Niels' running thoughts

Halve van Egmond 2012

2012-01-08T14:13:00.003-05:00

Wat is het lastigste van de halve van Egmond? Het hardlopen over het strand, waar je voeten telkens een beetje wegzakken in het zand? Het aan het eind van het strand omhoog ploeteren naar de top van de duinen, met daarna nog een paar kilometer heuvel-op-heuvel-af? De "bloedweg" aan het eind, de heartbreak hill van Egmond?

Nee, niets van dit alles. Het lastige is het overleven van de eerste 3 kilometer door het dorp. Vorig jaar bleek een plek midden in het wedstrijdvak geen garantie te zijn om niet achter gezellige groepjes dames vast te zitten die vinden dat 10km/uur door het dorp "lekker inlopen" is. Dit jaar stond ik daarom behoorlijk vooraan, maar nu deed zich een ander probleem voor: de totale gekte van sommige lopers die denken dat het een 3 kilometer wedstrijd is in plaats van 21,1 km. Als ware kamikazepiloten zigzaggen ze door de andere lopers heen. Na één kilometer dacht ik dat het ergste achter de rug was, maar op dat moment schopte iemand recht van achteren mijn voeten onder mijn lichaam weg, en viel ik recht voorover op de straat. Ik heb de dader nooit gezien, hij vond het blijkbaar niet nodig om mij weer even overeind te helpen. Midden op de straat lag ik met kapotte knieën, handen en elleboog. Lopers liepen links en rechts om mij heen, elkaar waarschuwend voor het onwillige obstakel. Snel strompelde ik naar de kant, en overwoog het bijltje er bij neer te gooien. Mijn knie deed zeer, en mijn handen en ellebogen ook. Toch maar verder gelopen–wat moet je anders, maar de scherpte was er in ieder geval even af. Pas op het strand begon ik het hardloopgevoel terug te krijgen, de wind was schuin van achteren en het lopen ging lekker (ondanks de grote rode plek op mijn elleboog). Zo mocht het van mij wel tot km 21 doorgaan! Op 10 km eindigde het strand echter, en was het zwaar door de duinen. Na een paar kilometer begon verharde weg, en daar kon ik het tempo weer goed oppakken. De laatste kilometers, 19-20, zakte het tempo wat in, tocht te weinig duurlopen gedaan, maar de "bloedweg" viel weer alleszins mee: deze heuvel is gewoon niet stijl en ook niet lang.

Met de finish in zicht kwam Jos me nog net voorbij (hij was later gestart in de businessrun), hij had een mooie 1:24 gelopen (gefeliciteerd!). Mijn eigen tijd was 1:28:11, wat mij nog meeviel na mijn avontuur aan het begin. Na de finish waren de EHBO-ers nog een half uur bezig mij op te lappen. Emile (die met ons me reed naar Egmond) had een mooie 1:26 gelopen, dus ook nog gefeliciteerd. Steffi had toch nog last van haar blessure, en moest de tweede helft op halve kracht lopen. Toch nog binnen de twee uur (1:58) gefinished, zoals wij lopers dan zeggen: "netjes"!

Norg Cross

2011-11-27T16:35:00.006-05:00

Vorig jaar liep ik Norg met veel plezier, maar viel de tijd wat tegen. Tijd voor revanche! Wederom verzamelden wij ons voor de start op het grasveldje aan de voet van de Langeloer Duinen. Harm Noor trakteerde ons op een mooie Balkenende door de nieuwe sponsor te complementeren met haar mooie bruine ogen. Ja, wat moet je dan nog als sponsor over de lopers zeggen?

Na de start schoot het veld als een dolle weg, en omdat ik mijn kruit niet al te vroeg wou verschieten liet ik ze eerst maar even gaan. Misschien iets te bescheiden gestart, want eenmaal op de smalle paden van de cross was het lastiger inhalen. Eerst kilometer in 4:03, op zich niet gek, en de tweede in 3:56, dat was beter. Deze eerste twee kilometers waren nog op het vlakke deel, nu werd het tijd voor de eerste keer de duinen. Het veld was nu wat meer uitgetrokken, dus inhalen was makkelijker (maar nog steeds niet echt makkelijk). Ik zag Frans nu voor mij lopen, die ik op een gegeven moment inhaalde (ik denk ergens in de eerste ronde heuvels). Kilometer 3 was duidelijk een heuvelkilometer, want die ging meteen een stuk langzamer: 4:13. De kunst is dan om het meteen na de heuvels weer op te pakken, en niet teveel in het door de heuvels vertraagde tempo te blijven hangen.

Dit lukte de eerste ronde slechts ten dele: 4:08 voor kilometer 4. Maar misschien zaten daar nog wat heuvels in. Ik kreeg nu Maarten Hoeksema in zicht, die ik langzaam maar zeker in begon te halen. Een stukje daarvoor liep Lucas. Mooie mikpunten.

Kilometer 5, nu in de tweede grote ronde, ging in 4:06, maar dit was alweer met het begin van de heuvels. Kilometer 6, ook een zware, in 4:13. Dit was tegen het einde van de tweede grote ronde, nog één te gaan! Kilometer 7, een vlakke kilometer, ging goed: 3:59. In deze kilometer wist ik Maarten in te halen, en kwam nu achter Lucas te lopen. Kilometer 8, heuvels, in 4:19. Nu het laatste vlakke stuk: ik haalde nu Lucas in, maar die liet zich niet kennen en versnelde, en haalde mij weer in. Ik wist nog wel aan te klampen, dus gezamenlijk kwamen wij het grasveld op voor het laatste stukje tot de finish. Lucas bleek nog net iets meer in de benen te hebben dan, en liep ongeveer 10-20 meter bij mij weg. Deze strijd leverde echter wel een snelle laatste kilometer op: 3:56. Al met al een eindtijd van 37:04, een aardige verbetering vergeleken met de 38:37 van vorig jaar. Rondetijden waren heel vlak: eerste (korte) ronde in 5:44, 2e in 10:27, 3e in 10:27, 4e in 10:25.

Even later kwam Steffi binnen, die ook met plezier had gelopen. Zij had echter hetzelfde probleem als ik vorig jaar: ze was niet tevreden met haar tijd. Volgend jaar revanche!

New York City Marathon 2011 race report

2011-11-09T16:15:00.020-05:00

The New York City Marathon. Probably the most well-known marathon in the world, even though others are faster and older. But not bigger. A massive number of 47000 runners started the race in three waves, which were subsequently subdivided into three start groups, and further subdivided in eight corrals. Staggering logistics.

Steffi and I were here on an organized marathon trip, which is a way for non-Americans to get guaranteed entry into the race. Very unfair for Americans, but good for tourism and city income (they sell it as promoting the international spirit of the race). This also meant we had to put up with group-travel stuff, which we managed to avoid as much as possible by, for example, not taking the organized bus to the start, but the Staten Island ferry. Two advantages of that: we left 45 minutes later, and we had a scenic ferry trip along south Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

When we arrived in the start area it was approximately 1.5 hours before the start, so perfect timing to take of all the extra clothes and hand them in at the baggage drop-off.

One other disadvantage of the organized trip: bib number assignment was not really according to expected finish time: Steffi and I were assigned to the same corral in the back of the Orange start of wave 1. I did manage to sneak in a few corrals ahead, so I ended up in the fourth corral of the Orange start, which turned out to be quite ok.

The weather was very nice, sunny but cool, but became a bit too warm towards the end (where Steffi poured a cup of Gatorade on herself to cool down). Probably better than a week earlier, when there was a big snow storm... My biggest worry was my ankle that had been bugging me for the last week. It was painful the day I arrived (but also due to too much walking in Manhattan), and now it was acting up a bit. I rubbed it, will it bother me, or is it just nerves?

45 minutes before the start we were ushered to the starting line, where we were just in time to witness the start of the elite women. More nervous waiting, until it was finally our time! The big canons went off, and Frank Sinatra started singing "New York... New York....".

The start of the New York marathon is on Staten Island, but in reality on the bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn. This bridge spans the first two miles of the race, and is at the same time the biggest hill in the course. But with legs still fresh, this first uphill, even though it was the longest, was the least of my troubles. Manhattan in the far distance, all the nervous energy released, and too tempting to go too fast (fortunately not really possible because of the crowding right after the start).

Things picked up after half a mile, and from that point on I could run my own pace without any clogging problems.

So. The goals for this race. I had no real hope of breaking 3 hours given the difficulty of the course. But I did have my eye on setting a new PR, and therefore set my pacing goal according to a 3:02 finish. I also wanted to enjoy the race as much as possible, so I chose an even pacing strategy, with the goal to run easy as far as possible, at least until mile 15, but maybe even a bit further.

The first mile was slow (up the bridge), but the second was super fast (down the bridge). I am using miles to talk about my progress, because that is how the course was marked (1 mile = 1.6 km, total distance: 26.2 miles). That was when we arrived in Brooklyn, where the course went along fourth avenue until mile 8. A nice broad avenue, with an amazing crowd of people, gospel choirs, rock bands, encouraging signs, etc. And at a time that you can appreciate it maximally. I managed to set a good pace, and keeping it was very easy. My early pace was between 6:50 and 7:00 minutes/mile (6:58 was the goal. Translates to 4:14-4:20 min/km). At the 8 mile point the blue, orange and green starting groups merged, but by this time things had thinned out, and we turned into shady Lafayette avenue. I am still feeling great, and the running goes fine. A couple of turns, and we arrive in Williamsburg, still part of Brooklyn. This part of the race is known to be quiet, because the Orthodox Jews don't approve of the race passing through their neighborhood. Still, some bands are playing for us in defiance, but few people cheer us on.

Time to say goodbye to Brooklyn and say hello to the half-marathon point (1:31, still on track for 3:02) on the Polasky bridge, which leads the Queens. This is the first uphill to tax the legs, but unfortunately not the last. Running feels good, but I have to be ready for the next bridge. So I ease the pace a bit for the two miles through Queens, to be ready for the Queensboro Bridge. And there it looms in the distance, with the Empire State building in the background.

Up and up the bridge, no one to cheer us on... But this is the crucial 15 mile point, where the easy first part ends and the tough part begins. All goes well running up the bridge, but it does slow me down and costs me precious time. But after the halfway point of the bridge, down down down we go into Manhattan, where the madness of First Avenue awaits. This is where Haile Gebreselassie dropped out last year, on the treacherous downhill. But I survive, and there is Manhattan! The crowds! First Avenue, broad with tall buildings! This is maybe the best thing of the whole NYC marathon, the fact that at the point where you need it most the crowd support is best (compared to: Amsterdam: industrial area, Rotterdam: deserted Kralingse Bos, Berlin: Max Planck).

On and on First Avenue, the crowds propel us forward and I am on the right pace again until mile 20, the temporary end of Manhattan and the bridge to the Bronx.

Where I still took the Queensboro bridge in a good stride, the Willis bridge to the Bronx and the 20 mile point knocks the breath out of me. Fortunately, it is not as long any earlier bridge, and the Bronx people start yelling "W'lcome to da Bronx" on a background of heavy hiphop. They are proud of their small stretch of marathon route! If only they had been earlier in the race, maybe I could have paid more attention...

But soon it is back into Manhattan again, and even though the Willis bridge and subsequent hilly Bronx had knocked me off pace, I now pick it up again on nice and level Fifth Avenue. For a moment I think that I can even pick up the pace, and that even pacing is going to work. If only the road had stayed level... But at mile 23 the road starts climbing, and continues climbing for almost a mile until the entrance into Central Park. If only I can reach Central Park... But this last uphill stretch saps the remaining strength out of my legs, and when I reach the Central Park entrance, with just over 2 miles to go, I feel I have no energy left for the hilly last stretch.

On and on in survival mode. At least there are downhill and uphill stretches, instead of just uphill. But my pace drops back to 7:30-ish. Out of the park, onto the street south of the park, and back into the park for the final 500 meters....

And then it is over. No collapsing on the finish line this time, and the time is 3:06:45.

In retrospect I have been too optimistic about the difficulty of the course, and the lack of hill training in the Netherlands is definitely a disadvantage. The pacing strategy had worked reasonably well in the sense that I ran comfortably up until late in the race (as opposed to Rotterdam), but in the end I just came up short in the final miles. If only they'd been flat... And each of these bridges and hills can add 30 seconds to your time, which adds up in the end. Finally, my ankle had behaved very well, so those worries had been for nothing.

Steffi finished in 3:50:23, a very good time, and an improvement of her Amsterdam PR (which was 3:50:38). She faster than Leontien van Moorsel (former women's World Champion in cycling), and Edwin van der Sar (former Dutch Soccer team goalie, thank you, Kor, for looking this up).

4 mijl

2011-10-09T14:09:00.006-04:00

Het nadeel van de vier mijl is dat het voor een marathonloper vaak wordt overschaduwd door de najaarsmarathon. Een week voor Amsterdam, twee weken na Berlijn, etc. Vandaar dat ik op de 4 mijl nog nooit echt scherp heb gelopen, 25:18 in 2008, toen nog zigzaggend tussen de recreanten, 25:08 in 2009, als wedstrijdloper voor de West Penn Track Club, gevolgd door een matige 25:53 vorig jaar. Dus het werd tijd om daar wat aan te doen. En hoewel het hoofddoel voor het najaar de marathon op 6 november is, lag de nadruk in de dinsdagtraining de laatste weken op snelheid voor de 4 mijl. Kan vast voor volgende maand ook geen kwaad.

Het weer was vandaag gunstig: lekker koud, en wind mee. Na Winschoten en Thesinge was de zon dus niet de ergste vijand. Bij de start naast Marcel en Arjen, met verderop Jacob, Matthijs en anderen. Iets verder naar achter staat Steffi met de basisgroepers Emile en Rein. Als ik op mijn tenen ga staan kan ik net Bekele zien staan bij de start. Dit jaar wordt er niet afgeteld zoals vorig jaar om een valse start te voorkomen. Vorig jaar was het een ruige boel bij de start waarbij sommige lopers van achteren onderuit geschopt werden. Onnodige zenuwachtigheid: zo kort is 4 mijl nou ook weet niet. Deze keer toch wat geduw en getrek bij de start, maar iedereen is heel weg. Waarom trouwens een voetbalcoach met drie onderkinnen als starter?

Mijn doel was om in ieder geval om de 25 minuten te lopen, en misschien nog een beetje sneller. In de training afgelopen dinsdag (eindelijk ook weer koud) ging een 3:45 tempo me makkelijk af op de 1200 meter, dus dat was een beetje het tempo waar ik mikte. De hele korte samenvatting is dat dat gebeurde: ik liep eigenlijk vrij vlak 3:45 over de hele race. De eerste kilometer liep ik nog achter Marcel, maar die versnelde toen en finishte uiteindelijk een minuut sneller dan ik. Op het 2 mijl punt voelde het lopen nog vrij makkelijk, en de tussentijd van 12:08 (ofzo) was zeer bemoedigend. In Helpman nog een beetje met twee andere lopers gespard, die, nadat ik ze had ingehaald mij weer inhaalden.

Op het 5 kilometerpunt een aardige verassing: een tijd van 18:50, wat 8 seconden sneller is dan mijn (alweer een paar jaar oude) 5 km PR. Onder de ringweg door: je kunt de finish bij wijze van spreken al zien... Ik heb nu betrekkelijk weinig mensen voor me, maar moet een beetje oppassen: door de beginnende regen is de weg glad geworden, en mijn wedstrijdschoenen hebben niet zoveel profiel.

Over de Herebrug, nu staat het echt vol met mensen, Herestraat, en nu echt een gladde bocht de Vismarkt op (Bekele had er ook moeite mee, zag ik later). Op het laatste stukje stormt er nog wat jeugd voorbij, die hadden zeker stiekem in mijn rug zitten wachten. Gelukkig pak ik er in de eindsprint nog een paar terug naar een tijd van 24:14. Toch mooi bijna een minuut van mijn beste tijd afgehaald.

Maar dan nog de grootste uitdaging van de 4 mijl: je tas terugkrijgen. Hoewel dit in voorgaande jaren ook al een gedrang was, liep de chaos dit jaar compleet uit de hand. Voor een verder zo perfect georganiseerde race toch wel een blamage. Toen ik in de rij voor mijn tas ging staan, stonden er misschien nog 12 anderen, maar het kostte me zeker langer dan de race zelf om mijn tas terug te krijgen, en tegen die tijd stond de hele straat volgepropt met een opgewonden menigte van honderden mensen die allen hun nummer omhoog hielden in de hoop dat dat hielp (ijdele hoop, overigens).

De Thaisner Dörpsrun

2011-09-25T14:41:00.006-04:00

Toen ik drie jaar geleden voor de New York marathon aan het trainen was en een lange duurloop richting Oost maakte, liep ik op de weg terug door Thesinge. Al voor ik het dorp inkwam stonden er bemoedigende bordjes "Nog 500 meter"! "Nog 400 meter". Niet voor mij uiteraard, want ik moest nog terug naar huis, maar ze waren onderdeel van de lokale wedstrijd die in volle gang was toen ik door het dorpje heen kwam.
Dit jaar was ik wederom in aanloop voor New York op zoek naar een halve marathon als testwedstrijd, maar de komende weken leek er niets echt in de buurt te zijn. Oldenzaal of Oldenburg waren de beste opties. Maar donderdag plofte de Runners World op de mat, met op de wedstrijdkalender de run van Thesinge, met zo'n beetje alle afstanden die je kunt bedenken: 4 kilometer, 4 mijl, 10 kilometer, of 21.1 kilometer. In een opwelling (en zonder naar het weerbericht te kijken) schreven Steffi en ik ons meteen in.
Na de laatste warme dag van de zomer in Winschoten leek dit echter de eerste warme dag van de herfst te worden. Zonnige dag en 20 graden. Op zich niet overdreven warm, maar op het Groninger platteland is weinig schaduw te bekennen. Aangekomen in Thesinge was het inderdaad aan de warme kant, maar niet de drukkende hitte uit Winschoten.

