Race Report: 2013 Paris Marathon

Its been a while since I've run a marathon on tarmac. 3 years in fact. London 2010 was my first and only road marathon which I managed in a respectably 3:35. I was a bit of a wreck at the end, but the crowd were amazing and the time was decent enough to encourage me that I had room for improvement.

But then I fell in love with trail running. I turned my back on road races and headed for the hills. The Greensand Marathon, Pilgrim Challenge, Ultra Trail du Vercors, Midsummer Munro, The Beast - all of these  were much more to my liking - hundreds, not thousands of runners, stunning locations, and lots of hills. The closest I came was a marathon in Richmond Park.

However as time went on, and my running in the hills improved, I was curious to see how this might affect my road running. Common running folklore says that ultra running, trail running, mountain running - all the offroad stuff - is not conducive to fast marathon times on the flats. So I got the itch to test myself again, and picked Paris.

Tapering

Pre-marathon preparation is always difficult. As running lore and common sense dictates, there's not much you can do in your final week to improve your race performance, but there's a hell of a lot you can do to mess it up. With that in mind, during the week of the race I went out on the Tuesday evening to run a fast pace with full marathon kit, complete with carrying gels and running in the gear I would race in. I probably went  a little too hard but luckily had enough time to recover the sore quads in time for the race.

Marathon Expo

A quick run round the village on Saturday morning with the dog, and then it was on the TGV up to Paris. Our hotel was in the SW of the city which was quite convenient for the Marathon Expo at Porte de Versailles, where I went to pick up my race number and goody bag. Once I'd emptied all the flyers and other crap from my good bag, the only items of any discernible usefulness were a bar towel, and a bag of pistachios. Note to organisers: For 65 euros and upwards - could do better.

Running Expo

Anyway, I made my way through the expo as quickly as possible - it was full of people trying to sell running gear or get you to sign up to other marathons. There was a rice party for last minute carb-loaders but I'd brought my own pasta (taking no chances with restaurants and food poisoning) so I headed back to the hotel to stuff my face.

Race Day

I managed to get a reasonable sleep despite the rumble of the RER trains and trams right past the hotel, and was up at 6 to wolf down some porridge and get the Metro to the start line. When I surfaced at Place de Charles de Gaulle, the sun was up and the place was swarming around the Arc de Triomphe. It was damn cold though, so left it until the last minute to drop off my bag so that I could keep my tracksuit on for as long as possible.

The marathon route is basically a squashed loop, heading out from the Champs Elysee, down to the Louvre and heading east to the Bois de Vincennes park. It loops round before heading back west along the Seine, to the Bois de Bolougne, and then finishing on the Avenue Foch leading back to the Arc de Triomphe. This meant that logistically, our bag drop was at the finish (unlike say, London, where they transport your bags to the end). 

Worst version of "Where's Wally?" ever...

I was in with a predicted time of 3:15 so had to get to one of the start pens at the front. The Champs Elysee is a pretty wide avenue, and all of the road was penned for runners, with the side pavements used to get to the start gate. However it soon became a huge crush, as 50,000 runners tried to find their place. I managed to get into my start pen with seconds to spare, so no real time for a warm up and feeling pretty stressed. I really shouldn't have left it so long until I dropped my bags.

The pace kicked off pretty quickly as usual, but the first 10km were pretty crowded. The weather was perfect, clear and cold with little wind and we soon warmed up. I chatted to 'Richard from Portsmouth' who was aiming for a 3 hour time so we made conversation as we passed our way alongside the Louvre, the Rue de Rivoli and out east.

Park Life

The course really was quite flat and fast, and being so straight we soon made it out to the Bois de Vincennes, a huge park just outside the Peripherique on the eastern side of Paris. The course looped through there from about KMs 12 to 19, and being so far out, the crowd support dropped a bit with a few gaps, but there were plenty of people around the KM markers, and lots of casual support from people out walking their dogs on a  Sunday morning.

