...Paris Versailles Race Report!

Now I know it's a little late for this race report but better late then never right! So this has been a race I have wanted to do since I first saw it January 2012. However I ended up missing the boat on the registration and then had to postpone the race until 2013.

Why did I want to do this race? As it starts under the Eiffel Tower and ends on the steps of Versailles Palace. I had never been to Versailles and thought it was a good excuse to go there. Plus I like to do one race abroad a year now (making it a tradition, Berlin Half 2014!). 

Race prep was fine as I had the Richmond Running festival 10 km the week before and the Royal Parks Half marathon the week after. So for a 10 mile race I was ready! 

Race Organisation

I received a lot of emails for this race which was good. However they were all in French. For me this was okay as I have some French and my Gmail is great at translating what I'm not sure of. However for some one my friends running they had difficulty understanding the information. Also as an international runner a medical certificate was required prior to the race. 

Race Expo

This was in a large hall south of the start of the race. It was clearly signposted and very well organised. There were lots of volunteers helping with the distibuting of the shirts and information bags. Following that there was a small area set up with stalls providing information on Versailles, the trains to and from there and any running gear you may have wanted. Oh and an elevation map......

Yes that is a humongous hill halfway through the race! And yes I seem to be not taking it too seriously here! Little did I know.....

Starting Location

Very, very central which made it easy to find! A sports centre had opened up to allow people to use the race track to warm up and drop yours bags and use the toilets there. There didn't seem to be enough toilets and as usual I avoided the ones the boys were queuing for as they had urinals and if they were queueing I really didn't want to be in there after them! There were no pens, which was a little annoying as the starting area was very crowded and meant we started 45 minutes after the first wave even though we turned up an hour before the start of the race. There is a time limit to the finish of the race so this meant you had to be on the ball if you didn't want the water stations to close up before you arrived. I think they could improve this. However they did let off people in waves of ~100 every 30 seconds which was nice. 

Route

So the start was beautiful, running along the river past lots of nice buildings. We had to go through some tunnels which were long and boring but nothing like I hadn't seen before. Now I knew of the hill....the one hill right? Wrong! So wrong! I don't even think any amount of Notting Hill area hill training could have prepared me for this monster! So it turns out my hill training was bump training. We turned a corner where some nice bands were playing after a great water station and the first climb started. Okay I was alright at this stage, I had pre-empted this, I had this. We then turned another corner and the hill continued. Okay doubt started to cross my mind but I can do this, right? It seemed to level out as we came up to a roundabout. Yay, that's it! That's the hills over! Um no, turn the corner and the ascent continues....another band....more of the motorcycle film crew driving near me (exhaust fumes, yum).....I was pretty worn by this stage but I said there is no way I can stop to walk as I can do 10 miles easy, I could do 13 miles easy! Hills will not defeat me! Turn a corner....another hill. This one seemed steeper also. People were walking left, right and centre. It felt like I was crawling but I was still jogging. It was at this stage I did swear at the hill. I am not an angry runner but oh man, I couldn't believe this climb. I was so dumbfounded! Once we got to the top of that hill I saw the route level again.....surely they can't be tricking us again.....and they weren't. The next couple of miles were a level playing field. A little down hill, a little (now comparative) uphill, and then a massive downhill. My legs tumbled from under me and I found it hard to control the sharp decline. All I could think of while descending was the pain I had just endured! And the fact that I heard in the random english speaking whispers of another hill.....another hill....And sure enough 2 miles to go there she rose. But again, I was not going to be defeated especially since I had gotten this far. Up in the beautiful park region of Meudon I took each step as it came and reached the longest part of the race. The road into Versailles! This mile took forever to end but I got there! This was a PB as it was my first 10 mile but it was well below what I had wanted but I will smash it next time (on a flatter course....)!

Crowds

Not many people out at all! It seemed that maybe the whole of Paris was running instead! Even the finish line was very very quiet....

En route drinks and snacks

Lots of water, raisins and sugar cubes along the way. The people were great at handing out all the drinks and food. There was also sports drinks at a couple of the stops. At the end there was a large 2 litre bottle of water, yucky babies apple puree, granola bars and a banana. 

Official T-shirt

Bright yellow Adidas t-shirt. Which I love. It has a little logo for the race also which is nice. 