Het deelnemersveld voor de halve marathon was bescheiden, ongeveer 25 mannen en 15 vrouwen, schat ik, maar alle afstanden startten samen, dus het was toch een drukte van jewelste bij de start. Op de halve deden van Groningen Atletiek ook Emile Nales en Herwin Veenstra mee (en misschien nog anderen: ik ken niet iedereen even goed). Emile is momenteel in goede vorm, en houdt bovendien van warm weer, dus ik had niet het idee dat ik hem kon verslaan. Na de start stoof een groot deel van het veld weg, maarja, 10 kilometer, 4 kilometer, 4 mijl? Ik bleef bij Emile en Richard Jong-A-Pin (?) met een tempo van rond de 4:08. Herwin bleek achteraf sneller weg te zijn, en eindigde uiteindelijk als tweede. Het tempo van 4:08 was, ondanks de warmte, goed vol te houden. Na 2 km begon Emile te versnellen, en Richard ging met hem mee, dus ik liet ze mooi lopen, want hoewel ik lekker liep wilde ik in dit stadium niet onder de 4 min/km gaan lopen. Dat vonden ze zelf blijkbaar ook, want na nog een kilometer haalde ik ze weer bij. Twee jongens van een jaar of 12 dolden nog een tijdje om ons heen, maar zij waren duidelijk bezig met een kortere afstand. Na een kilometer of 7 zette Emile weer een versnelling in, waarop ik hem en Richard weer liet lopen. Na kilometer 10 kwam een vervelend stuk met zand en grind. Dat was niet zo lekker op mijn wedstrijdschoenen, die afgezien daarvan goed bevielen. Dit grindstuk, van ongeveer twee kilometer, was ook het punt waar Richard bij Emile moest afhaken, en vervolgens door mij werd ingehaald. Hij zou uiteindelijk 10 minuten na mij finishen. Op dit punt was bestond het veld overigens alleen nog maar uit halve marathonners, die allemaal als eenlingen over het Groninger platteland liepen.
Het grindstuk had toch even de snelheid uit mijn benen gehaald, of het was de hitte die toch wat te sterk werd, maar na 12 kilometer ging mijn tempo iets achteruit, naar de 4:12-4:14 regionen. Toch ging het lopen gewoon nog erg lekker, en was de pijn die ik driekwart van mijn vorige halve, die in Haren, voelde, afwezig. Ik voelde dus niet de aandrang om helemaal tot het uiterste te gaan, maar om gewoon een lekkere race te lopen. Eigenlijk ging het zo kilometer na kilometer door, rechte wegen, af en toe nog even oppassen voor een tractor, en voor ik het wist zat ik op kilometer 18, en werd het nu toch echt aanpoten. Het dorp kwam alweer in zicht, nog even een vervelend schelpenpad aan het eind, maar daarna door de finish. Vierde plaats, in een tijd van 1:28:09. Geen supertijd, maar ik ben er toch heel tevreden mee, gegeven de omstandigheden en het relatieve gemak waarmee het ging.
Na de finish nog even nakletsen, en wachten op Steffi, die als derde vrouw net binnen de 1:50 binnenkwam. Ook zij was (terecht) tevreden over haar prestatie. Helaas voor haar hadden ze geen podium... Maar verder was alles heel goed georganiseerd, met zeer goede verzorging onderweg, duidelijk bewegwijzering en lekker eten na de finish. Je vraagt je af waarom het geen deel uitmaakt van een van de loopcircuits, maar misschien zou de charme en het dorpse karakter verminderen als alle broodlopers de prijzen komen ophalen...

de RUN van Winschoten

2011-09-11T04:55:00.003-04:00

Anders dan andere wedstrijden: de RUN van Winschoten. In beginsel een 100 km wedstrijd, en dit jaar zelfs het wereldkampioenschap. Maar voor de gewone sterveling is het een 10x10 km estafette. Steffi en ik deden beide mee voor Groningen Atletiek.

In tegenstelling tot het weer de laatste tijd was deze zaterdag plotseling een heel hete en zonnige dag. "De laatste dag van de zomer" volgens het nieuws. Maar ook te benauwd om een echte zomerse dag te zijn. Dus dat werd het thema van de dag. Bijna elke loper liep langzamer dan verwacht, en klaagde over de hitte en het hele zware middenstuk. Steffi liep relatief vroeg, rond half 12, maar toen was het al flink heet. Niettemin zag ze er bij de finish nog erg goed uit (zie foto). En hoewel haar tijd van 51 minuten langzamer was dan ze normaal loopt op de 10 km, bleek dit relatief een goede tijd te zijn. Mijn eigen race was veel later op de dag, en wel half vier 's middags. Even leek het rond een uur of twee of wolken voor verkoeling gingen zorgen, maar helaas waren die allemaal verdwenen toen ik in het startvak stond. Nog een nadeel van een estafette, geen goed idee hebben wanneer je start is. Eindelijk kwam mijn voorloper, en kon ik van start! In de eerste 100 meter voelde ik een lichte duizeligheid van het te lang in de zon staan, maar gelukkig kwam er een stukje schaduw waar ik even kon bijkomen. Nu kwam ik langs een hele reeks verzorgingsposten voor alle internationale 100 km lopers, een prachtig gezicht met vlaggen en flessen met felgekleurde oppepdranken.

Helaas was deze schaduw van korte duur, en was het al snel weer in de zon lopen. De route ging door de wijken van Winschoten, en al deze wijken hadden goed hun best gedaan! Welkom in ... (naam wijk, helaas heb ik ze niet onthouden). Mensen langs de kant, bekertjes water, sponzen, tuinslangen... Zonder al deze steun was het helemaal niet gegaan! De eerste twee kilometers gingen eigenlijk vrij goed, met kilometertijden van rond de 3:55, en mijn nieuwe wedstrijdschoenen bevielen erg goed. Maar helaas begon mij lichaamstemperatuur, ondanks al het water en sponzen, toen toch op te lopen, en moest ik kilometertijden boven de 4 minuten accepteren (uiteindelijk was 4:06/km mijn gemiddelde).

Maar ondanks het gevecht met de hitte was de sfeer fantastisch! Na 9 kilometer was het nog grotendeels rechtuit, en ik wist dat de Groningen Atletiek tent me nog even kon aanjagen voor de laatste honderden meters. En zo zat het er al weer op, en mocht Evert-Jan het virtuele stokje overnemen voor de 9e etappe. Mijn tijd was uiteindelijk 41:17, niet geweldig, maar met dit weer zat er niet meer in.

Toch een mooie dag, en om al die 100 km lopers te zien.... Indrukwekkend! (De winnaar van de 100 km kwam binnen terwijl ik mijn ronde (de 8e) liep, ik bedoel maar).

Maar al met al verlang ik naar de herfst en winter, met fijne koele hardlooptemperaturen.

SPR sportmiddag 10 km

2011-06-19T14:18:00.000-04:00

Vorig jaar was de SPR (de sportvereniging voor het personeel van de RUG) sportmiddag mijn eerste "wedstrijd" na de lange periode van blessures, dus uit nostalgie besloot ik dit jaar weer mee te doen. Omdat vorig jaar de wedstrijd in de war gegooid werd door een open Paddepoelsterbrug, was het parcour ingekort tot drie rondjes rond het sportcentrum. Twee rondjes was goed voor vier mijl, en drie rondjes (een iets langer derde rondje) voor tien kilometer.

Net als vorig jaar waren er zo'n twintig deelnemers, ongeveer 2/3 voor de 10 km, en 1/3 voor de 4 mijl. Dit jaar geen Jacob Vos, dus ik schatte mijn kansen redelijk in voor de winst, hoewel je het nooit weet met eventuele snelle aio's. Niet dat ik van plan was helemaal voluit te gaan, zo belangrijk was deze race nou ook weer niet, maar meer een mooie 15 km/uur.

Bij de start schoot één van deze aio's er als een speer van door, maar mijn inschatting was dat dit onervarenheid was (of anders zou hij domweg veel sneller zijn dan ik). Dit bleek inderdaad het geval te zijn, want hij bleef zo'n 50 meter voor mij lopen, en na ongeveer een kilometer begon ik hem langzaam in te lopen. Na twee kilometer was ik hem voorbij en liep al snel alleen voorop, samen met de fietser die niet bijzonder in de wedstrijd geïnteresseerd leek (ik moest een paar keer voor tegemoetkomende fietsers aan de kant springen). Aan het einde van de eerste ronde, waar een stukje heen en weer langs het Reitdiep gelopen moest worden, zag dat de concurrentie al behoorlijk achter lag. De tweede ronde trok ik ook stevig door, je weet nooit wat er uit het achterveld komt, en kwam als eerste door voor de vier mijl. Toen nog een derde ronde, maar omdat de concurrentie in geen velden of wegen meer te bekennen was liet ik het tempo een beetje terugzakken: ik was niet echt gemotiveerd tot het uiterste te gaan (want dat was sowieso het plan ook niet). Uiteindelijk een tijd van 40:01, precies wat ik van plan was, en een fles wijn en gifgroene SPR handdoek als prijs.

Nacht van Groningen

2011-06-03T15:29:00.007-04:00

Een rondje dwars door de stad Groningen, start en finish op de Grote Markt, en drie keer het Noorder plantsoen in en uit? Dat is de Nacht van Groningen. Steffi en ik hadden gekozen voor twee rondjes, samen goed voor 14 km. Het was een hete dag, dus de start van 21:00 kwam goed uit. Na de start ging het meteen hard, en kon ik helaas de verleiding niet weerstaan om te hard weg te gaan. Het was gewoon te leuk om hard door de Kijk in 't Jatstraat te lopen, over de Noorderhaven voor mijn voormalige huis, en natuurlijk door het Noorderplantsoen. Maar ik ging teveel weg alsof het een 10 km was in plaats van een 14 km. Rond 4 km begon ik het te merken, en begonnen ook de darmen te protesteren vanwege het nog niet geheel verteerde avondeten. Rond de koepel in het Noorderplantsoen voelde ik me daarom erg slecht, en de verleiding om me te laten afzakken tot Steffi en haar te pacen kwam even in me op. Maar eenmaal in de Ebbingestraat op een van de weinige lange rechte stukken in de race voelde het met een wat langzamer tempo alweer een stuk beter. Het einde van de eerste ronde kwam in zicht, en achter mij hoorde ik een andere loper hard hijgen en spugen. Ik hoopte voor hem dat hij maar een ronde deed, en dit bleek inderdaad bij de finish het geval. Tijd voor ronde twee, nu in een wat rustiger tempo. In de Kijk in 't Jatstraat haalde mijn tegenstander uit Stedum (Willem Jan Buier, het "rode shirt") mij bij, en we maakten een kort praatje. Het veld lag nu zo ver uit elkaar dat we de rest van de race met zijn tweeën liepen, soms hij voorop, soms ik voorop. Het lopen ging gelukkig een stuk beter dan in de eerste ronde, maar wel wat langzamer. Veel aanmoedigingen langs de kant, Fokie en Jacob, Arjen, en anderen die ik zo snel niet kon terugvinden maar die wel mijn naam riepen.

Het laatste rechte stuk door de Ebbingestraat was in zicht, en ik versnelde wat en liep weg bij Willem Jan (die overigens drie ronden liep, dus hij had uiteindelijk de beste prestatie). Nog even aanzetten naar een eindtijd van 56:05. Ik had op 56 minuten gemikt, dus dat was aardig gelukt. Als ik in de eerste ronde wat rustiger aan had gedaan was het misschien nog wat beter geweest: een les voor de volgende keer (en: geen warm eten voor de wedstrijd, ik was de halve dag erna nog misselijk).

Steffi had uitstekend gelopen, 1:09:22, zodat wij allebei in ons klassement op de 8e plaats uitkwamen.

Na de finish kwam ik ook Frans tegen, die heel tevreden was met zijn 58 minuten.
Andere LA leden liepen de 21 km, dus ik heb niet meer bij de finish op ze gewacht (het begon koud te worden). Jos had uitstekend gelopen met een 1:25, Evert Jan had ondanks zijn avondmaaltijd ook nog een mooie 1:28. Marcel liep in de 1:30, maar ik weet niet of dit goed of slecht was. Emile uit de basisgroep die ook de 14 km deed leverde een heel goede prestatie door in de 53 minuten te lopen. Dat doe ik hem niet na!

Leeuwarden Loop 10km

2011-05-22T16:08:00.006-04:00

Op de avond na de goed verlopen race in Stedum werd ik meteen gretig, en schreef mij (en Steffi) meteen voor nog twee races in, waarvan de eerste de Leeuwarden Loop was. Leuk, want zowel mijn zwager Klaas Jan als mijn nicht en neef Annika en Remco deden mee (de laatste twee in de 1k).

De Leeuwarden Loop bleek een behoorlijk groot evenement te zijn, wel wat anders dan Stedum. In de 10km, wat niet eens het hoofdnummer was, deden 1500 mensen mee. Gelukkig hadden ze een vak voor wedstrijdlopers, en omdat ik bij de inschrijving een streeftijd van 38:30 had opgegeven werd ik daarin ingedeeld (hé Niels, waarom heb je een oranje stikker op je nummer?). Voor de start duwde Harm Noor mij zijn microfoon in het gezicht, want hij wou weten wat een Groninger in Leeuwarden deed. Ik heb het maar op een familieuitje gegooid.

Het weer was gelukkig niet de voorspelde zon en 27 graden, maar bewolkt met een spat regen. Veel beter. Wel stond er een straffe wind, en tijdens het inlopen werd duidelijk dat we daar in de tweede helft last van zouden hebben.

Het startschot ging af, en een grote groep lopers stormde meteen vooruit in een tempo dat mij in ieder geval veel te hoog was. Ook een aantal van de businessrunners gooide zich meteen van achteren in de strijd. Ondanks het feit dat dit uiteindelijk mijn snelste kilometer was (3:46) waren er veel lopers voor me. Maar langzaam maar zeker begonnen de overmoedigen in te zakken, dus in de eerste vijf kilometer haalde ik langzaam maar zeker mensen in. Het was een mooi parcours, eerst een beetje door de stad, later door het bos aan de Noordkant van Leeuwarden. Ik liep lage 3:50-ers, dus dat ging goed. Ik kon alleen niet goed bij andere lopers aanhaken, omdat het leek of iedereen om mij heen te snel gestart was. Rond de vier kilometer haalde ik de eerste vrouw (Immy Kersbergen) in, dus vanaf dit moment hoorde ik toeschouwers alleen nog maar zeggen: "kijk, de eerste vrouw". Rond de 5.5 km begon het zware stuk: 2 km wind tegen. Ik kon naar iemand toelopen die voor mij liep, maar hij ging eigenlijk net iets te langzaam. Toch maar eens stukje achter blijven hangen. Intussen pikte Immy Kersbergen ook weer aan, en trotseerden wij gedrieën de tegenwind. Aangezien het tempo nu op 4:00/km lag, nam ik de kop over en schroefde het tempo weer wat op. Aan het einde van het tegenwindstuk pakte Immy het tempo op, en ging vlot over mij heen. Dat tempo kon ik niet meer bijbenen. Met nog ruim twee kilometer te gaan maakten we nog een toeristisch rondje door het centrum van Leeuwarden, eigenlijk niet zo prettig aan het eind met veel bochtjes en klinkertjes, nog even een fel stukje wind tegen, en hoorde ik Harm de eindtijden in de verte afroepen. Hij zat nog in de 37, dus tijd om nog even goed aan te zetten voor het laatste stuk! En ja, met 38:30 over de finish (netto 38:29), dus mooi een paar seconden sneller dan vorige week. Dit was goed voor een 9e plaats (8e bij de mannen :) ), dus mijn mentale beeld dat er nog een grote groep voor mij zat was fout.

Zwager Klaas Jan had het ook goed gedaan, met een nieuw PR van 34:24. Steffi was minder tevreden, omdat te ver achterin was gaan staan, en in de eerste kilometers minuten verloor in de massa. Met 49:24 was zij toch nog 24e (van de 606) bij de vrouwen, dus helemaal niet gek. 's Ochtends had Arjen de halve marathon gelopen, met een mooie tijd in de 1:27, precies wat hij gehoopt had. En Evert-Jan was met paarse ballonnen de 1:45 groep aan het pacen, en ik neem aan dat dit wel gelukt is.

Eindelijk! 1) Koel weer 2) een echte 10km

2011-05-14T16:09:00.005-04:00

Verslag Stemer omloop

Omdat de training afgelopen week weer lekker ging, had ik het idee om dit weekend een wedstrijd te doen. Er waren maar liefst twee kandidaten: de Stemer omloop op zaterdag, en Veendam op zondag. Gekozen voor Stedum, want het leek me leuker om op het platteland te lopen dan in de stad, en 5 uur 's middags is wat minder riskant qua temperatuur dan midden op de dag.

Ik ging toch naar Stedum met enige gevoel van voorbehoud. Ik denk dat dit was omdat de afgelopen drie races (Haren, Rotterdam, Assen), alledrie

behoorlijk afzien waren geweest. In Rotterdam en Assen was met name de temperatuur de boosdoener. Vandaag was het gelukkig lekker fris, maar wel met een straffe wind. Ook kon ik nu eindelijk eens een 10 kilometer lopen, want mijn enige wapenfeit op dat terrein was Nam tot Nam vorig jaar, waar de teller helaas op 9,7 km bleef steken. Omgerekend 39:13, maar ja, toch niet echt.

