Champion's return

A special effort to get out of work in time for the club session last night in order to go and soak up some praise from my fellow athletes after the resounding victory over Nico at the weekend. I almost got stuck in traffic but I arrived at the club just in time to be welcomed by a round of applause as Miguel was giving the pre-run chat. I made the most of it and put on my most modest face even though I was brimming with pride.

I was only up for a warm-up jog with the group accompanied by Fred, Gérald, Ilyes and Simon who all congratulated me on a great race. I got back to the track to be met by Régis and Dominique who joined in on the congratulations and wanted to hear how the race went. Of course, I told it how it was, with no embellishments, especially the part where Nico crossed the finish line distraught and full of anguish following his humiliating defeat, or something to that effect...

A few laps around the track and Gérald joined me at the end and we discussed tactics for the race at Conflans on Saturday. I'll see if I can keep up with him around the course and help him to the 90 points he needs now to clinch his 3rd place on the podium in the departmental challenge.

All in all, I must have run 9km without the Garmin at a very easy pace. Just what the doctor ordered.

Florence Marathon - showdown

I am not doing well in the 2011 Nico v. James challenge. We have run 8 races so far this year and he's won 7 of them. I have excuses of course: we always have excuses when we fail to do well. But the truth is that I am not able to run as fast as he can over the shorter distances. We knew this when we pulled the challenge together. It was supposed to be a mix of events ranging from 5km to marathon. I wanted the longer distances as I knew I had a far better chance whenever we race over 15km. I also wanted to take into account the time difference in the various races rather than just taking a win over a loss. Whatever, he is now 6 races up and it looked as though he was entering the marathon with some solid training and a good chance on paper of beating me over this distance too.

As members of the St Germain running club we also have our supporters. As a veteran I tend to find a lot of support from the older members of the club but also veteran marathon runners (thanks Gérald), whereas Nico has plenty of support from Jean-Marc. So basically, Jean-Marc was betting on Nico while 90% of the club was behind me (average age in the club is close to 50 so this wasn't surprising). Nico had been doing plenty of swaggering prior to the race about how he would beat me hollow, pick me off the road at 35km, etc. but I could tell that his mouth was talking but his brain didn't believe a word he was saying. The race was on.

Laurence and I flew into Pisa Saturday morning and picked up a car to get over to Florence for lunch-time. The adventure started here. The Italians are great at many things: food, wine, opera, art but they are lousy at one thing - road signs. It took us an hour to get around Florence and to finally find the stadium to pick up our bibs for the race the following day. I'd had enough of driving by this point and just wanted to dump the car. After a quick tour of the marathon expo and utter disappointment at seeing my bib for the race with my number 223 and then 'James Highnam FRA' written beneath it, we drove into Florence centre and to the hotel. Lunch in the city centre calmed us down nicely and we were finally able to soak up the atmosphere of this amazing Italian city that must be one of the most beautiful in the world. The sun was shining and the temperature hovering around the 16°C mark and the light on the buildings and the river Arno was just incredible. A quick shop in the centre and we headed back to the hotel to meet the others.

We'd only just digested lunch when we attacked dinner with Sandra, Pascal, Katia and François and their families. Talk about carbohydrate loading: the pasta starter was enough for a regiment, let alone the chicken and roast potatoes that followed. Nico and his family had also arrived safely in town as I'd exchanged texts wth Nico earlier. Despite my initial worries that he'd had problems arriving, it turned out that his delay in answering the phone was due to the fact that he'd turned it off while enjoying a long siesta. He was obviously dead serious about the race and determined to be as ready as possible.

Laurence and I got up the following morning fully prepared for the race. This was not like Marseille. We'd learned our lesson and packed cream, safety pins, caps, the whole caboodle. A quick breakfast with François and Katia and we headed off through town to the start down by the river. We met Sandra and Pascal as arranged and bumped into Nico, Benj and Greg. The day was perfect: sunny, blue skies, no wind and about 3°C. As the sun rose above the skyline, it elt warm on your body and the cold temperature was not a problem. Nico was nervous and had slept badly, whereas I was eager to start and to get running, not having trained since Tuesday previously. The organisation was good and runners disclipined as they entered the different timing pens. 30 minutes wait in here and a couple of pee stops later and we were ready to go.

