I signed up for the Paris Marathon in April 2013. That leaves lots of time to get ready. Right now, I’m in pretty good shape without any injuries. This week I logged 54 km with 4 training runs.
Today I had a nice 20.87 km run in the Marly forest. The track was wet and muddy so my pace on the forest trails was fairly slow. On the bike paths I got into a good rhythm. I felt like I good have easily done 30kms, but I have to be careful on days like that and not overdo it.
I did some more detailed research on ancestors. Here is what I found so far. Starting with me, I followed a Griffith line back 10 generations: Robert (1924), Frank (1875), Thomas (1847), Mary Ann (1813), Abner (1784), William (1742), Thomas (1708), John (1692), William (1666), and John. Birth dates are in parenthesis.
Thomas (1708) was born in Nantmel, Radnorshire, Wales and emigrated to near Menallen Township near York, PA and died in 1769.
John (1692) was born and lived in Nantmel, Radnorshire, Wales and died there on 4 April, 1745.
William (1666) was born in Penhesgin, Llanfaethlu, Anglesey, Wales and moved to Nantmel, Radnorshire, Wales where he died; date unknown.
I couldn’t find a trace of the last John’s parents. He was also known as John Griffith Ap Griffith and was born in Penhesgin, Llanfaethlu, Anglesey, Wales. He married Margaret Verch Ap Thomas.
It was in a steady ran with air temperature around 12°C this morning that I did 12.44 km to St Germain-en-laye. I went down the 2km long promenade then cut back into the forest, past the swimming pool and past the chateau, then back to Marly.
I went 10ks in the forest just after a day of rain. In fact, it’s been raining on and off for the past few weeks, so the trail was very wet and muddy. I slogged along at a slow pace, being careful to not avoid injury. Shoes, socks and legs were wet and mud covered of course.
When I got back I realized that during the run I didn’t even notice any pain in my big toe that has been giving me problems. And I had no pain in my right ankle which was also on the injury list.
I averaged just over 6 minutes per kilometer which is not bad considering the conditions.
I did a rapid genealogy research, with hardly any cross-referencing or verification of sources, tracing back, back, back, …. to find that I’m a direct descendant of Julius Caesar!
Verification will take some time and effort and I’ll post my progress here as I trace back thru the centuries.
It’s amazing how quickly one gets out of shape. After only 2 weeks, a short run of only about 5 kms made my legs sore. My HR was above 160 for most of the run even though the pace was slow.
Marathon number 14 is done and in the books.
I arrived at the Arc de Triomphe and found John in a café where we had coffee and stayed warm. It was about 6°C and windy so we wanted to stay warm as long as possible. We went over to the start line about 5 min before the official start time and went in near the back in the 5:30 group of runners and not further up in the 3:45 group where we should have been. This was a mistake because they did a staggered start with about 10 minutes between each group and we had to wait 49 min before crossing the start line.
We started off at a relatively slow pace and were constantly maneuvering and going around people. We did the first 5k in 32:07 and 10k in 1:04:24 which is about a 6:20 min/km pace.
When we got into the Bois de Boulogne we stopped and watered a tree and then moved over to a trail on the side of the road where it was a bit easier to run. I wished John good luck and picked up the pace at about km 11, clicking off the next kms at around 5:05min/km. I had a lot of trouble getting around people.
I hit the halfway mark at 2:04:18, and did the second half in 2:11:21 for a final time of 4:15:39 and an average pace of 6:01 min/km and average HR of 139 bpm.
I finished in 2695 place out of 4359 runners in my category.
Here is a graphic of my times for each 5 km which shows that over the last 7 kms my pace significantly slowed.
For a more detailed analysis, km by km and heart rate, go to my garmin stats here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/168422062
My feet held up ok until the last 10 km, when they just got tired from taking a beating. Going over the short stretches of cobblestones was painful. My legs started to cramp up during the last 5 km and I had to break into a walk to give them a rest. Going at that slow pace, my heart rate went down and I started to get cold. The last 30 minutes of the race were really tough going.
Given that my training tailed off over the last 6 weeks my performance was pretty much as expected. Here is the weekly km chart.
Some photos here: http://www.maindruphoto.com/advanced_search_result.php?cPath=2152_2153&numbercompetitor=18181&x=56&y=9
And a photo taken by John in front of the town hall.
Since I signed up for the race on 16 Nov, I’ve logged 797.19 km in preparation for tomorrow. That is only 73% of my objective of 1080. Here is the data.
I had good months of Dec. and Jan. but had to cut back on the kms in February because of my left foot. There was the ski week in there as well.
The last couple of training runs went well with the arch not giving me any pain. The big toe, which I injured during the cardiac stress test, is still hurting if it gets bent backward too far. I have to be careful about that.
For the marathon, I’m setting an obtainable objective of 4 hours (5:41min /km), although I believe I can do 3:45 (5:20min/km). Actual results may vary.