Een gezellige boel in Stedum, met poffertjes en een draaimolen. Niet helemaal optimale racevoorbereiding. De route bestond uit twee rondjes van 5 km, eerst een stukje door Stedum zelf, en daarna een stuk wind tegen over het platteland, een stuk mee over het platteland, een klein stukje door het bos, en dan nog een paar honderd meter.

Direct na de start verbrokkelde het veld meteen in een koploper met twee groepen erachteraan. De eerste 500 meter haakte ik bij groep 2 aan, maar dan gingen ze me te snel. Het had geen zin om dan al mijn energie al te verspillen, ik wilde deze keer wel een beetje lekker lopen. Het nadeel is nu wel dat ik alleen kwam te lopen. Voor het tegenwind stuk begon kon ik echter aanhaken bij een paar gelosten uit groep 2. Maar helaas, die gingen al snel te langzaam, dus ik was weer alleen. Gelukkig kwam er iemand uit het achterveld bij wie ik kon aanhaken, en die ongeveer mijn tempo had. Met de loper (ik zal hem "rood shirt" noemen) wisselde ik de hele race zo ongeveer van positie. Het tegenwindstuk was nu begonnen, met rood shirt voorop en ik achter hem aan. Helaas liep hij strak links van de weg, zodat ik niet veel aan hem had qua wind schaduw. Gelukkig was dit tegenwinddeel slechts ruim een kilometer, met daarna een bocht en voor de wind! De weg was hier wat bochtig, maar rood shirt hield strak links, waardoor ik hem makkelijk kon passeren door de ideale lijn te kiezen. Dit stuk was aangenaam om weer een beetje bij te komen, maar ik zag al snel dat de verleiding groot was om het tempo te laten zakken. Tanden op elkaar! Al snel kwam Stedum weer in zicht, en na het stukje bos (met een lastig pad!) was de eerste ronde voorbij. Voor mij liep een groepje van drie, dus ik probeerde wat te versnellen om bij hen aan te pikken voor het tegenwindstuk weer zou beginnen.

Dat lukte inderdaad, maar had helaas weinig effect: toen ik bij ze was zakten ze ver terug in tempo, en hoewel ik een klein stukje achter ze bleef hangen was dit duidelijk te langzaam. Rood shirt had hiervan gebruik gemaakt om weer aan te haken. Dus het tegenwindstuk in met rood shirt en het langzame groepje op sleeptouw. Al snel had ik alleen rood shirt nog maar achter mij aan, die halverwege de kop weer overnam. Aan het einde van het tegenwindstuk leek hij echter door zijn energie heen te raken, want andermaal liep ik op het stuk wind mee bij hem weg.

Tot nu toe ging het lopen makkelijk en voelden de benen goed, ook al begon het nog even flink te regenen in ronde 2! Iemand uit het achterveld kwam mij nu hard voorbij (Henk Por, geloof ik), maar ik weet bij hem aan te haken, en dit helpt mij het tempo hoog te houden in de laatste kilometers. Nog even oppassen op het bospad, en een finishtijd van 38:33. Nieuw PR, en nu een echte 10 km tijd. En, bovendien goed voor een derde plaats in het 40+ klassement.

Barry heeft ook goed gelopen, is heel tevreden, en is als tweede geëindigd in het senior klassement.

TT-run Assen: de heetste Paas sinds 1901

2011-04-25T12:23:00.006-04:00

Twee weken na Rotterdam was het tijd voor een wedstrijd, enigszins voor de lol. Op de middelbare school in Assen had ik mij nooit op het TT circuit in Assen gewaagd (in mijn peer group was motorrijden niet cool), dus het werd een keer tijd. De keuze was 1, 2 of 3 ronden van ongeveer 4,5 km, dus Steffi en ik hielden het lekker bij één rondje. En dat was de juiste keuze, want het was erg heet, de heetste Paasdag sinds het KNMI is begonnen met meten.

Het is wel enigszins bizar om op een motorcircuit hard te lopen, en de commentatoren waren ook niet zo aan hardlopers gewend, want ze trakteerden ons op allerlei motorsport-weetjes. ("En we wachten op de binnenkomst van nummer 46, want in de motorsport wordt het nummer 46 altijd gedragen door de legendarische ..."). Enfin, na de training van dinsdag voelden de benen alweer sterk, hoewel nog niet helemaal 100%. Een tempo van 3:45 leek mij daarom een goede keuze, want dat ging dinsdag vrij makkelijk. Maar dinsdag was het koel... Veel junioren in de 12-18 jaar range deden mee, en dit leidde tot een zenuwachtige start. Vlak na het startschot sprong een van die jongens recht in het niet-gat voor mij, en hoewel ik hem nog probeerde te ontwijken raakte ik zijn hiel en ging hij onderuit. Hij viel gelukkig opzij uit de menigte van achteren, maar ik kon er niets meer aan doen zonder zelf een kettingbotsing van lopers achter mij te veroorzaken. Enfin, tempo 3:45 oppikken, de benen voelden goed. De organisatie had "sproeiers" beloofd ter verkoeling, maar helaas bleek dit uit goedbedoelende meisjes met verbazingwekkend ineffectieve plantenspuiten te zijn. Na de eerste twee kilometers, die lekker gingen, begon nu de hitte er toch aardig in te hakken. Ik had een droge mond, en de temperatuur begon zodanig op te lopen dat het de beperkende factor was. In de laatste kilometer moest ik daarom het tempo laten lopen, en eindigde tegen de 4:00/km. De beperkende factor was mijn ademhaling, normaal gesproken ga die pas merken als ik sneller ga, maar blijkbaar was er teveel bloed nodig om het lichaam te koelen. Of zat Rotterdam toch nog te veel in de benen? Enfin, eindtijd van 17:10, gemiddeld 3:50/km, niet geweldig, maar meer zat er niet in. Dit was uiteindelijk goed voor een 14e plek, met daarin alle leeftijden en geslachten. Steffi had goed gelopen, 21:59, maar kon ook door de hitte geen toptijd neerzetten.

Rotterdam Marathon

2011-04-10T16:54:00.001-04:00

"Rotterdam is all in" was een van de motto's van de Rotterdam Marathon van dit jaar. Diverse mensen liepen in T-shirts waarop dit motto afgedrukt stond, maar dan met hun naam erop "Ilse is all in", "Pieter is all in", etc. Evert Jan, Paul, Steffi en ik hadden weliswaar niet zo'n shirt, maar het gold voor ons des te meer, althans zeker voor Evert-Jan en mij. Wij hadden beiden het doel om de magische drie uur grens te doorbreken. De training was heel goed gegaan, dus het lag in de mogelijkheden, als alles zou meezitten... Twee omstandigheden die roet in het eten konden gooien, en waar wij geen of weinig controle op hadden, was het weer en de congestie na de start. Met zorg bekeken wij al dagen het weerbericht, dat zon en hoge temperaturen in het vooruitzicht stelde. Maar een Noorse weerwebsite projecteerde dat de hoogste temperatuur pas later in de middag bereikt zou worden, dus ik was voorzichtig optimistisch. De congestie bij de start was een probleem van de rare startvakindeling van Rotterdam. Maar de oplossing bleek te liggen door in een langzamer startvak te gaan staan, en te zorgen daar vooraan te staan, met daarvoor alleen nog maar de A en B vakken (hele snelle lopers, dus geen probleem), en het R vak (Rotterdamse ambtenaren, gemiddeld niet zo snel maar slechts een kleine groep).

Bij de start was het koud (want in de schaduw), maar de startlijn was niet al te ver weg, dus alles leek perfect te zijn. Ik had wel gehoord dat bij de start traditioneel Lee Towers te horen was (zoiets als New York, New York bij de NYC Marathon), maar wist niet dat de oude baas zelf op een hoogwerker gehesen zou worden om iedereen toe te zingen. Indrukwekkende show. Daarna de start, en een halve minuut later was ik weg. Doeltempo voor een 3 uur marathon: 3:16/km, ruim 14 km/uur. De startcongestie loste zich zoals ik gehoopt had snel op: na ongeveer 500 meter was ik door het langzame deel van de ambtenaren heen en had ik genoeg ruimte om mijn eigen tempo op te zoeken. De schade voor de eerste kilometer was daardoor beperkt, slechts 10 seconden. Snel daarna begon de klim omhoog de Erasmusbrug op, maar met nog frisse benen was dit geen enkel probleem. En aan de andere kant naar beneden ging het als een speer. Daar stond Barry mij aan te moedigen, de eerste keer van zeker drie (of vier?) keer. Wel merkte ik nu al dat er weinig schaduw was op het traject, maar het was nog fris, dus ik had weinig last van de volle zon. Vanaf dit punt kon ik heel makkelijk zo'n 4:10-4:14 tempo lopen, net als in de training, dus ik had een goed gevoel aan het begin. Maar met nog vele kilometers te gaan weet je nooit wat er komen gaat. Het viel niet echt mee om in een groepje te lopen: elke keer als ik dit probeerde werkte het een tijdje, maar dan zakte het tempo wat terug waarop ik weer een stukje alleen op pad moest. Maar alles ging soepel, en tot ongeveer 16 kilometer liep alles goed en in het juiste tempo. Toen begon de zon echter zijn ware aard te tonen. Zo rond kilometer 18/19 maakten wij een bocht, en liepen in volle zon met de wind in de rug. Toen merkte ik de opkomende hitte, en opeens moest ik wat kracht bijzetten om het tempo te houden. Te vroeg in dit stadium van de race, want deze kracht zou ik later nog nodig hebben. Rond 25 kilometer moest de Erasmusbrug weer genomen worden, en nu kostte het mij veel kracht om tempo te houden. Uiteindelijk lukte dit wel, maar na de brug begonnen de extra inspanningen en de steeds hoger wordende temperaturen zijn tol te eisen, en begon mijn schema langzaam scheuren te vertonen: 4:24, 4:22, 4:22, allemaal niet goed.

Na deze slechte kilometers bereikten we het Kralingse bos, met een beetje schaduw, en opeens ging het weer goed met een kilometer van 4:14. Ik had weer hoop. Maar helaas was de schaduw van korte duur, en was het vanaf daar weer volle zon. De kilometertijden en de pijn in mijn lichaam begonnen langzaam omhoog te lopen richting 4:30, en was duidelijk dat de kansen op drie uur verkeken waren. Maar dan toch nog wel een nieuw PR? Maar mijn lichaam begon steeds meer te protesteren, en de tijden kropen naar hoge 4:30's, met zelfs, in kilometer 40, een 5:01 kilometer. Ik zat helemaal leeg, en kon me niet herinneren ooit zo moe geweest te zijn geweest in een marathon, met uitzondering van mijn allereerste in Berlijn. Twee kilometer voor de finish moedigt Barry mij nog aan met een "alles eruit", maar alles is er al uit. Eindelijk op de Coolsingel, met nog 500 meter tot de finish, 450 meter... Ik zag de klok boven de finish in de 3:03 tikken, en bedenk me dat ik misschien nog net een PR zou kunnen halen op nettotijd. Nog even aanzetten in de laatste 200 meter. Op het moment dat ik over de finishlijn kom vertikken de benen het verder, en val ik op de grond. Ik wordt door toesnellende EHBO-ers in een rolstoel gehesen en krijg flesjes sportdrank toegediend. Ik voel me al snel weer wat beter, hoewel ik een lelijk bloedende wond op mijn knie heb, maar blijf nog mooi even zitten in de schaduw. Daarna gaat het beter, en werk ik in minuten ruim 2 liter vocht naar binnen. Door mijn duik bij de finish heb niet mijn stopwatch kunnen stoppen, dus ik weet nog steeds niet of ik in ieder geval een troostprijs heb. Later blijkt ik mijn Amsterdam tijd met welgeteld 5 seconden te hebben verbeterd (3:03:31), dus de suïcidale "eindsprint" was niet voor niets geweest.

Ik zoek naar mijn college LA-ers. Ik zie Paul al aangekleed in het publiek: hij is na 30 kilometer uitgestapt. Evert Jan kom ik pas later tegen: ook hij is door de hitte gesloopt. Nu snel naar de finish om Steffi op te wachten. Zij komt binnen op ongeveer 3:55, met hetzelfde verhaal: het begin ging prima en op tempo, maar de zon zorgde daarna voor een stelselmatige sloop van de energie en vochtvoorraden. Zelfs de toppers lagen het eerste deel van de race op wereldrecordschema, maar moesten dit in de tweede helft laten lopen.

Misschien is er toch iets voor te zeggen om voor een volgende 3 uur poging Apeldoorn te kiezen: in februari is het zeker niet te warm. Jammer dat er zoveel heuvels zijn....

Half marathon of Haren

2011-03-12T16:39:00.004-05:00

Post in Dutch this time, my apologies to the non-Dutch...

Vandaag moest het gebeuren in Haren: de test of drie uur in Rotterdam tot de mogelijkheden zou behoren of niet. De vuistregel is dat een 1:25 halve marathon correspondeert met een 3:00 marathon, dus dat was het doel. Het weer was uitstekend voor deze poging: enigszins zonnig, 13 graden, en de harde wind van de laatste weken was een stuk minder geworden. Helaas werkte één ding niet mee: de gezondheid. De afgelopen drie dagen was ik Delmenhorst in Duitsland voor een workshop, en kwam gisteravond met een lichte hoofdpijn thuis.

Een nacht slapen zorgde helaas niet voor verbetering: ik voelde me vanochtend slecht. Twee ibuprofen brachten wel enige verbetering, maar ik had min of meer besloten om niet mee te doen. Om het echt zeker te weten liep ik even een rondje in het plantsoen, maar daar voelden de benen eigenlijk best goed. Dus toch maar naar Haren...

Na de start voelde het lopen best goed, en mijn zorg was om zo bij een groepje aan te haken, want het eerste stuk was tegen de wind. Hier verspilde ik waarschijnlijk wat te veel kracht, want het kostte me moeite om bij een groep voor mij aan te haken, en dit bleek uiteindelijk verspilde moeite, want de groep viel uit elkaar, en de twee lopers waar ik een tijdje mee liep kakten toch al heel snel in. Daarna heb ik wel af en toe met andere eenlingen opgetrokken, maar die hadden eigenlijk allemaal zo'n onregelmatige snelheid dat ik er niet zoveel aan had (zij hadden uiteindelijk meer aan mij).

De eerste zes kilometer lag ik goed op schema met zo'n 4:00 minuten per kilometer, maar ik merkte dat het eigenlijk te zwaar ging. En inderdaad begon mijn tempo daarna terug te zakken, rond de 4:10. Met nog 15 kilometer te gaan niet goed. Mijn maagstreek begon te protesteren, en begon te denken aan uitstappen, of in ieder geval veel langzamer te lopen (langzamer dan ik toch al deed). De gel die ik rond 7 km had opgedronken begon een beetje zijn werk te doen, dus dat gaf me genoeg energie om de uitstapgedachten in ieder geval tijdelijk te onderdrukken. Ondanks dat begon mijn snelheid nog verder terug te lopen, nu meer richting 4:15 per kilometer. Maar mijn maag kon de gedachte van een tweede gel niet verdragen, dus die heb ik maar in mij zak gelaten. Na 15 kilometer ging het niet echt beter, maar het einde begon in ieder geval in zicht te komen, dus uitstapgedachten kon ik nu wat beter aan de kant zetten. Nog één hindernis restte: de brug over het spoor. Deze bleek gelukkig mee te vallen, en met het eind in zicht kon ik de laatste kilometer nog in 4:02 afronden. Eindtijd: 1:27:56. Gezien de omstandigheden misschien niet slecht, maar niet wat het plan was. De gemiddelde snelheid van 4:10/kilometer was hetzelfde als het toch langere en zwaardere Apeldoorn, en ook in de training heb ik 24 km 4:12 gelopen. Dus is het glas half-vol (redelijke tijd onder slechte gesteldheid) of half-leeg (geen 1:25)? Over een maand weten we het.

Positieve noot: Steffi werd derde bij de vrouwen Senioren! Helaas was dit zo onverwacht dat we niet bij de prijsuitreiking waren...

Edit: mijn tijd was inderdaad 1:27:56 en geen 1:37:56. Anders was ik nog langzamer geweest dan mijn allereerste halve marathon...

27.5 km race in Apeldoorn

2011-02-07T12:45:00.015-05:00

In Apeldoorn, they don't like regular distances for races. They have an 8k, an 18.5k, a 27.5k, and yes, a full marathon. The marathon attracts far fewer people than the other races, so maybe they are right. Steffi and both set out for the 27.5 km, which seemed to have the nicest course, and is also a good test for the full marathon that we will both run in April.

We were there with a large bus full of people from Groningen Atletiek, among which Steffi's fellow runners Emile and Yvonne, and Paul from my group. The bus already dropped us off at 10 in the morning, even though the start was at 12, so we were hanging around for quite a while before the start. At least I could now make sure I was in the start corrals quite on time, not wanting to repeat the Egmond experience. At the start I met up with a former fellow computer science student, whom I hadn't seen for years. Apparently he knew more about me, because he said he and I ran at around the same speed. On the other hand, he also told me his running nemesis was no other than Paul, who normally runs a few minutes faster than me. For Paul's take on his battle with "pi", read his blog. (in Dutch)

Even though the weather was nice, there was a fierce wind, which we were running against in the first half of the race, and which would be in our backs for the second half. Wanting to avoid my other Egmond mistake, I planned to run with a group to keep out of the wind.

