A little somewhere else

SainteLyon 2011

Chty — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:01:00 +0100

I indeed ran the SainteLyon race at the beginning of December 2011; first time ever I was running that much (68km). I'm writing quite a long time after the event which is quite unusual for runners: you usually read reports some days or sometimes hours later. I choose to write some pieces from time to time when the need was present.

2011 was not a good year for my body. Although I spent 2010 without any injuries, I spent at least about 4 months of 2011 without running at all; mostly because of stress fractures and other things that went from there.
So I started to run seriously again around June, aiming for the SainteLyon race; the pressure was back and I had just the needed amount of time to train. After hundreds of kilometers, I decided that my new Inov-8 Roclite 285 were a good choice for this race: no injuries at all, good feelings, lightweight, easy to run on mood terrain. I still had the fear of getting another injury mainly after stopping that much time, but I did my best to balance each running session along the time, and increasing the distance after each week.
It wasn't easy at all, and I thought I wasn't training enough; plus I had a big work load, combined with a busy night life. But I always wanted to keep up with all my usual activities, even with a hard aim of running. That is how I consider running: integrate it in my every day life, without interfering too much with everything else. Of course this is easier said than done.
Knowing that, I did not plan a heavy training. Two times a week, three in good ones, depending on my work load and other events, most of the time lasting between one hour and one hour and a half; very rarely two hours during weekends. I know I had to do interval trainings, but most of the time I wasn't motivated enough to do so. From October I started to run some long run; that is to say at least two hours and a half. The longest one was during about four hours long and it brought the consequence of reassuring me a lot: I was still able to run about forty kilometers without being torn to pieces at the end. I guess it was one of the most important part of my training: getting good feelings about my training and experiences, acknowledging my past trainings even after so many doubts.
Some weeks before the race I did not train a lot; it's indeed recommended even if I wanted to run more. I went to the race with a clean mind; I of course knew that I would probably suffer a lot but it wasn't the time to think about it. Long run happen mostly in your head; the best you can feel in your head before, the best you will be during.

The particularity of the race is of course that it's starting at midnight, that is to say a long day before you; not really usual, because most of the training happens during the day, in conditions where you are well awake and fit. We arrived around 7p.m at Saint-Etienne, and took some time to eat and rest. Ear plugs are quite useful if you want to drowse a bit indoor in the middle of thousands of people waiting for the start. Then we had to go to the starting place quite a long time before midnight and to wait, which was really annoying even if the temperature was not that cold - around seven degrees if I remember correctly -, also because of the the rain.

The beginning was quite hard for me; probably because of temperature differences, I started to get headaches. It is typically what could kill a race, especially at the beginning; it is an entry point to start thinking about it and then having negative ideas in your head. Long races show you that you can always go through bad times, and feel like in your best days some kilometers after. Something like 13 kilometers after, I was indeed truly back in the race. I was running with a friend and it also helped a lot talking together to think about something else.

There was several resupply; the first one at 16km and then every 10km. I didn't know what I really needed for such a race; moreover I didn't know if I had what I needed each time. So I decided to take quite a lot of stuff with me before the race, even though I knew my bag would be heavier than usual. Two liters of water, bananas, biscuits, and a big home made salad. The aim of the last one was in my opinion particularly important for my mental: knowing that you have a very good meal in your bag is keeping you away from thinking "What if I'm starting to feel really bad?". In fact I almost didn't eat what I had in my bag. At each break we took the time to eat and take stuff with us. I furthermore used my water a lot and refilled it sometimes.

Even by night, we could have done really amazing pictures: imagine yourself looking backward while climbing a hill, seeing thousand of lights forming a light track up to the horizon; indescribable. Then the morning light came so fast and so slowly at the same time.

Even if we didn't have any expectation about the finish time, we had to be quick when stopping to avoid getting cold, or at least remain in a wind-less place. More and more people forfeited along the race; I even saw someone falling in front of me while eating gingerbread.
Around the kilometer 39, my friend who had some knee injuries decided to let me go ahead. As I was still in very good shape and feeling well, I continued at my own pace; the most difficult parts were the downhills: my joints were hurting more or less, but my body understood how trail is hard.
At some point I might have started to run too fast: 10km before the end, I felt that my body was now at its limits. I kept the thing in my head, receiving some text messages to encourage me, and went on for 5 more kilometers. Then, I got an horrible pain on my right foot and had to finish by walking.
These five last kilometers were my only disappointment of this race because this not the picture I want to show about running. My very first aim is always to finish as good as I can, in a good shape.

