Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Catching up
Well, what happened over the last three weeks? I'm just back from a business travel to the United States. Together with two colleagues I went firstly to a conference in Tucson, Arizona (very hot place!) then to San Francisco in order to visit two clients. We also had a few opportunities to do a bit of tourism in San Francisco, one of the most interesting cities in the US. The weather both in Tucson and San Francisco was excellent, we didn't see a cloud for 8 days! Now, I have mostly recovered from the jetlag but the first couple of days my body had problems adjusting to European time (especially at night). The travel also ment a break in my training schedule. I didn't bring any running gear with me as I didn't expect to run much anyway (the colleagues are not runners and the hotel locations didn't look inviting for running).
In the weekend before departing I had a nice 16k run around Rottemeren despite the gray weather with a bit of drizzle. Otherwise nothing special to report on the training. Next Wednesday, I'll participate in the annual Patentrun at work, picked up my bib today: Number 13! Luckily, I'm not superstitious :-)
Tonight, a nice packet was waiting for me. New gadget :-) A Garmin Forerunner 305 :-) Not had a chance to test it yet, only just went outside to see if it would catch any satellites (it did).
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Three PB's in one week!
Last Sunday a best time in the Leiden Marathon 10k race (albeit with a slightly suspect distance), on Thursday a 70 m improvement in the Coopertest and today I ran my first ever 5k race and per definition made a personal best. However, the finish time was way better than I had expected and I actually made it in under 20 minutes, 19:57 to be precise, according to the official result.
The 5k race is a part of The Hague Royal Ten where the 10k race is the main event with about 2600 runners. The 5k race is less popular, about 250 runners but for me it was a good opportunity to test myself on the 5k distance and get an actual race time. The race course brought us from the start near the central station through the beautiful Haagsebos to the royal residence Huis ten Bosch and back again along a slightly different track. My goal was to race within 20:30 which was my estimate based on other recent result. The excellent result of the Cooper test three days ago however made me hope for something even better. The first km went at an alarmingly fast pace (3:45/km) and I pulled back the throttle a bit. But not too much as this could be the basis for a sub 20 time. The next three lap times were around the 4 min/km and since I still had a bit to give I went full throttle on the last km. From about the 3k sign I ran in a group including the female leader and we more or less stuck together until the finish. In the final sprint I couldn't quite follow the female athlete and came in a few seconds after her, totally exhausted. But my watch said 19:56. I had made it!
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Leiden Marathon 10k
Another personal best! A super race with a finish time of 42:19. I only have a small doubt about the true distance of the race course. My measurement using GPSies suggests it is only around 9.7k, in that case the Hoge Veluwe result would still stand. But nominally Leiden 10k is now my PB on the ten.
The race went very well. The weather was perfect for racing, not too warm (15C), sunny and a bit of wind but not too much. The start was chaotic. I didn't get sufficient to the front of the start area and had to fight my way through the crowd during the first kilometer. Why do all those slow runners place themselves at the front of the start box when they are going to end in the slow half of the bunch anyway? From about 2k I could run more freely. I strictly used the Polar to control my efforts keeping the heart rate around 155. Until about 5 or 6k the run was a breeze then it became more tough. During the last km or two I was in the red zone and was definitely looking forward to cross the finish line. I had not expected to improve my PB as I haven't done that much quality training since the marathon. But apparently enough.
Today I did a cooper test in the Jogging Club. And guess: A new personal best with a distance of 3090 m, 70 m further than the last test in September. Looks promising for the 5k race on Sunday :-)
Monday, 12 May 2008
Short status on the last three weeks.
Here is a quick update on the last couple of weeks, not that much to report.
On Sunday 27 April I went for a run in the dunes at Wassenaar. The weather was perfect with 19° C,
mostly sunny and a light breeze from land. From the carpark at Meijendel
I went straight for the beach to try some beach running. It was after high tide thus the sand
was still wet and hard in most places. However, the best sand happened to be where the beach inclined the most
putting some strain on the legs. There were also a few wet places to negotiate where the large pools on the
beach drained back into the sea. After 3 km in the sand I turned landward at Wassenaarse Slag and followed
bicycle tracks through the dunes to Wassenaar. From there I followed streets through some exclusive
residental areas until I could reenter the dunes. After another few kilometers I was back at the car
completely soaked in sweat in the warm weather. A total of 16,6 km in 1,5 hours.
Meijendel-Wassenaarseslag track
From 30 April (Koninginnedag) until 5 May (Liberation Day) I was on visit in Denmark. Got a few nice
runs there, including a challenging 21 km to the peninsula of As Hoved on the Sunday.