So all my preparations were aimed at avoiding last race's mistakes. In other words, I was ready to encounter some new ones. Ever since moving back to the Netherlands I have laughed about "hills" in Dutch races. The blood road in Egmond, laughable! So, yes, there were going to be hills in Apeldoorn, but how bad could it be? Bad indeed, it turned out!

Anyway, on with my report! The gun went off, and off I went, comfortably at the front of the race. After running beside me for maybe 100 meters, pi took off, and I didn't expect to see him again until after the finish. After maybe 500 meters I tagged on with a group of runners with marathon bibs who were going at an approximate 4:05 pace. Somewhat on the fast side, but I didn't see many other stable groups. Besides, a couple of them had marathon bibs, so I expected them to be able to keep a steady pace for a good distance. This turned out to be a good decision, because I ran approximately half the race with them.

The first six kilometers were through the outskirts of Apeldoorn, which was very pleasant, and we maintained a good pace of around 4:08. Right on the mark. After 6 km, the going suddenly got a lot tougher, because without me noticing at first the road turned to go uphill. I noticed I was slowing down, but so was everyone else. It was not going to be as easy as the first 6 km promised! The uphill lasted for a good 2.5 km, which was quite noticeable in my speeds: 4:11, 4:26, 4:11, 4:17 for km's 6-9. At some point in these hills I saw Paul running about 100 m in front of me, apparently he had slowed down even more than me. But later he accelerated, so I didn't see him anymore afterwards. But then it was downhill time again, which allowed me to recover a little bit. But everyone was going really fast now to make up for the lost time, and for a minute I had a side stitch that had me worried for a while, but was fortunately alleviated with a little bit of rubbing. These were fast kilometers: 3:52, 4:04, 4:01, 4:01. We were now at 13 km, and it was very clear to me that I had underestimated the hills, and that I already felt exhausted before we were even halfway through the race. But the worst was yet to come: at km 13 the second uphill started. I vaguely remember Emile saying before the race that after 21 km it was all downhill. Not encouraging.

Indeed, km 13-16 were again uphill, and I felt the strength leaving my legs. I had to let go of my group, together with another runner, and the two us went on together for a while, and then we took turns in falling behind and catching up again. Initially my speed was not too bad: 4:10, 4:17, 4:18, after which we reached a small plateau at km 16. Was that it? Ah no, only a brief respite, because two more km up and up. I seriously ran out of steam here with 4:29 and 4:32.

We were now running on a large asphalt road, very unscenic, but at this time I was grateful for the monotony. And, gradually, the wind pushed in my back, the road went downhill, and the magic caffeine gel took effect, and I picked up speed again. 4:09, 4:15, 4:13, 4:10, 4:18. Not great, but back in the right ball park.

Finally also time to count down the final kilometers, because now the end gradually game in sight. The half-marathon sign, if only this had been one! Time around 1:29, so not too bad for a half. Now steeper down, 4:02, 4:11. The last few kilometers. A marathoner with a very nice running style overtakes me, but I manage to tag on. And there I see pi running in front of me, I hadn't expected to see him again. Lost the battle with Paul, and soon, me. This final little competition gives me an additional push in the back to finish in style with 4:08 and 4:03, and a 3:58 pace in the final 500 meters. Official final time: 1:55:39, which is not particularly meaningful for such an odd distance, but the 4:10/km average was what I was aiming at, so I was pleased, but also quite exhausted. Pi finishes twenty seconds behind me, but Paul is already there for three minutes.

Approximately half an hour later Steffi finishes, and she isn't pleased. Also beaten by the hills. But her time turns out to be quite reasonable, so in the end she is also quite happy with the result.

Halve van Egmond

2011-01-09T14:36:00.007-05:00

The "Halve van Egmond" is a half marathon with a tough reputation, because it is run under wintery circumstances on the beach and around the dunes near Egmond aan Zee in North Holland. Last year it was cancelled because of snow and ice, but this year the circumstances were fairly ideal: 5 degrees and sun, which is a treat give the cold, snowy and rainy weather of the last month. The only challenging aspect of the race was a hard Southwestern wind, which meant that the 7 km beach stretch would be all against the wind. Clearly this is not a race to set new records, so I didn't go there with anything like that in mind.

Even though we set out early, Steffi and I arrived relatively late in Egmond, still quite in time to make it to the start, but with the consequence that I was rather in the middle of the first starting group than more up front. This turned out to be quite more of a problem than I anticipated: even though this group was for "wedstrijdlopers", many of them turned out to be quite slow. Very slow. So after the gun went off and I crossed the start line a minute later the going was very slow. Now this is not exceptional in large race, but here it was worse than ever before. The first three kilometers were a loop through the village of Egmond, and the first kilometer too me over 5 minutes! The second and third kilometer were somewhat faster, but still frustrating. Fortunately we now made the transition to the beach where there was much more space. The first 100 meters were quite challenging because the sand was deep, but also tricky. But closer to the water the sand firmed up, make it possible to run again. Overall the sand was not too bad, but not as nice as on Terschelling where I trained between Christmas and New Year. But the wind was tough, and because I was so far in the back I could not profit from drafting off others: people ran in wedge-shaped groups, so each time I overtook one I had a brief moment of respite before I had to face the wind again. But apart from the challenging running the scenery was absolutely fabulous: the long string of runners of the beach, the sun, people cheering us on! But after several kilometers I started looking forward to running in the shelter of the dunes... After seven kilometers of battering the wind on the beach, a final challenge: getting of the beach, first through heavy sand and the a steep incline.

But the shelter of the dunes, the wind in our backs, and the solid ground gave our feet wings! It felt so much better running back, even though the roads were tricky and hilly.

Just after exiting the beach I met up with Emile from the basisgroep (Steffi runs with that group), so we had a brief chat. But even though this was only the halfway point the remainder seemed much easier, and I managed to pick up a bit of speed compared to the earlier sections. The advantage of starting later is that I was in continuous overtaking mode, which is, after all, inspiring, even though it is even better to run in a group of runners with a similar speed.

Now that the end was approaching, there was one final challenge: the so-called "Bloedweg" (blood way) with a final hill. Again it turned out that hills in the Netherlands are not particularly challenging, even though the wind put in an effort to make it look like one. A final few turns in Egmond, and there was the finish!

My final time was 1:31:03, with which I was quite pleased given the circumstances, and the fact that I probably lost more than a minute running pedestrian pace in the first three km's. But also noteworthy is the beauty of this race: it would almost be better to run it at an easy pace and enjoy it even more!

Overdue update

2010-12-15T16:43:00.009-05:00

I haven't updated my blog for a while, but that doesn't mean that I do not run anymore. So here is an overdue update. In my last post I was a few weeks before the Berlin Marathon, so let's start with that!

Berlin Marathon (26 September)

You probably would have expected a race report earlier than now if this had been a glorious race, and you are right. We arrived a few days early in Berlin (while it was still warm and sunny), and had good fun touristing the city. Weather forecast for race day were bleak: rain. And indeed when race Sunday arrived, it was raining. I lined up for the start in the company of many people wrapped in plastic. Somehow the buzz and excitement were missing, and everyone seemed to be asking the question whether or not it would become dry today. The answer, as it turned out, was "no". The gun went of, everyone shed their plastic, and off we we

re. Even the Siegessäule, shortly after the start, looked glum, because it was all wrapped in scaffolds. Running felt all right initially, but the rain kept pouring, making every shred of clothing soaked. Moreover, the rain created large puddles of water randomly on the pavement, and a moment of inattention could get your feet soaked. Or, in my case, fogged-up glasses. The crowds that I remembered from my previous Berlin Marathon were all huddled under sparse bridges and other places of shelter. Very unfortunate, because usually the first half of the marathon is just fun, looking at the scenery, kidding with the crowds, etc. None of that today.

My goal for Berlin was to run under 3:10, which was a reasonable estimate based on my Bommenberendloop half-marathon time. For the first half I set a pace that was aimed for that goal, but half-way I felt that I would not be able to sustain that pace all the way to the end, so I took it back a notch. Maybe it was because of the heavy shoes, or perhaps because my preparation was not ideal (I had only done two 30+ km runs, one of them was the unfortunate 40km to Bakkeveen). I was able to maintain that slower pace all the way to the finish, and even had a little left at the end for a good final. Final time: 3:15:30.

At least I did run a marathon this year, despite the injuries!

4 Mijl van Groningen (10 October)

Next up was the "4 Mijl van Groningen", the biggest race in the North with 18000 participants. It was shortly after Berlin (2 weeks), so I was still in recovery, and had been a bit sick earlier that week. So I was not very well prepared, and set the slightly conservative goal of under 26 minutes. During warming-up I noticed that the energy wasn't there, but I nevertheless managed to run under 26 minutes: 25:53. Goal achieved, but still my worst 4 Mijl.

Plantsoenloop (6 November)

The Noorderplantsoen is just around the corner of our house (100 meters). The race is 4 laps of 2 km, and it is called a semi-cross: it goes over all the hills in the plantsoen, one of which is rather nasty. The weather was great (sunny and cool), but it has rained all week before, so the race became a real mud fest! It was real fun to run this close to home, and I was also competing closely with two team mates from my running group, Sybolt and Frans. We were running with the three of us for quite a while, but then I noticed in the fourth lap that I had energy left, and managed to pull away from them. Halfway through the last lap I managed to overtake another acquaintance from the past: Maarten Hoeksema, who used to be the running guru at the rowing club. I ended 3rd in my age group with a time of 33:19 and was quite pleased with that.

Cross in Norg (27 November)

The promise of Norg was that it would be even muddier than the Plantsoenloop, because this was a real cross. Veterans of the race had stories about ankle deep mud crawling over huge hills. The truth, or at least this day's truth, turned out the be different: despite the bad weather earlier in the week, it was a crisp and frosty day with good running conditions. The cross in Norg was 8.8km over four laps, one short and three long. The long laps were over the dreaded hills of Norg. However, these hills were not so fearsome as advertised, because even though they were steep, they were not very high. Nevertheless, it took some skill to take them in good stride. The main challenge was to pick up speed after the hills were, and not fall for the temptation to recover too much.

The race felt good to me, and it was nice to run in this frosty foresty environment, but I was not completely satisfied with my final time of 38:34. My plantsoenloop pace had been quite a bit better.

Nam tot Nam 10 km race in Assen

Even though 10 km is the main meat in my running group, I had in fact never run one. So, this was going to be my first attempt at the distance. The race was supposed to be two 5 km loops partially through the Asser Bos, so I was looking forward to the scenery. All the snow has thawed away the night before, so conditions were good. Alas, the organization had rerouted the route because of the conditions and couldn't revert to the original so shortly before the race, so now we were doing four 2.5 km loops in the industrial area around the NAM. Not scenic at all. And second alas: the new distance wasn't measured properly, making the race 9.7km instead of 10km. So still no 10k for me!

Dispite all these misgivings, I did run quite a good race. After the second lap, in which I ran against the wind on my own, I managed to tag on with a group that had a good pace, and managed to keep with them until the finish.

My goal had been to run the 10k under 40 minutes. I finished the 9.7k in 38:02, which means that I would have run 10k under 40 minutes. Some extrapolation yields 39:13. I wish I had actually run that time for real...

I guess that brings things up to date. Next race: "De halve van Egmond": half marathon on the beach and dunes in the beginning of January. Known for its brutal weather conditions.

Triple update: Brussels, Bommen Berend, and a too long run...

2010-09-05T16:14:00.010-04:00

It has been too long since my last update, so here is a three-in-one post.

Van Damme Memorial in Brussels

As a present for my inaugural address last March the people in my department gave Steffi and me tickets for the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, and now, on August 27, it was finally time to go! The event is part of the so-called Diamond League, a prestigious series of athletic events all through Europe, of which this is the finale. Not only was the win of the day at stake, but also the main price of the whole season. In some cases that was already decided beforehand because one athlete had already gained enough points for the win, but in other cases the race was still on.

The event in itself was amazing because it was a gigantic stadium that was completely sold out. Earlier this year, Steffi and I attended the FBK games in Hengelo, but this completely dwarfed that event. There were many interesting things to see during the event

and if I would make a full report I would be done with this post before midnight. So let me stick to some of the highlights. Blanka Vlasic was a show just by herself, in the way she played the audience. In the pictures you can even see her clothing strategy as the bar is raised.

Despite the absence of Usain Bolt, the men's 100 meters was a spectacle to behold, with Tyson Gay winning, but not by much! But longer distances were also a sight: the 800 meters with fresh world-record holder Rudisha, and a very close finish in the 5000 meter women.
Steffi and I both decided we wanted to go again next year, even though Brussels itself was only moderately entertaining (apart from the chocolates, of course).

Bommen Berend Loop

The day after Brussels it was time to perform in a race myself. The Bommen Berend Loop half-marathon was going to be the test to see whether I was fit enough for the upcoming Berlin Marathon. Apart from the odd SPR race it was my first real race since the injury period, so I was more apprehensive than in any of the earlier BBL's. Even though the whole preceding day had suggested rain was coming for the race, the sun was out at the start. A bit too much sun, making the first part of the race uncomfortably warm. My goal was to run under 1:30 hours, because that would prove I was on the right track back. To achieve this goal I started out moderately conservative, letting my fellow Groningen Atletiek runners pull away right from the start (good thing too, because all but one finished much faster than me). After a the usual frenzy after the start I settled into a pace of around 4:10-4:15 minute/km (I am gradually switching from miles to kilometers, even though I still have to get used to the new numbers). 4:15 would be the approximate pace for a 1:30 finish, so that was all on schedule. Things were going well until Haren (km 7), where the quick succession of curves disrupted my pace a bit. After Haren a stretch along the Horense Dijk and Paterwoldse meer started, and there things got a bit tougher. We were now against the wind, so I couldn't keep the pace, which gradually crept towards the 4:20's. Not good! After the winding road along the lake we reached the 9km from finish point (which was the start of a shorter run). There the wind was a bit more favorable, and I felt energy returning, allowing me to get back to a 4:15-ish pace. But still 9 km to go! Fortunately there were runners around me now running approximately the same pace, which helped keeping going. Counting down the kilometers... After 16.5 km we entered the nastiest part of the race, on a very uneven path that required full attention on were you would put your feet. Not very welcome at this stage! I felt it sucked the power out of my legs, became pessimistic about the 1:30 finish. Nevertheless, once this nasty part was over and the road became nice an level again, there was still something left in my legs that allowed me to speed up. So the last four kilometers went by in: 4:26, 4:18, 4:08 and 4:00, enough for a finish time of 1:29:42. Even though this is my worst BBL in the three years I participated, I was nevertheless content.

The long run

Three weeks from the marathon it was time for a long run of 20 miles or 32 kilometer. Because I have already explored all the loops around Groningen I had come up with another plan: I would run to Bakkeveen, where the current first year students of AI were having their introductory weekend, and then hitch a ride back with one of the staff. All in all a very nice plan, except that one thing didn't work out: I lost my way on the last leg of the run. Up until the village of Zevenhuis, 25 kilometers out, things had gone well, and I had found a nice route to Bakkeveen that would land me exactly at the place the students were staying. Once I was past Zevenhuizen, though, there were no road signs at all anymore, so I had to rely on the printout I had made of the area. Unfortunately, the map I had was not clear enough, so a took a right turn too early (at km 27). After four more km's of no road signs and guessing which road to take I finally saw an intersection with road signs. I was coming up at km 31, so I hoped that I was almost there. No such luck: the sign indeed pointed to Bakkeveen, but with the ominous number "8" behind it. So what can you do? I was still feeling quite ok (contrary to the long run two weeks ago), so I decided to just go on. I still hoped that the distance would be a little bit less than 8 kilometers, because in my original calculation I would reach my goal just before the village proper, but not such luck: I arrived in Bakkeveen after 8 kilometers, and than still had over a kilometer to go. A 40 km long run...

Endorphins do exist!

2010-08-21T10:52:00.004-04:00

Is the story about endorphins really true? After today's long run, I think it might. After returning from Portland last Monday, I had pain in my back, which felt like muscle pain you get from sitting in a bad chair for too long. However, it got worse in the days after, and I also developed a rash. The doctor concluded it was "gordelroos", which is some sort of recurrence of chickenpox. You don't become as sick as from the original disease, but it still very painful. The last couple of nights I therefore had pain while sleeping.
Now, this morning it was finally time for a proper long run (>30k), so I wasn't sure whether it was such a good idea with my blistered back. My apologies if this becomes a bit too distasteful. Steffi and nevertheless set out, and instead of becoming worse, the pain completely disappeared. Of course, by the end of the long run some other, more familiar pain started to replace it, but fortunately none of the aches that have plagued me in the last half year. So, were the endorphins suppressing the pain?

A more general update: this week was a good week of training, and I start believing in the marathon again, which is now just slightly over a month away. Next week I will run the Bommen Berend half marathon, which should be a good indicator of where I stand. But before that Steffi and i will go to Brussels to watch the diamond league. Unfortunately, Usain Bolt is injured, so will be absent, but there are plenty of other running stars to look out for.

Race report of SPR 12 km

2010-06-26T15:46:00.004-04:00

Steffi twisted my arm, so here it is: my race report of the 12 km race that was part of the "SPR sportdag". The personnel sport association of the university celebrated its 50th birthday, and organized a day of various sports, among which a 12 km run. I had entered as a nice low-profile race to test my current state. And indeed, low-profile it was. Only 12 people had signed up, among which Jacob Vos, a local champion, so no hope of winning (I admit it, I secretly thought about it). Although the announcement mentioned running a 3 km loop four times, this was apparently changed later, because we were had out a map with a 12 km loop, indeed a route I run very often, but then from home instead of the sport center. Because I know this route very well, I immediately spotted the problem: there were two bridges in the course that are open very often. Somehow I didn't have the impression that this race was big enough to keep the bridges closed...