Anyway, I guess I have some possible explanations about this injury but I was so excited to finish. I was quite surprised by the time (9h29); a bit sad not to be able to share it with my friend who was still suffering, but I'm always so moved after such an event! I had the feeling I was the only one in such a state but I hope I was wrong. In my opinion, the most important thing after such a race is to be able to share it with someone who really care about you and your passion.

A new start?

Chty — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:34:00 +0100

I have more and more difficulties to find some motivation to write something here; maybe because I'm using `twitter` and it sounds easier to write a few words sometimes rather than spending hours trying to write good sentences. I lack to share some thoughts about running though; maybe I'll give it another try or move these stuff to a more specialized place to speak about running and nothing else.

Inov-8 Roclite 285

Chty — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:34:00 +0200

First time ever I didn’t wrote a few words during more than two months.

I'm slowly trying to get my running level back because of different injuries I got. I will try to run the SainteLyon race in December. That's why I bought new trails shoes.
I decided to try a new brand I saw on some blogs: Inov-8 Roclite 285. It was the first time I was buying shoes without trying them before. The sizing seems good and I will see how they will evolve with my training.

Vibram fivefingers bikila LS

Chty — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:23:00 +0200

A few weeks ago I got the vibram fivefingers for my birthday. I originally didn't want to buy these shoes because I found them too expensive for what it is. Since I was thinking about them anyway, it is now a good occasion to really try them. I got the bikila LS model from hawaiisurf.com which is also a shop near Paris. Unfortunately, I'm still not able to run because of my foot issues but I hope to be ready soon and write some feedbacks.

Marathon de Paris 2011

Chty — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:09:00 +0200

Comme prévu, je ne suis pas allé courir le marathon de Paris 2011 malgré mon inscription mais j'ai quand même fait le déplacement pour aller supporter des amis. La chaleur était au rendez-vous, bravo aux coureurs !

Rien à voir mais j'ai pu discuter avec les vendeurs de chez New Balance; ils m'ont dit que les New Balance Minimus devraient arriver courant Juillet 2011 en Europe. Plutôt une bonne nouvelle, même si je crains fortement que la chaussure prenne 50 euros dans l'aile au cours de sa traversée de l'Atlantique.

Sunny and cold

Chty — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:17:00 +0100

This is really the period of the year I prefer: not too cold, not too hot but sunny; a perfect time for running. This is indeed a moment where we see more and more runners in the streets coming from nowhere.

Unfortunately for me, I can't enjoy this lovely weather. I have not been running for one month because of injuries; several medical consultations revealed to me that I have two small fractures on the left forefoot. Strange to spend the year 2010 without any trouble and starting the 2011 with annoying issues. I will therefore (and unfortunately) not run the Paris marathon 2011. I really hope to be fit for fight as soon as possible.

KVM and Virtio on Linux

Chty — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:05:00 +0100

I did not found any precise documentation about how to configure Virtio with KVM, especially if a special configuration was needed on the host side; so here it is:

For the host machine you don't need anything particular apart from the correct KVM configuration.

For the guest virtual machine, here is an example of what you should have in your kernel configuration:

CONFIG_VIRTIO_BLK=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_NET=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_CONSOLE=m CONFIG_HW_RANDOM_VIRTIO=m CONFIG_VIRTIO=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_RING=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_PCI=y CONFIG_VIRTIO_BALLOON=y

Paris half-marathon 2011

Chty — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0100

For one of the first times I went to see a running race to support my brother and a friend of his. Even though I knew it before, I realized that supporting is perhaps as hard as running the race itself! You indeed have to always be attentive when you know that the runners you are supporting are going to pass by. Anyway, as I knew it before it's often the runners who notice you.
They at least got a very nice and sunny weather; under 8 degrees, perfect for a race.

The next one will be the Paris marathon which I am supposed to run. Unfortunately, my left leg has been injured for some weeks. I guess I will not be able to run it but I will see if I can make it; it's often hard to give up on a race you subscribed to.