That particular run lead me over some narrow,
difficult paths along the coast, then through the closest thing to a polder you can find in that area,
up to the Palsgaard estate (that owns most of the land around Juelsminde including the entire As Hoved).
From there I headed toward the peninsula at the only road providing access. The last couple of kilometers
of the peninsula is covered by forests and I did a round trip in that wood. At the very tip I took a minute
to enjoy the view over the sea from the 20 meter high cliff there. The return trip was less spectacular
and mostly consisted of smaller roads.
As Hoved track
The last week was a bit low on running distance due to a party in Belgium this weekend. But today I got a run of about 14k. The actual route changed a bit from the planned 14k track as I suddenly had an urge to find a toilet. I returned the shortest way back to home, just in time! Then I continued on a 6k to get up to the intended distance. It was a very warm run, 22C and a blazing Sun. The first 12 days of May have been summer-like with temperatures up to 27°C. I certainly hope the weather will be a bit colder on Sunday when my next race takes place. It is the 10k distance of the Leiden Marathon and it takes place in the narrow streets of Leiden city!
Sunday, 20 Apr 2008
A re-visit.
One week on I have mostly recovered from the marathon. My legs feel good again and I have resumed my running training. On Thursday I did the first cautious recovery run, just 5k at slow pace. The legs were still somewhat "weak" but no pain. Yesterday a fairly quick 7.8k run (4:45/km) with a few accelerations in a silent spring rain. Great!
Today I did one of my rare "Park & Run" trainings. The target was Kralingse Plas, a part of last weeks marathon race course. Then we just ran around this major "lung" of Rotterdam, a lake surrounded by park and forest. Today I wanted to have a closer look. Parked in Bergse Bos further to the north and followed the river Rotte towards Rotterdam.
Followed a part of the most "painful" part of the race course around the 38k mark, this time relaxed and absolutely no pain. I was really surprised by the number of fellow runners I met. In my normal neighbourhood I'm lucky to see a handful of runners/joggers during a training. Here they were in the hundreds! Did most of the round around the lake before making a U-turn and finding my way back along the other side of Rotte back to the car. A 15k in a relaxed pace of 5:20/km. Nice weather, actually I was a little bit to well dressed making me sweat a lot. Later today it became almost summer like with people bashing in their gardens. The Spring has arrived!
BTW: The report on the marathon is ready in the 'races' section.
Sunday, 13 Apr 2008
Rotterdam Marathon
Mission accomplished! I have completed my first marathon - and that in a very acceptable time of 3:41:05
A short report: I had planned for a finish time of 3:40 and a flat race. After starting a bit to slow I
catched up and did the first half in just below the target. Until about 30km I could keep up the pace but
then my legs started to get tired and I couldn't hold the pace. The last ten kilometers I really couldn't
force the legs to go faster although the rest of me still could go on. The infamous "wall" didn't really
materialize. My heart rate went up a bit in the latter part of the race but I could have run faster if
just the legs would have complied. In the last km up the Coolsingel I could accelerate a bit suppressing
the pains in the legs. Nice feeling crossing the line! After the finish I walked very slowly back to
the changing facility and then to the station (too slowly, I saw the train leaving and had to wait
another 1/2 an hour for the next train). Tonight my legs are pretty sore but luckily no injuries.
Stair walking is no pleasure. Wonder how painful the moving around the next couple of day will be.
11 Apr 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Two days to go! Today I went to Rotterdam to pick up the bib, running shirt etc at the Marathon Expo.
I'm starting to get excited about the run, and of course a bit nervous as this is my first marathon. Will I hit the infamous "wall" or will I just cruise straight through? (I hope for the latter, of course). Will my legs hurt? They have never tried any distance above 33 km and I know that my legs get at least pretty tired at such distances. How about drinking? Should I go for the isotonic Extran at each drinking post or just drink water? I definitely don't want stomach problems. As I haven't really trained with gels or other energy supplements during training I will run the race without any solid food just relying on my reserves and a bit of energy from the Extran offered at the posts.
The weather forecast for Sunday is a bit iffy, particularly with respect to rain. It could be a quite wet day and with expected temperatures of just 10-13 degrees the choice of dress is not straight forward. I still intend to start in just a short sleeve shirt and short tight and hoping I won't get too cold. As long as I keep running at a nice pace it shouldn't be a problem but you never know what happens. If the "man-with-the-big-hammer" strikes or I otherwise get problems in the latter parts of the race and have to walk I might regret not being in more clothes. But I'm optimistic and hope for an enjoyable and unforgettable run without too much pain.
