61 min
Start 6.45
Heavy mist meant no visible sunrise and very visible beads of moisture in my hair when I got home. Took it easy, at the start it was still pretty dark as I went over the Eng. Then out to the Eem as it gradually got lighter, though visibility was still down to about 20m. Felt myself getting lighter and moving more easily as I warmed up (like a dodgy diesel engine...) Did a 'sprint' on the long stretch back to the village - it was odd not being able to see the end of the road. I was thinking of how being able to set goals makes things more achievable - just running into a wall of mist when you can't see where you're aiming for isn't very inspiring. Still did it in my 'usual' 3 minutes so I seem to be back on form after my snot-induced break.
vrijdag 30 oktober 2009
woensdag 28 oktober 2009
25 min
Start 17.15
Gentle start after a week of blocked up head and general unfitness. Had a good long muddy walk with Dusty yesterday and decided I felt better enough today to try a short run. Beautiful coloured sky with raggy bits of cloud filtering the sunset. Slight technical problem in that the volume switch on my headphones is now refusing to work in the downwards direction. Had to keep skipping through my podcasts till I found one I could bear to hear at such high volume. (Sandy Toksvig laughing at full strength directly into your ear is not an experience I can recommend.) Ended up with the Huw Introducing music choice - haven't had such a ringing sound in my ears since the time I stood directly in front of the speakers at an AC/DC concert... Running itself went fine - even managed a short faster bit when a particular bit of music inspired me to run up a row of stubble skipping back and forth over it in time to the song.
Start 17.15
Gentle start after a week of blocked up head and general unfitness. Had a good long muddy walk with Dusty yesterday and decided I felt better enough today to try a short run. Beautiful coloured sky with raggy bits of cloud filtering the sunset. Slight technical problem in that the volume switch on my headphones is now refusing to work in the downwards direction. Had to keep skipping through my podcasts till I found one I could bear to hear at such high volume. (Sandy Toksvig laughing at full strength directly into your ear is not an experience I can recommend.) Ended up with the Huw Introducing music choice - haven't had such a ringing sound in my ears since the time I stood directly in front of the speakers at an AC/DC concert... Running itself went fine - even managed a short faster bit when a particular bit of music inspired me to run up a row of stubble skipping back and forth over it in time to the song.
vrijdag 23 oktober 2009
Snot fair.
No running today. I have been invaded by A Virus. That'll teach me to plan 2 half-marathons in 2 weekends. My brain must have signalled my plans to my body and the whole system has shut down in protest. So I'm swapping my running shoes for blackcurrant Coldrex and tissues for the time being...
Here's a link to an article about exercising with cold/flu symptoms. Actually I suspect my symptoms are safely 'above the neck' at present so it probably wouldn't do me all that much harm but on the other hand I don't want to risk getting my lungs giving me problems which might drag on and make me get even further behind in my running schedule (such as it is).
woensdag 21 oktober 2009
35 min
Start 18.30
Felt heavy and sluggish. Vague tiredness in backs of calves and front of thighs. Nothing terrible but I wasn't bouncing along like yesterday. Not eaten too well today, that probably has a lot to do with it. Did a bit of jumping through the ploughed fields but my heart wasn't in it. Ha, that'll teach me to have Woman's Hour gibbering away in my ipod instead of Tom Robinson! Did one 'fast' circuit in exactly 6 minutes and decided it was getting too dark to safely do a 2nd one (well, that was as good an excuse as any). Home via the Molenweg.
Start 18.30
Felt heavy and sluggish. Vague tiredness in backs of calves and front of thighs. Nothing terrible but I wasn't bouncing along like yesterday. Not eaten too well today, that probably has a lot to do with it. Did a bit of jumping through the ploughed fields but my heart wasn't in it. Ha, that'll teach me to have Woman's Hour gibbering away in my ipod instead of Tom Robinson! Did one 'fast' circuit in exactly 6 minutes and decided it was getting too dark to safely do a 2nd one (well, that was as good an excuse as any). Home via the Molenweg.
dinsdag 20 oktober 2009
123 min
Start 11.15
'Accidentally' ran for 2 hours. Only meant to go out for about an hour to see how my legs felt almost 48 hours after the main event on Sunday. But it was beautifully sunny and fresh and I found a new grassy path along the Eem just before the cycle bridge so followed that all the way to Amersfoort and back. Good music on the
podcast had me fairly bouncing along at some points. Shame I can almost never remember the names of the bands I hear on there as sometimes there are things I want to look up afterwards but by the time I get around to looking them up online the programme I have on my ipod isn't online any more. Anyway, it's a great way of doing some natural interval training and enjoying it. Did 15 minutes barefoot running in a grassy field but my feet were definitely getting chilly towards the end and I was glad to get my shoes and socks on again. Did a field length barefoot 'sprint' twice. 1.07 the first time, 1.01 the second.
