It's been some time since I didn't write in this blog about my running
activities. So let's make an update for my international friends. If
you don't care about running, you can move to the next post in your
feed reader..:-)
After a quite busy running activity during DebConf 12 in Nicaragua, as
well as during the touristic trip we did afterwards, I went back to my
"regular" schedule.
Main objectives in September-December are roughly the following:
- Seine-Eure
marathon, the flattest marathon in France, on October 21st. This marathon is the
one where I set the record which I just broke in June, in Caen. So,
the goal is easy to find : break it again. My target time is around
3h37. Not so ambitious in apparence, with a current record at
3h38'45". However, I can't afford the highly meticulous preparation I
did in April-May-June, so I try to stay with an achievable target.
- The Le
Raid Le Puy-Firminy 70km night run on November 24th. Here, I'll
just try to go faster than 9h15 which I achieved last year, trying to
have a better race management and avoid cramps. Of course,
meteorological conditions will be the key, here, as it can be as low
as -15 C in that part of France, in November..:-)
During August, I broke my monthly distance record by running nearly 300km
in one month, even achieving 100km in only 5 days, around 24th.
That was one of my goals: improve my overall resistance to run
repetitions, which is one of the keys for ultra-running. These were
achieved with many runs to/back work, with up to 13km in the morning
and the same in the evening. Yes, running 26km at about 11km/h (and
with some ups and downs in the woods to make it even worse) on a
day where one has a normal work activity is quite a challenge.
September has been more focused on marathon preparation. This time, no
complicated plan with interval running as the month was also a very
busy work month, where fitting training sessions during the day would
be hard. So, I made an easy plan : run a half-marathon every Sunday
and run part of my work-home commute every day (So, 3km run to the
train station, 30mn train ride, then 4km run to my work place, then
shower....and the same back after work).
Out of the 5 half-marathons I ran during these 5 Sundays, two of them
were official ones. On the first one, I finally managed to break my
personal best on half, with 1h37'14". Only a 14 seconds improvement,
but that one is certainly one of my best among personal bests....even
better than 3h38'45" on marathon..
All other half-marathons were run at marathon speed, so targeting
5'06"/km, which will be my planned pace on October 21st. The one I ran
on Sept. 16th, which was the other official race I ran was finally
done quite significantly faster than this. First of all, because I had
hard times to run "only" at 5'06"/km because of other runners
emulation. And also, because I ran the last 3 kilometers up to nearly
14km/h (so, down to 4'15"/km), just for fun, because I could do it..:-)
With all this preparation, I think that I now manage to very well
manage my marathon speed. I'll probably do a final test tomorrow by
trying to keep running at this speed for 3 rounds of my favourite "
Maurepas Marathon" circuit,
which is just exactly 1/4 of a marathon.
More "funnily", I also did something I never did before during this
really crazy month : simply said, I came back from work by running.
All the way long. Through woods, forests, along some lakes and finally
in the country. 42 kilometers (yes, a marathon). After a work day.
Starting at 5:45pm and arriving home after 4h50 minutes. With 2 hours
of heavy rain. With 2.5 hours running in the dark (with my headlamp of
course). All alone. That was a crazy bet to do....but really great fun
achieving this :
the GPS trace is
here. Really something I have to do again..:-)
So, well, now I'm more or less prepared and having fun is just a
matter for time..:-). I'll keep you guys posted with those and, guess what? I'm already
picking my target races for next year..:-)