06 Apr 2008
The road to Rotterdam
One week to go! The training is on schedule although with an unforeseen obstacle today. Got myself locked out of the house! I had planned to go to a recreative area by car to do the planned 14k run there. But I never came that far. When leaving the house I would lock the front door but couldn't turn the lock with the loose key I was bringing along. Turned out, I had left the normal key-bunch in the inside slot, unfortunately turned a bit from vertical. Result, the outside slot is blocked and I had shut the door (that has no outside doorhandle). Panic! Ringed the bell at the neighbour and called a locksmith. He would arrive no earlier than one and a half hour. Plenty of time to do the 14k on a local route. Well, still two and a half kilometer out the mobile phone sounded. The locksmith would arrive in 10 minutes. Guess, who could suddenly put in a fast finish! I arrived home just before the helping guy. He quickly open the door and I was saved, 85 euro poorer!
03 Apr 2008
The road to Rotterdam
T - 10 days. I'm feeling ready for the marathon. Now in the tapering phase of my training I'm fit, having no health problems or injuries (fingers crossed). Last Sunday I did the last semi-long distance run (25k) bringing me all the way to Vlaardingen near Rotterdam and along the Vlaardingervaart back home (Track). Tuesday I did a speedy 10k, most of it as three long intervals. Today done just 8k at a nice pace (4:46/km) but still with a moderate heart rate of 137, the planned heart rate for the marathon. I will have to be very careful not to start too fast.
28 Mar 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Northern Europe was struck by an unusual cold wintry spell over Easter. And that was just at the time that I had to do the longest run of my training scheme, a 32 km lsd run. I spent Easter in Denmark with family so this was the scene of this (slightly) gruelling run. Using various track planners and topographic maps I plotted a 32 km route through no less than 5 forests! I chose Easter Day for the run due to a reasonable weather forecast. The weather was cold, around 0° but dry and not too windy. The night frost was welcome as parts of the course took me over muddy forest tracks. There were some remnants of snow cover here and there but mostly I ran on tarmac and frozen ground that was thawing in places. I kept the pace pretty slow which turned out to be wise. The hills, the poor tracks and the wind were demanding. On the last couple of kilometres it was uphill and straight into the wind and I had to force the pace a bit simply to keep warm although my legs were getting a bit stiff. After 3 hours 20 minutes I was back from the 32.6 km run (pace 6:05/km) with some pretty tired legs. It was demanding but I was never in problems. Afterwards I needed a couple of days to recover, only did the next training (12k) on Wednesday where I still felt somewhat tired. Yesterday, on the other hand, my legs were almost flying over the tarmac during a fast training with some intervals.
The report from the CPC race is ready, see the races page.
15 Mar 2008
City-Pier-City, The Hague
Just a short update. Had planned to go relatively easy today at the City-Pier-City run in order to avoid too much recovery. Didn't really stick to that plan and made a personal best at todays race: 1:37:11!
And god thanks the race could get ahead as the police promised not to disrupt the event.
09 Mar 2008
The road to Rotterdam
No CPC?? Just saw some quite alarming news on a running news site. Due to the stalled salary negotiations between the government and the police unions the police are currently making various actions. These span from not giving fines for traffic offences to not assisting at football matches which have caused the cancellation of some top matches in the Dutch league this weekend. Now apparently the City Pier City race is also in danger. This race requires a lot of street closures and other assistance from the police and the event may have to be cancelled if no police is available :-( During the long run yesterday I already got a bad feeling that something like this might happen while I happened to run along a short stretch of the CPC track.
Anyway, the training is on scheme. According to programme I should only do a semilong run this weekend so that is what I did. Saturday had the better weather forecast so I did 21k to Kijkduin yesterday (touched the CPC track on the return part). As usual I ran at a slow pace (5:45/km) and as a result had fresh legs today where I did 10k at a rather more quick pace (4:55/km) in streaming rain. However, there was almost no wind which made it a quite pleasent experience to run despite the rain (except for soggy shoes!). The legs were absolutely fresh, a good sign. During the week I had the usual two sessions, an 8k fartlek on Tuesday and a 12k progressive run on Thursday.
