Sprints

What a race! I finished in 3:32:08 and completed my second marathon. I improved my personal best with over 6 minutes.

Initially I was hoping for a sub 3:30 timing, but this proved impossible for me. The stretches on the sandy beaches (3, totalling just over 10km) slowed me down too much and the last kilometre I had to fight cramp in my calves...

Above the registration of the last 14km run in my marathon prep schedule. A smooth morning run in Kampen, The Netherlands.

As you can see, my average pace has been 4:36 (with a few short stops to take a photo. Now this poses some food for thought for me.

I aimed at running the marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes. My prep schedule has been made according to a speed of around 4:55 minutes per kilometre, which would land me just a bit faster than 3 hours 30 overall.

But in my training, I have consistently been running faster than 4:55 in all runs. The question now is: what will I do coming Saturday during the marathon? Start at a pace of 4:55 or a pace faster than that?

It’s done! I finished the ‘Race simulation’ phase of my training schedule with the (in)famous 35km run last Saturday.

First the data: I ran 35km in just under 3 hours, an average speed of 5:02 minutes per kilometre. I had a gel at 10, an energy bar at 15, another gel at 21,5 and another energy bar at 30 km. I had 500ml of water and 500ml of Isostar.

Now how it felt: it was really, really though. Especially the last 5 kilometres. I didn’t recover anymore, not even from running up a short slope and it was ever so tempting to start walking. I did that only twice and I think it costed me about 2 minutes. So I could have been a little bit faster. But my legs felt as if they were falling apart, broken beyond repair and so extremely heavy... I have recovered by now though!

I ran my favourite track, so I thought. It’s a 7.5km run towards the entrance of a big forest, followed by a 20km signposted track, finished off with another 7,5km run back to base. I did a pretty similar run for my 30km run two weeks ago (see previous posts), but instead of the 20km track, I did the 10 and 5km sign posted track. I like that one better. Though in the middle of the 20km track, there is a really nice part downhill, in the middle of the forest. I’ll sign that one up for one of the the best stretches of track I’ve ever ran on.

I had been looking forward to this training run for a long time.

Firstly because it allowed me to train on a stretch of the #kustmarathon which I hadn’t ran before.

Secondly because in my marathon training schedule a ‘comfortable’ 13,5km run was projected for this week, in between two weeks with intense training both on distance and speed. This run would allow me to just cruise a bit.

Thirdly because the run was long enough to test drinks and a gel to see how that would go down.

A 13,5K tempo training yesterday with my running mate James. A copy of the run I did last week on Wednesday, though slightly faster.

This week I am in a more quite week between two weeks with long runs. So it is great to see I am able to maintain and even increase speed, while at the same time increasing the distance. This is a good boost for my confidence needed for the marathon.

An early morning run and a short one: 5km. I always used to see these short runs in my marathon preparation scheme as a warm-up run for the longer runs they day after. I have changed my view.

I have heard many times that runners run their short runs too fast and their long runs too slow. The first part of this expression certainly was true for me. I have only recently started to run these short 5km loops on a slow pace, taking care my heart rate is not exceeding 140 bpm. By doing so, I avoid passing my aerobic threshold, which means in theory I can run for hours in this pace without building up lactic acid and therefore a very low risk of cramp. Great! And I noticed, while continuing with my marathon preparation programme, that my heart rate is lower, while maintaining a similar pace. Which means my stamina is improving!

That is the real benefit of running these short runs slowly.