New balance minimus

Chty — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:07:00 +0100

Now it's the turn of New Balance; I was indeed waiting for the New Balance minimus, especially for the trail model. They have indeed done much commercial noise and it really seems to be a very good shoe: lightweight, wide forefoot. I can't wait to try them.
Unfortunately they seem to be only available in the USA for the moment. The Merrell model can be found in France and is at least available on their French online store but I didn't take the time to look for a store which had this pair of shoes; I must say that the price is really expensive and I hope it will not be the case for the New Balance model because of the shipping accross the Atlantic ocean.

Updating nodes

Chty — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:45:00 +0100

Updating nodes of an IT infrastructure is a long term work; perhaps should we think about it months before, that is to say when the update is available and not when we need the update.

Merrell trail glove

Chty — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 13:15:00 +0100

Merrell trail glove was one of the pair of shoes I was particularly waiting for this year. I will perhaps try to find a store in France to be able to test them. But I am always disgusted by the price itself (120 euros in France); I really think shoes are expensive even if people get used to used to it. Moreover I can't understand the 40 euros (~55 US dollars) difference between the US and Europe store.

Trail D2B 2011

Chty — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:56:00 +0100

Troisième participation le week-end dernier, deuxième pour le 30km; dans le même sens qu'en 2009, Berck-sur-mer Le Touquet.

La météo
Presque pareil qu'en 2010 malgré mes craintes; avec un peu de vent sur la fin, mais pour ainsi dire pas de pluie durant la course.

La course
La course s'est très bien passée côté forme, mieux qu'en 2009 en tout cas. Par ailleurs j'ai encore subi des crampes tout au long de la course à chaque sortie de zone de dunes; c'est assez frustrant quand la forme est au rendez-vous et qu'on est contraint de s'arrêter plusieurs fois pour calmer les muscles. Je fais pourtant attention à ce genre de choses dans ma préparation alimentaire; sans doute que je manque encore d'expérience de ce côté pour minimiser les risques d'apparition de crampes. Je dois dire que je ne connais pas bien tous les paramètres qui entrent en jeux pour ce genre de problèmes.

Les organisateurs font toujours très attention pour limiter l'impact de la course sur la nature. Ceci pour ne pas s'attirer les foudres des associations vertes de la région qui sont très actives, mais surtout parce qu'on aime la nature.
Par rapport à cela, je suis en colère contre certains coureurs qui se permettent de jeter sur le chemin leurs tubes vides en plastique d'alimentation énergétique; j'en ai rencontré au moins quatre sur mon chemin durant cette course. Je trouve ça révoltant et incompréhensible. Je pensais qu'une personne participant à des trails était forcément un amoureux de la nature. Je ne conçois pas qu'un coureur qui prend part à une course nature puisse souiller son environnement, comme s'il le consommait. Remettre un tube usagé dans sa poche le restant de la course, ou au pire jusqu'au prochain ravitaillement n'est franchement pas la mer à boire ! Respectez la course ou restez chez vous !

Quelques chiffres
Environ 10 minutes de mieux qu'en 2009, soit 3:14:11. 72ème de ma catégorie et 138ème sur 538 faisant le 30km. La course remporte un franc succès avec près de 1000 inscrits.

J'espère être présent encore l'année prochaine, cette fois dans le sens inverse, Le Touquet Berck-sur-mer; c'est toujours un plaisir de courir dans un tel décor.

Les bilans

Chty — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:18:00 +0100

Je ne suis pas franchement du genre à faire le traditionnel bilan annuel mais le fait d'en lire à droite à gauche pousse quand même à regarder un peu en arrière. Côté course à pied, je me suis dit que je m'en étais vraiment bien sorti; un marathon bien au delà des espérances avec un entraînement un peu bancal comme toujours, et d'après ma médiocre mémoire, aucune blessure m'empêchant de courir les rues pendant plusieurs jours. Sans doute parce que ma petite expérience commence à se ressentir à mon petit niveau. Enfin, ne parlons pas trop vite, car après avoir constaté cela, j'ai trouvé le moyen de faire apparaître une douleur inquiétante au pied, apparemment résorbée à cette heure.