02 Mar 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Made the 30 km mark today! More precisely I ran 30.65 km during the Sunday LSD run. The run took me on a veritable sight-seeing of The Hague. I first went direction Kijkduin, then followed part of the CPC track along Daal en Bergselaan and Segbroeklaan (I will revisit that part in two weeks time but then at full speed :-) ). Passed along Museon and Omviversum, met two Falun Gong demonstrators outside the Chinese embassy, crossed through Scheveningse Bos, passed Madurodam, the famous miniature city, passed along Klein Zwitserland, ran along the Oostduinpark, after a couple of kilometers entered Haagse Bos, took a detour around Huis ten Bosch, the royal residense, continued to Voorburg and again entered some familiar area around the Vliet canal and Rijswijk. See today's track here.
My legs are as usual tired but probably in a bit better shape than after last Sunday's run. The speed was also slightly slower, 5:49/km. I managed to get home within 3 hours but only just as I clocked 2 hours 58 minutes. The weather was ok, in particular compared to the previous couple of days where a storm swept over the country. It stayed dry with a bit of Sun and moderate westerly wind.
The training during the week was on schedule. Tuesday an easy 8k (legs mostly ok but had no desire to go fast), Thursday a 12k including 4 x 1000m intervals, Saturday a normal-speed 10k.
25 Feb 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Weekly status.
My training is on schedule, done almost 60k this week, a new record
Tuesday: The same 7.7k track as last Tuesday. However, the run went less fluently than last week, can't tell why. 4:54/km
Thursday: A 12k run with the Run4Fun group to Delftsehout. Varying pace, average 5:15/km. One fast 1000m.
Saturday: 10k around Rijswijk, 5:00/km.
Sunday: 29.5k today!!. New distance record. However, I can also feel that in my legs,
they feel more wasted than after the 28k two weeks ago. My run took me almost all the way to Rotterdam crossing the flat polderland
between Delft and Schiedam. Have a look at today's track.
The weather again showed its nice side with 11C, partly sunne but a bit of wind in open areas. Ran in summer dress :-) but
it was barely warm enough for that.
Running for 2 hours 48 minutes giving a pace of 5:42, around the minimum pace for running the marathon
in 4 hours.
17 Feb 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Another week of training.
Tuesday: A short 7.7k training that went somewhat faster than planned. The legs felt fresh despite the 28k LSD training two days ago.
Halfway through I caught up with a colleague and we ran together the rest of the training. We kind of paced each other a bit
and at the end I had finished the run in 4:42/km. The weather was springlike and I ran in short sleeve shirt and short tights for
the first time this year :-)
Thursday: A 11k run to Delftsehout at moderate pace. Cold, misty weather.
Saturday: Moderate pace run to Zuiderpark, Den Haag. Sunny but a bit cold.
Sunday: 19.4k LSD run. After two very long runs the last two weekends my scheme dictated a shorter lsd run today. Went to
Abtscoudse Bos, a newly established green area south of Delft. In the middle is a huge piece of art work, a group of hills in the
shape of a woman called Moeder Aarde (Mother Earth). It is plainly visible on Google Maps, it is in the middle of the curly part of
todays track (select 'Satellite' view and zoom in). Although
colder than last Sunday the weather was very pleasant with sunshine and no wind.
10 Feb 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Another very long training. Today done 28 km through the polders at a very leasurely pace of 6 min per km. Home in 2 hours 50 mins, half an hour longer than I have ever run before. Extremely nice weather with sunshine, 10 degrees and almost no wind. Just in a short sleeve T-shirt today! No energy crises underway but pretty sore in my legs after almost 3 hours of continues running. It was deliberate to go slow but maybe not that slow. Some of the reasons for the slow pace are the breaks for fumbling around with the brand new MP3 player, drinking (for the first time out with a complete belt of 5 bottles including 2 with an isotonic liquid (Extran Refresh)) and accidentially meeting some friends enjoying the weather on bicycles requiring a small chat. I had downloaded some special Podrunner running mixes from DJ Steveboy to the player with the intention to match my steps to a particular beat. At the web site you can get get mixes ranging from 130 to 180 beat per minute. Actually trying to match my tempo with the music didn't really work, I tried with a 170 bpm track. For the latter half of the session I actually switched to listen to radio. May try another beat next time.
Only made two other trainings this week, an easy 8k on Tuesday (recovery run) and a faster 12k on Friday. I had to skip my Thursday run for work reasons.
03 Feb 2008
Asselronde 27.5k (Midwinter Marathon Apeldoorn)
Very preliminary report. My plan was to run this race at a pace around my expected marathon pace. Well, being in the race it was difficult not to get into "competition mode" and I finished the 27.5 km in 2:19:47, a pace of 5:05 versus the planned 5:13 :-). In the first 3/4 of the race actually I actually more or less ran at the expected pace with some ups and downs (crowding at the start, some uphill and downhill stretches. The last 7 km went at a pace well below 5min/km due to the downhill slope and general desire to go a bit faster.
