4x1500m

It gets harder and harder to get out of bed when the alarm rings in the morning. The shorter days have an impact on the body clock and more sleep is necessary. I have to be frank and admit that I really didn't want to go out this morning to run these intervals. It's only the motivation to do well in the next few races that forced me to pull on my running kit and head out of the door.

The schedule was to run 30' at 70% max HR and then run 4x1500m at 90% max HR with 3' recovery. Since I don't have enough time in the morning to allow myself a 30 minute warm-up before starting the intervals, I ran my usual kilometre in 5 minutes and then began.

First impressions: a fast start and after 400m I wondered how long I would be able to keep this up. I then relaxed into an easier running posture by lengthening my stride and minimising the effort. After this first rep, I found that the 3 minute recovery was almost too long and that 2 minutes would have been sufficient. The second rep was similar to the first but I need slightly longer to recover; my recovery gait was tired and more of a shuffle than a jog. This may have been due to the hill in the second rep but still...

Third rep, I set off fast again and then after about 1km, I found I was dozing off, not concentrating on pushing the pace. I used my arms more to encourage my legs to follow and pushed to the end. The last rep was a relief to know that after this effort it would be all over.

Results after the session : 5:42, 5:41, 5:41, 5:33 which is 3:47 pace for the first 3 and then 3:42 pace for the last one.

12 km all up in 53 minutes or an average pace of 4:26 over the course. Happy to have done this one and at a faster pace than in February (3:52 /km).

Easy recovery

Just a gentle run around the town this morning to shake out the tiredness from the legs after yesterday's run.

Very dark at 6:00am now - Summer is over. Cold too, with the thermometer showing about 8°C when I left.

Legs were tired and pace was very slow. First couple of kilometres managed in 5 minutes each and then I sped up (!) to 4:45 pace. Managed to finish the route slightly faster as I woke up with daybreak and started to feel better after 8k. Ran last 2k at just above marathon pace.

10.3k all up in 48:50 or an average pace of 4:45. Very easy recovery.

However, I don't know if I can really call it a recovery - had problems walking up the stairs at work this morning.

Long Sunday Run

A deviation from the marathon running schedule for today which only required 1:40 of effort with three intervals of 10', 12' and 14' at threshold speed. I decided I would go back to my long road route through the forest to St Germain, along to Feucherolles down through St Nom la Breteche and back through St Germain to home.

Good news was that I was not alone for the run: Nick had agreed to run at least the first 11km with me up to the top of Princess Road. He would then head back and I would carry on. Further good news: Laurence was accompanying me on the mountain bike with a camelbak and so I wouldn't need to carry a bag and I had somebody with me to encourage me.

We set off easily enough and did the first km in just over 5 minutes. In fact, this would be the only kilometre that I would run under 12km/h. It was a nice morning and there was some sunshine but the temperature was probably hovering around the 14°C mark. We gradually built up speed until we were running steadily at 4:35 per km until the hills began. The first climb was up to the lycée horticole which we ran well and then the long slog up util the top of Princess Road. I felt good going up the hills and was concentrating on not bending my back but trying to run as upright as possible.

We left Nick to run back home from the top and we carried on to Feucherolles from there. I tried to run at marathon pace from this point and was covering each kilometre at about 4:15 - 4:20 pace. I carried on until St Nom la Breteche, enjoying the downhill sections to maintain the pace. I felt slightly tired but not excessively and was happy with the feelings as this was my first long run for a while.

By the time I got to St Germain, I was a lot less fresh and taking on water more frequently. The hills had taken it out of me and I just wanted to finish now. I managed to continue running and not to stop and everything was going well until about 2.5k to go when Laurence punctured. I offered to stop and help but she waved me on and ran with the bike back home. I was able to find a little bit of energy to actually increase the pace (now that I knew that the end was in sight) and finished at 4:26, then 4:10 then 3:58 for the last kilometre.

