Month total 771

So despite a serious October post marathon dip I'm still 625 minutes, or more than 10 hours ahead of schedule.  And since I've started running again before half of November is past (posting this on the 16th) I should just about be able to manage to complete the year with an average of 1200 minutes a month if I don't have another collapse...

Lost in the Frost

130 min
Start 7.00

Still have to upload my garmin stuff and photos but I was out for a couple of hours this mornng runnng between fields white with frost.  Got lost in the woods behind De Bilt for a while but just kept running till I found something I recognised. 

Grey dawn 10k

73 min
Start 7.30

Had hoped to get out to see the sun rise after all these weeks not running but this morning the sky was the dullest grey imaginable.  The light gradually came through the darkness I set off in but no sign of the sun at all.  Did another run/walk/run session (after the initial 15 min warmup) with a 4:1 ratio.  Have also started varying my forefoot landing with some intervals of heel striking.  Since I never really got injured with my old way of running and hAve had some trouble from a tender bit in my forefoot (can you get PF in the forefoot as well as the heel?) after this summer of minimalist running I've started to wonder if it's really what I should be doing.  And I seem to be able to go slightly faster that way too.  I'll keep an eye on developments but am not going to stick rigidly to the minimalist stuff if it's not working for me.  We're maybe not all Born To Run (barefoot) after all...  

Autumn Colours

97 min
Start 17.00

Decided to try some Gallowayish run/walk/run pacing today and quite enjoyed it.  Set my timer to biep every minute and did 3 run 1 walk for the first 20 minutes then 4:1 for most of the rest of the way.  Now and again with 5:1 if I'd stopped to take photos. 

Back on the road

24 min
Start 18.30

Week total 447

(later - wednesday - have a terrible cold and feel like my lungs are only working at quarter power so no running for a few days - did cycle out to Zuilen on Monday though and yesterday had a few bike errands too, so not totally abandoning exercise of any sort. Hope to be able to catch up with my monthly targets later when my body recovers from this temporary collapse.)

Marathon Zeeland

357 min (moving time according to my Garmin)
Start 12.00
First time I've ever seriously thought I wouldn't finish.  Several times along the way I just wanted to give up but ach, the thought of not getting the medal and t-shirt kept me going and I came in 2nd last. Chip time was 5:59:56. Maybe if I hadn't stopped to take photos I might just have made it to the end a bit sooner...?  Nah, I doubt that really made any difference - I 'should' have been able to speed things up at various points but my legs just wouldn't co-operate.  Shouldn't moan too much.  I finished.  I trippled down the stairs towards the end with no problems (otherwise I would have been last but I could easily pass the man who was being dragged through the last kilometers by his running partner as he had to hobble down the couple of sets of stairs we had to negotiate).
At one point I also stopped to ask a boy who was sitting on the beach looking defeated if he was all right - he said his feet weren't working any more.  I gave him some Dextrose tablets and my wet sponge and later he caught up with me and finished just under the 5hour 55 min.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanneke said that my face was white as a sheet when I passed her on the dijk just before the finish, she could see every freckle clearly.  She had warm soup in the car which was very welcome but when I got back to her house and had showered (mostly in foetal position on the floor - felt very similar to after the first Urk/Zwolle run) I threw it all back up again - my blood supply was apparantly still too pre-occupied with dealing with my exhausted muscles to cope with digesting anything. Collapsed on the couch in front of Zeeland TV to watch the highlights of the race. The report was all about the top runners but online they had videos of all the finishers.  I'm at the end of this film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PLNpU5SavfCofhcVP2tgNly90WfW6eE9Vb&v=OUnioD1DGrA

And here are some short videos from the marathon site: http://tinyurl.com/8k3uxox
There should be some more photos on the official site soon.

On the back of the medal is the tekst 'Verder dan Ver'.  Further than Far.  Indeed...

Intervals

41 min
Start 18.30

Warm-up, intervals, home.  Just ticking over before the marathon on Saturday.

Bloeyendaal 5k +

49 min
Start 18.30
Forgot to take any photos.  Round Bloeyendaal.  Another 8x 20sec fast 10 sec slow on the way home.