The route was very beautiful, most of the time in the woods and with a few kilometers over open moor. The 6 km along the provincial road Amersfoortseweg however were somewhat boring (just tarmac, trees and oncoming cars (our lane was closed for cars, thus oneway traffic today). The weather was almost perfect for a midwinter marathon, dry, sunny and temperature of 4 degrees. Some wind but due to the forest mostly not a problem.
Tonight my legs are pretty tired and sore but they should be usable for running again in a couple of days. The usual blister on my left big toe appeared as expected. Might have to look into some kind of protection before the marathon. At least got the sore nibble problem solved. Small plasters on them protected them from any harm.
01 Feb 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Last status before the Asselronde. I made two trainings during the week. On Tuesday I made a 12 km run leading me almost all the way to Leidschendam. I started out at an easy pace until the halfway point (Leidschendam) then on the way back I progressively increased the pace in three steps ending with a heart rate of 150. On Thursday a short (7 km) run in Elsenburgerbos at moderate pace but with a few hills. The weather was very windy (storm at the coast) and I wisely sheltered in the park.
January was by far the most intensive training month measured in distance, a total of 196 km in 17 training sessions. Longest session was 24 km, also a record.
28 Jan 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Getting ready for the Asselronde. The bib and the Championchip has arrived and I'm feeling ready to go. This weekend I 'relaxed' a bit by only doing 17km as my longest run, as prescribed by my scheme. As I had done two somewhat fast trainings last week I think it was a good idea to reduce the distance a bit. Next Sunday is going to be tough. It will be my longest run so far and the weather forecast is also looking somewhat more 'exciting' than I would prefer (temperatures just above zero, some wind and possibly something white falling from the sky!). My plan is to run the race at my expected marathon pace. According to the McMillan calculator I should be able to run a marathon in 3:20. Some wise people however say that you should expect to run your debut marathon about 20 minutes slower than the calculated time. Hence, I will go for 3:40 corresponding to 5:13 min/km. That will also be my target pace for the race on Sunday. Here is a preview of the course:
20 Jan 2008
The road to Rotterdam
A new distance record today, 24 km. The run followed a track similar to the last long run to Kijkduin, but clockwise this time and with some variations. The long, boring Lozerlaan was replaced with a parallel track through the more interesting park areas of Uithof, Madestein and Ockenburgh. Further an extra loop was added in the dunes to arrive at the desired distance. Have a look at the track here.
The weather was windy but at least dry. I only had problems with the wind during the first part of the run, after that it was either tailwind or running in shelter of the city. My legs are a bit sore after this record-braking run although I kept the pace very low (5:49 per km). For the first time I had brought an energy gel with me just to see how such a thing would work out. Well, nothing special to report. It didn't taste that bad and the stomach didn't make any complaints. But if I need these rather expensive gels is another question. I will probably experiment with some isotonic drinks instead.
On another note: I have also for the first time totalled more than 50 km in one week. The other 3 runs of the week were just below 10 km in distance, one of them being a relative fast run with 2 km intervals, the others at a steady pace around 5:00 per km. Looks like it going to be a record breaking month!
13 Jan 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Today I did my first run lasting more than 2 hours - and also my longest training run so far. It was a 21 km run to the beach at Kijkduin, Den Haag and back again along a different track, see the track here. I had been contemplating skipping todays run due to a raging cold. But, since I didn't feel any fever I decided to give it a go. As it was intended to be an LSD (long slow distance) run I kept the speed very low, just above 10 km/h which is way slower than I'm used to. By keeping an eye on the heart rate meter I avoided going too fast. The weather was ok, a bit warm for the season and quite windy. Since I ran mostly in the city or in shelter of trees the wind was a minor problem, except in the dunes. Running for two hours is mentally quite challenging more than physically (you start to get bored after 1,5 hours). And I still have to do a number of even longer runs lasting up to maybe 3 hours!
05 Jan 2008
The road to Rotterdam
Currently, I'm planning the training scheme for the Rotterdam marathon on 13 April. I'm going for a scheme based on three-week cycles comprising two weeks of increased distance (particularly the long slow run) followed by a little bit of relaxation in the third week. For time reasons I will stick to 4 runs a week including a long distance run on Sundays. I will gradually build up the distance of the long slow runs to a maximum of 30-32 km in March. Further, to spice up the preparations a bit I intend to take part in a couple of races. First, a 27.5 km run (Asselronde) in beginning February and then the CPC 1/2M race on 15 March. From late March I start tapering the training in order to be in optimum shape for the big race.
