Training Log Archive: AC

Too nice a day to stay indoors so did something I haven't done for a while - run for a second day in a row. Had intended to just do my standard 5km loop at a leisurely pace, but felt pretty spritely when I got out so pushed the pace a bit and wound up doing a nice tempo run. Nice and hot but a lot of the run was in the shade of trees so not too bad. Cooled down while stretching in the gym.

Back on the bike on a sunny warm evening. Headed down to Longchamp to mix it with the peletons. Made the mistake of going there past Roland Garros and got caught in the French Open traffic chaos. Weaved my way through that and hit Longchamp just as a speedy peleton came past. Latched on to that and lasted for half a lap at 45km/hr - way too fast for my taste! Didn't have to wait long for a more suitable peleton to pick me up and worked hard for the next 5-6 laps, even making it to the front for a few stretches. the peletons were mixed with triathletes doing their brick sessions. These guys really are hopeless in packs - all over the shop and changing their lines all the time, even to the point of slowing and exiting without warning to go and start their runs. Not quite sure how we managed to avoid major crashes and they certainly got an earful or two from eth other cyclists. Hard ride overall and good training. Finished up with a ride past the local thai takeaway to pick up a bobun, which is all the rage in Paris these days ...

Back at work after a lovely long weekend and headed out fo an interval session in a pleasant 24 deg day. Did 8 * 500m with 1 min easy. Felt okay on all and pushed it well, until the last one where I died a bit. Pace was okay, but not stellar - 2.08, 10, 5, 7, 9, 7, 9, 12. Pace not as quick as last time I did this set, when I was doing each interval some 4-5 secs faster. Oh well ...

The girls were sleeping soundly so I headed out the door for a longer run. Not much choice of routes from our lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere near Selfoss in southern Iceland - basically left or right along the main road. I headed left and then turned off onto another road after 1.5km. This went up a steady hill and was very remote and atmospheric. Down a nice hill onto a dirt road and then a long straight run across a valley floor. Got to just over 6km and decided to turn around and see if I could get back in a faster time. managed to do this and beat the outward time by around 2 1/2 minutes, which either meant I was running well on the way back, or I was pretty slack on the way out (the latter I think). It wasn't until I was right near the hotel with about a km to go when I saw my first car. Bit of a bummer as was hoping to be able to go the whole run without seeing a car! Good run, followed by a nice breakfast and then a drive along teh southern Iceland coast for a bit of sightseeing.

In Reykjavik for a short break after finishing the big G20 project. Out for a short and easy tourist run around some of the sights here. Cold and grey but not raining.

Last day in Berlin for a while so took advantage for an early morning run around Tiergarten again. Felt pretty good and nice morning for it.

In Berlin for work and headed out for an easy tourist run through Tiergarten and the city. Garmin playing up - certainly wasn't moving at sub-5 min/km.

Short warm up.

Regionale 3 in a Fontainebleau-type forest near Nemours. Good first half to the race but lousy second half. The planner decided to find every crappy bit of forest on the map and put us through there, and to throw in a 2+km track run for good measure. Ran through the odd bit of nice forest and was cursing the planner that we didn't spend more time in there. The first leg was tough - supposed to be rough open according to the map, but was in fact a huge amount of young regrowth with little visibility and very poor runnability. But managed to get through the first 8 controls okay with no errors and feeling okay. THen a long route choice leg - a track to the left or a track to the right. I took the track to the right and did okay - not really speeding along but moving okay-ish. Had a bit of trouble finding the control in a hillside of cliffs with only half of them markde on the map :-).

On the way to #10, I brushed past a low branch that caught my SI dibber and ripped it off my finger. I had an elastic loop around my wrist as a safety measure, but it was no protection at all. Spent a good 5 minutes trying to find the SI unit, searching among dense leaf litter for a bright yellow object. The branch flung it quite a way and so it was very frustrating to find the bloody thing. Eventually did, but by then the enthusiasm level had dropped a little. Got #10 okay, but then wasted time on each of the rest of the controls, just circling into the control or searching in the wrong spot. My back started to hurt quite a bit asa well, which didn't add to the mood!

Disappointing run overall. Haven't seen the results as yet, but wouldn't be surprised to be quite a way down.

C • not fun 3

In Munich for work and headed out for a pre-breakfast run on an absolutely beautiful morning. Bit of a warm up to the English Gardens where I watched a bunch of guys canal-surfing - very impressive skills, and bloody cold even with the heavy wetsuits I would imagine. Decided to do some intervals and did 1-2-3-2-1-2-1 minutes with 1 min break. Good session and reasonable pace given it was early in the morning.

Busy days ahead. back to Paris this afternoon, to Berlin on Sunday, back to Paris on Wednesday and off to Iceland on Wednesday night. The last of these is holiday - woohoo!!!

Back in Paris and out on the bike on a warm morning (short sleeves and bare knees!). Okay ride, nothing special, but a nice morning and good to get a few km in the legs.

Out in the French countryside for a management retreat and took advantage of the country setting to get in a nice run through the forest adjacent to the chateau where the retreat was being held. Absolutely beautiful setting and lovely weather meant that the run was very enjoyable, even with a full stomach form teh previous evening's dinner and a slight hangover. The usual slow start was made even slower with a long hill climb. But then got into more of a rhythm along the flat and slight downhill on the way back. Most of this was along a road that was surprisingly busy for a country road - must be a commuters' shortcut as had to really be aware of cars given there was little or no verge.

Run in Richmond Park with Matthias. Good run and great company for chatting about life, the universe and planning future O races to do together. Lovely morning for it and Richmond Park is a great place for running. Park was pretty packed this morning with heaps of runners, walkers and cyclists. Some very quick runners out and about, including a couple of very quick women who were striding out very easily and smoothly. Had a slowish start but then picked up in the middle before suffering a little towarsd the end, especially up a very steep pinch that slowed me to a crawl. Good downhill finish though. Excellent run.