Tunnel Vision

After the Bois de Vincennes, the route snaked back towards the centre of Paris, along the river Seine. We passed the halfway point and I was still feeling strong, averaging around 4.17min/km which I knew was a pace of just over 3 hours for the whole race - however I was aware that keeping that up for another half marathon was not going to be easy. My time at the halfway point was 1hr 29m 55sec - my first ever sub-90 minute half marathon - I was pleased, but a bit worried I was going too fast.

Coming back into town and the crowd support really increased. A beautiful, sunny day on the banks of the Seine, with the Eiffel tower in the background made it an amazing experience. But then came the tunnels. There were about 3 or 4 tunnels of varying length, each of which dipped very sharply, plunging us into a humid and bizarre dark world, before forcing an uphill run out back into daylight.

I really started to flag at the end, after the 35km mark I was getting the usual cramps pinging into my calf muscles whenever I ran too fast so my pace dropped.

Conclusion

40,108 runners left the Champs Elysee at the start, and 38,690 crossed the finishing line. I came 1,926th in total, with an official time of 03h08'12". My best marathon to date, and tantalisingly close enough to the magic 3 hour mark that I'm tempted to have another go.

If you're thinking of a marathon, you could do a lot worse than Paris. The organisation was pretty spot on considering the huge field of runners. The route was magnificent, crowd support was good and the fact that the start and end is pretty much in the same place is a big plus. Its much easier to get a place, not being as heavily subscribed as London, and also gives you a great excuse to visit Paris.

Finished

Long Run - Then Tapering

With just a few weeks to go until the Paris Marathon, I needed to do my 'long run', the traditional 20 miler that is the bedrock of all marathon training plans.

I considered running it in Milan, where I was on business and the terrain was flat, as I also had a few hours spare one morning before meetings. However I thought that after 20 miles I might not be in much of a state to work for the rest of the day, so I left it until the Sunday when I was back home.

Sticking to the roads - but still a stunning view

This meant that I was rewarded with a beautiful, crisp sunny day in the mountains in which to run. I stuck to the roads to minimise the hills, and ran round the local villages and hamlets, but several long climbs meant that my time was slow, and the going was tough. I kept the pace slow, but the effort was still high because of the gradient.

Hilly

I took the opportunity to try out a new pair of running shoes - Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13 - I've been road running in various models of these for the last few years so ordered them online without trying any on. They seem fine, and it was great to have that spring 'new shoe' feel which I hope will still be there by the time I get to do the marathon. Apart from a blister after 17km, which I hope is just a case of wearing them in, the were fine.


Now its time to taper down, drop the mileage but keep the pace.

Desperately Seeking Tarmac - A Few Thoughts on City Running

Now we're getting into the end of February, the trails around me have been under a thick blanket of snow for a good three months now and as such my weekly distances have dropped off dramatically. I'm putting in some lung-busting efforts running along the snowshoe hiking trails, often in deep powder, but the pace is slow and its not perfect training for my next goal, which is the Paris Marathon just over 6 weeks away.

I've been lucky enough to travel on business to a few cities lately though and take the opportunity to run on flat, sea-level pavement to put some quality KMs under my belt. I thought I'd share a few experiences.

London
I lived here for a decade so know it well. There are huge numbers of green spaces to run in, including the Royal Parks, Hampstead Heath etc, but nothing beats an early morning run along the river. There are few pedestrians and not much traffic around before 7.30am, and you get some stunning views as the sun comes up.

The London skyline from Waterloo bridge. The London Eye on the left, Big Ben in the middle.

My hotel was somewhere in Kensington and I got a little lost heading towards the river, but once on the Thames its great to run along the embankment to the north, and then along the southern pedestrianised Thames Path.


This was supposed to be a rest week but I had such fun running in the (relative) warmth, and it felt so quick that I ran a bit further than needed.