Actually, I already started increasing the training during the Christmas days running no less than 64 kilometers in the last 10 days of the year - between all the eating etc. Didn't prevent me from gaining two kilograms, oops!. Hopefully they disappear quickly, don't want to carry that extra fat around during the many trainings this winter.
The target for the marathon: First of all to finish and then hopefully within 4 hours. According to various calculators I should be able to run a marathon in less than 3h20 but I seriously doubt that applies to a first time marathon. Hence, I make a conservative goal of 4 hours but hope for a finish time somewhat better than that.
04 Jan 2008
New Year!
2007 has gone and 2008 has arrived. Time to look back at the old year - and a bit forward.
2007 was my first real running year. In 2006 I took up running on a more serious level but it was in 2007 that I really started to see some results of the efforts. I have begun to run races starting with the CPC 1/2 marathon in March in The Hague. It was maybe quite a jump to do a 1/2 marathon as my very first race but I successfully finished in an respectable time of 1:47:54. My legs were quite devestated after this long race certainly not helped by a knee problem that had plagued me in the preparations up to the race. That knee behaved mostly well during the race itself but the pain did pop up now and then during training until beginning April. Luckily not had any trouble with the knee since then. In May my first 10K race followed. I was quite amazed to finish in a time below 45 minutes (44:33 exact). However, as it turned out I could do better than that, did 10K in 42:40 in the Hoge Veluwe Loop in October. Also had two nice results during the autumn on the half marathon distance (1:37:53 in Rotterdam) and 15K (1:05:59 Zevenheuvelenloop). Further I did a few shorter runs on odd distances around 6K including my first experience with cross running. In total I have done 8 races through the year, two half marathons, two 10k runs, one 15k run and 3 shorter runs.
I totalled about 1560 km in 2007, gradually increasing the weekly distance from about 25 to 35 km. I also added a fourth weekly training session such that I now typically run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I avoided serious injuries during the year experiencing only two smaller problems. In addition to the already mentioned knee problem I suffered a small hamstring injury in late October but it was over in about a week.
What's in stock for 2008? Well, a lot of running, I hope :-). I have registered for the Rotterdam Marathon on 13 April. Thus, I already know what to do during the cold months: Making a lot of kilometers on the road to prepare for my first marathon. More about that later.
And after the marathon? In the remaining part of the year I will focus more on speed and run shorter races, anything from 5k up to 1/2 marathon. The goal being to improve my personal bests. My targets are: 5 km in sub 20 minutes (ambitious!), 10 km in sub 42 minutes (more realistic) and half marathon in less than 1:35 (already within reach based on my recent 15K finish time).
Further aims of the year: Stay free of injuries and shed a couple of kilograms (in addition to those two kg I gained over Christmas!). So hopefully at the end of the year I should be down to 65 kilograms.
16 Dec 2007
3e Opschoor Winter Cross (6 km)
It was time to try something new. So today I ran my first cross. I have tried a bit of cross during training. The local park near my work offers a few cross tracks that we have tried during some Run4Fun sessions, sometimes with some really dirty shoes as the result!. However, a real race I hadn't tried so far. Cross-running is in many ways more challenging than normal road running. It requires a lot of coordination and is physically more demanding. And you need to stay concentrated all the time not to stumple over something or injury yourself.
I had selected a 6 km cross in Maassluis near Rotterdam. The course was prepared in a narrow green area between the dike and the water along the Nieuwe Waterweg, the main waterway to Rotterdam. Due to the night frost the course was mostly hard except for a couple of wet spots that got muddy as the race progressed (it consisted of one, two or three rounds for distances of 3, 6 or 9 kilometers). Except for a couple of artificial obstacles the main dangers were the ascents and descents up and down the dike, the frozen uneven ground and uncountable molehills (also frozen and rockhard). However, due to the frost I didn't experience the usual soiling by mud normally experienced by cross runners, that will have to wait until another time :-).
The weather was fine, sunshine, light (but cold) wind and around 0 degree C. Due to my lack of experience I didn't run the race flat out. Especially on the first round I kept the pace a bit down in order to learn the course and not doing stupid things. With about 130 participants it was a fairly small race. Thus we had plenty of space and overtaking was mostly not a problem. I survived without incidents and finished in 28:16, an ok time I think although much slower than what I'm able to do on hard surface.