Pour commencer, me voilà reparti le week-end prochain, pour le trail des deux baies, ma troisième participation. Je croise les doigts pour que le temps soit suffisamment clément, comme l'année dernière. Ce sera une bonne occasion de bien relancer l'entraînement pour le prochain marathon. Je n'ai jamais eu l'impression d'être bien entraîné pour ce genre de course en début d'année; cela tombe souvent après une grosse période de ~~flémardise~~ repos. À vrai dire j'ai toujours évolué sur une montagne russe en alternant grosse période d'entraînement et gros repos. On verra si mes mollets acceptent les dunes de sable cette année.

Bien terminer et commencer l'année à la sncf

Chty — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:14:00 +0100

Petit billet plaintif à propos de notre chère compagnie de transport sur rails.

Du 24/12 au 03/01, nous avons eu le droit à quelques lignes en grève; c'est tout de même un comble pour une fin d'année surtout quand on lit les requêtes: "demandes de congés pas prises en compte, problèmes de roulement, de conditions de travail et de sécurité". Bref, ils auraient pu dire qu'il y avait une tâche sur le siège conducteur de Robert, ça aurait été la même chose.

Y'en a des qui visitent des musées

Chty — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:56:00 +0100

Pour ce 31 parlons de quelques expositions faites récemment:

Larry Clark, "Kiss the Past Hello" à Paris
J'y suis d'abord allé par curiosité car tout le monde en parlait; une exposition interdite au moins de dix huit ans, c'est pas tous les jours. L'effet souhaité est sans doute au rendez-vous une foule s'y presse chaque jour. J'y suis allé une première fois, mais j'ai vite changé mes plans au vu de la queue interminable. La deuxième fois, dans des horaires un peu plus creux, une heure de queue si mes souvenirs sont bons; ca reste raisonnable pour une exposition dont tout le monde parle.
J'ai compris ce que je voulais comprendre; l'interdiction au moins de dix huit ans n'est pas forcément bête, même pour de l'art. Sans explication on a parfois beaucoup de mal à comprendre certaines mises en scène parfois choquantes. À part ça je m'attendais à trouver plus de contenu, mais l'exposition reste assez rapide à parcourir.

Basquiat
L'exposition est au même endroit que pour Larry Clak; bonne occasion pour découvrir cet artiste, mais cette fois un peintre. Beaucoup de couleur, un personnage intrigant. J'étais vraiment impressionné par la foule qui remplit ces musées. Plutôt une bonne nouvelle pour le milieu culturel, même si leur public reste très bobo.

Bonne année 2011 à tous !

Be on time

Chty — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:32:00 +0100

Subscriptions for the 2011 Berlin marathon have been open since approximately the 15th of October 2010. No, I have not yet subscribed to the race but I noticed a strange modification in the subscription of some races; the Berlin and Paris marathons at least.

Each well known race has a subscription period to encourage participants to subscribe early. Usually it is a time period; that is to say the earlier you subscribe, the less you will pay.
When I subscribed to the Paris marathon, I noticed that, starting this year, your subscription fee was determined by number periods; it means that the price was determined depending on the number of people who subscribed before you; the price evolves every certain amount of people.
Now that such races are under assault, the maximum amount of subscribers is reached very fast (e.g some weeks for the Paris marathon); most runners learned how to spare some money by subscribing earlier and earlier, planning races months before. A subscription system evolving through time has been implemented to encourage such behavior and facilitate the organization of the event.
Perhaps I am acting like an old French grouch but I only understand this modification as a volition of the organizers to get more money; perhaps they need it for the organization of the event, perhaps not; it wasn't explained. I am distressed about this change.

Le devenir des courses nature

Chty — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 22:28:00 +0100

Je relais un e-mail reçu à propos du devenir des courses nature, même si peu de coureurs passent par ici, ça ne coûte rien d'informer son entourage.
Je ne connais pas vraiment l'impacte de la pétition proposée à la fin du billet mais comme le sujet me concerne, j'essaye de le suivre de près.

---

Le décret du 9 avril 2010 concernant la pratique des activités dans et à proximité des zones NATURA 2000 a instauré, entre autre, la nécessité d’effectuer une étude d’incidence pour les épreuves sportives dont le budget est supérieur à 100 000 €.

décret n° 2010-365 du 9 avril 2010 relatif à l’évaluation des incidences Natura 2000.

