I am flattered by this request but there are perhaps people of the TEAM who would deserve to tell their stories much more than me…
Nevertheless I will tell you my story and you will judge by yourself…
First of all I do not participate to RAIDs! The sports I practice are: running, cycling and trekking which I do the whole year long. I also do tai-chi and yoga. I began running quite late towards my thirties, I wanted to see what running was all about. At the beginning, I subscribed to an association and I started to progress very quickly. Afterwards, while following training plans, I reached a satisfactory level to take part to various races. I started with small distances (around 10 km) but very quickly I tried semi marathons and later marathons. I combined work, which took most of my time, and running.
I became very consistent and I was doing two marathons per year: a marathon abroad in order to satisfy my travel needs and the second in France to visit other areas. I never had extraordinary time ambitions; my best time is 3:55, nothing extraordinary but I always tried to run around this time! This beautiful period lasted seven years followed by a large health issue, which obliged me to stop running. It took me a few years to find my optimal form: three very long years… I must say that running helped me a lot to get over it!
Now I am enjoying again running. I started training seriously and consistently with a friend I met when I was running for the association (non existent anymore now). With him, I am organizing the first edition of a rando-race in Nepal, a country which I visited several times while hiking. This 1st edition will take place in November. My friend has already organized several races; the idea of this rando-race came to us last year during one weekend where we took part to the trail of Nivolet-revard because I live in that area!
I do not know if we will have inscriptions for this event but we are very happy to have put together the project with our own efforts. I would really like to make to discover this country not only to my friend but also to other people: to meet the cordial Nepalese habitants, to see imposing landscapes and the Buddhist culture: perhaps it is only a dream but hopefully it will become reality!! Here we are, what can I say more?
That I volunteered during the UTMB within the framework of a medical support because I work as anaesthetist nurse. Considering that I do not have the level to take part in this kind of races, I found this alternative way to discover it and to benefit from it as much as I could… You can’t see anything more extraordinary ! Thank you however and congratulations to Raidlight: for the products that I have known for a few years or for the website and the possibility of being able to register with a TEAM without being a champion…
RAIDLIGHT: how do you manage your professional career and your passion?
I combine both of them by adding my running passion to my professional timetable (which is imposed to me); therefore I train according to my timetable; that means that I schedule my trainings one week after the other according to my spare time and my desire.
RAIDLIGHT: choose three words which symbolize the effort?
Pleasure motivation and stamina
RAIDLIGHT: according to you, which one is the good receipt to last when practicing endurance sports?
I do not know if there is only one good receipt; perhaps there is a mixture of several ingredients: First of all I think that everyone should know his or her reasons to practise a sport. It is, then, necessary to be able to listen to his/her own body - physically and mentally. To make evolve his sporting practice with the years, means that one should quite simply accept to get older and thus accept the fall of performances (chronometric and physical), longer recovery times etc… Varying training techniques, practising another sport in period of recovery or on holiday for example! Keeping a right balance between its endurance passion and family life. Any endurance sport cannot be lived superficially: like some people do: you can’t flee your whole life, isn’t it? … And the key word is the PLEASURE, it is the essence to practise year after year without giving up. The day when you don’t feel any pleasure anymore, when that is lived like a constraint, it is time to stop: what are the reasons that pushed me to practise this sport?
RAIDLIGHT: how is your training structured every week?
I fix myself some objectives each year. Currently I do three different sessions (VMA, threshold and long exit according to the objective); the periods without particular objectives, I do three sessions per week with a VMA session, a Threshold session and an endurance session. I have also a session where I practice tai-chi (flexibility, stretching).
RAIDLIGHT: why are you TEAM RAIDLIGHT member ?
I feel extremely motivated to be part of a TEAM whose members share the same passion. Why RAIDLIGHT? Because it is open to anyone to start with at any level; although by going through the forum, one realizes that there are several members having a very good level!! At this point I ask myself but what are you doing there! But you always get richer (inside) by sharing everyone’s experience… And then while reading other forums, it is sad to see the level of the discussions!! …
BIO EXPRESS TRAIN:
Project 2009: apart from the rando race I do not have any more projects for this year but for the next year yes!Sport awards and participations:
I do not have in particular a award list and I will never have one, considering the age and my past experiences! I took part indeed in marathons, semi-marathons, relays, trekking. During five consecutive years I made as I mentioned it above two marathons per year and two semi-marathons which I used as a training for the marathon, and some smaller races like the “corridas de Noël”, which are 16,17, and 20 kilometers long…I participated to the following marathons: Paris, La Rochelle, Florence, New York… I also did the semi-marathons of: Bruxelle, Bruges, Paris Versailles and the 20k in Paris… Then I was forced to stopped due to a long illness and I started to train again for the marathon a few months after the end of my treatments: I was very happy but the recovery was more than long…! It took me six months but in my mind: I HAD DONE it!!!!! The following year, I tried another marathon with less tiredness but it has not been easy… when the doctors say three years to find your physical condition, they are not wrong and still after that things are not the same any more: The heavier the treatments are the more side-effects they leave…
To tell you the truth David among my 12 marathons, the most beautiful marathon was the one I ran just after my treatment: I was so happy to be able to train again (and you should have seen me coming back after my long runs completely worked out) and to see myself on the starting line has been an emotional moment; I enjoyed each km, one after the other even though the last ones were difficult before crossing this finishing line!!!! I have taken, to some extent, my revenge! After that I took some time off and I started cycling. Now, I decided to run another marathon: appointment with one 42,195 km in April 2010. I think that this is the essence of passion; even if for different reasons you stop for a few months or a few years, one day you have this alarm clock, this passion which becomes animated and which tells you: let’s go, you will see that will be super!! … I do not have a competitive spirit, I practise sport by pure pleasure as I already said it above!
Christine, member team Raidlight.