Easy warm up.

In Kingston-upon-Thames for the weekend and decided to become a Parkrun tourist and participate in the local race. Googled up parkruns in the area and found I had a choice of three within some 20 minutes jog from the house! Chose the closest one and headed down on a cool and drizzly morning, which cleared rapidly to a mild dry morning, perfect for a run. Quite a crowd at the event - 262 according to the results - with a large number of women and children.

Started conservatively and cruised along, kept company by a couple of young kids of around 12 years old who were doing a sterling job of keeping the pace up. They dropped off after 1.5-2km but finished well to go under 28 mins. Picked up the pace with each subsequent km and finished well, but no sprint from me to try and hold off a couple of guys I had passed 500m from the finish. Nice course - flat out and back on a tow path next to the Thames with a little loop at the end through some woods. Nice views of the river and good to watch rowing teams out doing their thing.

Hung around a bit and then jogged home. Nice to do this on a Sat morning while everyone in the house slept in - feeling kind of smug and virtuous!

Even easier cool down ...

Rain overnight made for a damp road although it didn't actually rain on me during the ride. Feeling pretty sluggish, but put in an honest effort. Nice to only have 20-30 minutes of darkness before the sky gets quite light. Last few km was in the dawn light.

Busy day ahead and so headed out for a morning run in absolutely perfect weather. Feeling the effects of Sunday's race spill with sore ribs and hip. Jogged the first couple of km okay before starting to feel a bit more like I was properly running. Great morning for it and really enjoyed this run.

Easy warm up jog to the start and then through the back streets of Montmartre.

Paris City O Race, Butte de Montmartre, Supervets (H50+55), 6th place (out of 71 - quite pleasing). Have been really looking forward to this race for a while and it didn't disappoint. Very good map, great area, and very good planning resulted in a very enjoyable event. The area is not quite as tricky as some other urban O areas wrt multi-levels and the like, but it has lots of tourist areas (the most crowded of which are marked on the map) and some serious climb to contend with. It was quite a wet day and the roads were quite slippery. I was fairly cautious but still took a nasty spill towards the end of the course, which required a trip to the ambulance afterwards and some serious cleaning up of a deep cut/graze to my left elbow.

Got off to a good start - was focused on not blowing the first few controls but it turns out I had the fastest split to the first control. Then steady through the following controls with the climb starting to increase between the controls. Would eventually go over the hill five times during the course, with lots of the famous Montmartre stairs - these started to get very tiring the 4th and 5th time over the hill :-). Route choices were fun, especially trying to decide whether to go around or through the crowded areas near Sacre Coeur and the art market (I decided to go through on most occasions and had fun dodging the tourists. The only slight time wasted near controls was at #22 where I hesitated at two controls just before the correct one.

Long leg to #24 was another up and over affair, skirting around the edge of the art market. Was flying down the road towards the control, moving very quickly and feeling good as the end of the course was near, when my foot slid out on a wet, paved corner. Went down very hard in front of a bunch of tourists. My left elbow took the brunt of the fall and I gouged a great lump out of it that immediately started bleeding profusely. Was quite winded but picked myself up with the help of a couple of bystanders. Quick assessment and continued on, a little more cautiously - am probably in a number of Japanese tourists' photos! Blood streaming onto the map made it a little hard to read the last few controls and had to keep wiping the blood off. Still finished relatively strongly, with the fastest split for the second last control. Went straight to the ambulance, which was parked near the finish line, and provided four young paramedics with some practice. No major damage but quite sore the rest of the day.

Overall, a good result. The spill cost me a minute according to the splits - that would have put me in 4th place (4th and 5th were within 20 secs), but still another minute or two to the top three. Now looking forward to the London City Race in September!

C • well done 1

Just as well I got up and out early this morning as I just beat the worst of the rain. As it was, I got a bit damp in Versailles on the way back as it chucked it down there for about 10 minutes. Took it very easy as the roads were quite greasy and very wary of the potential for sliding off. Not feeling very fast for the first half but felt a bit stronger in the second half and powered up the remaining hills. Could have kept going but had to get back due to family commitments.

Bit of a struggle this morning. Left knee felt sore and everything else just felt tired. Stopped quite a few times to cross roads, tie shoelaces, look at the sky - basically any excuse to stop :-). But at least I was out there ...

Enforced rest day due to working late last night and a huge workload today. Probably good to give the knees a rest in any case!

Rain overnight meant damp roads and so I rode with quite a bit of caution this morning given my bad habit of crashing on wet roads. Everything hurt on this ride - legs, back arms. So a bit of a struggle. But still headed for the steeper hills around the place. I really am pretty poor at riding hills - they are a real struggle for me. Got back in time as the rain returned not long after I finished.

Lunchtime intervals session. Legs feeling tired after the long weekend and didn't really feel all that inspired, but headed out anyway. Decided on a set of 6 x 500m with 1 min rest. Did okay without setting the track on fire - covered the 500m in 2.03, 8, 5, 9, 5, 3. Then did a set of 4 x 1minH / 1min E to finish up, focusing on staying strong and with good form.This went okay, with pace of 4.10 for the first two and 3.57 for the last two. Good session, inspired at least by the memory of Philippe running away from me in the last part of Sunday's race :-) ....

After a lazy morning on a public holiday morning, decided to head out for a spin on the mtb in Parc de St Cloud and venture into the Foret de Fausses Reposes. Tried to head up every hill I could find and some of them were pretty tough. Good fun bombing down other tracks, so worth the effort in getting up the hills in the first place! Legs a bit sore on this ride. Got back in time to take Freya to see the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 movie - good silly fun, packed theatre.