Training Log Archive: Arnold

warmup and down

half marathon near cologne, germany. lovely race, 3 loops entirely through snowy forest. some bits quite icy but generally ok, pretty flat with only some gentle hills, and the last 2k downhill.

steady pace after fast first 2 k's, some bits stronger than others but no real weak bits until the end, finished strong. a little slower than hoped but moving in right direction...now for another 3 weeks good training!

there were only k markers at 1,2,3,4,5,10,15,20, and the splits are:
4:02 4:07 4:07 4:17 4:02 20:35
20:31
20:53
21:00
and then 4:25 for the last 1.1km

so markedly slower in the second half, but I always start a little fast, and I had a very good patch between 5 and 8 km, so I figured I might as well go for it.

Run through Bois to pick up car. Tired, not surprisingly.

One and a half sets before dinner.

Same run as yesterday, only 4 seconds faster even though I felt a lot faster (at least for the first three quarters of the run). But overall still very tired, so this is the best I can do for the moment.

5 1/2 weeks until the marathon, time to also become serious with sleeping and eating..

Run home through Bois (lunchtime). Still extremely tired from lack of sleep at weekend, but powered through somehow..

Park O race in Vienna. Boring course so just a running race. Winner 18.19 (very fast guy), second place 20.11, I came 7th. No mistakes, just had to tie my laces at one point.

Warmup and down for the race

Run in Vienna Woods with Abi, Phil, Finki and Anthony. Snow on the ground (quite slippery in places), started slow then fast at the end. Lovely.

Run home through Bois with friend of mine from office who had heard I was running a lot...well, she isn't running a lot so it was a case of trying not to run too fast...

a few fast strides throughout

Long run in Foret de Rambouillet. Meant to do 2h45 but felt crap all the way so shortened, there just wasn't much point. On some days, you'd better stay in bed: this was one of them.

Decent 4 weeks training nonetheless, shame about the end...I guess not so long ago I would have been very happy with a 1h53 run but not any more..

3/1 run back home through Bois. Meant to do 10 sets, but felt tired so did 2x4 with a break in the middle. Ok considering all the recent training though

Lunchtime longish run home from work through Bois de Boulogne. Good effort, some weaker bits around 25 and 40 minutes but in general very strong until the end. Happy.

Two more runs, intervals on Friday night and very long run on Sunday, then a week's break..

3 sets, felt surprisingly good

Run back from work through Bois, short version.

Felt surprisingly good after the weekend, what hurt the mst was the stomach..thighs also still a bit tough but should be ok by tomorrow.

Another very long run planned for Sunday (2:45 ideally), then a week's rest. It'll be well earned if I manage to hang in there until Sunday..

Karrim'HOC, day 2. Started in 4th (chasing start), ended in 4th, never saw either 3rd or 5th placed guys (or anybody else for that matter!).

Weather was worse, +2 and snow. Course was even tougher than previous day, first hour exclusively cross country through felled areas, physically and mentally very sapping. Even the (few) paths were muddy/waterlogged. Technically excellent race, no more than 5 minutes lost altogether, good route choices. Physically less good, good strong first hour, tougher second hour but still running, run/walk on last hour, especially up 2 last big hills. But we kept looking back and couldn't see anybody, so we figured it didn't matter. (we were right)

Lost more time than previous day, +23 on winners, +17 on second and +7 on third, so overall +32/+25/+13. Shame about not getting into contention with third place, but we were both really exhausted on last bit (me more so than Anthony, never found that "second wind" on day 2)

Great event though, long enough to really strain, but not too long to be crazy. Must do more of these!

"Karrim'HOC", Day 1.

Two-day event in teams of 2, you start in one place and finish in another and have to carry your sleeping bag, gear and food in your backpack (luxury version of Karrimor Mountain Marathon, no tent to carry here as you stay in heated bungalows, have a shower and can buy beer in the evening).

Start was in French Ardennes, finish in Belgium (map was half in each country). Very tough, steep course, mostly off-paths and technically quite demanding despite 1:20 map. A very good run of Anthony and myself, couple of small mistakes, but ran 95% of it, and all the way through the end. I had a bit of a hanger after 1:30, but felt very strong through the last half hour (dragging Anthony with me).

Only 9:00 behind winner, but unfortunately only 4th place of 35. 6 minutes to catch up on 3rd tomorrow, but 11 minutes on 5th and 20 minutes on 6th.

Weather quite decent, partly cloudy and sunny, about +7

Two and a half sets

Run back from work through Bois. Abi's fast session, 3 minutes on, 1 minute off (10 times), plus warmup and down. Good effort, felt very strong. (Perhaps a little too strong at the beginning, as felt tired towards the end, but still ok).

16 degrees C in Paris today!

First time over 6 hours' training in a very long time..this seems to be about as much as I can reasonably do in one week while working as well. Now, let's just do it again a few times...

Local race in Fontainebleau, pretty flat and easy area. A great run, fast despite yesterday's effort, and no mistakes except one route choice (30 secs). Nice weather, warm, felt good!

Warmup and down