Anyway, we did all get a bib, the chairman of the SPR fired the starting gun, the official clock started, and off we were! Jacob Vos took the lead, and I followed him for the first 500 meters, but then decided it was not a good strategy to try to keep up with him. Meanwhile, another runner caught up with me, and we ran on together. There was a fierce wind blowing, so the other runner and I took turns taking the lead. But only minutes later, about 2 km into the race we reached the first bridge, and indeed, it was open! Jacob was already waiting, and the cyclist that accompanied the race told us to stop our watches. So there we were, hanging around for the bridge, and gradually everyone else also reached it. In the end it took 7 minutes for the bridge to close! Off we were again, Jacob again in the lead, me and the other guy behind him, and the rest of the pack trailing behind. We again took turns into running in the wind, until we reached Wierumerschouw, where the trail gradually bended back towards the city, now with the wind in our back! I ran approximately my former half-marathon pace, but I couldn't really go much faster. I suppose I have to get some experience with this sort of distance, and build up more stamina too. With the wind in our back to the city, and in the last kilometers fatigue stated kicking in. I was not in an unfamiliar situation: in competition with one other runner for second place. I all former raced there were always multiple other people around, but now it was him or me. Despite the fatigue we therefore both speeded up towards the end. In last couple of hundred meters he managed to pull away from me at a point where we had to take a couple of sharp turns. He was good at that, but I was still a bit cautious because of my ankle. So he beat me by 6 seconds in the end....

Nevertheless it was a good test, and I enjoyed the nice atmosphere afterwards, where we had a good laugh about the bridge. Oh, and my time was 49 minutes something. Approximately, without the bridge break.

It has been a while....

2010-06-09T09:03:00.004-04:00

It has been a while indeed since I wrote on the Blog. After the Amsterdam Marathon, I started running with the long distance group Groningen Atletiek. A very dedicated group of runners, but also a challenge to keep up with, because all them are fast and some of them are superfast. However, I overdid it, and started running to soon after Amsterdam and too fast, resulting in injury. This injury (IT band) bugged me for weeks before I went to see a doctor. He recommended orthotics. They took another couple of weeks to be made, but when they arrived almost immediately worked out well, allowing me back to running! But, again, I wanted to much too soon, and into a new injury. Too make a long story short, I have almost recovered from all the injuries and am gradually building up running again. I have been running with the long-distance group again for a couple of weeks, and recently signed up again for a marathon: the Berlin Marathon at the end of September. Counting back 16 weeks means training started this week. I still have to decide on a precise schedule and goals, but for the time being I want to be careful to stay out of trouble.

Last weekend I had a great run on Schiermonnikoog, one of the North-Sea islands near to Groningen. If all runs are that enjoyable...

The Amsterdam Marathon

2009-10-20T15:32:00.010-04:00

Our first Dutch Marathon

When marathon week arrived again, neither Steffi nor I were ready for it. Still in the middle of the move (see previous post), we were lugging around piles of wood in the beginning of the week, and made a major effort on Wednesday to clear out the last items (mainly trash) from the apartment. Wednesday evening we were both were tired but satisfied that the move was done, and we could start making our new place habitable. But wait, we first had to run a marathon on Sunday.

We arrived on Saturday, and got a room in a techno-weird-design hotel with fluorescent tubes as shower and toilet, and a bed that spanned almost half of the room. I had only picked it because it was one of the hotels closest to the start. An interesting mix of fun an some small annoyances (Switch off the lights at night? Major tweaking with a clunky remote that kept blinking a bright light until we piled towels on top of it).

Marathon day arrived, with a start at 10:30, and only a 15 minutes walk from the hotel. Luxury! And even though there were not that many port-a-potties, the lines were not that long (does supply create demand?). The start (and finish) was in the Olympic stadium, so we both made our way into the stadium finding our respective starting corrals. After a brief wait the gun sounded and we were off! Half a lap around the track, and into the city, where a different kind of tracks were waiting for us: tram tracks, making the first miles pretty tricky with all the crowds around us (also true for the last miles when fatigue kicked in).

Warm-up loop

The first 4.5 miles is a loop that had to be done twice, and went along the Rijksmuseum and through the Vondelpark, and then back to the Olympic Stadium. Almost like a warmup before the race started in earnest. I used those initial miles to find a comfortable pace, and a picked a tall guy with "Danmark" on his back as a focus point, because he seemed to have a regular pace similar to mine. My feeling about the training up to this point was that I had about the same level of fitness as for Boston last spring, but I wasn't sure to what extend I was affected by the moving business of the last weeks. I figured the flatter course would allow me to go a bit faster still than Boston. So I aimed at the same starting pace, and assumed that without hills my second half would be a bit faster. However, I did not have the feeling of all the saved-up energy waiting to explode that I had last spring.

The Amstel River

After the initial loop, the course headed for the river Amstel. It has a bad reputation, because it can be very windy, but we were lucky with almost no wind at all. Weather was pretty good anyway: cool, no wind, just a bit too much sun but otherwise close to perfect. I know the stretch along the Amstel very well, because it also the course of the "Head of the River" rowing race that I have spectated often and rowed once my self. The marathon course goes along the river out to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, and then back along the other side. The great thing is that you can see the race leaders running along the other side of the river! When I saw them, they were still all in one pack, and looking good. Then there was a long stretch with no one, and then a second, bigger group. Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, the turning point, was also almost at the half-marathon point (which is in reality a little bit further on the way back). Nevertheless it felt good to head back to Amsterdam and know half of the race was done. By this time Mr. Denmark had left me behind: he was running a bit too fast for my comfort. As always, I wanted to stay comfortable until around mile 15. The nice thing about the way back is that you can see the trailing runners on the other side of the river, giving the feeling of this big train of people flowing along the course. Unfortunately, the river was too broad to make it easy to look for Steffi. I reached the half-way point in around 1:31.

Industrial wasteland

It seems hard for marathon organizers to avoid drab industrial areas when planning their route, and now it was Amsterdam's turn for the uninspiring stretch. After mile 16, the Amstel route was over, and we reached the "Overamstel" industrial area. Unfortunately, this is about the worst time in the race, just when you need an uplift to get you through the miles preceding the final push. New York has First Avenue, Boston has the Newton Hills, Amsterdam has boredom. The places we passed have already faded from my memory. Somewhere there was the 20 mile point, time for the final 6.

The last 10k

Fatigue was catching up with me now, and I tried a different style of running that felt more like a type of shuffle (I imagined it to look lame), but that had served me very well in the Bommen Berend Loop, where I was still quite fast in the last miles. And indeed, I managed to hold on to the pace. After mile 21 the course headed back to the more populated areas of the city, and crowd support gradually picked up. I had trouble keeping the pace, but not as much trouble as many people around me, who slowed down substantially or were even walking, or pulling on some misbehaving muscle. My own muscles were giving warning signs as well, with the occasional brief muscle cramp spiking through my calves.

Just before mile 24, the Rijksmuseum loomed, and it was time for the final push. Back into the Vondelpark again, where I passed mr. Denmark, who was now walking. I thought the Vondelpark was a small park! But then the end was there, a last stretch along the Amstelveenseweg, and there was the Olympic Stadium again. Definitely a great feature of the race, to come into the stadium, and run the last meters of the marathon on the track with thousands of people cheering you on. And then, I crossed the finish line in 3:03:36, a new personal best.

Still, I think I ran a better race last spring in Boston, where the challenge of the hills makes a slower race.

After finishing, doing "the walk", and eating something, I found a place on the grandstands to wait for Steffi. And not much later she came in in 3:50, looking very a good and having a very strong new personal best! I was very proud of her. After we had both finished, the rain clouds (see picture) moved in, so time to head back to the hotel. The poor half-marathoners who still had to start at that time were in for a more rainy race, but we were off to shower, food, and bed.

Nightly run

2009-10-02T15:13:00.004-04:00

Steffi and I are in the process of buying a house, and this experience has been very tense. The mortgage company was so slow in making decisions that nothing had been decided on closing day: a major embarrassment. Wednesday afternoon everything seemed to fall into place, and we were promised that either the same day or Thursday morning latest he approval would come. However, despite being on the phone all Thursday, no resolution was reached that day, and Steffi and were starting to get desperate. Doom scenarios in which we would loose our deposit and wouldn't have a house to live in were keeping us busy all evening and into the night. So, what has all of this to do with running?

Well, Thursday night each of use woke up in the middle of the night without being able to fall asleep again. At some point we decided to do something crazy: we got up and went for a run. Even the fact that is was raining didn't stop us, and off we were for a 3 miles in the park. Half and hour later we were back in bed, and soon sound asleep.

The next morning the good news came that the mortgage had passed, and we can finally go ahead for a delayed closing on Monday.

Bommen Berend Loop 2009

2009-09-01T17:10:00.010-04:00

I hadn't planned on running the Bommen Berend Loop half-marathon this year, because last year it was about 600 meters short. At that time, I was well on schedule for my first sub 1:30 half, but then suddenly reached the finish before my watch reached 13.1 miles. Sure, my time was great, and after extrapolating the time to the full distance it was still a sub 1:30, but it was definitely unsatisfactory.This year, however, the organization, without admitting last year's error, claimed that the course was amended and officially measured. So, I decided to give it another try, because now is a good time to test how my pace and stamina are coming along. The Bommen Berend Loop is different from most races in that it starts in the evening. All day long a fierce wind had been building up, threatening to provide a good race challenge. Indeed, when the race started a strong Western wind was blowing. The sun was still out though, and my worry in the initial miles was that it would get too hot. With the hard wind it became worthwhile look for groups that run the same pace. These groups gradually started to form on the Southward stretch to Haren, where the wind came from the side. In Haren the course turned West, so now clustering started in earnest. My pace in those early miles was pretty good, I managed to run with people that ran in the 6:30-6:40 min/mile range. In Haren some dark clouds started to gather, but this was initially quite nice because it blotted out the sun. No more fear of overheating! Once we were through Haren, we went North again, with wind from the side. But when we reached Groningen again and the course once more turned West, the wind was very fierce, now also cutting into our speed. Shortly afterwards, the clouds turned into heavy rain that in combination with the wind felt like hail. Now the time to watch the pace was over, and hanging in there was the only thing left to do. Fokie, who was watching along the course, told me afterwards that I was in the first real group, and that all the earlier people were running alone. Anyway, my glasses were all fogged up and the path became uneven, so running became quite tricky with the barely visible uneven footing. Again, considerations of pace were overboard, and the goal was to just make it through. After running on for several miles in the group, the route finally turned East for the final miles. Now our group started to break up: two went ahead of me, and the remainder stayed behind. I was glad I had run in that area multiple times before, because right now I almost couldn't see anything anymore. The route turned North again, with some decent wind shelter, and then East again for the final stretch to the finish, wind in the back. A last (tricky!) zig-zag along various trails, the 800 meter sign, the 400 meter sign, and there was the finish, with Steffi waiting for me and the clock indicating something that started with 1:27. Despite the rough weather, I had managed to improve my 1:28 from last to 1:27:07, and was 9th overall. Encouraging for the upcoming Amsterdam marathon! Fortunately, they got the distance right this time, with my Garmin indicating exactly 13.1 miles. Unfortunately they messed up my finish photo, and although that is secondary, it means no photo for the blog...

Here are the deviations from my average mile pace:

Running in the Netherlands (and Manchester)

2009-08-26T16:00:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since the last update, but Steffi and I have moved back to the Netherlands and are now training in and around Groningen. Shortly after arriving I couldn't keep up the training as well as I wanted to, because I was involved in the organization of a conference that sucked up a lot of time. But the flatness is wonderful, and the although it is a fairly hot summer for the Netherlands it is much more bearable than the hot and humid summers in Pittsburgh.

As part of the conference season, I also went for a couple of days to Manchester, England. I did what I usually do in unknown places: ask the receptionist at the hotel for some tips around running. The Manchester receptionist gave me a complete blank look: running? Why would I want to do that? Trying to help, I asked whether there was a nearby park, to which she answered no, this was the center of the city, so no parks. After a minute of mental grinding she pulled out a center map, and drew a route of a couple of blocks, at most a mile and probably less, and advised me to try that. These streets were the busiest shopping streets in Manchester!

Anyway, I am back in the training zone, and finally did a 50+ mile last week again. Now I am preparing for the Bommenberendloop, the run I did last year that turned out to be shorter than the half marathon that was advertised. This year they assure on the website that the course has been changed and measured. I am hoping for the best.

One nice thing is that Steffi and I have figured out how to do part of our long runs together: I am now at the stage where I have to do the dreaded "TLT" runs: tempo - long run - tempo, so Steffi and time it so that we meet up at the end of my first tempo segment and do the long run part together.

Hopefully another post soon: a race report of Friday's race!

Last week in Pittsburgh

2009-07-03T20:36:00.005-04:00

Now that our life in Pittsburgh is coming to a close, a new marathon cycle has started. This week, Steffi and I started training for the Amsterdam Marathon in October, a fitting choice give our new (and for me old) country. I foolishly shipped off Daniels' running formula with the rest of our stuff, so I will have to reconstruct the schedule from old training logs.

The last two Wednesdays I didn't need a training schedule, because Wayne, one of the runners of the Wednesday running group, gave us some track workouts. This was quite fun to do, especially because I typically don't run the sort of distances (200/300/400 meters) that Wayne let us do. Most marathon coaches don't incorporate those in marathon schedules, but who cares when it is fun! This week is officially the first week of training, so I did 16 miles on Sunday, a short run on Monday, the track workout on Wednesday, and 9 miles today. With a 15-ish long run in the weekend that will be a respectable first week.

I still have to build back my speed: the mile that Wayne let us do on Wednesday took me 6:29. Let's attribute that to all the 300's that we had to do before that.

Running in the Netherlands will be strange because there are no hills at all. Hill training is something you receive naturally in Pittsburgh, so I wonder whether there are any opportunities at all, or whether future hilly marathons will all be miserable. At least Amsterdam will be flat.

2009 Buffalo Marathon – Sweet Revenge and Waterguns (by Steffi)

2009-05-31T13:21:00.004-04:00

Background: I knew I could do better than my 4:18 in Pittsburgh. Yes, I'd had a cold, but mainly I had an attitude problem: Instead of embracing the misery and toughing it out, I whined and pouted. In retrospect, I can only shake my head at myself. Once the last symptoms of the cold were gone, I felt ready to redeem myself in another marathon. Niels assured me the training benefits would still be there, and I took his word for it.
We decided to run the Buffalo marathon on May 24, which is also our wedding anniversary.

I didn't ask him to run with me, but he volunteered. (Really, he did.) To summarize Niels's recent running achievements: He ran three marathons in one month. That's Boston on April 20, Pittsburgh on May 3rd, and Buffalo on May 24 – two days after his return from the Netherlands. What a machine!

Goal: Run the whole thing, don’t stare at Garmin, don't get angry at Garmin, don't get angry at mile markers, and enjoy the experience.

Special Feature: Come catch the magic at Buffalo: enjoy the fabulous pre-race pasta dinner! It is seriously the nicest and best pasta dinner I know. Grab mysteriously yummy Spaghetti & meatballs in a church community center and listen to the race director's enthusiastic speeches! Everything is oddly perfect: The meat is firm and perfectly seasoned, the pasta is al dente and there's just the right amount of it on the plate, the salad is crisp, the cookies are sweet, the soda is sparkling, and volunteers refill the little parmesan bowls. All of that – for free!

I should add that I've participated at the Buffalo Marathon three times: 2007 as spectator, 2008 as half-marathoner, and now, 2009, as marathoner. And the pasta dinner was perfect every single time. Better than the endless lines in Boston! Better than the bizarre multi-dimensional crowd-control challenge in NYC! And...this exhausts my comparisons.

Race. First half. About 800 runners did the marathon, and many more did the relays and the half marathon. It's a good-sized race, but still nicely informal: Walk from the hotel to the start, line up – no big deal.

The usual pushing and weaving at the start...I don't mind it. It's nice to take it out slowly, and before we know it we're on a slightly uphill street that will eventually lead us to the harbor area. For now, we trot upwards. The Buffalo marathon is supposedly flat. A lie, but hey, who wants to obsess over details? There are some long uphill stretches.

Also, I'm running the first mile in six minutes – according to my Garmin. Unfortunately (or fortunately), this is because the little timepiece is so scared and confused by all the skyscrapers, and desperately tries to hold on to the bounced-around satellite signal. I would guess the first mile was probably 9:15. I'm mostly ignoring the Garmin for the rest of the race. (See below.)

Overheard conversation: One old guy to another: "I should be going at 10 min/ mile pace" (huff, puff) "...but I'm figuring I'll put some money in the bank..." Let's hope the bank had a good interest rate.

We continue to take it very easy. Running feels good. It's overcast and slightly warm/ muggy. At some point (mile 6?), I manage to lose Niels at a water station and stand a bit by the wayside, watching and waving.

The first gel. Ew. Funny how you never get used to that slimy stuff. Still, it's necessary.

There's a similarity between Pittsburgh and Buffalo, in that the first half of the course, which is also the half-marathon course, is rather unattractive compared to the second. Halfers, you're missing the show! Okay, Buffalo's first half has a nice stretch along Lake Erie, but it also has some dubious stretches through a ghost town with abandoned factory halls and...I don’t even remember. Parking lots? Highway overpasses?

It starts raining...luckily, since it takes away some of the ominous thunderstorm atmosphere.

And, of course, the need for a port-a-potty comes up at around mile 10. I also find one, but when I try the door I hear dangerous slimy kraken sounds inside. I quickly escape, not interested in the details.

