Training Log Archive: AC

Easy warm-up jog. Feeling pretty stiff after yesterday's Parkrun, and tired after a series of late nights.

Low key event in my favourite forest in the Paris region - Bois Rond in Fontainebleau. This area is much more open running than other areas in the area but is still very technical and rocky. Most areas of the map are a delight to run through yet challenging. Had hoped to do a decent run here after a couple of weeks of very mixed races with patches of good legs interspersed with getting hopelessly lost. It wasn't to be unfortunately. Easy leg to the first control went fine. Then up a steep hill to a very rocky and technical plateau. Despite very carefully working my way along the plateau, I still managed to miss the control badly and just couldn't related the map to the terrain. Went back and forth multiple times before stumbling on the control. The GPS showed afterwards that I had been past it at least three times within 20-30m but never twigged that the control was tucked away below the line of cliffs. Very frustrating. That leg took me 20 mins whereas it should have taken closer to 7-8 mins.

Decided to try and enjoy the rest of the course anyway and planned to go as straight as possible for the remaining controls, foregoing the friendlier track options for some of the controls. The forest was superb and really enjoyed it. Ran up all the hills (not quickly, but still running) and through the knee deep heather that was in full bloom. Had a bit of trouble on #8 where the gap between two cliffs was not very obvious. The forest had been logged between #8 and #9, making for tough running but enjoyed it nonetheless. Not a great result and a bit frustrating, but enjoyed the nice sunny day out in the forest overall.

Parkrun Bois du Boulogne. Big PB for this course due to a more conservative race strategy. Started out much more slowly this time and focused on finishing more strongly than I have been in the races to date. Strategy seemed to work. 4.38 for the first km and feeling pretty relaxed. Picked it up to 4.28 for the second km, which is reasonably flat, then managed to hold it together okay for the first time up the hill in 4.30 (in contrast to previous races where I have died on this hill). Finished up well with 4.20 on the downhill km and then came home hard with 4.16 up the hill the second time and into the finish. Very pleasing run and starting slower meant I had more people to chase down in the last couple of km. Next target is to get down to 21.30 :-) ....

Busy day yesterday meant I didn't manage to get out for a run, and a busy agenda for today meant that a morning run was the only option. Headed out in the dark, shuffling to start with but then starting to move a bit more freely. Felt surprisingly good (although this is not reflected in the pace :-)) and enjoyed the run overall, esp as the dawn started to break towards the end of the run. Second decent morning run this week!

In Luxembourg for work. Headed out for a morning run. Very dark and didn't have a map so had to stick to a boring out-and-back course so I didn't get lost. There are nice parks in Luxembourg, but they are not well lit and it was very very dark so unfortunately had to give them a miss. Warmed up with km heading out and then ran hard at tempo pace on the way back. Well, tempo pace for the morning, benefiting from a downhill return to the hotel. Covered the km in 4.25, 4.23, 4.11. Good session.