Medal

Nice chunky gold medal with an outline of the Versailles gardens on it. 

Marks out of 10

8/10 Only faults were the lack of pens and toilets en route. Great race though. Would definitely recommend it! 

Stretching outside Versailles Palace, as you do

My running buddies! 

....rain is the best!

I know I only blogged recently but my 12 mile run this morning was eventful and what got me through was thinking about what I was going to write later! So as I might have said already I tend to do my long runs on a Friday for several reasons.

1. My PhD means I can be flexible with mornings.
2. I liked for my Prague training that I did this as it meant I was able to be more human after the race!
3. I can't get up and run for 2 hours while my boyfriend stays in the comfy warm bed.

So off I headed this morning in the dark conditions and jogged to Hyde Park! There were several events (pros and cons) to my run that I shall anecdote!

Pros                                                                       Cons
The rain (cooling me down)                                     The rain (so hard I couldn't open my eyes)
Fantastic route!                                                       Soggy runners due to many puddles
Friendly man ("Slow down, You're going too fast")  Angry cyclist ("Thanks, well that f*$king helped)
Hit 12+miles!
Didn't watch my garmin


More pros then cons! Which was why it was a great run even with the torrential down pour! Roll on my nice slow recovery run tomorrow with the other half and then swimming Saturday. Race ready :)

...I like this Garminless running!

So as I have mentioned before I have had to run garminless for the last month as my Garmin was in Ireland. My wonderful mother came to visit me 2 weeks ago and brought my beloved forerunner with her so I could get my tech fix back. However it was NOT the fix I wanted at all! I decided even when she was around I would remain garminless. I was really enjoying these slow paced runs that were really enjoyable as I was running to how I felt and not to what my watch was telling me to speed up to.

So last Thursday I got ready for my long run. Thursday is a strange day to do a long run but I was going to Ireland that night on a mini break with some friends so didn't want to bore them with a 2 hour run instead of seeing the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula!

So I ate my breakfast, packed my bum pouch with keys, toilet paper and jelly beans (my new favourite food for runs!) and strapped on old faithful. Old faithful was not my friend however today. Even though I swore I would not look at the pace, only time and mileage I felt like I was pushing myself from mile 1. I had planned at minimum 11 miles today and I couldn't afford to set off fast! It was a really tough run. When ever I looked at my pace I was disheartened. It seemed to constantly read 9.50 which was well off what I had been running all training session (measured off the microwave). I plodded on and eventually got home. Tore off the garmin and started to stretch (injury free 2013!). Looking at the splits and the average pace I was a little surprised. I did have negative splits (2 or 3) and average pace was 9.20. So not as bad as I thought. However it was still slower then I had thought I'd been doing. I am really unsure about using my garmin now again this race season! Can it ruin your own pace? Is it actually worth the stress?

I had a fantastic 6.2 mile this morning, Garminless, and felt I could have ran farther. Is it a sign for September? Do I test it with a couple races first! Very confused at the moment but I do know for my short runs it's Garminless all the way!

Autumn Races

Running Richmond 10km: 22nd September

Paris to Versailles 10M: 29th September

Royal Parks Half Marathon: 6th October

Do I do any of these Garminless like the BUPA 10,000 where I missed my PB by 4 seconds?

....you slow down to enjoy the view!

Week 4 of Royal Parks Half Marathon training and everything is well on its way. I've only missed 2 training sessions so far (week 1 just ran out of time and this week for my birthday and the gym was closed). But so far all my runs have been bang on! Reasons for this may be:

1) Cycling 
  I am now a cycling fiend and I bring my purple baby with me everywhere I go! I do a minimum of 2.5 miles a day and the most I've hit has been an 18.4 mile day! I know that isn't that much for people who cycling like maniacs but it's a start. It also means I am adding extra cardio every day to my usual routine! I am also saving money which is nice and feeling great. My fashion style has slipped though...I learnt I can't cycle with a skirt and that my hair will forever be frizzy and not very pretty. But heck my running has totally improved from it! My legs seem to be much stronger then any other training schedule before. Plus you feel like a 10 year old kid again! Yay cycling! :)

2) Altered intervals

   So the training schedule I've decided to try and emulate this time has a varied type of intervals that I'm used to. Normal intervals; warming up and then going hard, going slow every two minutes and increasing the speed until I reach about 8 mph and lasts about 45 minutes. New intervals; 1 mile warm up (6/6.5 mph), 3 miles at half marathon pace (7 mph) , 2 minutes slow and then 4 x 2 minutes at 5 km pace (8 mph) with 2 minutes slow downs in between, then cool down mile. These intervals had you running a longer distance and also were getting you to actually do the hard part once you'd already ran a good distance meaning it was when you weren't as fresh faced. I liked this idea and seems to be working really well! 