Start 11.15
'Accidentally' ran for 2 hours. Only meant to go out for about an hour to see how my legs felt almost 48 hours after the main event on Sunday. But it was beautifully sunny and fresh and I found a new grassy path along the Eem just before the cycle bridge so followed that all the way to Amersfoort and back. Good music on the
podcast had me fairly bouncing along at some points. Shame I can almost never remember the names of the bands I hear on there as sometimes there are things I want to look up afterwards but by the time I get around to looking them up online the programme I have on my ipod isn't online any more. Anyway, it's a great way of doing some natural interval training and enjoying it. Did 15 minutes barefoot running in a grassy field but my feet were definitely getting chilly towards the end and I was glad to get my shoes and socks on again. Did a field length barefoot 'sprint' twice. 1.07 the first time, 1.01 the second.
maandag 19 oktober 2009
Amsterdam 2.02.57
Saturday afternoon dropped my stuff at Hanneke's place (conveniently near to the Stadion) collected my startnumber and cycled round the route, which for the half was actually a bit of a dull one. The full marathon has a long open and quite pretty bit along the Amstel but the half is mostly through not very interesting parts of the city. (Apart from the last bit along the Stadhouderskade and the Vondelpark, and the finish in the Olympic Stadion of course.) Anyway, it was handy to cycle it beforehand with the map as I knew then where the few 'hilly' bits (couple of bridges) were and roughly where the 5km stages could be expected.
Ate a huge plate of pasta and went to bed reasonably early with Abdelkader Benali's 'Marathonloper' In this book each of the 42 short chapters is written around a kilometer in a marathon race. I soon realised that the route he was describing was in fact Amsterdam, though this isn't actually mentioned in the book by name. So even more appropriate reading material than I'd thought it would be beforehand.
Sunday morning ate some leftover pasta with yoghurt, cottage cheese and jam + bananas, bread, lots of tea. Went to the loo about 26 times. Dithered about whether I would take my running belt with water bottles and camera. Decided in the end not to as I thought that any brief advantage of being able to choose my own drinking moments would be negated by the extra jiggling of having to have it with me all the time.
Cycled off to the start in good time and got my bike parked in the free guarded stall. Weather was perfect for me. Not too warm, not too cold. Went to the loo yet again (portaloos are always spectacularly disgusting but ok, there were at least enough of them to avoid the long queues I've seen at other such events) and found my section of the start funnel. Talked to one of the pace setting runners who were there with big yellow balloons tied to them so that they were easily visible. She was pacing for the 2 hour finish and explained that she'd be doing exactly 5.40 per kilometer. Hmm, interesting, I thought and then shuffled off to the front of the section. Didn't see her again till approaching the 15k mark...
And this is of course where I went wrong. If I'd been 'sensible' I would have stuck with the pace setting team and may well have been able to finish inside the 2 hours. But no, I charged off on my own daft race, did my first 5k in less than 27 min instead of the 28+ it should have been. At the 8k mark I had 44 minutes and thought I was going wonderfully well - hey, this was EAsy - I'd be able to run at this pace for Ever! At 11k I had 61 minutes and still thought I was on course for a great time. The drink posts had been well-placed and had also provided pieces of banana so I decided I wouldn't need the powergel sachet I'd been saving for if I had an energy dip in the second hour. Gave it to one of the kids along the side of the route who hold out their hands to be slapped by passing runners. And about 5 minutes after this realised that I was being overtaken by more people than before. I was definitely slowing.
Approaching the 15k mark the yellow balloon pace setters passed me. I tried to keep them in sight for a while but it wasn't going to happen. In the Vondelpark, with 12 minutes to go to the 2 hour mark decided that I could push it a bit, just think of it as a Cooper Test, I told myself - 12 minutes at full speed must be possible? Yeah, but 'full speed' after 19k is not the same as full speed after a brief warm up run. Ah well, never mind - I learnt a lot and I still finished a good 9 minutes faster than in Hattem last month. Here are the official times from the places along the route where my chip registered. Bit irregular as they're placed for the whole marathon, but the times in brackets are for 5k intervals. I can see here how I slipped backwards as the race progressed.
8,9 km 49:03
13,9 km 1:18:50 (29:47)
18,9 km 1:49:19 (30:29)
Netto tijd 2:02:57
Bruto tijd 2:11:15
Snelheid 10,296 km/uur
The grand finale in the stadium was actually not as grand as I'd hoped it might be. The tribunes were barely half full. The crush to get out of the place afterwards was a bit messy (though to be fair, with so many people it could have been worse). There was a light rain just starting to fall. (Beautiful lowering iron grey clouds had been threatening rain for the past hour but nothing had come of it, perfect running conditions really, very little wind either, so I can't give anything the blame except my own lack of timing.) Back at my bike rubbed tigerbalm and lemon oil into my calves and pulled on warm trousers and top.