I had the Garmin on virtual partner mode with 4:05 entered as the pace to stick to. Nico was going to head out faster and I thought that I'd be picking him up at about 35km as he suffered over the final stages. That was the race plan - clear cut, simple, straight-forward. This was redemption time as with my marathon experience, there was no way that Nico could beat me over this one. Despite his training, I wasn't convinced that he would be able to hold on at the end when the going gets really tough. We would see if I was right.

So much for the plan. I set off and after a few hundred metres I was behind schedule. No problems it was a slow start and I missed the first kilometre as I concentrated on not running inot other runners and trying to find a pace I was comfortable with. I relaxed and stretched out into the second kilometre and when the Garmin showed 3:56 I wasn't surprised but since it felt that comfortable, I decided not to worry and to just go with it. I began looking ofr runners that I could tag along with now but at this stage in the race this can be risky. I spotted a Scandinavian (Swedish I thought but he turned out to be Norwegian) in a red top and I judged my pace by him. If I got too close, I would ease off but judging how relaxed I felt, I figured that I had the pace about right.

There was no sign of Nico now and I came to the conclusion that has behind me. I'd been running a few kilomtres under 4:00 each now and there was no sign of him in front. This was confirmed at 6.5km when we went around a hairpin before entering Le Cascine park. He waved and shouted out to me. I stuck a thumb up at him in return, happy to know he was behind and feeling great about my shape. This spurred me on and my next few kilometres all hovered around 4:00 with my slowest in 4:03 and my fastest in 3:54 depedning on whether it was a slight uphill or slight downhill. At 11km, I was caught by a small group of 4 Italians, 2 from the same club sharing the lead, with another talking to the spectators or his fellow runners. I tagged along on their shoulders and as we passed the feeding station, I ran to the front and shared the lead. I looked at the Garmin as the pace felt slightly uncomfortable: 3:55. In fact this was a series of kilometres where I was flirting with the danger zone but too happy to be with the group and to ease off the pace - 3:55, 3:55, 3:57, 3:57, 3:56, 3:53. It was this last kilometre that decided it, I had to let them go. We were at 19km now and I couldn't afford to overheat now. I relaxed and ran a 4:03 watching the group ease ahead and then I saw the clock as I ran through the half-way point: 1:24:13 - I was averaging under 4:00/km. I wondered now if I could keep this up until the end and beat 2:49. Still, I figured that going under 2:50 would also be fantastic.

My Norwegian runner came past me again at this point and he looked stronger than when I'd passed him around the 18 km mark. Apart from another runner who passed me at around 30km, I would not be overtaken by anybody from the 15km point onwards. I still felt good now and the first signs of tiredness set in after 28km. I began a countdown in my head now. Only 14km to go - that's not too far! They had a clock set up for the 30km mark and another thrill here as it showed 1:59:51 as I hit the timing mat. Still on for the 15km/h target. Only, there's no esacaping the general fatigue that settles in over the last 12km and I was no exception. My feeding had been well planned and I'd excecuted strictly: sugar tablet every 5, 15, 25, 35 km and then almond paste sweet at 10, 20, 30 km. Water every 5km and sponge every 7, 12, 17, 22, etc. There was always something to look forward too !

I slowed imperceptibly now and I couldn't fight. The Garmin was showing 4:03 more often now but that was soon stoppped when we headed back into the town center and the crowds around the cathedral. What a boost a bit of crowd support brings: the next 2 kilometres went by in 3:54 and 3:57 and thoughts about the target reappeared. It wasn't to be though and as we headed back out of town westards for the final loop before heading back in over Ponte Vecchio the little slopes and the sun got to me and I slipped back to 4:05 - 4:07/km. I wasn't bothered though as Nico wouldn't be coming back now. I'd thought about him at 30km when there was still a chance but at 35km I knew I just had to finish and win. The last 500m were amazing: I managed to finsih at 3:39 pace and clinch the sub 2:50 result. I was thrilled ecstatic. I saw Henry and Paul and put my forefinger in the air to show that I'd done it - I'd beaten Nico and my PB. This race was worth 10 in the chellenge and the first thing that Nico said when he crossed the line was that he was cancelling his entry to New York. He's suffered in the final stages, as predicted and the minute difference at the half-way point had extended to 5 minutes by the end - 2:55:02.