34 km all up in 2:33 or an average pace of 4:31 per km. Very pleased that I was able to get around and thrilled to manage in this time. I was probably better trained just before Paris as I was able to run faster the "marathon pace" stretches but definitely not in this shape at this stage of the preparation. Total mileage for the week 103 km - second week ever where I've managed over 100k!

Laurence got back safely 18 minutes after me ! Puncture still needs repairing - any offers ?

Cora and back

Despite the call to arms yesterday to the guys, only Nick responded positively to the invitation for an easy run to Cora and back this morning. Andy is injured suffering from back problems and Paul is still on holiday.

Struggled to wake up this morning, despite a good night's sleep and almost missed my rendez-vous with Nick for the start of the run. We headed out very easily at around 12kmh and just enjoyed the fantastic blue sky and a very comfortable temperature of around 14°C. It was just a perfect day for running and so it was a bit of a surprise when I got back to find out that the UTMB had been cancelled due to bad weather. Apparently, the decision was taken at 1:00 am this morning to stop the race due to the torrential rain and the mudslides in the mountains. It must have been a really difficult decision to take both for the particpants and the organisers but probably the wisest in the end. ALL races: UTMB, TDS and the CCC were stopped. The only one for which there is no news is the PTL which would appear to continue. If you're mad enough to enter a race for 240km and 18 000 metres of uphill then even attrocious weather conditions like this aren't going to stop you !!

Nick and I had a good chat and coasted around the Cora route at about 4:35 pace after the intitial slow start. 15km all up in 1:11 so an average of 4:47 per km.

Intending to go out for a long Sunday run tomorrow morning and to skip the club session. If I do over 30k tomorrow, it'll take my mileage this week to over 100k.

Early morning intervals

Autumn is arriving fast and it's getting darker and darker at 6:15. What's worse is that with the end of Summer and the return of the Parisiens from holiday, I'll have to get up 15 minutes earlier in order to still make it into work on time.

The big test was today with a 6x1000m interval session programmed in the training schedule. I wasn't looking forward to this as I knew it would be hard work and Fabrice had put some pressure on me by telling me that he did this session last week with an average time of 3:35 per interval.

I warmed up for a kilometre and then began the intervals. First one went alright and I knew that I'd been making an effort. Garmin won't show you your speed over the interval once it's finished so I didn't know exactly how fast I ran. 300m recovery and I was off again. I pushed hard and could feel the tiredness in my legs by the end of the interval. I then repeated this for the remainder of the session. All went fairly well despite the uphill sections in places until the last interval and I lost the motivation to run this hard. I was disappointed with myself, but at the same time knew that I'd given my best effort in completing the session.

Intervals went as follows:

3:46, 3:38, 3:51, 3:45, 3:46, 3:54

11.7km in total in 54:26 so an average of 4:39/km. Too bad on that last interval though.

Fast recovery

Another early morning run in an attempt to build up the weekly mileage gradually before the marathon. The programme indicated a 50 minutes recovery run for today and I was happy with that after doubling up yesterday.

In fact, despite the early morning start and yesterday's evening run, I actually felt quite good as I hit the streets. Well, not when I started when I still felt half asleep and dawn was only just breaking. After doing the first kilometre in just under 5 minutes, I sped up slowly, bringing down my kilometre times to 4:35.

After 5k like this, I was running through the park in Maisons Laffitte when I suddenly had a burst of energy and lengthened my stride. I felt really good and decided to extend the run through the forest by the railway line on the way back. I ran at about 4:20 pace and even brought this down to 4:16 pace and then finishing with the last kilometre downhill at over 15km/h.

Good run. Felt very good and legs strong. 11km all up in 49:30 (4:30 average pace).

Doubling up

Just an easy session at the club this evening - an excuse to see everyone and have a chat. It also turned out to be an excellent opportunity to run with the girls as Michel led another group off to run 30/30's in his manner ie. with 45' recovery instead of 30'.

9km all up in 56 minutes so very easy. Nico and I were actually shouted at by the women for unwittingly speeding up to 12km/h !