Cycled back to Hanneke's house. She'd been outside the stadium but hadn't been able to get across the road to get inside. More tiger balm and oil for my legs. After a while Rianne arrived bearing white roses which I put in a vase beside the hot bath I was running. Sank into that for half an hour for another few kilometers of my book. After we'd eaten big plates of curry and naan bread Rianne went off home and Hanneke revealed hidden talents as a masseuse and gave my legs a good seeing to. Thigh muscles felt a bit tender in some places but nothing too painful. I don't know if it's due to the massage, the tiger balm, the hot bath or the increased training since last month (no doubt a mixture of them all) but today my legs feel fine. Huge contrast with the few days after Hattem, when my thighs felt like lead and my calfs like cotton wool. I can feel a very slight tiredness in the backs of my thighs but nothing in the least painful and I could cycle and go up and down the stairs this morning with no problems at all.
So where am I going to do my next half...?
Ate a huge plate of pasta and went to bed reasonably early with Abdelkader Benali's 'Marathonloper' In this book each of the 42 short chapters is written around a kilometer in a marathon race. I soon realised that the route he was describing was in fact Amsterdam, though this isn't actually mentioned in the book by name. So even more appropriate reading material than I'd thought it would be beforehand.
Sunday morning ate some leftover pasta with yoghurt, cottage cheese and jam + bananas, bread, lots of tea. Went to the loo about 26 times. Dithered about whether I would take my running belt with water bottles and camera. Decided in the end not to as I thought that any brief advantage of being able to choose my own drinking moments would be negated by the extra jiggling of having to have it with me all the time.
Cycled off to the start in good time and got my bike parked in the free guarded stall. Weather was perfect for me. Not too warm, not too cold. Went to the loo yet again (portaloos are always spectacularly disgusting but ok, there were at least enough of them to avoid the long queues I've seen at other such events) and found my section of the start funnel. Talked to one of the pace setting runners who were there with big yellow balloons tied to them so that they were easily visible. She was pacing for the 2 hour finish and explained that she'd be doing exactly 5.40 per kilometer. Hmm, interesting, I thought and then shuffled off to the front of the section. Didn't see her again till approaching the 15k mark...
And this is of course where I went wrong. If I'd been 'sensible' I would have stuck with the pace setting team and may well have been able to finish inside the 2 hours. But no, I charged off on my own daft race, did my first 5k in less than 27 min instead of the 28+ it should have been. At the 8k mark I had 44 minutes and thought I was going wonderfully well - hey, this was EAsy - I'd be able to run at this pace for Ever! At 11k I had 61 minutes and still thought I was on course for a great time. The drink posts had been well-placed and had also provided pieces of banana so I decided I wouldn't need the powergel sachet I'd been saving for if I had an energy dip in the second hour. Gave it to one of the kids along the side of the route who hold out their hands to be slapped by passing runners. And about 5 minutes after this realised that I was being overtaken by more people than before. I was definitely slowing.
Approaching the 15k mark the yellow balloon pace setters passed me. I tried to keep them in sight for a while but it wasn't going to happen. In the Vondelpark, with 12 minutes to go to the 2 hour mark decided that I could push it a bit, just think of it as a Cooper Test, I told myself - 12 minutes at full speed must be possible? Yeah, but 'full speed' after 19k is not the same as full speed after a brief warm up run. Ah well, never mind - I learnt a lot and I still finished a good 9 minutes faster than in Hattem last month. Here are the official times from the places along the route where my chip registered. Bit irregular as they're placed for the whole marathon, but the times in brackets are for 5k intervals. I can see here how I slipped backwards as the race progressed.
8,9 km 49:03
13,9 km 1:18:50 (29:47)
18,9 km 1:49:19 (30:29)
Netto tijd 2:02:57
Bruto tijd 2:11:15
Snelheid 10,296 km/uur
The grand finale in the stadium was actually not as grand as I'd hoped it might be. The tribunes were barely half full. The crush to get out of the place afterwards was a bit messy (though to be fair, with so many people it could have been worse). There was a light rain just starting to fall. (Beautiful lowering iron grey clouds had been threatening rain for the past hour but nothing had come of it, perfect running conditions really, very little wind either, so I can't give anything the blame except my own lack of timing.) Back at my bike rubbed tigerbalm and lemon oil into my calves and pulled on warm trousers and top.
Cycled back to Hanneke's house. She'd been outside the stadium but hadn't been able to get across the road to get inside. More tiger balm and oil for my legs. After a while Rianne arrived bearing white roses which I put in a vase beside the hot bath I was running. Sank into that for half an hour for another few kilometers of my book. After we'd eaten big plates of curry and naan bread Rianne went off home and Hanneke revealed hidden talents as a masseuse and gave my legs a good seeing to. Thigh muscles felt a bit tender in some places but nothing too painful. I don't know if it's due to the massage, the tiger balm, the hot bath or the increased training since last month (no doubt a mixture of them all) but today my legs feel fine. Huge contrast with the few days after Hattem, when my thighs felt like lead and my calfs like cotton wool. I can feel a very slight tiredness in the backs of my thighs but nothing in the least painful and I could cycle and go up and down the stairs this morning with no problems at all.
So where am I going to do my next half...?
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