I didn't really prepare for this cross as it was a short-notice decision to participate. Yesterday, I did a 12 km training just to keep up the weekly distance (normally I do a long run on Sundays but the cross kind of cancelled that plan for today). Last weekend also went haywire because of a cold followed by a Saturday party which meant that I was anything but fit for running on Sunday.
29 Nov 2007
The report on the Zevenheuvelenrun is ready, see the Races section.
Next project (big one!): I have registered for my first marathon, the Rotterdam Marathon on April 13 next year. That means A LOT of running during the winter! I will start the actual training for the race after New Year. My plan is to do a couple of longer races as part of the training scheme. The current candidates are the Schoorl half marathon, the 27.5k distance of the Midwinter Marathon in Apeldoorn, both in beginning February and the City-Pier-City half marathon in the Hague in mid March.
18 Nov 2007
Zevenheuvelenloop - preliminary report
Just back from Nijmegen, pretty tired. It has been a long day, most of the time travelling by train. The run itself: I'm very satisfied with my result, did a little better than hoped for. My finish time: 1:05:59. The weather was sunny and dry but a bit on the cold side (4 deg C) and windy. It was a problem keeping warm before the race and especially after with sweaty clothes. I tried to run a constant run qua heart rate although the heart rate meter screwed up a bit in the first 2 kilometers. The pace varied and the km times were definitely slower in the hilly part. I deliberately slowed down uphill and accelerated downhill trying to keep the heart rate within the planned zone. It worked pretty well. The heart rate meter especially helped me around the 10 km where it indicated I was getting 'lazy' and had to speed up! The descent towards the finish line compensated for the slower parts and I got a time about 1 minute better than planned. I felt the run was harder than the previous two runs. The breathing was harder and I felt less at ease but obviously you can't make good times if you make a stroll ouf of it! There were a lot of runners, 23360 to be precise, but the crowding wasn't that bad.
07 Nov 2007
Ready to go! The race packet for the Zevenheuvelenloop has arrived. As I had hoped I will start in the yellow starting area (yellow dot) which is the third starting group. But with about 4000 runners in each starting group it is going to get crowded.
My right leg is fine again. Not felt any problems during the last three runs. Yesterday, I did a semifast run while exploring some new areas making a route around Old Rijswijk. Weather was more autumn-like than it has been for quite some time now, got hit by a nasty cold shower shortly after the start while facing a stiff head wind. Not very pleasent when you are not yet fully warmed up.
01 Nov 2007
I'm struggling with a small hamstring injury in the right leg. It probably happened during the Run4fun session last Thursday but I only started to feel it on Saturday during an 8 km run. I initially assumed it was just normal muscle soreness from the faster than usual training on Thursday. However, Sunday it was clear that I was dealing with an injury. After just 100 meter of the planned long Sunday run I had to stop and walk/limp home. There was a clear localized pain on the back of the thigh about 10 cm above the knee. No way I could continue running. The next couple of days it was painful just walking and my gait probably would have qualified for the Ministry of silly Walks. Wednesday, my walk is almost normal and a few running steps felt ok. So far lost two trainings, not optimal here two weeks before the Zevenheuvelenloop.
Today I tried the first cautious training, did a slow 6 km run during lunch break (no Run4fun for me today!). It went well but I can still feel some pain in the lower right hamstring.
25 Oct 2007
Joined the 'fast' Run4fun group today at lunch break and got a good workout. We were only three including Wim (coach). We first did some fast short intervals (30 sec, 60 sec rest) followed by hill descent training. We finished with some cross-running along the E'bos mountain bike trail, luckily no rain lately as this trail can be very muddy. Total of one hour of running
I also had the opportunity to congratulate Cécile ("Kecily") with her fantastic time at the Amsterdam Marathon last Sunday. Today she coached the 'slow' group (it was also her first running training since the marathon, probably still having sore legs).
On Tuesday I did a "maximum aerobic function" (MAF) test which is used for monitoring the development of the speed during aerobic running. The test is performed over several kilometers by running at the 'maximum aerobic heart rate' which is defined in the linked article below. The km-times are recorded and compared to previous tests. The idea is to perform such a test regularly to see how the aerobic speed is developing. See the article by Dr. P Maffetone. I don't plan on following the proposed aerobic base training scheme but much of my training already takes place at a heart rate that is close to the one calculated according to the article (for me it is 136).
Also got the race number for the Zevenheuvelenloop in November: 1181.