The others came in shortly afterwards: François ran a blinder in 3:06, Katia and Sandra finished together in 3:38, Laurence just afterwards in 3:45 having suffered an optical migraine at 30km with the tiredness and the sunlight. Pascal and Greg ran together in 3:27 and Benj was a little disapppointed with 3:11 having dropped 10 minutes due to cramps in the last 5km. However, everybody beat their record, if not their target and overall we were all pleased with such a good event. My honour is safe and sound now until next yearwhen we start the challenge again. Now where did I put that entry form to Millau 100km - Nico ?

Easy Monday and new shoes

No stress. Just a pair of running shorts, a couple of long-sleeved tops to keep warm and a buff to keep my throat covered and stop me from catching a cold. The last week of marathon training is not stressful in terms of running expectations as all the hard work is over. It's in the bag, under the belt. No the real worries are elsewhere.

Both Laurence and my main concerns now, and they are shared by all our marathon-running colleagues, is avoiding catching a virus that incapacitates us this weekend. We take extra precautions to stay well away from our virus-coughing eldest son, we avoid contact with any surfaces that he approaches and we make sure we take our vitamin supplements. We have become insufferable. We watched 'Contagion' just over a week ago and if we were bad previously, we became almost paranoid after this film. The manner in which a virus can spread is almost infinitessimal. Scary.

I went out into the cold, anaesthetised pre-dawn air and sucked it into my lungs as I warmed up down towards the river. I daydreamed from the start as I had no objective, if only to make it round the usual 13 km circuit through Maisons Laffitte. I started slowly and gradually built up speed until I was running at around 4'30 pace. I was wearing my new Nike Pegasus 28 bought this weekend in Decathlon for €70.

I have to admit that my feelings about this shoe are mixed. First impression is very comfortable. The insole is well cushioned and hugs the foot well. This feeling of comfort, however, is then overridden when you begin to run by a lack of dynamism in the shoe. I had the same sensation with the Lunarglide which I only wore 3 times before abandoning. Admittedly, this shoe is a vast improvement on them but still not my favourite. The Saucony Kinvara has a far more dynamic feel, whether this is due to the lightweight nature of the shoe I'm not sure. It just feels right.

So, I spent the first half of the run blaming my shoe for my relative lack of speed. Then I relaxed after 6 kilometres, having arrived in the park and I sped up naturally and decided the shoe probably wasn't to blame after all. They were all right and I completed my run in a better mood and happy to have been out.

12.8km all up in 57:25 or an average pace of 4:29 / km. Arrived back in time to the smell of fresh bread from the bread machine and a lovely granary loaf that I prepared last night. No foreign germs guaranteed in this loaf.

Sunday club session

Nico had persuaded me to do the club session today as it fitted in fairly well with the marathon training plan. There is now 1 week to go and it wasn't feasible or reasonable to do a long or a hard session. The club session today was for 1h30 with 3 x 10 minutes at 85% max HR. Compared to the 2h00 marathon training plan with 45' at marathon speed, this seemed a viable alternative. The clincher was that neither Nico nor I believed that 2 hours training was strictly necessary this last Sunday and having checked last year before Toulouse marathon when I didn't run at all on the last Sunday, this is probably true.

The marathon training is all but over now and the ingredients have been thrown together and we just have to see how long it takes in the oven and whether the result is comestible or not. These last runs are more to reassure ourselves about our condition than for any tangible effect on the final result. Havig said all of this, I have become accustomed to longer runs and the thought of a "mere" 1h30 run with the club and all of the stopping and starting that this generally involves convinced me to run through the forest to begin with at an easy pace and then do the training session with the others afterwards.

I ran from the house to the club at a steady trot, just under 5' per km and when I arrived the turnout was not huge. There were plenty of other commitments today with the Boulogne half-marathon, Nice - Cannes marathon, the 4 castles race, and the maxi cross-country where Gérald was taking part in his quest to hold on to third place in the Yvelines department challenge. Biggest surprise was not to see Nico there already and I was wondering whether I would have to run back home too when he turned up late.

No official trainer today but the route we would be taking explained and the 3 x 10' exercise outlined. I ran with Nat and Nico chatting about the ultra-trail in the south of France where Nat took part for 116km. He managed to block his knee in the process and had to walk the last 50 km. Frankly, you have to be nuts - a marathon is nothing in comparison. we waremed up easily and then there was a little confusion about whether we should be running another 30' at endurance pace before the 3 x 10' intervals or whether we should start immediately. I just followed Ilyes and Jean-Marc, happy to let them build a slight lead and hearing Nico and Simon just behind me. The 2 behind put on a spurt just before the end of the first 10' and caught me but I wasn't bothered as I'd been prepared mentally to carry on at that pace for 30' if necessary!