John and I are going to run together and we’ll see how we both feel as the kms pass.
It’s supposed to be between 6°C (42°F) and 11°C (52°F) tomorrow with wind so I’m debating whether to wear a short or long sleeve t-shirt. Hope the wind doesn’t slow me down too much.
This will be the 8th time I’ve run the Paris Marathon, with the last one being in 2005 when I did 3:32.
I did an easy 5k evening run after work on the Marly track. No pain in my foot!! Marathon is only 3 days away.
the run from the chalet up on the forest road went normally until I came across an old man with 2 black labs, one on a leash and the other running free came at me at full speed, barking and growling. I had to stop and menace the beast by pretending to hit him with an imaginary stick.The dog backed off fortunately. When I came up to the old man, the other dog lounged at me and almost pulled down the old man who was walking with a cane. I slowly backed away from them and went on my way.
I ended up doing 6km in 32 min. The foot felt fine which was encouraging.
Starting from the chalet I ran up into the forest on the hard-top road. The foot was feeling fine and I went 4km up and 4km back along the same route. The initial hill which is probably a 20% incline was tough but after that, the run was relatively easy.
Did a short run on the track this morning. The left foot felt a little tender for the first 10 min then after that it was ok. I kept a slow pace and went 7km in 36 min.
I experienced no pain walking around throughout the day so I’m encouraged by that. I plan on doing another short run tomorrow morning and then some outings at Gerardmer on the forest trails and up the ski slope.
It was a beautiful day to run; sunny, dry, just the right temperature. My foot was still a little sore from yesterday, but I needed to get in this long run and test the foot to see how it will hold up.
I did 22ks at a slow pace : 5:45/km. Like last weekend, I had trouble keeping my HR down below 140. Mainly this is because I haven’t been doing any running during the week. My avg HR was 143bpm, or 80% max.
The foot was hurting most of the way, but I was able to keep the slow consistent pace going despite the discomfort.
Here is the updated graph of weekly km. Obviously I’m way below my objectives due to the injury.
I did a 9k run on Marly track and in the park today, after taking 5 days off to rest. The left foot seemed ok so I wanted to see how it held up on a relatively short run. I felt some minor discomfort during the 1st km, but after that it went away which is a good sign.
Tomorrow I will go for my last long run. Only 2 weeks left till the marathon.
This is a great tip from Terry. http://onit.msn.com/story?ocid=hpep
“beer drinkers were more than three times less likely to experience upper-respiratory infection, and their markers for inflammation were 20 to 32 percent lower than the placebo group’s.”
It was unusually warm today for a March day, about 75°F, I guess. I set out with an objective to do 30ks in 3 hours. I had a backpack hydration system with me with plain water in it. Right away I realized I’m not acclimated to running in warm weather and my HR shot up and stayed there, even when I slowed the pace. As I went on, there was not much I could do to reduce the HR, except do some walking.
After about 10ks the arch in my left foot started to hurt so instead of doing a second loop in the forest, I headed for home. I ended up doing 19.25 kms in 2:01 at a pace of 6:19min/km. Overall, a disappointing performance with the marathon just 3 weeks away.
I’ll have to stay off my foot as much as possible this week.
On a bright sunny, warm day (for March) I ran in the park de Versailles, starting at the far gate, running up to the castle, peeked into the hall of mirrors, and back along the other side of the reflecting pond to the gate. I didn’t find Ellen and Gaby there so, I cut through the woods and met them at the St Antoine gate. Time was 1:05 to do the 12km. There were a lot of people to run around so that slowed me down a bit, along with the warm temperature and the sightseeing I was doing.
After 4 days of rest, I tentatively went to the track and did 5.31 km today after work. The left foot felt ok after getting home and the weather was nice so I decided to give it a try.
Just walking around after the run, I don’t feel any pain. We’ll see how it is tomorrow morning and if still ok, then the running program will continue this weekend with the planned +30k run.
My left foot was hurting on Sunday, so I thought I better take the day off and today I got up at 5:55 for a 12k run. Once out the door, in rather cold weather, I started up the street and again my left foot arch was giving me pain so after 100m I decided to bag it and go back to bed.
This minor issue is becoming a major concern with less than a month to go before the marathon. Now is prime training time. Maybe I should take a few more days off?
To make matters worse, my Garmin froze up. I couldn’t even get any kind of beep out of it, either by pushing buttons, pressing the dial, or even trying to charge it. This evening, it had gone completely blank so I plugged it in and it started to charge which is a good sign. Maybe it will come back to life.
I did a 15k run in the park today. Weather was kind of cold compared to the nice sunny days we had all this week. I kept an easy pace and finished in 1:20. I set an objective of 70ks for this week and have 36.8 to do tomorrow to get there. Yikes!
Here is my actual weekly km data since November, compared with the objectives.
You can see the dips where I had to take some time off due to injuries and ski vacation.