One sweet moment though, when we pass a church. A monk and the priest/ minister stand outside and cheer us on, offer their high fives, etc., and they're wearing robes!

As we approach downtown Buffalo, which is also the halfway point/ half-marathon finish, there are more crowds, and they're amazing. As are the volunteers. Seriously, the first half of the course might have its depressing/ bizarre moments, but the spectators are so nice. Much appreciated.

Anyway, as the halfway point looms, we have to deal with being overtaken by the halfers who smell the finish and mount their final charge. It hurts to feel like a rock in the stream. Cruel: We're approaching the finish with them, hear the music, the announcer, etc., and then...when they get to go straight on, mere seconds away from being done...we have to take a turn. Onto yet another slightly uphill street. But there are women with oranges.

As soon as I see the citrus fruits, I'm seized by greed. I grunt something like "Hmmm, nom nom oranges yum" and grab some slices. The woman holding the basket smiles indulgently, yet again convinced that running is good for your sanity, I'm sure.

A quick glance at the Garmin reveals that we pass halfway in about 2 hrs, which is fairly slow, but as a reward I still feel very good. So does Niels. At this point in the Pittsburgh marathon I hated everything. I mean it. Everything and everyone everywhere, ever. Now I'm far from it. So far, I'm liking the "running by perceived effort" approach, even though, as I tell Niels, we probably won’t break four hours (the original goal for Pittsburgh).

Second half. We continue through nice residential areas of Buffalo. Many old red brick buildings, of which I always approve. At mile 15, things start to become slightly unpleasant, but it's still possible to ignore the fatigue for longer stretches of time.

At some point, we leave the shady neighborhoods and run along a cemetery. More hills, and no shade – the sun is coming out, and sending us a nice greeting card saying "there's more where that came from." We make our way up yet another "gentle slope", and Niels shares his personal trauma. During his last Buffalo marathon (2008) he was overtaken by a guy in a pink tutu. Pink tutu man toyed with him for a while, staying about 100 m in front, but "right here," Niels says as we approach an underpass, "right here, the pink tutu man put the hammer down." His escape demoralized Niels.

There's no pink tutu man today, but sun, sun, so much sun.

Mile marker #17 - this is where I gave up in Pittsburgh. Mile marker # 17 gets the evil eye and a soft hiss.

A port-a-potty is standing on a hill, so lonely and monolithic. Time to finally take care of business. It should have been a matter of seconds; however, the roll of toilet paper is giving me trouble. There is no loose tissue. The toilet paper roll is a closed system. It's impossible to free a sheet from its perfectly smooth surface. So in the end I'm standing in an overheating, smelly brown plastic port-a-potty pawing at a roll of toilet paper. The marathon: A metaphor of the human condition.

And we run the tangents in the sun...

Mile marker # 18! Somehow it feels significant. A man opened all his car doors and is playing loud music for us, the sweaty crazy people:
She's a brick! House!
Mighty mighty, letting it all hang out.
Yeah she's a brick! House!
The lady's stacked, that's a fact, ain't holding nothing back.

Special feature II: Kids with water guns! We're leaving the cemetery / park for a while and enter an enchanted, rich, succulent neighborhood. More water, Gatorade, and oranges are offered, and then these angelic kids appear. "Water?" Out of reflex, we say, "yes!" and they give us a shower with their water guns. How perfect! And they aren't the only ones with this bright idea. Everywhere, people are standing in their front yards, ready to hose down/ gently mist the runners. Much weaving ensues as I zigzag between showers and orange baskets, feeling like a human hoover depleting the citizens of Buffalo of their citrus fruit and water resources.

Niels: "The Big Two Oh." Now things are definitely unpleasant. But Niels also points out that the only people overtaking us are relay runners, who are still fresh. So things are okay within the parameters.

Still, the legs are getting heavy. It feels as if we slow down, but post race-analysis of our mile splits reveals that we're running at approximately the same pace all the time (excepting potty adventures). The most logical explanation: Inertia. The muscles are locked in a certain pattern and won’t stop until they just...can't...go...on...anymore.

No memory of miles 21, 22, and 23. At mile marker 24, the voice makes its first appearance. It's a perfectly reasonable, cheerful voice basically telling me that we put in a great effort so far, and that it would be perfectly fine to walk the rest. Niels encountered that same voice in his Berlin marathon, so I'm prepared for it and try to ignore it. However, it is a very, very compelling voice.

And another uphill...past a church. Spectators claim that this is the last hill, and then they laugh. Are they mocking us? Or is the laughter a hallucination? More and more resources are diverted from the brain and pumped into the already heavy, heavy legs.

All the time I'm waiting for the "real wall" to hit us, or at least me – that point where you bonk so thoroughly that you have to shuffle the rest. It's not coming, but some slow attrition is definitely happening. I shudder at the thought of how I would feel right now had I run just a little faster in the beginning. I have no idea how we're doing time wise, but it feels decent.

Mile marker # 25! Wow! This is basically it! Everyone can run one more mile. Har har.

I actually had high hopes for mile 26. Niels told me it's downhill on Delaware, which is true, however, he also mentioned a breeze, which is absent. Also, we are running towards a fountain with an obelisk in the middle, and the fountain has the astounding ability to retreat from us the faster we run. It's true!

A glimpse at the Garmin, and then total failure at mental arithmetic. Can we break four hours? Maybe. I speed up a bit. Niels, ever faithful, picks up the signal and cheerfully shifts gears, setting a brisk pace. Meanwhile, I quickly discarded my "sub 4 hypothesis," because going faster feels wrong. I try to slow down, but of course Niels can't see that. In his perception, he's gallantly pacing me to a strong finish. In my own perception, he's running away from me, and I incompetently try to keep up with him. I'm now convinced that my legs will give out, and that I'll throw up and fall flat on my face into a puddle of my own vomit.

As we are poised to breach the four-hour barrier of the marathon (or not), my thoughts obviously shift to my current favorite book, "The Perfect Mile," which details how Roger Bannister first broke four minutes for the distance. Among other things (such as, oh, actual speed), he had, apparently, the courage to "run into extinction." Surely I could exhibit the same courage as we approach our own sort-of-similar barrier (well, it has the number four in it, right)?

Nah. Not today. I so wish I could tell Niels to slow down, but I lost my voice. So he keeps doing the heroic strong finish, and I hobble after him. Mercifully, he eventually notices my lack of a finishing sprint and slows down so we can finish together. Now the obelisk is ahead of us. His mood is splendid. "Now we only have to take the roundabout, and then the last stretch..."

I hiss back: "Shut up." Of course, he knows what it's like and takes it in good cheer.

Someone at the roundabout (mile marker # 26) says: You did the 26 miles. Now it's only the final .2!" Somehow, this cheers me up. Whatever happens now, it won’t take long.

The finishing straight. Loud music: "You ain't seen nothing yet." True! And there's again the horrifying perspective of falling flat on my face in front of all these people. The finish, as always, is further away than it should be! But when we do cross the finish line, it feels great! And there are more oranges!

Final time: 4 hours and 3 seconds – sweet! First half 9:04 min/ mile average pace, second half 9:01 minute/ mile average pace, and mile 26 was the fastest, despite my unwillingness to run into extinction!

How to spend your fifth anniversary...

2009-05-31T12:02:00.013-04:00

On the day that Steffi and I were married five years, I found myself running another marathon. Is my marriage in jeopardy? You can see the standard story: "What, you are running another race at our anniversary? What is more important to you, running or me?". But this is not the standard story.
As you can read in this report, Steffi and I ran the Pittsburgh marathon three weeks earlier. It was her first marathon, she had trained very hard for it, and although she finished, she was not happy about it. During the week after the race we tried to come up with reasons why (including me darting around her with a camera a snapping pictures of her, thereby breaking her concentration), but the reason that made most sense to me was that she was recovering from a cold, and that the cough she still had prevented proper oxygen uptake. If she would have been experienced with the distance, she would have slowed down right at the beginning, but instead she stuck to a pace that normally would have worked for her, but not on this day. The days after the race she recovered so quickly that I was convinced that the cold had held her back, and not lack of training or stamina.
So, Steffi came up with the idea to pull a "Kara Goucher", and run another marathon within a couple of weeks. Kara Goucher wanted to run the London marathon a week after her third place finish in Boston (with which she was unhappy), which she called "a 20 mile training run followed by a 10k race". That idea floated around for a couple of days before it was vetoed by Salazar, her coach.
To make a long story short, and not having Salazar around, this is how I found myself at the starting line of the Buffalo marathon at our fifth anniversary, a race that I had run last year thinking it would definitely the last time I would find myself in Buffalo.

Now, running Buffalo with Steffi would be a gamble. If she would avenge herself for her performance in Pittsburgh, and run a good race, all would be well, and the spring season would have a satisfactory conclusion. But consider the alternative: another race where the majority of the distance is pain and wishing it would be over might crush Steffi's marathon aspirations, and by extension her joy in running in general and motivation to work on the book about running she is writing. Picture the situation in half a year where running is associated with pain, displeasure and failure, and I have to defend myself for going out for a lengthy long run... Yes, maybe the results of this day were a crucial test.

The Start and first Half

Strategy for the first half: go slow. Run easy. Don't look at the time. Fortunately the race cooperated with that in two ways. First, we lined up in the middle of the pack, which turned out the be very slow. That ensured that there was no way we could run too fast in the first five miles or so. Second, the high-rise buildings in downtown Buffalo messed up everyone's Garmins (one could hear the cursing all around us), making an accurate assessment of speed impossible. The course of the first half of the race was changed compared to last year because some bridge was blocked. One advantage was that there were fewer out-and-back-again stretches in the first half, but one section of "industrial tristesse" as Steffi calls it was just replaced by a different section of industrial tristesse. In one sense Buffalo is similar to Pittsburgh: the first half goes through industrial wasteland while the second goes through nice neighborhoods. Poor half-marathoners!

Despite the uninspiring landscape (with the exception of the stretch along the water and the rounding of the ugliest lighthouse in the world), the first half went pretty smoothly, the weather was still nice and cool, and Steffi still felt pretty good approaching the half-way point. At least the first half was going better than Pittsburgh. Around us the half-marathoners were preparing themselves for their final stretch, either by picking up speed or collapsing all together, but just before their finish we had to take a right turn, and suddenly we found ourselves with just a hand-full of others around us (there were about 900 marathoners, but 2300 half-marathoners).

The second half

I don't think they even had a 13.1 mile marker, but if they had, I must have missed it. I did notice that it was around 2 hours into the race that we passed the approximate half-way point, so we were doing quite well. Of course, this meant nothing, because we also came through in 2 hours in Pittsburgh. What was more important was that Steffi was still feeling good at this point. After the half-way point the dark downtown street opened up into a very nice residential street with bright houses. Although there was not much crowd support, the people that were there gave us orange slices (very nice), and later on sprayed us with garden hoses (even nicer!).

Although earlier on it has been cool, clouded, and rainy, now the sun came out to challenge us. We now had to drink at every aid station (sometimes two cups), and were looking for any shadow on the course we could get. Nevertheless, we made steady progress, and when we reached mile 17, Steffi visibly brightened up and said that she was now ready for the rest (Mile 17 in Pittsburgh was where we could have taken a right turn into our street). Because we were running a pretty even pace we overtook many people, which is always mildly motivating to keep going at that pace. Still, the going was tough with the sun beating down on us, and the occasional hill looked steeper than it was (I recognized the one where the Pink Tutu man had struck a fatal blow to me last year). Between mile 22 and 23 I started to feel pretty beaten myself, and Steffi declared that she was hitting the wall. Fortunately, it must have been a cotton-ball wall, because she didn't slow down, but kept going at the same pace. Finally, the course turned onto Delaware street, and the obelisk that marked the 26th mile was visible in the distance. Although we were picking up the pace now (Delaware has a gently downwards slope), the obelisk didn't want to become bigger! Eventually it did, though, so we rounded it, ran the last couple of corners, and there was the finish!

We came in with a finishing time of 4:00:03, a considerable improvement of two weeks ago, and more importantly, we had run the whole distance without walking. I think our marriage is safe for at least another five years.

Pittsburgh Marathon race report (by Steffi)

2009-05-03T19:08:00.024-04:00

Pittsburgh Marathon is a great race, even though my own experience was kind of a bummer -- Steffi's marathon race report!

Don't worry – I'm only going to hog Niels's blog space for one entry; he'll be back for more amazing conquests. The Pittsburgh marathon was my first, and Niels proposed to pace me (two weeks after Boston). So I thought I'd be the one to write the race report this time.

Well, to get the unpleasantness out of the way: I felt crappy starting at ca. mile 5, wanted to drop out at mile 17 (the point when the marathon course ventures ever so close to our house...), and in the end had to alternate running and walking to be able to finish at all. My training and previous races had let me to believe I could easily beat four hours; in the end I finished in 4:18. I still had a lingering cold – maybe that was it. It was just a bad race, period.

In the end, though, I'm glad I didn’t drop out, because the Pittsburgh marathon is a great race, especially in the second half! I would have missed out on the amazing spectators and bands, the orange slices, the music along the course, a tour of Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and the overall extremely generous and uplifting crowd support. There were cheerleaders along the course, children, musicians (not just the "official" bands, but people who apparently felt the need to bring out their yellow plastic trumpets and guitars to cheer us on), and so much more. Truly, when people raved about the great crowds at Pittsburgh, I had no idea. The marathon has been on hiatus for a while, and this year is back for the first time – I'm sure it will stay around! And, of course, I would have missed out on the opportunity of running a race with Niels, even though it was, at times, closer to creeping a "race" with Niels. But he was there for me during a potentially nasty experience, and not only that, he had enough energy to skip back and forth and make great photos of the experience. (Crazy man.) What a day. So, while the following might be a tale of misery at times, I hope it also conveys some of the excitement and the fun of running the "City of Bridges." I can only recommend this race!

Well, if you can get through the relatively lame first part. Heh.

It's also worth noting that Niels and I were grateful to be able to run the marathon at all. A couple of days ago, we found out, via the Runner's World website, that Elizabeth DiNunzio, a young woman who was also training for Pittsburgh, had been struck by a car and died while running her last training run. She had just turned 22. Pittsburgh would have been her first marathon. I know I thought about her a lot during the race, and I'm sure Niels did, too. We saw many people running in her memory – more on that below.

Here are the details:

Start:

Not feeling too bad. After a moment of silence, a young woman gives a beautiful rendition of "God Bless America." Officially, this is to honor fallen heroes of the city of Pittsburgh, but I have to think of Elizabeth DiNunzio (see above), maybe because of the woman's young, angelic voice.

After that: vile techno trash. Everyone is excited. Bill Rodgers has a few words to say, and we're off.

The first miles: Strip District

No one in the neighborhood is awake yet. I'm not feeling great at all. Dave Sobal, a running friend, manages to spot us and shoot a flattering photo. Niels is running ahead with his infuriatingly effortless Boston speed and takes more photos. We pass Penn Mac and "the Kettlecorn place" (no idea what it's called, but their Kettlecorn is yummy...).

Miles 4 – 8. North Side.

I have to admit: I'm not feeling it. Fairly boring neighborhood. Someone close to me exclaims: "Wow, check out that concrete mixer!" This to give you an idea of the thrilling industrial tristesse.

And just when the grey, humid, oppressive start to the race gets really obnoxious, the course turns around tightly, and the turnaround point is packed with people carrying signs like "You Inspire Us."

Wow. It strikes me as so generous of them, to stay out there and make signs, pom-poms, etc. just to encourage us. THANK YOU!

I feel guilty about being the seething pit of bitterness that I am, but I feel really bad already.

Miles 9 - 12. Carson Street, Birmingham Bridge

A glimpse at the Garmin (GPS-powered pace-keeping watch thingie). Crap. Considering how slow we're going (slightly faster than 9 min/ miles, normally not a problem) I shouldn't feel so exhausted. Also, more industrial tristesse. Sweat.

I think it is at this point that we encounter one of the pace leaders for the half-marathon who seems to have misjudged her daily dose of Prozac/ Ecstasy/ Meth/ Crack/ all of the above. Here a brief excerpt from her never-ending stream of "encouraging" cheers: "Wow! Oh yeah! So, now we're at mile such-and-so , so it's time to take your goooooo, your jellybellys, or whatever it is you do nutritionally, and remember to stay hydrated, folks and WEEEEEEEE!!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!! Are you feeling great ?! We all live in a yellow submarine (woot woot), yellow submarine, yellow submarine....you are my sunshine, my only sunshine...."

Niels and I look at each other and decide to put in a surge.

The Birmingham Bridge is unnecessarily high, I find. A veritable hill in itself! Feeling really bad now, and we're not even half way. Girls cheer us on: "Own the bridge!" I feel bad about my inability to comply.

This is really odd. I would have expected to feel like this by mile 21, but not mile 12.

Oakland – The Hill, Forbes, Craig St.

Enter the only major hill on the course: The ascent into Oakland via Forbes Ave. Unpleasant, but normally not a problem. Normally. It bothers me that the end of the hill doesn’t feel good at all, I'm just getting more and more tired. When Niels asks a question and I try to answer, I'm really short of breath and my voice sounds weird, which leads me to believe it's the cold after all. My legs are just tree trunks filled with lactate. Really odd. We're still on pace, but this should feel easy, and it doesn’t.

On the upside, this is where the course becomes really exciting. People are out in droves and welcome us to Oakland. I think they're playing Dancehall, and they put up a "Welcome to Oakland" sign, which is very cool. We pass Pitt and CMU. Of course, this is a neighborhood we know very well, and it feels good to be on familiar ground.