Dans ce créneau de budget, l’incidence financière peut être acceptable (une étude coûte entre 2 000 et 15 000€). A la liste nationale du décret sus nommé, les Préfets ont l’obligation d’éditer une liste locale avant fin décembre 2010. La liste locale de la région Nord-Pas de Calais préparée par les services de l’état, demande à ce que le seuil de 100 000€ soit supprimé, pour être ramené pour toute épreuve au 1er euro.

Vous comprendrez assurément que nous, organisateurs, ne pourront aucunement prendre en charge de telles dispositions. Il faut savoir qu’une étude d’incidence (qui au vu du dossier peut difficilement être réalisée en interne, sauf à être un expert incontesté de l’environnement) est soumise au délai de 2 mois d’instruction avec la possibilité aux termes de l’instruction de délivrer un avis défavorable, annulant de facto la possibilité d’organiser l’épreuve.

Quel organisateur, assez inconscient, va prendre le risque de mettre en place une épreuve avec cette épée de Damoclès sur la tête?

La charge qu’implique l’organisation d’une épreuve sportive (encore plus lourde quand il s’agit d’une épreuve de pleine nature) est déjà contraignante et pleine de responsabilités. De plus, les coureurs trouvent déjà onéreux les montants d’inscription, que penser d’une augmentation de 5 à 10 euros pour amortir cette nouvelle charge? Il faut rappeler qu’un tiers des Français de – de 15 ans sont pratiquants de sport nature. Nous constituons donc une force importante et notre parole doit pouvoir être entendue.

Pour cela, nous devons nous exprimer et nous vous demandons de prendre 2 minutes de votre temps et de signer la pétition que nous présenterons au Préfet en fin de mois.

nota: je n’ai jusqu’à ce jour jamais entendu dire que lors de nos épreuves, nous portions une quelconque atteinte à l’environnement. Peut être est il resté 1 ou 2 bouteilles d’eau ou quelques enveloppes de boosters que nous aurions omis de ramasser, mais que dire des dizaines et dizaines de sacs poubelle que nous remplissons avant l’épreuve pour donner bonne image à la course.

Signer la pétition

Vibram Five Fingers

Chty — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:42:00 +0100

Before the Berlin marathon, at the exhibition, all the well-known brands were represented by a stand selling some products. This year, Vibram was here to present their well known Vibram Five Fingers products. I took the occasion to try the bikila product. It's indeed pleasant to walk and feel the ground, but I cannot understand the price: 120 euros is quite a lot. It's especially true when you are used to buying new pair of shoes every year; moreover nobody knows exactly about the quality of the shoes through time, because it's quite new... They are probably making the most of the patents owned for these products and I think it's a shame.
I will probably buy one pair one day, because I really think it's a good new approach to running, but not for this price.

Berlin marathon 2010

Chty — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:38:00 +0200

A quick entry to show you my results from today !

number 7552
class MH
split time
05 km: 00:26:10
10 km: 00:52:12
15 km: 01:17:52
20 km: 01:43:54
half: 01:49:35
25 km: 02:10:08
30 km: 02:36:42
35 km: 03:03:28
40 km: 03:28:47
total
place (M/W) 8246
place (ag) 815
place (total) 8006
time total (brutto) 03:41:10
time total (netto) 03:38:59
Time per km: 05:11
Speed: 11.56 km/h

I improved my net time of 1 minute 37 seconds compared to my previous Berlin marathon; almost nothing. But in fact it doesn't really matter because my final aim was to finish in a better shape; and I was the first suprised to see how well I was feeling along the last kilometers. I really spent a nice race without being broken at the end like last year; I am really happy about it and will possibly post some more thoughts in the next days...

Foulées de la bêtise 2010

Chty — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 21:41:00 +0200

Like almost every year, I ran the Foulées de la bêtise race near my home town. It was only 5km and I did it in 00:20:09. I always forget my previous time but I think I improved it a bit.

The Berlin marathon is coming next Sunday. I'm really scared about the strikes to come on the 23th of this month. I booked my ticket months ago; no luck for me, the same day. Moreover, nobody knows how long this could go on.