The second interval was more serious and Simon took the lead and the pace to just above 16km/h for the 10 minutes. We weren't at 85% max HR but closer to 90% in my books. Anyway, I was happy to stick in this leading group with the 5 of us and when the 10 minutes were up we doubled back to let the others catch up. A final 10' now and Nico took to the front with Jean-Marc and Ilyes following. I dropped off the lead pace despite a kilometre in 3:38 - this was too fast a pace for me a week before the marathon and the aim had never been to run myself into the ground. Jean-Marc suffered too, dropping off the lead group with 4' to go and Simon and I caught him just as the interval ended. Nico proved his great shape of the moment and even Ilyes was struggling to stay with him.

21.5 km all up in just under 1h50 or an average pace of 5:04/km. I tested my new Nike trainers and a new almond paste energy bar and both proved conclusive. I'm still not too sure about the chalk climbing bag that I used to test as a carrying pouch for the bars and whether I'll keep this in Florence. To be meditated upon...

Corra - with company

Nico was on for a run to Corra this Saturday which was good. He said that we had to run it easily and not force the pace with the marathon so close which was better. I managed to persuade François to come along and to run with us just to ensure that Nico did not get out of hand which was even better still.

We set off at 8:30am to a crisp morning and a beautiful blue sky. As we ran through the forest, the morning sun was just rising above the trees and burning off the low lying mist. Rays of sun would illuminate the mist creating a poetic impression to the forest scenery. It was so stunning that one runner we passed stopped and pulled her i-phone out of her pocket to take a photo. Unfortunately, we weren't so well prepared so all you have are these words to try and describe the scene briefly.

Everyone was true to their word and François, Nico and myself set off at 5' pace and gradually sped up to 4'30 pace over the course of the usual Corra circuit. It was a good run and we chatted easily about the forthcoming marathon, training and the political situation in St Germain. There were suite a few other runners out and about but the best surprise was bumping into Laurence, Brigitte and Hélène on their Saturday morning training station just after crossing the bridge by Pavillon de la Muette. Congratulations to Hélène on her first training run after the New York Marathon which has now inspired Brigitte to take part in Paris marathon with Laurence agreeing to accompany her.

15 km all up in 1h10 and the most reasonably paced Corra run that we've done in a while. Average pace of 4:41 / km.

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 !

Tempo run

I woke up after a reasonable night's sleep and I felt good. I felt better than good as I was full of energy and raring to go. I was also feeling guilty and had been thinking about my morning run from last night and how I could compensate for the lack of interval training from the marathon plan for both Monday and Tuesday. I finally decided on a tempo run. A run at threshold pace around the usual circuit and to see how I would cope.

I literally hit the street running and set off at a decent clip down the road. The weather was clear and cold and the sun had not yet risen to warm up the air. I ran down to the river and it was too dark to see my pace when the autolap beeped to indicate the end of the first kilometre. I had negotiated the track in the dark and now I was flying along the road beside the river, opening up as I no longer had to worry about potholes and twisting my ankle. The garmin beeped again for the second kilometre and I still couldn't see what pace I was doing but it felt not so much fast, as uncomfortable. I figured that I was running about 15km/h and I could manage this for 4km before I would need a break.

The discomfort grew as I pushed on and by 4km I allowed myself to slow down, figuring that I would accelerate again after a couple of minutes and try and run a second 4km at this pace. I'd seen that my pace was just under 4:00 for the last kilometre and I allowed myself a little relaxation before starting again. This section I ran into the park and the path towards the castle. This is my favourite spot and it was no hardship to run fast along here. In fact, I felt so good here that I didn't stop again, my muscles warming up to the pace and the discomfort. I pushed the pace all of the way back to the house, telling myself that I could create a new record for completing this circuit.

I ran back to the house in 51:50, completing the 12.9km at an average pace of 4:01/km. I felt great and not even that tired. The kilometres went as follows:

3:55, 3:58, 3:54, 3:59, 4:30, 4:11, 3:58, 4:00, 3:59, 3:59, 4:03, 3:57 and then 3:39 pace to the end.

The guilty feeling had gone and a big smile of satisfaction had replaced it.