Shadyside: Walnut St., Fifth Ave (Miles 14, 15)

Sane people go shopping here. I longingly look at J. Crew, Banana Republic, various cafés. What was the point of marathoning again?

And why did I never notice that this entire stretch is uphill? Or am I hallucinating?

This is one of the most charming parts of Pittsburgh, and people again are out en masse to offer their support.

Miles 16, 17: Point Breeze, Penn Ave.

This is "our" neighborhood. In fact, our street is a side street of Penn. In a short time, we will pass it. I will be able to take a right instead of going straight on, walk down a few blocks, and be home. In bed.

In fact, I have been fantasizing about this since the Birmingham Bridge: I'd tear off my number and stomp off the course. After all, this is pointless. There's no way I can stay on goal pace for 26.2 miles, because I'm already hurting, and it seems we're already veering off pace.

For the last couple of miles, my thoughts were very negative. And very eloquent. "I hate this. This sucks. This is pointless. I hate this. I feel bad..." etc. These negative thoughts don't make me particularly proud. In movies, people usually find some touching memories or words of wisdom to draw strength from, but I'm just annoyed.

We pass Penn & Linden, where we're expecting Dawn Garand and her daughter Kristi (also running friends) to cheer for us. I don’t look, though, because, and this is sort of sad, I really don't feel as if I could muster a smile, and I don't want to give them the evil eye, which has nothing to do with them, anyway.

Once we're (supposedly) out of their sight, I tell Niels I want to drop out.

He doesn't know what to say, since he doesn’t know how serious my problems are. I'm not sure myself. It could just be a temper tantrum.

We agree that I would be really disappointed if I dropped out now.

I also think back on a card I got from Lyn Krynski, where she said: "It might be raining, it might be humid, but what the hell, have a spectacular race day tomorrow!" So I thought, what the hell, it might not be my dream race, but let's finish.

Niels and I agreed to walk a bit, then run a mile, walk a bit, run a mile, etc. to the finish. It's a great relief.

At the corner to our street, volunteers are handing out spatulas with Vaseline. One of our neighbors is among them. I wonder what she thinks about runners now.

Homewood/ East Liberty

Music. Lots of music. At one corner, people played steel drums along with a James Brown recording. Someone (I didn't see whether it was "live" or on the record) played the "Ride of the Valkyrie" on the trumpet. (This was at a place called "Food, Glorious Food.") A young boy looked at me, stared intensely, and claimed, "You're doing excellently." Elsewhere are high school cheerleaders and bands, or just people sitting on their front steps or porches to tell us things like, "You go, big man," or even "You're part of history."

Alternating running and walking feels a bit embarrassing at first, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed any of the details mentioned above without walking! We're making slow and steady progress.

We're also meeting the first runner running in honor of Elizabeth DiNunzio, the student who was hit by a car and died while training for the marathon. It's great to see her name on the course. The news quickly spread through the online running community, and many people today are running for Elizabeth.

Highland Park (Miles 20, 21, 22)

Thing calm down a bit, but it's a beautiful neighborhood as well. This is the place where "normal" runners hit the wall. I don’t notice anything out of the ordinary, having hit the wall at mile eight or so.

Bloomfield (Miles 22, 23, 24)

Hands down the highlight of the course.

Moment of utter bliss when we run down Liberty Ave. and hear a band do an insane version of "Long Train Running". A couple of old guys, and one of them really has a thing for his, erm, organ. Incredible. Also, there are still plenty of people in front and behind of us, so despite the run/walking we're still part of the race. A couple steps further and we're listening to another song, a Tom Petty cover, and after yet a couple more steps there's "Come on Eileen," and, unexpectedly, "New York, New York" ("Show them how we do it in Pittsburgh!"). People sit outside in the cafés or promenade along the course carrying trays with orange and apple slices or water cups – this in addition to the official water stations. We feel so loved!

We're also meeting "Team Liz," in red shirts, also running for Elizabeth DiNunzio. They have photos of her pinned to their shirts, as well as a brief explanation of her story. They look very young, perhaps they are classmates?

We're also leapfrogging a woman identifying herself as "Marianne, mother of six." She looks super fit. My guess: Ultrarunner. She's not very fast; we keep catching her every time we run, but she doesn't stop, she's just motoring forward. There's no doubt in my mind as to who's the better runner today.

The final stretch: Strip District once more

This is when people start shouting, "You're almost there!" It feels incredible. By mile 17, I had serious doubts whether I would be able to finish. Now we're almost done. And we're not *that* slow. Sure, slow compared to my initial goal time, but by no means catastrophically slow. No tears on the course, no injuries – instead lots of great music and friendly people. It's all good.

Close to the finish, we meet Wayne, who does a lot of sprinting. Does he think we're crazy? He has a certain twinkle in his eyes. Also, he sees us walking, and he can probably guess that this isn't Niels's fault. Still, we get the thumbs up from him (thanks!), and then it's the final mile to the finish, which is close to the start, next to the Allegheny River. The crowds are going crazy and keep telling us the finish is "just around the corner," and at some point, they're right. Niels and I cross the finish line hand in hand. And I just can't believe it's done!

Boston Marathon 2009 Race Report

2009-04-21T21:05:00.035-04:00

Finally the big day was there: the "113nd Running of the Boston Marathon". Steffi and I had arrived the day before, and spend the day watching the invitational one mile, visiting the expo, and having pasta dinner in a restaurant near to the hotel (instead of the official pasta dinner). The weather forecast was looking good, with the exception of a strong Eastern wind that was going to pick up as the morning would progress.

In the early Monday morning, that wind was fortunately not very noticeable yet, but instead it was very foggy. Fog = no wind, so I had no complaints. A short subway ride (whose only other passengers also carried the characteristic yellow bags) brought me to the Boston Commons, where a long line of school busses was waiting to take us to Hopkinton, the start of the race. In the bus I sat next to a runner who is a teacher in the Coos Bay area in Oregon, the birth place of Steve Prefontaine. He told me that he has children in school whose fathers had run in highschool with Pre, and that running was still a big thing in the area.

Athletes Village

The bus ride went quite smoothly, and I therefore arrived three hours before the start of the race in "Athletes Village". I had a couple of things to do there: visit the Port-a-Potties, eat and drink something, and meet up with the fellow members of the West Pennsylvania Track Club, because I was a member of their Masters team. Food and drink was distributed everywhere, but for one station there was a very long line: the coffee.

Apparently recent news on the effectiveness of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug had reached many people.

Meeting up with the West Penn people turned out to be harder. We were supposed to meet at 8 am near the medical tent, but it turned out there were two medical tents. Moreover, I had only met one of the team before, and he wasn't there. In the end I did manage to meet up with Jim and Karl, and we made a photo in front of the "Welcome to Hopkinton" sign, which was dragged into Athletes Village for the occasion.

And then it was high time to move to the start, because while we were busy making the photos the announcers had been telling us for quite a while to get going. In the end I arrived in my corral only minutes before the start. I had hoped that the lower corral (5 instead of last year's 8) would allow me a view of the start, but unfortunately it was still hidden behind the hill. Anyway, one advantage of arriving late is not having to wait very long for

The Start

This was the first time I ran a marathon for the second time, so I finally had the advantage of knowing what would be ahead of me. The challenge of Boston is overcoming the particulars of the course. The first miles are roughly downhill, then there is a long stretch that is more or less level with rolling hills. By mile 15 there is a final plunge down, followed by four hills between mile 16 and 21. Then it is downhill and level to the finish in Boston.

My plan was to run as conservatively in the first part of the race, leaving as much energy as possible for the take on the hills, and then have enough left for the final 5 miles. Last year I just made it through the hills, but then ran out of steam on the final stretch. My goal pace for this race was 7:05 minutes/mile, and I was going to stick to that, and only run faster on the downhills. In previous marathons I had always initially run faster than goal pace, but then regretting it and ending up with so-called "positive splits": running the second half slower than the first. In my first marathon in Berlin I ran a 3:30 minute positive split, in Boston last year a positive split of 4:15, and in New York a positive split of 2:05 minutes.

The first miles

Running conservatively is almost a given in the first miles, because everyone is packed close together, and overtaking only takes up energy without giving much of a benefit. I treated the first mile as a warmup, because even though this is the most downhill mile of the course, I took me 7:28 minutes to run it. In the end this turned out to have been my slowest mile of the whole race. Although it took several more miles to be able to run my own pace at will, I was running with people with more or less the same pace as me, so once things spread out a bit, I had a couple of miles right on target: mile 2 in 6:55, mile 3 in 6:53, mile 4 in 6:53, and mile 5 in 7:02. This was all reasonably on schedule, because mile 2-4 were all net downhill, but mile 5 featured the first uphill. Although we were sent off by an enthusiastic Hopkinton crowd, the first part was rather quiet until we reached Ashland. The locals in Ashland were out in full force, with children offering water and oranges.

Train support!

The first part of a marathon is always so deceptive, because it just feels easy, and there is no real way of knowing how much you can coast along, and when to push a little for speed. Only the watch can tell you to what extend your real pace matches the goal pace, but even then factoring in the hills is not very easy. Anyway, it was time to enter Framingham, another charming Massachusetts village, and coming through we were very very slowly overtaken by a train that was riding parallel to the road. It was only a little bit faster than us runners, and it honked encouragingly. The weather at this point was fairly good: the temperature around 10 degrees and a milky sun. The only thing that was less optimal was a steady headwind (that would grow stronger as the race progressed).

Fortunately, with so many runners there is almost always someone to draft off, so all in all I was not hindered very much by the winds. I think at some point on this stretch I passed Team Hoyt, the father with his son in a wheelchair who are a well-known fixture of the race. After mile 5 the course pretty much leveled off, meaning that there were as many uphill as downhill parts. For the next seven miles I kept a steady pace with mile times of 6:56/7:03/7:01/7:01/7:04/7:05/7:02.

Wellesley

By now it was time for the scream tunnel, with the girls from Wellesley College screaming their lungs out and like sirens enticing men to stop and kiss them. Although... not just men, two girls had a big sign saying "We kiss lesbians". By this time I was starting to feel a bit nervous about my pacing strategy, because all the hard running was still to come and my relative conservative pacing left me no "money in the bank". The road now brought us into Wellesley proper, and the half-marathon point. After a mile of 7:08 (there was a slight uphill after the scream tunnel), I reached the 13.1 mile point in 1:32:14.

Although the race was half done distance wise, I still had no good clue where things were really going. The running was going well, the pace seemed ok, but what would the hills be like?

The Newton Hills

Two and a half miles after Wellesley the road took a deep plunge down to Newton Lower Falls. This downhill was so steep that is was almost uncomfortable to run. Immediately afterwards, at the 16 mile marker, the first unofficial Newton Hill (but according to some the worst of them all, although I don't agree) started. Now the challenge was really on. Strangely enough, I felt exhilaration climbing this first hill. I finally felt I could unleash myself with no reason to hold back, and it felt good to test my strength against arguably the longest but less steepest of the hills. I ran the miles before the hill in 7:00/7:03/6:58, and then the mile with the first hill in 7:07. In mile 18 we made the turn at the Newton fire station, right onto the second Newton Hill. Because this one was steeper, I had to delve a bit deeper in my reserves, but managed to keep the pace still feeling strong. My pace slowed slightly to 7:12, but I was

happy enough with that. Mile 19 was a mile without hill, so I picked up the pace to 7:01. Then in mile 20, the third hill loomed, short but steep, which did slow me down a little bit, but I still ran the mile comfortably in 7:14. There now was the 20 mile marker that is pictured in every Boston book or leaflet, signaling the final challenge: Heartbreak Hill. With people left and right of me walking, I pushed for the final bit of pace, and made it up, on step at a time. Time for mile 21: 7:14 minutes. I had survived the hills!

The final stretch

Last year I had also survived the hills reasonably well, but had run out of energy in the last miles. The challenge was not over yet, far from it! The backside of Heartbreak Hill gave a half mile downhill breather, but then it was back to business. Mile 22 in 6:58, good pace, but of course assisted by the downhill. Could I keep it up with the course flattening out? Then the strangest thing happened: my right leg suddenly started to limp, for no apparently reason at all! I didn't feel anything strange, my leg just didn't do anymore what it was supposed to do. The only thing I could think of was to give it a good shake. That seemed to help a bit, but unfortunately it was not the end of it, because briefly afterwards a cramp shot through my right calf. It subsided after a few seconds, but it did give be a scare, because I had already seen people at the side of the road pulling at their unwilling limbs. I didn't want to join them! Apart from this, the running actually went pretty well: I seriously started overtaking people now, including someone dressed up as

Captain America in a very warm suit. Fatigue was kicking in, and the scare of my misbehaving right leg, but mile 23 went by in 7:05, exactly goal pace. We now reached Cleveland Circle and turned into

Beacon street, and assisted by a very gradual downhill slope I ran mile 24 in 6:57. I would have felt very good about that time if it were not for the misbehaviors of my leg increasing in frequency. I had another limp that I again got under control with some leg shaking, and a few brief stabs of cramp in the calf. Now the end was really in sight: the Citgo sign at the 25.2 mile point was clearly visible. Just this long boring road along the train tracks. I plodded through it in 7:10, and there the Citgo sign loomed over the street, a slight uphill along Kenmore Square back in to Commonwealth, a last underpass, around the corner on Hereford Street, and there was the last stretch on Boylston Street with the finishing arches in sight. The last stretch! And only 200 meters before the finish my leg started limping again, no, not now, one more shake, and then it fortunately worked again to allow me to finish in style. Last 1.2 miles in 8:45, or a 7:08 pace.

My final time: 3:05:23, a new PR, and as fast as I could have hoped for. And... a positive split of only 55 seconds. I finally managed to run almost even splits!

After the finish

Drinking, drinking, eating, the silver cape, and being very very cold because of the wind, collecting the medal, and the long walk to the luggage bus. I was very satisfied, but also very tired and cold. And, as I discovered later, very salty in my face, and therefore every medical person asked me whether I was ok. I met up with Steffi (after wrapping myself in every piece of clothing in my luggage bag), and we watched more people finishing, which was very nice.

We saw the pink tutu man, and a group with Bill Rogers in it.
I think Steffi saw him, but I didn't. I thought about waiting for Steve Runner, but I got too cold, so we decided to go back to the hotel, where we watched the elites race on the laptop. The end of a perfect day!

A few more days before Boston

2009-04-17T22:11:00.003-04:00

In two days Steffi and I will leave for Boston, leaving Sunday morning very early. Tomorrow I will run my last training run of just a couple of miles, while Steffi will still do a 15 mile long run, her first taper week before the Pittsburgh Marathon.

I just found the blog of running friend Dan. He also runs on Wednesday nights at CMU, except that he is currently stationed in Iraq. I am quite amazed how he manages to keep up running under quite adverse conditions. I wish him good luck with his training for the shadow LA half-marathon (check out his blog if you want to know what that is).

End of taper: always the crazy quiet before the storm. Now we just have to hope the weather will hold out: the forecast has been switching back and forth between showers and no showers. The temperature is supposed to be fine: somewhere in between 8 and 12 degrees. A prediction of a headwind though, but that was predicted for last year as well, but never happened. Current state: 10 degrees and cloudy, 24 km/hour Eastern wind. Sounds ok to me, apart from the wind. Better tuck in behind other runners, shouldn't be a problem...

Middle of Taper

2009-04-10T21:38:00.005-04:00

Some people suffer from so-called taper madness, getting all itchy in the final three weeks before the marathon when the training intensity is winding down. Personally, I love it! With the reduced running volume every workout feels great. It feels well deserved after the last intense week of training that ended with the Just a short run 5k (see photo and report below) on Saturday, followed by 21.5 miles long on Sunday. Those 21.5 miles were very very long...

Boston is now just ten days away, last Wednesday was the last track workout, tomorrow the last long run, into the last week. I can't wait!

Just a short run 5k 2009

2009-03-28T17:56:00.018-04:00

Just like a year ago, Steffi and I ran "Just a short run" in North Park in Pittsburgh. With Boston only three weeks away, I opted again for the 5k, but Steffi ran the half marathon, because her marathon is still five weeks away. The weather had varied between cold and rainy the last week, so that didn't bode well for this race. Last Wednesday Steffi and I had gone for a run in the rain, discovered we were very underdressed, had a miserable run and arrived back completely frozen (at least we could still joke about frostbite in reference to the Discovery channel documentary on climbing Everest).

But the weather gods decided to favor this race: after rain last night, and more rain this night and tomorrow, the morning turned out crisp, clear, and with a perfect running temperature. Meaning, of course, that after Wednesday's experience both Steffi and I were overdressed.

Probably because of the upcoming Pittsburgh marathon the race had attracted a record number of participants, and the organization almost closed registration before race day.

My last 5k was the Brentwood firecracker last July, which didn't go too well because I was out of training. Now I felt it was time to sharpen my PR. Steffi has similar plans for her half, because she had already ran under two hours in training, well under what she ran in a very rainy West Virginia last January.

The organization was superb today: they even had pace teams for the half marathon. Bib and chip pickup went smoothly despite the record number of people. Last minute port-a-potty hustle, a quick warming up, and it was time to line up. There was one hand-biker, who was started first, and a couple of minutes later it was our turn. The gun fired, and off we were!

