Coaching the girls

I'm running the cross country this weekend for the club veterans with the veterans, so I was supposed to be taking it easy tonight. Miguel, moreover, had arranged an easy session for all the crossmen so I decided that I'd accompany Katia and Laurence as they've begun their training for the 80km Ecotrail mid-March. Tonight's session had been concocted by the other coach, Michel, and it was a real humdinger. 30 minutes of warm-up, followed by 7km at marathon pace, and then finishing with 15 x 200m off 100m recovery. This was going to be a 90 minute training session and well over 16k all up.

We started with François and Stéphanie who were also taking it easy and we warmed up with everyone to begin with and then completed a quick tour of St Germain in a loop bringing us back to the club. Another shorter loop and we completed the warm-up and then the 7km at around 4:45 - 4:50 pace.

We then started the track session with the aim to run each 200m in 48 seconds and recover for roughly the same time over 100m. They ran very consistently starting at 48 seconds per interval and speeding up to finish the intervals in just under 45 seconds. They've both improved so much in running ability that it no longer feels slow to run alongside them but a pleasant, comfortable pace. Katia was trying to talk Laurence into a 3:20 marathon attempt in Berlin and they're both capable of doing this based on their current form.

18km all up in 1:35.

Forest run with club

It was an easy choice tonight: a track session with Miguel or an easy run in the forest with Michel and the girls. My ankle has not improved much from Tuesday and I decide that it's not wort risking further injury or prolonging the injury I have by running hard over a track session. This was a shame as José and  Jérémie were there and I'd been enjoying our regular track sessions these last few weeks.

I put on the headlamp and ran with Katia and Laurence after the usual warm-up run around St Germain. We set off and ran towards Poissy at the end of the cycle track, we waited for the slowest member of the group to catch up and then we set off again. And then we repeated the exercise. It wasn't as though we were running fast either. At an average pace of 6'45/km, we weren't exactly pushing it. So, I was basically very frustrated, regretting my choice of sessions for the evening, despite the fact that it was pleasant to chat with Katia and Laurence. The achilles felt alright and the dull pain that was present at the start of the session had virtually disappeared by the end. I did, however, have other niggles that started such as pain in my right knee and pain under the sole of my right foot.

A couple of laps around the outside of the track when we got back to the club with Katia and Laurence and we managed to complete 12.2 km in all. It just took us 1:22 to manage this though! I'll just count this as a very slow recovery run, helping the achilles back into shape.

Club session

It was with pleasure and a little intrepidation that I went to the club session tonight. The achilles is not completely better but a few strides with casual shoes on convinced me that it was no longer as painful as before and that an easy warm-up with the club couldn't do any harm.

I met François, Momo, Nico at the club and we warmed up together. When Nico and Momo asked if I wanted to speed up a little during the warm-up, I agreed as the achilles was pulling and I could feel a dull ache, but nothing like the pain I experienced on the trail when it all started. We sped up to around 4'30/km pace - I can't be sure as my garmin was still charging on the bedside table when I left for the club.

After the warm-up, the group was running 20x200m and I decided that I would definitely give this a miss. I ran with Laurence and Katia instead on their intervals with 20x200m run in 41 - 43 seconds per interval with a 200m recovery. Katia was slightly ahead with François, who was also in recovery phase after the trail too, and Laurence and I were about a couple of metres behind. Both the girls were very constant and it was good to see them working on some VO2 max sessions for a change. I checked this pace on McMillan when I came home and it corresponds to a 44' 10k pace and it would be good if they could both go under this for their next race.

A quick warm down at the end and we were done. I calculated that we ran 14km in all for the evening.

Trail du Tour du Canton - 82km

"Why was I here ?", was the first question I asked myself on Saturday morning when I got up at 4:15am. It was only the promise of obtaining 2 points for completing the trail around the Normandy countryside that would then allow me to enter the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) and its 160km and 10000m of uphill that pushed me to participate. You might find this hard to fathom, and I have to admit the logic isn't clear to me either, that someone only enters a 82km trail to be able to compete in an even harder, even longer trail next year. Well, not only was I here, but I'd persuaded François to take part too whereas Laurence and Katia were running the 42km trail a little later in the day.

After an early breakfast, we hitched a ride with Fabrice (a guy we met the previous night at the hotel who was running too) and by 5:45am we were all ready, dressed in running tights, compression socks, a couple of warm layers and the headlamp ready for the briefing by the organisers. So there would be lots of mud, plenty of refreshment stops and the hardest parts were at the end - that was as much as I could take in at this time in the morning.

