Training Log Archive: AC

French Club Relay Champs. Running in the H35-40 age group presented a challenge. Had a good run, surprisingly so after yesterday's effort. Ran conservatively and seemed to go okay the whole race. A couple of minor errors, one of 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, the other of 30-45 secs. Could have pushed it harder, but didn't want to let the team down by crashing physically again. Perhaps the secret to the better run today was in my clever dietary approach teh night before - foie gras, massive entrecote and half a bottle of red wine! Team wound up 5th, only a few minutes outside 3rd place, but a long way from first.

Easy jog. Felt good before the race.

French Championships, H50, 6th place. Not a good run. Started well and spiked the first three controls and was in the lead. Made a minute error at the third control, got to the right area and turned right instead of left, not too bad. Set off on the long leg and picked a good route. Running well and then started to feel tired (after only 20 mins running). Spiked teh long leg control and then the next one was straightforward. Still doing well overall in close third place, well placed to launch a good last half of teh race and win teh thing. But then the the wheels fell off physically. Felt very tired and heavy and out of breath and could barely drag myself through the forest. Have no idea what went wrong but can speculate that it was poor nutrition the last couple of days, particularly the night before. Also I had an unintentional poor night sleep the nice before. Had trouble getting to sleep and had left sleeping pills in teh car and didn't make teh effort to go get them. drifted in and out of sleep all night, but still felt okay in the morning.

anyway, struggled around teh rest of teh course. Had a couple of misses in the tricky last few controls but was beyond caring really. Very disappointing.

In hindsight, this disappointing outcome was due to a few factors:

- poor eating teh day before. should have had a proper lunch and dinner (esp the latter)
- after i made the first error, i raised the pace to make up some time on the long leg. this may have been a mistake and may have sent me into oxygen debt.
- could have taken an energy gel along and sucked it down when things started to go wrong. Open to speculation.
- keep expectations in check. this was my race to win, but just had to focus on the race.

C • Disappointing race 2

Easy run in the morning. Have discovered the secret: walk for 5-8 mins, stretch calves, achilles and hamstrings, then run eaily for a hwile. Felt like I was actually running after a while and feeling pretty good.

So, last few days before the French Championships. Must confess, I am not looking forward to the race as much as I might have hoped. Falling foul of French O bureaucracy (not being eligible for the win if I do come first) has taken the shine off. While I would like to do well, the race just seems a bit hollow now. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that if I can get around without a major mistake, then I will do very well and should win easily. So pride is on the line. I have trained well and have shown that I am strong through the terrain in races, but I have trouble with losing major chunks of time on just one or two controls in a course.

After the last few disasters in the Scottish races, I have to focus on maintaining concentration over the whole course. The race is only 6km with only 120m climb, so not too physical from that perspective. Running hard the whole way should not be a problem. It will be hot, but I can handle that. The keys to a good performance for me:

- getting really good sleep the couple of nights before the race
- getting early to the race arena, viewing the last control and run in, relaxing and getting ready at my own pace.
- good warmup before the race, easily achieved with a 1.3k run to the start
- get the first control cleanly
- focus on the short legs as thatis where I have gone wrong in the past
- finish off safely if i have had a good run, and don't get toocarried away and make silly errors on the last controls
- run the tracks as much as possible.

C • French O bureaucracy 2

Easy day. Very hot here (32 deg). Lunch with Japanese Delegation - very nice.

Good run in the Bois. Felt strong and light on my feet. Even enjoyed the heat (29 deg). 15 min warmup and then 10 x 1 min hard / 1 min easy. Jogged back home. Everything felt reasonably good except a bit of a niggle in the left achilles.

Recover from the last few days. Plan for runup to Sat race is for short quality running sessions (Tue and Thu) and one or two easy bike rides (Tue/Wed).