St Simon - steady run

The old classic to finish our short stay here in Aurillac. It's been a tough week running-wise and I didn't want to force it with too long a run today, especially before the drive back home.I thought that I would give it a shot at running the St Simon loop at speed to see how I was going and to see if I could approach my PB for the course.

I soon realised when I set off that it wasn't to be. My legs were tired and my heart wasn't in it after the distances covered recently. I went well enough to begin with: 4:36 for the first kilometre, then 5:11 up the hill, but then when I should have been stretching away down the hill towards St Simon, I just had nothing left.4:17 then 4:32 into the village for the next 2 kilometres and I knew that the PB was unachievable today.

From St Simon back I just tried to run as steadily as possible without pushing it too hard. I covered the 5 km back along the main road in 4:49, 4:26, 4:18, 4:07 then 4:10. So I managed to build up speed along the way back feeling comfortable as I ran.

9km all up in 40:34 or an average of 4:30 per km. Total mileage for the week is around 105km. Good tough week and IO now need to take it easy before the long trail next weekend in Britanny.

Laurence ran by herself this morning doing the same loop. She was trying to beat her PB too and managed 46:32. Still waiting for official confirmation but it looks like a new PB by some 30 seconds.

Easy St Simon

I woke up after a bad night's sleep, having suffered from stomach cramps during the night. At first, I thought that I'd caught a stomach bug or some virus but by the end of the day I realised that it was a muscular pain. This was probably brought on by my swimming session with youngest son Paul on Wednesday at the pool in Aurillac where I swam 60 lengths of front crawl and then raced Paul for a few lengths of breastroke, backstroke and finally, butterfly. God knows what possessed me to try the butterfly, but since I was quite good when young, I thought I would show Paul how it's done. Well I'm not as young as I was and not half as supple. My stomach muscles are still aching today, 2 days later.

Anyway, since I was in no state to run hard, I suggested to Laurence to go for a run with her. She wanted to go on a loop of St Simon and I eagerly got prepared to accompany her. We set off steadily and Laurence told me that she wasn't feeling that enthusiastic. She was a little under the weather and lacking in energy. The first kilometre was steady enough and then the long, steep hill took its toll on the pace and we completed the kilometre in over 7 minutes.

Once at the top of the hill, I ecouraged Laurence to extend her stride down the hill and to let herself go. We ran into St Simon in this fashion without problems and maintained a decent rhythm over the first half of the course. This was marred in the second hlaf by Laurence contracting a stitch and where we normally be coasting away on the new road, down a slight incline, we were still running at the steady pace of around 5:40 per km.

9km all up in 53:25 or an average of 5:56 per km. Well outside Laurence's best time of 47 minutes over the same course.

St Simon tour

After yesterday's long run, I thought that I'd take it easier today with a shorter run. One of my favourite runs here in Aurillac is the tour along the old road to St Simon and then back on the new road on the other side of the valley. This route is 9 km in total, so I consider it as a short, speed session even though the hills at the beginning are extremely tough.

I set off fairly fast, completing the first km in 4:17 despite the fact that this section is slightly uphill. The second kilometre is where all the height is gained and the road rises steeply above the valley. I tried to keep a steady pace up the hill despite the tiredness in my legs from yesterday, and I was pleased to see a 5:06 on the Garmin at the top of the hill over the kilometre. This isn't bad as the watch shows a 75m rise in height from 650 to 725m over this section.

From here on, I stretched my legs and tried to increase my pace. I was feeling relatively good and the time and distance went by quickly and I arrived at the St Simon bridge and 4 km in no time. I thought that I could beat my PB if I kept this up over the back stretch back over the new road. There was no easing and I pushed harder and harder, reaching my fastest kilometre over kilometre 8 in 3:43 (after the 7th km in 3:48). The speed was a little hard and I had to slow down over the last kilometre to finish in 37:13 for the whole course, and a new PB.

My last record was 38:30 so this was a whole 1:17 faster over 9 km or 8.5 seconds a km faster. I am delighted and now looking forward to the race next month to see if I can transform this training into some good race performances.

Sunday - St Simon

Decided that despite having run the Pastourelle yesterday that I would take Nick out around my favourite route in Aurillac, the old road to St Simon and then back along the new road. A 9km circular route.

As soon as we got outside, I realised that the mental energy I had was great. Unhappily, the physical energy was no match. I had even thought about extending the normal course to add on some cross-country sections from St Simon. A kilometre along the road and all ideas about running any further than 9k were banished from my mind.

We set off steadily enough at around 5:15 per km and then slowed as we went up the hill. We pushed on a little once we got to the top and wrere running at around 4:30 pace. Laurence and Anne caught us up on the bikes at this point as they coasted down the hill. Over the bridge at St Simon and back along the new road. We picked the pace up again, accelerating to 4:13 then 4:09 per km.

All up in 42:33, well outside my P.B of 38:30, but then again I hadn't run a 31km race the day before !