Budapest
I've been to this beautiful city a few times this winter, and although its desperately cold at times, its a great place to run. On Margaret Island, an island sitting in the Danube, there is a 5.5km springy purpose-built running track that circles the entire island. Its great to run on, doesn't get (very) iced up, and is easy on the knees because there is some shock absorption built in.

One of the many beautiful views of Budapest, from Margaret Island in the Danube.

 This place seems to be the Central Park of Budapest, and it wasn't clear if there was a 'direction etiquette' but anti-clockwise worked for me! Despite the cold there were still quite a few runners out there, although my Hungarian colleagues tell me it is absolutely heaving in the summer.



 

Paris
The City of Light is where I'll be running a proper marathon in April, my first road marathon for about 4 years and I'm keen to see if I can turn in a decent time. Since I'd done a fairly hard run the day before in London, I took it easy here. Bitterly cold winds and snow flurries put a dent in the view, but it was still quite an experience running under the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower on a bitterly cold, snowy morning.

As beautiful as Paris is, I was actually quite disappointed with the run along the Seine. I started at Issy-les-Moulineux, in the south-west and ran up towards the Eiffel Tower. However, most of the run seemed to consist of picking my way through a cement factory, bus depots passing nightclub boats moored up. The run on the other side was an exercise in dodging traffic.


Since I only had chance to do 10km, I had to keep the route simple. Next time I'll look for somewhere a bit more inspiring to pass through.

Strava 100 Mile Trail Challenge

I've been using Strava to log my runs for about a month now, after having previously used a combination of Fetch Everyone and Garmin Connect for a number of years. About 4 years ago when I first got into running, I bought a Garmin Forerunner 405, which despite its downfalls (dodgy bezel, poor batter life, quirks picking up satellites) has probably been the most motivational piece of running hardware I've ever used.

The Garmin allows me to just stick on a pair of shoes and run out the door, recording where I go and then when I get back I can download all the data and store online, building up a profile over time and allowing me to see how well I'm doing.

But all that data is no good unless you can analyse it in a meaningful way. Being a bit of a geek, I love to see how far and fast I've run, and how much effort it has taken. Garmin Connect always allowed me to do this, but the interface was clunky and it was often very slow.

Facebook for Atheletes?

Strava does most of what Garmin Connect and Fetch Everyone does, but has more of a focus on the social and competition side of things. Its quite easy to find friends and link it via Facebook to build a profile and follow like-minded athletes.

Where it really comes into its own though, is its ability to crunch your run (or bike) data into segments, and allow you to name these so that when you run the same portion of the run again (or somebody else does) you can compare times.

My run mapped out, including elevation profile, split into named segments.

The app is pretty good at determining segments from geographical data, but you're also free to crop and change them yourself, which is quite handy as in some of the places I run there is not much on the Google map to really help Strava work out what is useful or not.

This is especially useful for me, since almost all of my running is on hilly trails, and I rarely run the exact same route twice. However I regularly do route segments, such as the hill sprint back into the village, or a particularly fast riverside forest run, and it adds a bit of extra motivation to know that I can go for a record or at least a good time on that section.

The athlete profile page on Strava gives you a running total of your activities, and flags any achievements you've earned by beating previous times on course segments.

Strava Challenges

I run alone (well, with my border collie) and there aren't many other people in my area so I tend to have the trails to myself. Its easy to get into a routine and not push yourself too much, but this is where the Strava challenges come in.

For the first 16 days of September, Trail Runner magazine hosted the Strava 100 Mile Trail Challenge, where they invited as many people as possible to log 100 miles of trail running between September 1st-16th.

I entered this, and managed to log 102 miles before the challenge ended, and it turned out to be a great motivational tool. So far I've logged over 200km and we still have 9 days of the month left - by having the motivation to go out and run decent mileage every day I think I've managed to push myself that little bit further and discover that I'm actually OK with that level of effort - I'm definitely looking forward to the next challenge.