We walked down to the start from the gym and waited patiently for the off. They lit the red flares, played the loud music and we were off. It waas an impressive sight as the headlamps flickered down the streets in the red shadows cast by the flares.

François and I set off together, slowly working our way through the runners until we were in about 20th position and running at a steady 5'15/km pace. I'd hoped that we'd be able to manage 5'/km for most of the race but François was unsure of his capacity to maintain this, never having run further than a marathon before.

I was a little cold despite my 2 layers on top with a cold wind that was cutting through the fabric. My jacket was in my rucksack but I couldn't be bothered to stop and unpack it, besides which it was too big for the elements as I'd erred on the side of caution with a jacket adapted for heavy Normandy rain. The paths went through fields and we soon had an idea of the mud that we'd have to run through. Nevertheless, the first kilometres were also along plenty of tracks which were generally dry and fairly rapid. 1 hour already and the first 11 km were under our belts. A couple of kilometres later and we were at the first feeding station and I took the opportunity to eat and drink rapidly.

It was still dark for the next hour too and we ran another 11km at a steady pace. François was slowing slightly and I would wait every 4 or 5 km to let him catch up and to start again together. Despite trying to run alongside François and to let him set the pace, naturally I would drift a little ahead, building a gap of 300 - 400m in 20 - 30 minutes. This was not a problem since we didn't talk much with both of us focusing on the job in hand. The second feeding station was at 25km and day was jsut beginning to dawn when we arrived. We both enjoyed a nice soup here and some more food before setting off again. I could see that François was feeling more tired now and the pace was around 5'30 / km compared to the initial 5'15 we'd been averaging. I was still feeling very easy at this stage and wondering if I'd feel this good until the end. There were fewer road sections now and more fields and tracks through the woods. Would this have an impact?

A typical muddy field that we'd have to cross. The terrain was generally mostly flat in the first half of the race.








At 37km we entered Bolbec, the main town in the area, for the third feeding station and the roughly halfway point. We had organised a bag to be here with a change of clothes but neither François not I felt the need since it had not rained. We were joined by Fabrice, our driver, who asked if he could run with us so we set off again after some more soup as a little group with a couple of extra runners who'd also tagged on. I chatted easily to Fabrice about our experiences on the CCC and waited every now and then for François. It was just before the next feeding station at the 50km mark that disaster struck. I was crossing a muddy cornfield with the plants reduced to a cut down stump, forcing a higher stride when I felt a pain in my left achilles tendon. No doubt that I'd strained this again. However, it was when I left the field and ran along the road to encouragements of how it was tarmac until the feeding station that I realised just how bad it was. My achilles pulled incredibly and the agony was almost unbearable. I adjusted my stride to a shuffle, gritted my teeth and carried on to the next stop where I had some soup and waited for François. I told him about the pain and that I continue at my own pace in the best manner possible.

To make matters worse, the course began to get difficult from here on. there were virtually no roads until the end. We ran down paths that had been washed away and that looked like riverbeds that had dried up, twisting your ankles as you ran and sending pointed stones into your ankles as you scuffed them with your feet. I was tired with the pain and the distance and to add to my woes, I had problems with my eyes focusing on the track ahead. I was seeing double and my only solution was to close one eye as I ran. This was the low point of the course : cold, wet, in pain and unable to see properly, I seriously thought of abandonning now. I just wanted to get to the next feeding station to see how things would be, knowing that this was situated at 64km and there would only be 18km to go.

When I finally reached the feeding station, it was lovely and warm inside. I called François to see where he was and to encourage him with the news that the resting place wasn't far. He arrived a couple of minutes later and he looked as tired as I felt.We sent a couple of messages to the girls and after another cup of tea and some food, we headed back into the cold to finish the final legs. I ran with François all the time now and we felt good knowing that there was only one more feeding station before the final leg of 8kms back to Beuzeville. I encouraged François to try and overtake an older man we'd seen at the last feeding station who looked like he was a V2 (over 50). We caught up with the runner in front, only to find it was a young man (who was running like an 80 year old due to the tiredness!).Having overtaken this runner, we were soon able to see another runner 250m ahead. I didn't dare tell François that this was our guy, having made the mistake once already. I caught up with him and checked first. It was the V2 runner, so I waited again for François and urged him on. We didn't catch up with him for another kilometre and then we stopped and chatted together at the last feeding station. I felt better now, knowing that we'd made it as there was only another 7 - 8 kilometres before the finish.