09 Oct 2007
How long is the 10 km Hoge Veluwe run really? According to the web site of the organizers it is only 9,90 km. But during the run at around 8 km I got suspicious about that distance. I couldn't spot the 8 km sign anywhere around where it should be according to the running lap time on my Polar. About 100-200 further ahead then came the sign "2 km to finish". Odd. That would imply a distance in excess of 10 km. By studying the course in Google Earth and gmap-pedometer I indeed get a distance that is more likely 10,15 km. Plotting out the exact course is difficult in some places due to trees but it shouldn't be much off. Of course, it is nice to know that I did even more distance than expected. On the other hand not knowing the exact distance is frustrating when you want to compare this run with other (future) 10k races. For the moment I leave the result as a 10 km nominel time. If the distance is really 10,15 km the projected 10,00 km time would be 42:41
Trained today during lunch break, a quiet 8 km run through Elsenburgerbos. But the Polar Wearlink again started to act up with dropouts, and that with a fresh battery :-|
07 Oct 2007
Hoge Veluwe Loop
What a wonderful day in the Hoge Veluwe national park. Sunshine, no wind, 18 degrees.
Perfect conditions in the beautiful autumn landscapes of the Veluwe.
I took part in the Hoge Veluwe 10 km race and improved my time over my first 10k race (Golden Ten Delft).
So mission accomplished :-)
The race went smoothly, got a good position in front of the pack so few traffic problems.
Both the heart rate and the lap times were pretty steady during the race.
I was running at ease at the first 5 km then it started to hurt a bit, but I was never in problems.
Finish time 43:22 net, a personal record!! More than a one minute improvement over Golden Ten in May.
Heart rate meter is working
perfectly again after changing the battery of the transmitter just half an hour before the race!
I was in good shape despite the latent cold that has threatened to down me the last couple of days. But, so far I have managed to suppress it (I won't tell how).
Hoge Veluwe Loop (10k)
Results
05 Oct 2007
Yesterday, I got a new pair of shoes, again a pair of Saucony Omni 6 as I feel very comfortable in these shoes. My old Hurricanes are ripe for retirement having done almost 1100 km. Maybe I'll keep them for 'dirty' work such as trail running (exactly what we did yesterday during the Run4fun session in Elsenburgerbos, about 9 km on slippery hilly trails). Also got a new battery for the Polar Wearlink but I haven't replaced it yet since I'm not sure if the old battery is really empty.
This morning I was among the about 200 colleagues at the EPO waving good bye to our relay runners starting their 3 days (and nights!) of non-stop running to Munich, a total of 900 km through The Netherlands and Germany. The relay run is celebrating the 30 year anniversery of the European Patent Office. The 12 runners will run from our The Hague branch in Rijswijk to our our headquarter in Munich.
My race on Sunday (Hoge Veluwe Loop) is uncertain. Today I'm starting to feel the symptoms of a beginning cold and if it strikes at full force there will be no running for me on Sunday.
02 Oct 2007
Today received the race packet for the Hoge Veluwe Loop. Not impressed by the TNT postal service. The envelope was ripped open and the championchip clearly visible! I could pick it out of the hole just like that. A wonder it had not disappeared!
Getting trouble with the Polar Wearlink transmitter. During training today I got very erratic readings, sometimes 180+ (my HRmax is 170) and periods with complete dropouts. I'm a little bit worried as I need the heart rate measurement badly for the race on Sunday. Need to get a battery replacement quickly.
19 Sep 2007
Fortis 1/2 Marathon Rotterdam 09-09-2007
PR and great run.
Although hard I felt much better this time than at the CPC, my first half marathon.
I managed to get early to the starting area and got a nice position at
the front of the pack (crossed the line just 18 seconds after the signal).
Result: A perfect run with very little overtaking and crowding in contrast to the CPC run where I spent a lot of energy
trying to get around slower runners in front of me.
I was concerned that the start was too fast (around 4:30/km)
but I decided to keep up the speed as I felt good. The pace dropped slightly during the race as the legs started to
feel a bit heavy. However, the breathing and the heart rate was steady throughout the race
and at the end I had enough energy to make a sprint (well, kind of) on the last kilometer, did
that last km in 4:19! Net result 1:37:53, a 10 min improvement over CPC 2007!
The aftermath: No serious problems, just a couple of battlescars. The usual blister on the left big toe
reappeared in "fine" style, but only one this time. After CPC I got two of them!
And a little more embarrasing, my left nibble was red and swollen due to friction with
my shirt, never had that problem before. I could definitely feel my legs the day after but nowhere as bad as
after the CPC. This time I walked FORWARDS down the stairs!
First recovery run (8 km) on Tuesday (2 days after), slowly, as the legs were still heavy.
