time to see everyone having the pre-rep speech and heading off while I changed into my kit. I chased off after them in the hope of convincing someone to return to the track with me and do the 2 x 3km that was indicated on the marathon training schedule. I caught them after a rather rapid warm-up but nobody was interested in my proposal so I settled on doing the 15 x 30/30 that were on offer with Miguel.

We set off on these intervals with Nico and Jean-Marc. I was able to stick to both of them for the first few intervals but after that their speed meant that I would lose 5 metres over the 30 seconds and then catch this back over the recovery. Jean-Marc is returning to form after some injury and he tired towards the end of the session but was otherwise looking very good. I was pleased with the quality of the session and the fact that the gap between Nico and myself is closing.

I ran around the track at the end after returning to the club to record 10km on the Garmin forgetting that I hadn't been able to start the watch until a kilometre into the training session at the start due to my catch-up exercise. 11km all up in just under the hour.

Cora with the boys

Nico asked if I was going ot Cora this Saturday and whether we could run together. Nice idea I thought. It's good to run with some company and Nico and I have a good chat together, talking about the club and what goes on and the forthcoming races etc. I receive a mail on Friday saying that Jean-Marc is coming along too. Now I know that I've been injured and made a fairly good recovery so far, the thought of running with Nico was fairly daunting but running with Jean-Marc is a step up again. It's an easy run James. Don't worry. They'll be taking it easy.

I left the house at 8:00am and Nico was ouside a couple of minutes after. Jean-Marc arrived, parked his car and we set off though Le Mesnil and up to the crossroads before heading off into the forest. The first kilometre was easy enough in 5:12 but as soon as we got into the forest, the pace heated up to 4:33 and it felt quick and then 4:23, 4:30, 4:27.

We left one part of the forest and crossed over the road and then down the wide path into the second section of forest that surrounds the Cora lake. Nico and Jean-Marc were increasing the pace gradually and I was just concentrating on not acting like somebody not able to keep up and clenching my teeth in the process. They looked easy; I didn't feel it. 4:03 and I thought that the Garmin had gone wrong. We were close to Cora now and I thought that we could ease the pace going around the lake. And we did: 4:14, 4:14, 4:11 and then up the hill to Pavillon de la Muette where I always slow down to accommodate for the hill. Well I slowed down but Jean-Marc and Nico didn't - 4:20.

This carried on to the end of the run when we hit the tarmac again and the roads back though Le Mesnil to the house. We finished at 3:47 pace and a total time of 1:04:25 or an average pace of 4:20 per km for the 15km. I was shattered but pleased to have made it around so fast. Nico and Jean-Marc both admitted to having felt a slight tiredness in their legs towards the end. But I think they were just being kind. I felt a large void where my lungs and heart were supposed to be, but it's improving. Gradually.