François asked for a cup of tea and I couldn't believe it. Here we were next to the runner he wanted to beat and he asks for a cup of tea. The V2 leaves the feeding station and I hassle François to finish his tea and go. This last leg is the muddiest section yet. There are 2 deep ruts full of water and mud or the middle of the track which is deep mud. Hobson's choice: I chose the ruts - at least the water wasn't as slippery as the mud in the middle. We caught the V2 runner and I left François at this point, trying to accelerate to catch Laurence and Katia who I knew were ahead having run the 42km with the same last 8 kilometres to the race. The phone rang and it was Laurence asking where I was as she had just finished. I explained that I was about 5k from the end but didn't know exactly as my Garmin had died after 4 hours. I spent the next kilometres chasing down the competitors from the 42 km (and 1 from the 82k race) and overtaking them. I finished exhausted and waited for François who came in 10 minutes behind me. What a relief.

It was a good race with an excellent organisation but unfortunately my achilles wasn't up to it in my trail shoes. I finished 26 overall in 9h11 with François in 9h21 in 28th place (and just in front of the 4th V2!). The girls ran well finishing 2 and 3rd from scratch and 1 and 2nd in the V1 category. Laurence was thrilled.

The recovery went well from the race and I'm only nursing the achilles which I hope will improve in the next few days. Quiet now until the end of the year.

Andrésy 13.5km

It was a last minute decision to take part in this race. It's Katia's home territory and she convinced Laurence to take part, so I decided to come along for the ride. It's been 4 years since I raced here in the race  in Andrésy and I thought that with my recent form that I could finish in around 50 minutes and with a bit of luck even go under this time. I'd also noticed that Olivier from the club had entered  and that I could give him a run for his money. Since he's a member of the club elite, this could be a little "feather in my cap" and an added bonus.

It was a perfect day for running with the temperature hovering around the 11°C and only a little wind to make the going hard on some stretches. The whole town had been cordonned off for the race and Laurence and I jogged a couple of kilometres to the start line to register and pick up our bibs. Due to our late decision to enter, I was runnning under another vet's name from our club and when I explained this to the organiser, they couldn't be bothered to make the changes and asked if I minded. Since the distance wasn't officially recognised and I knew the club would make the changes on their website, I let this go.

A quick warm-up with Katia, her nephew and Laurence and we lined up for the start. I stood next to Olivier and told him my plan to stick with him throughout the race. He said I should try and beat him instead! That was enough to spur me on. When we set off, I sat on his shoulder and felt comfortable with the pace. So comfortable that I upped the ante immediately and overtook him after 500m, taking off after the front runners. I was in 7th position here and the 2 leaders had made a large gap immediately and there was a group of 4 just ahead. The garmin beeped for the first kilometre, showing 3:28 which I felt happy with. I wasn't going to explode at this pace and I knew that we'd soon settle down.

The race was over 2 loops with a first loop of 6km and then a longer loop of 7.5km which takes in a steep hill which I remembered from last time. I ran that first loop which is practivally flat at a steady pace watching the group ahead as one guy pulled up and stopped while the 3 runners he had been with carried on and now had a 15 metre lead on me. I contemplated moving up a notch just to protect myself from the headwind but the effort necessary was just too much for me to muster. I finished the first loop with the following splits:

3:27, 3:30, 3:38, 3:40, 3:38, 3:37

I kept thinking about Olivier and wondering how far behind me he was. I dared not look in case that this should spur him on and I just watched as a runner from Andrésy dropped back off the group ahead and I wondered if I could catch him. The hill came: a 300m long wall at 16% gradient. I'm not a good hill runner so it was a surprise when the gap between me and the runner ahead shortened to 5 metres by the time we got to the top. He accelerated away though at the bend at the top and I paced it a little easier as I figured that there was still 5 km to go to the end. I chased him the rest of the way and I really thought that I could catch him as I closed down the last hill before the final straight with the wind in our backs. He knew I was there though and as we slalomed between the other back enders doing the 5.8km race, he pushed the pace just sufficiently to discourage me from making a move. I think that had he been a veteran himself, I would have sprinted to try and beat him to the tape. The motivation wasn't there though and he crossed the line 5 seconds before me while I managed a 49:26 and 6th place from scratch. I was second veteran and waited 50 seconds for Olivier to cross the line a place behind me and 3rd veteran. What elation!

3:39, 3:42, 4:25 (with the hill), 3:49, 3:43, 3:35, 3:33 and 3:31 pace to finish.