3) Slow down...you move to fast....

     The motto of this song has made me move better too. Now I know most of you will say but everyone knows to run slow. But I'm guessing there are a lot of runners like me out there who want t have fast training times or want to get home quicker because you set out late or need to get in work quicker then you thought. This time though I am ignoring all that and slowing myself down. I am actually doing steady state runs at a slower pace and am actually running my long run at a comfortable slow(ish) pace. I will get the pace up I'm sure when it comes to race day but at the moment I am getting my long runs done with no pain and no tiredness. I am completing them with enough energy to keep going, which I love! 

I'm sure there are lots of bad things that I am still doing that won't help my training but so far this session is injury free (touch wood) and going superb! I am doing my long runs on a Friday to leave my weekends free as I am super booked up these days! But slow and stead is leaving me able for work, though does mean early mornings....

Roll on the second half of the training schedule which involves an extra running day every second week and longer runs! Come at me 10 miles! :) Let's hope the running stays the same and I am still enjoying it! 

Races currently training for:

29th September 2013     Paris to Versailles 10 mile  

6th October 2013          Royal Parks Half Marathon

30th March 2014           Berlin Half Marathon

26th May 2014              BUPA 10,000

...you run the BUPA 10000

This has to be one of my favourite runs so far! The much beloved BUPA 10000 round the streets of London came knocking at my door this bank holiday Monday the 27th May. Just to quickly summarize my experience.

Amazingly well organised and fun race! 

I must admit that my training for this race was rather sporadic and not structured at all. The problem with 10kms and even 5kms for me is that I know I can run them. I don't really mind about speed (not that I'm fast it's just a good excuse) so now  mentally I find it very difficult to train hard for it. Though I really want to get over this and get back into the love of running! Anyway more about BUPA! 

The days rolling up weren't exactly normal running preparation for most people. Off I went to the Cotswold to go camping and drinking in the sun with my friends. I did make sure I stayed hydrated around the intoxicating part of the weekend which saved me I'm sure. I'm also glad I did it and didn't stay at home instead. 

The morning of the race I had my race bag prepacked, my chip already laced onto my runners and my number pinned to my MNDA bib. I was ready to go! There weren't too many runners on the tube which left me a little worried that I had set off too late but the buzz around Green Park station was amazing and I quickly got into the fun atmosphere! The set up was very easy to follow with regards baggage area, toilets and start area. There will always be queues for toilets when it comes to races (except in Prague) but they moved quickly as they had more then enough provided. The start area was well marshalled and they ensured that only runners were in the area and that you went into your correct pen. There were 9 different pens which were dependant on your assumed finishing time. I was smack bang in the middle, Blue B. 

I think we started on time at 10 am. I wasn't too sure as I couldn't hear what the PA was saying to me and my Garmin had decided to die while it was "charging" the night before. The latter also meant that I would have no idea as I was running around, how fast I would actually be going and if I would manage to get to my time. I had already decided this was a fun run but somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted a PB! 

My wave started 7 minutes 30 seconds after Mo Farah (he had such a head start it wasn't fair!). They encouraged each pen to sing a song, dance or do something fun just before we set off. This made it such a fun start! Off I went anyway. Trying to not start too fast but not too slow either. The sun was belting down onto our heads as we set off past Trafalgar and towards east London along the Thames. 

I managed to see Mo at about the 3rd kilometre or so. We were all clapping and shouting at him. There was a great energy towards such a naturally graceful runner. I had to admit then, that I wasn't going to beat Mo....damn. 

