Training during military coup

I just saw a post in my drafts that I had begun the day before the Mali coup on the 21st of March. Reading it sent me back at my week and a half of waiting patiently in my hotel room, while hearing gunshot fired not 10 block away.

I was there for a three weeks contract, and everything was going according to plan, even with my indigestion (which is never a surprise when working in Africa!). My training at that point was going down to nothing, I had to run for Iceland's ultra marathon, but everything seemed against me (the excuses we give ourselves for not training ...).

Then the coup happened ... we were in the ACI 2000 part of town, really near Bamako center and the  radio station, so when we heard gunshots, we heard them quite well. So I had to forbid exterior training, and Hotel Massaley did not have any Gymnasium ... so much for running, so I got quite serious about my Insanity program.

What we can learn about this:

• Never take the political stability of a developing country for granted

• Always have a plan B for training abroad, be it rubber bands, water filled weights, or training videos (subject to some review soon i guess ... that could be a good post would it not ?)

• Keep training, whatever happens, even if you have to shift from specific to general maintenance ... except if you get sick, then, take a reality check and some days off, at least until you are not at risk of shitting yourself while doing a power squat

• When people start shooting their guns in the air, don't stay in the open, Mali had around 15 deaths by stray bullets

I'll keep my political views out of my blog, I don't think I will comment what happened back there and what is still happening now, I feel really sad for the malians that I know to be good people, solution oriented and successful professionnals that are seeing the country the were so proud of being slowly driven to ruin and chaos...

Guiness, the quality drink in any environment, and the best recovery drink...

Running in Africa

*** Wow, a 5 months old post .. what  a good blogger I make ... time to right the wrongs and be active... ***

I'm currently in Bamako, Mali for business. my job is really nice for the adventure of getting off shore 4 to 6 times a year, but is one of the most sucky for maintaining a regular training regimen.

On top of that, the food, the water, even the air you breathe can make you sick ... but, it is most of the time worth it.

My 40K per week goal I had set myself onto is now getting farther away from my grasp. working hours and a remarkable lack of will are taking their toll. I'm still trying to weight whether I should give more place to the Insanity program in wich I have about three weeks left or run some 5 to 8 km stretch as much as I can in a week. 

Last week i got sick, my dinner, wich consisted in rice with a tar-like textured sauce that tasted weird, kept me in bed for 18 hours and left me weak as a puppy until saturday night. 

A bit pissed at the existence for the lost training sessions I headed for a long run on Sunday ... a grueling run under the oppressing sun. I could not run more than 20 minutes before having to walk or sit under a three to cool down, but I did good, running about 14 km without passing out. It put a strain on my already weak body, but I pulled tru, being tired of excuses for not training.

In the end, I think I experienced some dehydration effect, my stomach was bloated and I was quite fatigued. The air being so dry in Mali, I barely sweated during the run, it is weird to feel exhausted but not being drenched in sweat. I'll have to care a bit more for my hydration next Sunday.

Aiming high, and avoiding the lows

Last year i took a challenge with my friend and colleague Richard, to get out alive of the laugavegur ultra marathon ...


Overly enjoyed at the prospect of this new way to suffer, the gear I imagined myself buying and the mystery of the ultra underground I purposely avoided to ponder the required training for this kind of distance.


55 km is a lot for someone who never ran a full marathon, never the less, i keep the faith thinking about the XC Challenge I ran, 32 km in the mountain of Mount Tremblant in Quebec and the different attempt at glory in the white mountains (Presidential Traverse in one day and another trek which I don't recall the name).


January and February were dedicated to the Insanity training, reinforcing my weak abductors and subjecting my self to intense plyometric training. By the end of February I was running three times a week, long run included for about 35-40 km a week.


On March 9th, i am leaving for Mali, coming back around April 6th ... hoping to at least find the time to run three times a week, I promised myself that I would at least be training once a day, be it Insanity or homemade leg-blasting tabata or some such. I hope to raise my volume to around 50K by the time I return.


Thoughts of the ultramarathon sometimes overwhelm me and I find myself thinking "what the f*** am I trying to prove here ?". I doubt myself mostly after a long run of 26K that took me 3 hours and leaves my with a nag in the knees and a tightness in the abductors ...  


twice the distance, twice the pain ...


After these kinds of thoughts cross my mind, I rush on youtube and start some nice and classic inspirational tubes like this one. Or go on and repeat to myself one of my favourite quotes : 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” ― Theodore Roosevelt, Strenuous Life

This is, for now, how I cope with the doubts ...