 Conclusion

I love Strava, and have now stopped using my other sites as I think on balance this is the way to go. Although not perfect, Strava seems to have the right balance right now - what especially appeals is that unlike the hardware manufacturers (Garmin etc) who really are only interested in selling you a device, Strava is device-neutral, and they seem to be continuously driving development and rolling out new features.

Positives

• Clean and quick user interface
• Social element and challenges
• Phone apps

 Negatives

• Because it started as a bike-app, there are far few runners on there
• Difficult to see monthly subtotals in tabular form

Pic de l'Aigle Morning Run

I was feeling like a more challenging outing so I ran Pic de l'Aigle this morning and got a few nice pictures since the weather was fine.

Down in the valley at the start of the climb, crossing the river Büech

Eric, the border collie, waiting for me as the gradient gets steeper

The view back down into the La Jarjatte valley, with the ski pistes in the background

The summit of Montagne de Claret - now its all downhill

Mad Dogs and Englishman

Well, it wasn't quite the midday sun but it was definitely hot enough at 11am to make me think twice. Summer is definitely well underway in French Alps, the flies are out and the farmers are making hay while the sun shines.

I was out with our Border Collie, which are a notoriously heat intolerant breed so he struggled a bit despite me stopping at few cold streams along the way.

I need to get training for the heat in preparation for my upcoming ultras, but it might be a good idea to leave the poor old dog at home.

Running with a Dog

On Tuesday, we travelled over to Valence in the Rhône Valley and took owner ship of a 12 month old Border Collie called Eric. His previous owner, an 84 year old man had recently died and he was been fostered. We've been on the lookout for a Border Collie for some time, checking on the puppies available on noticeboards in the vet, but Eric came through a friend of a friend and so we took the plunge.

Eric - ready for a run?

One of the attractions for me for a Border Collie was to have a dog that can come out into the mountains, and run for long periods over rough terrain, or hike all day. However, coming with a years worth of 'baggage', he's got a lot to (un)learn so we're keeping him on a leash for now.

I took him out yesterday for his first proper run. I did a short run up to the Mougious waterfall which he took in his stride. A couple of hundred metres shy of the waterfall, a deer shot out of the forest and across our path - Eric went crazy and tried to bolt after him, which pretty much vindicated my decision to keep him leashed.

Post-deer chasing Eric on his way home

The biggest problem I found was running with a short leash. I think the natural driving/herding instinct in a Border Collie means that he weaves from left to right a lot, and running with a short leash means I keep running into the back of him.
 
As usual, the internet is a helpful place and I've been given a lot of advice on running with dogs. I'm ordering a leash that will attach to a belt so I can run hand's free and have a little more give when he stops or speeds up. I'll review it on here when I've had chance to try it out.

Grand Ferrand Traverse

At the end of our valley is the largest mountain in the area - the Grand Ferrand. At 2,758m its not the biggest in the Alps, but at over a vertical mile above our valley floor, it presents quite a challenge to the aspring trail runner, and has quite an imposing presence over the end of the valley.

The Grand Ferrand on the approach - still early morning and not much sun.

All year I had been running along the trails at the end of the valley, and up into the foothills of the Grand Ferrand, only to be turned back by too much snow. My run on Friday morning was meant to be just another 10km jaunt, but to my surpise I found the snow had melted enough to allow me to get up above the treeline and onto the mountain proper.

Strictly no sheep or shepherd bothering

A waterfall up the Grand Ferrand

Rather than run up to Lac du Lauzon, I decided that I would traverse across the face of the mountain and head towards Col de la Croix, which passes the local sheep pastures, and then descend down into the forest and create a loop.

Since this was early spring, and very few hikers had made this route yet, after taking the branch I immediately lost the path and ended up scrambling up through rough undergrowth until I came out over a ridge and onto the steep, grassy pastures of the Ferrand.