I ran back along the course now to encourage Katia and Laurence. Katia was first woman and Laurence was a couple of minutes behind in 3rd place for the women. I could see that she'd given everything and I ran into the finish with her, chuffed to bits. 1h00 for Katia and 1h02 for Laurence in 1st and 2nd place as vet women and 1st and 3rd place for overall women. What a great result.

Photos of the podium. Too bad that my moment of glory was spoilt slightly by being called Philippe!











A quick warm down and 21.5km for the day.

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.

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.

Paris Marathon

I was assuming pacing duties for the girls today around the Paris marathon course. I had arranged to meet them just before the 5 km marker and run the rest of the marathon with them. A modified photocopy of Laurence's bib would hopefully ensure that I wouldn't be ejected from the end of the circuit by the marshals and would allow us all to finish together.

I stood waiting in the cold (6°C) just before Bastille watching the elite go past and then searching hopefully for François and Benj on their quest to beat 3 hours. No sign of them at all but it's so hard to spot individuals in the mass of runners and if you don't concentrate really hard, all you notice is a blur of bright shoes and running gear passing in front of your nose. For Laurence and the girls, we'd specified the spot where I'd be but it was still a relief when I saw Laurence in her Florence marathon running top and Katia and Sandra beside her. I left the pavement and dropped in behind them.

The aim was simple 4'58 per km for 42.2 kilometres and they were slightly ahead of schedule when I met them. I was happy to just sit in behind them to start with and chat easily while they focused on the race. I would act as the gofer at every feeding station, picking up 4 water bottles at each and then sharing out the Gu chomps that were appreciaed by all. We went through 10km in 44:33 and the pace was steady and all of them looked pretty fresh.

We were joined by Stéphanie at this point, who was recovering from an injury with sore ribs (don't ask!) and was looking to run a marathon easily with her girlfriends. A capable runner, she has the potential to run a good 10 - 15 minutes faster than the objective for today. We headed into Vincennes and admired the staging set up for François Hollande's presidential rally in the afternoon. Both he and Nicolas Sarkozy had chosen today to hold their Paris meetings, with the marathon too it wasn't the best day to be in town if you wanted to get anywhere in a hurry.

We had been running for over an hour now and Laurence and Katia were slightly red in the face, whereas Sandra still looked very composed and relaxed. She was suffering from a bad hip but this didn't show at all in her stride or her running today. There was a glimpse of sun from between the clouds and I was happy that the temperature was beginnning to rise as I was feeling the cold. This feeling wasn't shared by all as the girls were obviously more strained and looked slightly warm now. I proposed to share a sponge at the next sponge station situated every 5km but no sponges were to be found. You had to carry them from the beginning or find an alternative. Mine was a piece of cotton cloth I found beside a bucket which I dampened and passed to Laurence to cool her down.

We left Vincennes and through the 20km mark in 1:38 so still slightly ahead of schedule but nothing outrageous compared to the pace fixed for the race. Sandra would shout out every now and then to slow Laurence or Katia down if she thought that they were pushing the pace too hard. I was happy tyo sit at the back of the group and watch as they ran. They had plenty of admirers in the field too. Several male runners would come and latch onto the group, passing on encouraging remarks to the girls. I told one bloke to stop chatting up the women as they were my groupies!

The group held together until 30km when Laurence who had complained of a stitch just before fell back slightly, and Katia who had suffered herself just before, pushed on in Sandra and Stéphanie's wake. Pascal accompanied Sandra from the 22km mark and I dropped back now just to accompany Laurence through her wall and to get her to the end. The pace dropped as we left the Seine, heading up to Porte d'Auteil, and whereas we'd been running at under 5'00 per km until then, we now ran at 5'07. The marathon starts at this point and I could see that Laurence was going to find the end hard. The road rose before getting to Roland Garros and we slowed to a 5'30 pace before picking it up again as the road flattened out.


The last 7 kilometres were a case of gritting your teeth and getting on with it. Katia had disappeared from sight now too, accompanied by Michel the girls' coach. I encouraged Laurence onwards, telling her that it was only 3km to go, a short track session before the finishing line. We passed this point in 3h16 and I knew that we wouldn't go under 3h30 but we wouldn't be far off. It was only a case of hanging on in there which Laurence did admirably, passing literally hundreds of runners in these last kilometres as they were racked with cramps and crying out in pain. The last roundabout appeared and I told her that there was 300m left to run. We managed to accelerate slightly, recovering the 5'00 pace to end the course in a time of 3:33:29. Once over the finishing line, she burst into tears and told Katia, who we saw limping a few metres past the line, that she couldn't breathe.