Reaching the 5th Kilometre meant that there was a clock timer to let us know our time. It was about then I realised that I was at about 27 minutes past the start which wasn't quite ideal. I had felt like it was a really gentle run so far. I had a little niggle about my marathon runner telling me first half is training run the second half is the race. So this was my new effort to try get close to my time. I picked runners well ahead of me and decided to run them down. I did this for the last 5 kilometres and it turned out to be really fun. I had no idea if I was running faster or people slower but it was a fun way of running! I did tend to pick out the MNDA runners so I could congratulate them on their run so far and then speed off again. This meant that in the 2nd half of the race I passed 446 runners which isn't too bad! Only 60 people passed me out (shakes fist!). 

This meant that when I crossed the line I finished casually at gun time 61 minutes. Actual time 53.42 which is 4 seconds shy of my PB. I was a little sad about this fact as I am sure that with the Garmin I would have PB'd but it also let me know that without too much pushing I will PB next time (if the conditions are right). 

The finish line was full of marshals helping you out with your chip, photos, running goody bags with great big medals in them! The baggage area was quick and effortless and lying out in the park in the sunshine afterwards was a great feeling. I even managed to meet a twitter friend, Paul who smashed his PB to 50 minutes and my college friend, Kathryn who had an awesome run too! Overall, I had a fantastic day (if you hadn't guessed) and would recommend anyone to do this race! I have already signed up for 2014! Come join me! :) 

you ignore injuries!

Wow it's been a while since I wrote on here! 23rd of August! Wowzer so much has happened since that date....mainly the biggest woe of my late summer running. A massive injury which meant I couldn't walk without some form of aid for about week. It started with an IT band/groin niggle that I.....ignored. Damn. You know you're a runner when you ignore injuries! Well that spread to my knees and out on a 7miler my leg seemed to seize badly. I kept running so I could get home. Did my usual post run showering, freshening up and then sat down. Bad idea. I couldn't get back up. I had to literally grab my left leg and painfully lift it infront of my body to walk. Worst pain in my life! This was also just a couple of weeks before my long awaited for Royal Parks Half Marathon. My Mother is a massage therapist specializing in lots of things including sports injuries! Lucky me! Yeah, until you are on the bed....owwwweeee. But she fixed me a little which meant gentle runs were okay but she advised against the half marathon.

If you are a runner reading this and have ever had an injury what do you think I did next....rest? Naaaah let's stretch for 2 weeks prior to the race, strap on a strap and pop some pills and off I went to the start line. This has been the only time that I really questioned whether I should walk out of the stating pens. I was really confused on what to do. Do I start this race knowing I prob won't finish and I could injure myself even more.  But there was a niggle in the back of my head saying "but you could finish". So off I went. The first 9/10miles were okay. Painful, yes but okay. My favourite runner, Holly and her boyfriend were fantastic to turn up and support my painful trek! I finished it fantastically in a 2 hours and 6 minutes which wasn't a PB but it was a finish! And a proud finish for someone who could barely walk about a month previously. This was one of the best organised races and the atmosphere is amazing (I get to do it all again next year!! Yaaaay!).

So sadly that's why I've been quiet since then. And I am sorry to say, forgot to blog. But I'm back! And even though it's the end of March my running hasn't been as quiet as my online existence! I did take a well deserved rest which was annoying but I kept up with cross training and some little weights.

The year started off then with a slow mileage. Trying to keep myself injury free this 2013. I am trying this by fitting in lots more cross training. The swimming pool has become my new best friend and every Sunday we head down for an hour of pounding the water instead of the pavement. I now also go to yoga twice a week http://www.thetransformers.com/ to try and loosen those stiff muscles which was really helped! I hit the British Heart Foundation 10k the 9th of March with my housemate runner Sean. I did suffer from some food poisoning of something which meant I ran on an empty stomach (people should never follow what I do, I am a bad running influence). PB'd with a 53:38 time which was fun!

I have a couple races for the year with:
Bupa 10000                                May 27th
Paris-Versaille 10mile                  Sept 29th
Royal Parks Half Marathon         Oct 9th

Need to fill in some more but so far so good! :) Will keep more posts coming!

Oh and wanted to shout out about my favourite blog of the moment

http://www.shutupandrun.net/2013/03/im-not-wearing-pants.html

Great fun to read!