Up above the treeline on the Grand Ferrand

I realised I was too high for the trail that cuts across, so decided to head across the slope and descend until I found it. The slope was a good 50º and quite slick with the morning due so going was tricky. I was busy watching down the mountain and at my feet, until I caught a glimpse of movement and looked up the slope to see a Chamois running towards me. It suddenly saw me, and startled, ran away for another 100m before looking back at me. I managed to snap a picture with my phone but it does no justice to these amazing animals - I was struggling on the terrain and it was running around as if it were on the flat.

One of the Chamois that live up high on the Grand Ferrand

After descending down another couple of hundred metres I found the trail, which was pure trail running Nirvana, high above the treeline, with a fantastic view back down the valley into La Jarjatte.

Finally found the trail that traverses the lower part of the mountain, with fantastic views back down the valley.

Into the sheep pastures, which in a month or so will be full of flocks, guarded from wolves by Patou dogs.

Wild flowers growing along the trail

The pastures that will be full of grazing sheep in a couple of months

The descent back into the valley

Still Too Much Snow

I’ve only been running in the French Alps for a couple of months, and so far I’ve not ventured up high as the weather has been poor and there’s too much snow. However we’ve had a few weeks of fine, warm and sunny weather, and all of the snow has gone from valley level. Looking out of my office window, I can see the Grand Ferrand, the largest mountain in the area, and an ultimate goal.

However I figured the whole vertical mile to the top might be a bit much for now, so I set my sights a little lower, and decided to aim for the shepherd’s cabin at Le Fleyrard. This is about 500m up the mountains, and marks the upper limit of the treeline. From there, there is a track that traverses the front of the mountain, leading to the sheep pastures, from where it is a downhill run back into the valley via the Col de la Croix.

Le Grand Ferrand, on approach. Its looking remarkably snow-free on the pastures above the treeline.

I started the run at the end of the day, and the 4km run along the valley, along the river Büech was a joy. Late in the day, the sun was setting creating a great effect as the sun caught the trees and the snow.

Even in the valley, sheltered places still had a lot of snow, which had repeatedly thawed and refroze, making running tricky.

The snowbank above the trees covers what is another sheep grazing pasture in the summer. It feeds the Cascade de Mougious, a steep waterfall that I should be able to run up from about May onwards.

As I headed to the end of the valley, I passed quite a few walkers coming off from a day’s hike on the mountain.

The trail along the valley floor forks left. It's 1.7km to the cabin, and about 300m of vertical.

Egged on by a few ‘bon courage’ from passing hikers, I managed about another 300m of vertical before I had to turn back because of too much snow. Descending in thigh-deep, crusty snow was even tougher than climbing, and I got stuck a few times and took the odd tumble.



I reckon another 2 weeks and I’ll be able to get up past the Fleyrard shepherds cabin and up onto the Grand Ferrand proper.

Spring Run

Since moving to France, and despite now living in a trail running Mecca, I’ve completely neglected to get out recently. So after working three 18 hour days in a row, and the weather being beautiful, warm and sunny all week I forced myself to get out for a lunchtime run.

It had been a few weeks since I last ran the trails at the end of the valley, and back then the weather was below freezing, and we’d had a lot of snow so the cross-country ski trails were hard packed and made for good, consistent running. However, we’ve had 3 weeks of sunny days, and temperatures up into the 20s, so the snow has been melting fast.

XC Ski Trail through the forest

After a slushy start at start of the ski trails, once I got off the main road I found that the shade from the trees had protected a lot of the snow. A bit icy in places but generally good to run on.

Warm and Sunny

After getting to the end of my normal trail at the Cascade de Mougious, I felt a bit ambitious and climbed up the start of the trail up the Grand Ferrand. I was on the wrong side of the river, but a partial snow bridge was still intact so I was able to jump across and head up the trail. South-facing, it was mostly clear of snow apart from patches on the left, but on the right, lizards were basking in the afternoon sun.

Heading up the Grand Ferrand

A couple of hundred metres of vertical height gain, on rocky, technical terrain was about all I could manage. Especially since my heart rate monitor was telling me I was hitting 95%. Probably time to turn around and call it a day.