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Saturday, March 25 2006

Running attempts

By Julien on Saturday, March 25 2006, 13:17

On Wednesday I went running again with Rachel. We did Hyde Park in 32 minutes, no problems, good feelings, pretty encouraging. Today I went again on my own. I ran in 28'40 which is not too bad but I felt really exhausted after that, and the wind is not a good enough excuse. I wonder how long it will take to come back to a decent shape. I think I will start by some speed training before endurance and mountain, as detailed in the stage 2 of my long term training plan. It looks that it will be long and hard.
I hope I'll manage to be in decent condition to face Scott Jurek (one of the top ultrarunners in the world at the moment) who apparently decided to run the UTMB in 2006 ... ;)

Ultra restart.

2 comments

Friday, February 24 2006

A (successful) running attempt

By Julien on Friday, February 24 2006, 11:33

Yesterday morning, after 4 months virtually without running, I've made an attempt to get back into it. I've been once around Hyde Park (6.3km) in 29'15" which is really not too bad compared to my typical 27'30". It feels so good to be able to run again.
I didn't feel anything particular during the run, but it was slightly dodgy an hour after. I'm not even sure that's related, as I feel sometimes much more achy while lying down or sitting. This morning, I feel very stiff, just as if I ran a marathon or two. Or probably just as if I didn't run for a couple of months ...

This is quite encouraging, but I must remain very careful. I've not completely recovered yet and therefore another injury would probably be fatal. I'll probably start to run once a week, only one gentle Hyde Park lap.

Ultra encouraging.

Assessment of my training plan:
I'm reaching the end of stage 1, namely "come back to a decent shape". I've been swimming 3 to 4 times a week, which is good, but I've not done 2km very often (I feel like Mommas is going to make fun of me...). I'll try to increase a bit the volume from now on.

one comment

Thursday, February 2 2006

Swimming at Ethos

By Julien on Thursday, February 2 2006, 21:37

This afternoon, I tested the new Imperial College Sport Center - Ethos. I went for a swim and that was actually pretty nice. The 25m & 5-lanes pool is relatively bright and the water very clear. No rubbish music is played and the UV disinfection system doesn't leave you with a too strong chlorine smell (that were the arguments to convice M.). It's globally modern, with a huge mirror in the changing room, individual shower temperature selectors and digital lockers. I've not tested the spa, neither the sauna and the steam room yet.
As I need to do some negative comments too, I'll just point out two things that were missing: kickboards and pull buoys (*) but also girls ;) .
I think that's the best pool I've ever been, and therefore the best free pool too :) . We'll see how all this nice stuff resists to intensive use though.

Ultra new.

(*) Up to now, when Mommas was talking about that, I thought they were "pool boy", which doesn't make much sense, does it ? :)

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