A great race by all, capped by the news that François had beaten the 3h00 barrier to finish in 2:59:23. Benj missed out by a couple of minutes having suffered from cramps after the 35km mark. Marvellous race for all overall. Sandra and Stéphanie managed to beat 3h30 by a handful of seconds, with Katia finishing a minute ahead of Laurence.

37.6 km for me in an average time of 5'03 per km, completing a good week for mileage with 92km on the clock. Congratulations to all on an excellent marathon and looking forward to Amsterdam now to take part myself and share in the record-breaking attempts.

Marathon training with the girls

Still feeling pretty tired after the race but decided that an easy session would do me the world of good so I settled on a marathon training session with the girls in preparation for Paris marathon in a few weeks time. They had a couple of 30 minute intervals to do at future marathon pace (marathon pace - 10 seconds per kilometre) and that suited me fine.

Turned up with Laurence at the designated starting point in the forest close to St Nom la Breteche waiting for the others to turn up. There was Katia, Sandra, Catherine, Laurence (of course) and Philippe who had turned up to accompany Catherine. We set off at an easy pace for 10 minutes before starting to run at 4:50 pace. In fact, we managed to average around 4:45 pace for the first 30 minutes and then enjoy a 5 minute recovery before the second 30 minutes which were completed at just faster than 4:50 pace. Considering that the target pace was 4:50 and they all looked fairly comfortable in achieving this, I was most impressed. They have been very serious in their preparation and in following the marathon training plan, and without any major meteorological incident or injury, they should all be very close to achieving the 3:30 objective.

It's a really nice group and I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying them over the distance. I was able to relax and recover and yet participate in a tough session for them and encourage them at the same time. The only disappointment was Philippe feeling a pain in his achilles tendon (which was later confirmed as tendinitis) thus forcing him to pull out of the Paris marathon.

13.8 km all up in 1:08 or an average pace of 4:56 / km.

Running easy

The sacrifices that you are prepared to make to go for a run are incredible. I sacrificed Sunday morning in bed today as having agreed to run with the girls, Laurence finally admitted that the training was to begin at 7:30am so that Katia could fit in her daughter's confirmation this morning. She then told me that we weren't running from home but had to drive 10km to get to the meeting point aswell. At least since I didn't make too much of a fuss, I should have earned some wife credits in the process.

It was a beautiful morning outside. Or, at least it must have been a beautiful morning, but for the moment it was still dark so we couldn't see anything of it. Autumn has arrived, so the temperature was a brisk 6°C this morning and when we arrived at the car park and met Katia and François, we decided to start immediately before we all caught colds. Sandra and Pascal had pulled out of the run at the last minute, informing us that they weren't ready to forsake their Sunday lie-in. Some people are sensible.

We ran up Princess Road to start at a steady pace and I felt very easy, recovering after my long run yesterday and easing the ache in my thighs and calves. I was concerned about my left achilles since I woke up this morning with a dull ache here, but everything went well as I ran. I chatted with François, while Laurence and Katia ran together just a few metres behind. As we ran I tested a theory about the difference between men and women and their running styles.

Women have an amazing propensity to talk when they run at speeds that leave men breathless. Katia and Laurence were running now at marathon pace, still chatting to each other. When Nico and I run at marathon pace, we grunt at each other and normal conversation is impossible. Today, by the time we'd covered 5 kilometres, they'd managed to discuss their children, life at school, weekend activities, you name it, it had been covered. François and I had just had time to discuss our respective training schedules. Chat about the family was on the programme, but only in 5 weeks time!

François had 2 x 20 minutes of marathon pace (around 4:25 / km) to do during the session this morning, so we set off together once we arrived at the top of Princess Road. We began at 4:25 pace but then sped up to 4:20 before finishing downhill into St Nom la Breteche at 4:15 pace so averaging 4:18 over the first interval. We ran back to the girls and then accompanied them up through St Nom and back onto the forest road towards St Gemme when we set off on the second interval. This we ran slightly faster than the first averaging about 4:15 / km for the 20 minutes allotted.

The sun was risen now and we could really appreciate the morning as the sun lit up the mist in the forest, creating an eery effect. The temperature rose a couple of degrees too which made the run very pleasant. To finish, I made the most of the last few kilometres back down Princess Road to stretch out and let loose downhill. Last kilometre in 3:38 feeling very easy which is all very promising for the test in 2 weeks time.

25 kilometres all up in 2:04 which brings me to 110 km for the week. This is probably the farthest I 've ever run in a weeks training and if this doesn't pay off I'll go back to enjoying my lie-ins on Sunday mornings.