Although I am used to hilly 5k's, this one is particularly evil, because it is one big hill in the first mile, followed by a steep downhill, and then more or less flat to the finish. I remembered that I ran last year's first mile in 6:30, so I wanted to at least improve on that. The first half mile was flat, so I let myself be pulled in by the fast starters, maybe a bit too fast, but I quickly settled on a pace of around 6:00 and let the hares go off for the time being. The people who started together with me, by the way, were a mix of 5k-ers and half marathoners, so I had no clear idea about my direct competition. Soon I found myself in a small group of three, and then the hill started. Normally, my mental picture of a 5k is that the first mile is relatively easy because of the adrenaline of the start, and the still fresh legs. During the second mile it gradually starts becoming really tough, but then in the third mile the end is in sight, and that is enough to pull you through. Now, with the nasty hill, the pain already started after half a mile, and taking such a hill "even effort" is no option in a 5k, because that costs way too much time.

When our little group of three reached the top of the hill (we overtook the poor hand-biker halfway up), I already felt quite exhausted, but fortunately we now had some downhill to recover. Shortly into the downhill mile 1 was over, in 6:28. That was not fast enough! (In fact, it was fast enough, because a year ago it took me 6:35 and not 6:30, so I was 7 seconds faster) The downhill was too steep for comfort, though, and soon the road evened out again, leaving it up to the legs to generate speed. My two fellow runners also had a harder time, but we settled into a 6:05-ish pace, which was all I could manage for the time being. At this point I had the feeling I was not doing well enough, and I had to think how nice it would be to just walk or take it easy. Nevertheless, helped by part of the downhill, I managed to run the second mile in 5:58. Now it was just one more mile to go, and a bit. In the third mile our little group started to break up: one of them fell back, while the other pulled ahead. I approached the start line, but this was still half a mile away from the finish. I just had to hold on for just a bit longer. And then I saw the finish in the distance, with the big clock ticking 18:48. Could I still break 19 minutes? I couldn't believe it because I didn't think I was doing so well. I put in the final kick, and saw the last second ticking away, but just before the clock hit 19:00, I squeezed into the finish. Official time: 18:57! I had run mile 3 in 6:01 minutes, and the final 0.1 mile at a pace of 5:33.

Despite this nice success, I think I am not a fan of 5k's. With half marathons and marathons you have at least some good fun and a feeling of good running for the majority of the race, with some teeth-gritting in the end, but the only saving grace of a 5k is that it is over so soon.

Now I had time to see how Steffi was doing. She passed through at around 27 minutes along with the 1:50 pace group. She was running really well, but I hoped she would not get too carried away by this pace group. After the first 5k she had to do two more 5 mile loops. About forty minutes later, the 1:50 pace group came by without Steffi, but she was only two minutes behind, and still smiling, so I was reassured that she was doing well.

And indeed, another 45 minutes later Steffi finished, still less than two minutes behind the 1:50 pacer (who crossed the line at exactly 1:50, nice work!) Her final time was 1:51:22, which was about 15 minutes faster than the Run to read. I think she is ready for the marathon now... 1:51:22 put her in 198th place out of 569 (I don't think she ever has to be afraid again of being last), and 11th in her age group (out of 49).

My own time was good for 3rd place overall, and 1st "Master" (runners over 40).

We met many of our running friends, Steve (recovering from knee surgery), Eric and Kevin, who ran together and had a little sprint to the finish (which Eric won if we can believe the results), Running Jim, who managed to just break 1:30, Amanda, Dawn and Kristi, all cheering us on!

Spring Thaw Race 2009

2009-02-28T20:37:00.019-05:00

Today was the Spring Thaw Race, a 10/15/20 mile race that I also ran a year ago. In 2008 it had been very snowy, and especially the last loop before the finish was very icy. This year there was no snow, because two warm days in the middle of the week had melted it away. But now it was frosty again, just below freezing. Steffi and I were both running the 20 mile race: for Steffi it was her very first 20 miler, and right away as a race!

The basics of this race are very simple: it consists of a 5 mile loop around the lake in North Park in Pittsburgh, which has to be run 2, 3 or 4 times, depending on the desired distance. The main awards are given out on the basis of the 10 mile section, but completing 15 miles is rewarded with a set of gloves, and 20 miles with a nice hat with an embroidered melting snowman.

The course around the lake consists of rolling hills, never really long or steep, but definitely harder than a flat course.

After a rather chaotic start, where people were more or less hanging around at the parking lot around the start/finish, while the race director blew the starting horn, we were all off! Everyone squeezed into the road for the first loop, but fortunately there was little traffic jamming (at least not where I was). Steffi wisely kept a little more to the back. My goal for the first lap was not to go too fast, not easy if many of the people around only run 10 mile, with a pace that corresponds to that distance. Based on my my race last year I should be aiming for miles of around 7:00-7:05 minutes (according to the McMillan calculator). Maybe a little bit faster given that training had gone very well recently. The first mile started with a flat stretch, and was followed by some rolling hills, with a nice view of the lake that was still covered with ice. I ran it in 7 minutes straight, so that was exactly as planned. Now that the first mile was out of the way I started warming up a bit, and waved at the volunteers who were handing out water and sports drink at the 1 mile marker. A little bit too early yet to start drinking. In mile 2 and 3 the rolling hills

continued, with the three mile marker almost at the end of the lake (see picture). I ran mile 2 in 6:48, and mile 3 in 6:55. Now it was back along the South and East side of the lake, with unfortunately some more traffic, so it was no longer possible to "run the tangents". The first loop was pretty competitive, with runners inching past each other, sometimes only to be overtaken later on. I changed places with a number of people multiple times, and this continued on into the second loop. For the remainder of the first loop I continued the 6:55 pace. I still felt pretty good after the first five miles, but with 3/4 of the race still to come this was a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite for success.

The weird thing about the second loop was that it only led up to the half-way point, but that the final classification would be based on the 10 mile time. Last year, I sped up towards the end of the second loop, and I couldn't resist this time either. Mile times for loop 2: 6:59/6:51/6:49/6:46/6:37. My official half-way time: 1:09:04.

At the start of loop 3 I was gasping for air, and suddenly completely alone. Apparently my direct competitors were all 10 milers, so now I had to motivate myself to keep going. So, I dug up the old iPod for some musical support. I allowed myself the first mile to recover a bit from the final loop 2 effort, it was still a decent 7:01 though. After one or two miles of being completely alone, I started picking up the first stragglers of the previous loop. Although this

required the occasional zig-zagging around them it was much better than running alone. Soon I was back on track, and ran the remaining miles of loop 3 in 6:51/6:56/6:58/6:54. Now it was time for the final loop, and things started to get tougher. The first mile was pretty rough, because the initial rolling hills mainly go up, and by this time this became more salient than on earlier laps. In the second and third mile I managed to consolidate a bit, and running became more fluent again. Now it was only two more mile to go, and although I started to feel bad, the end was in sight! In the final mile I started to feel really bad, with some side stitches, and was forced to slow down a little bit. But 1 more mile can always be overcome, and luckily the last part was downhill (the first part uphill though). Last loop times: 6:58/6:59/6:54/6:57/7:12, and then 54 more seconds because the Garmin distance was shorter than the real distance. Finishing time: 2:19:20.

After finishing it immediately occurred to me that I had never seen Steffi, even though I had lapped quite some people. This meant that she had dropped out (very bad), that I had overtaken here without noticing (also bad), or that she had been pretty fast (good!). I tried some mental calculation what it meant, but initially failed. After some water and rest, I concluded from a retry that she must at least be faster than 3:10. So I wrapped myself in all the clothing I had, an positioned myself strategically to be able cheer her on and make a photo. And before the clock reached 3 hours I suddenly saw her in the distance! One last loop around the parking lot, and she finished in:

Very cool indeed, and a great improvement on her previous race times!

After the race was over, we had pizza and soup and other food, and were gradually feeling human again. Unfortunately, the timing guys had messed up things, and couldn't produce a final result. In the evening the results were on the website though:

Steffi was 92nd after 20 miles, out of 148, and 6th in her age group, out of 10.
I was 10th after 20 miles, also out of 148, and 1st in my age group, out of 18.
After 10 miles, Steffi was 368th out of 688, and 28th in her age group, out of 70.
At that point I was 33rd (out of 688), and second in my age group, out of 59.

All in all a great race, and well organized given that they had many more participants than last year (probably the influence of the upcoming Pittsburgh marathon). Thanks to the volunteers, and shame on the timing guys who are the only ones who make money out of this.

Front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

2009-02-24T09:13:00.003-05:00

My colleague Christian Lebiere pointed out to me this morning that I am on the front page of the newspaper. He saw me running on the track yesterday, alone, because it was very cold and very windy, and was pretty sure it was me on the picture. And yes, that's me, black attire, red hat, white gloves and shoes.

Cold weeks

2009-02-07T11:03:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated my blog for a while, but that doesn't mean I haven't been training. It has been tough since the beginning of the year, because winter is quite severe this year. Steffi and I have been running in the blistering cold while the Steelers made their way through the play-offs. Indeed, we have run past the stadium a couple of times while the Steelers were playing, and we pitied the people who were freezing in there.

Snow has been a problem as well: you can cope up to a level with the cold, but if the snow and ice make the roads slippery there is only so much you can do. Last week Steffi and I ran back and forth the main trail of Frick Park, which was covered in snow, but at least offered steady footing. I ran 1 minute/mile slower than otherwise, and was still exhausted afterwards. But that still felt much better than when we confined to running on the treadmills at CMU, watching the miles crawl by.

But today it seems spring has come! A balmy 8 degrees (C), with the prospect that it will remain that way for the coming days. Is winter finally over? According to the Groundhog it isn't, and six more weeks of frost are ahead, but who trusts a fat rodent? Now it's off for another long run in at least temporary spring!

Run to Read Half Marathon 2009

2009-01-11T15:09:00.011-05:00

The first race of the new year! After last year's pleasant experience, we decided to run the Run to Read half marathon in West Virginia once again. At least, for me it was again, but for Steffi and fellow runner Ken is was the first time. Steffi's running had steadily improved over the last months, so she was looking for a good PR. Ken had had a knee injury that prevented him from running Boston last year, and this was his first race since then. I didn't have a clear-cut goal for myself: I didn't feel like repeating my 1:28 from last September was in the cards in the second week of training, so I was hoping for something in the order of 1:30.

The weather forecast for West Virginia was rain, which meant that at least the race wouldn't be cancelled because of snow. During the drive to the race from Pittsburgh the weather did look good enough: cloudy, temperature just above freezing, little wind, perfect weather for running. Just before we arrived, the first drops of rain started to fall, and it unfortunately didn't stop raining after that. We picked up our bibs, hats and gloves, and huddled together in the warm building near the start, pondering what the right set of clothes to wear was (jacket or not?).

Ten minutes before the start we ventured outside for a little warmup run. No one was there at the start line yet, quite unusual. But after a short warmup everyone was there, and without much ceremony (no singing of the national anthem in the rain) the start honk was given and we were off!

The first part of the course was a 4.5 mile out-and-back loop, with a tunnel shortly before the turnaround point. In the first couple of miles the running felt good, and my pace was around 6:40, slightly faster than the 6:51 necessary for a 1:30 finish. In retrospect this was probably too fast, but it felt good at the time. Just before the two mile point we came into the tunnel, and I nearly slipped on a treacherous icy patch just at the entrance. Due to the steady rain my glasses had fogged up, so I took them off and put them in my pocket. Only hazy images for the rest of the race... Shortly after the tunnel came the turnaround point. This interruption in the flow had me gasping for air for a moment, a sign that I still have to build my stamina back up. Back towards the tunnel I met Ken and Steffi, they seemed to be doing fine (which they did). I get back on pace again, but it feels strenuous, too early in the race. It also didn't help that I am running all by myself at this point, so I need to motivate myself to keep going. After the return to the start the course went down to the river, for the second and longer out and back along the river trail. Shortly before the river I am overtaken my a small girl (who turned out to be last year's winner), and then by two other girls! These last two girls slowed down a little after overtaking me, so I managed to latch on to them. At this point they ran an approximate 6:55 pace, which was good enough for me because I had to slow down a bit to manage the final 8.5 miles. I was glad to run in a group again, because I am afraid I would otherwise have let the pace slip even more. And so we went on for mile after mile. Fortunately, I started feeling a little bit better again at this more moderate pace, even though it was a bit slower than my goal.

The river trail was nice and level, but also long and, in the rain and with my glasses in my pocket, rather boring. So, it became the old game of counting down the miles. Little changed in the order in the race, although our little group managed to overtake a few people on the stretch back, including the girl who won last year. Finally the last miles dropped away, and the welcome sight of the finish was ahead. The two girls ahead of me pulled out a sprint, I also accelerated a little bit, and it was done! My time was 1:30:03, so my goal was achieved, but it hadn't come easy... I was 19th overall, and third in my age group, so I received a nice little trophy.

Now I had to wait for Ken and Steffi, and soon became very cold, because the rain kept pouring, and Ken had the car keys! Ken came in about 15 minutes later (second in his age group), and I was happy to hear that he had a good race, and that his knee had behaved well. Quickly we went to the car for a change of clothes (heavenly!), and then back to the finish to wait for Steffi.

Steffi came in at 2:06:15, quite an improvement over her previous half marathon in Groningen. She had a bad side-stitch in the final 200 meters, but otherwise a good race.

Now it was time for the post-race feast! One of the great things about the Run to Read is that they have warm chilly, fruit, and home-made cookies after the race, along with hot chocolate and coffee. Only when we were thoroughly fed and warmed up did we resume the drive back to Pittsburgh.

First day of training (again)

2008-12-29T22:47:00.004-05:00

It's the end of the year, which means that training for Boston is starting! Only yesterday I decided on a training program, which will again be Daniels' running formula, which I also used for New York (and with good results). I have been pondering between it and the Pfitzinger program, which I did last year, but I like Daniels a bit better because he has more interesting challenging workouts, and relatively more tempo runs (which I feel are profitable for me). Daniels' program only specifies two workouts per week, and leaves it up to you to plan the intermediate easy runs. So, for today I started of with 10 miles of easy running. For these runs of 8-12 miles I often run to the Schenley Oval in Schenley park. The Schenley Oval consists of a track and a flat loop of 1 km. I run there (3.4 miles), do the loop a couple of times, and then run back home.

The first test will be in two weeks, when Steffi and I will run the Run to Read half marathon in West Virginia (here is my report from last year). That was good fun last year!

I don't think I will update the blog after every workout, like last year, but I will update it irregularly, including reports of races. I am looking forward to training!

New York City Marathon Race Report

2008-11-16T14:12:00.004-05:00

New York City Marathon - Race Report
2 November 2008

I will start my report of the New York City Marathon in Ford Wadsworth on Staten Island, the area where all the runners gathered in the early Sunday morning in preparation of the race. I arrived in the starting area at about a quarter after seven with the sun low on the horizon, a cold wind and temperatures just above freezing. Others had arrived hours earlier: a logistic necessity given the total of about 39000 runners who all had to be brought here by bus. I was among the lucky ones to have received a relative late time: 7:00 Staten Island Ferry. In the subway to the ferry there were already many people with the telltale marathon bags, converging into a crowd at the ferry terminal. The ferry trip itself was delightful: with the sun out and blue sky, the view was great on Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Runners take pictures of the scenery and each other. On Staten Island it is a short bus ride to the start area.
The grounds around Ford Wadsworth are a testimony of the complexity of the race. There are: a) three starting waves, each of which are divided into b) three colored starts, which are further subdivided into c) six corrals. Each color has its own little "village", each wave has its own time schedule, and each corral has a particular section of the village to line up for the march to the start. Despite all the carefully laid out plans, the scenery looks chaotic: runners are all wrapped in plastic, and have claimed the small patches that are out of the wind and in the sun. Unfortunately this combination is so rare that most have to contend with shelter ór sun. I keep myself warm by wrapping myself in everything I have (no plastic, but the people who have wrapped themselves in it don't look particularly happy anyway). The main building material in the village seems to be the portable toilet. To avoid any complaints about insufficient port-a-potties, the organization has planted hundreds and hundreds of them, forming walls that define the starting corrals and borders between the three start villages. While keeping myself warm with my thick winter coat and cups of coffee that are handed out, I have a decision to make: what to wear during the race. I had planned on shorts and a singlet, but it is really, really cold, and we are advised to hand in our luggage an hour before the start, so it will be very cold for a while. I see other runners strip to shorts and singlet, so I bite the bullet and follow their lead. Fortunately I have a spare T-shirt than I will wear on top, and toss away after the first mile. I hand in my bag and try to jog to the starting correl. Fortunately, it is warming up slightly, or my internal heater is kicking in. In the starting corral several people are wearing white suits that insulate against the wind that were for sale during the Expo. It doesn't seem to do them much good, because they look quite miserable. Instead staying in the sun is again the best strategy. After a good half hour of waiting, the gates open, and everyone starts jogging towards the start. A volunteer ushers us to walk instead of run, but everyone is eager to get at least a little bit warm. Finally, we all line up on the road before the start. The first stretch will be on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that connects Staten Island to Brooklyn, which looms ahead of us. I am lucky to be in the Blue starting wave, because it is the wave that the elite runners also start in. This means that our starting area is lined with grandstands and dignitaries, and that we will start on the top deck of the bridge, giving a great view over the city and the upcoming course. The elite runners are introduced one at a time: great names like Paul Tergat, the former world-record holder, Hendrick Ramaala, and Marilson Gomes dos Santos, both former winners of the race, and my personal favorite, Abderrahim Goumri, who was second after Martin Lel several times, but now that Lel is still recovering from the Olympics, Goumri has his chance. After a little pep speech by Major Bloomberg, the start guns fire, and we are finally on our way!

Staten Island
One of the big selling points of the New York marathon is that it goes through all five boroughs of the city. For Staten Island "through" should be replaced by "out of". The Verrazano Narrows Bridge is two miles long, and one mile is for Staten Island (if the dotted line on Google maps is to be believed). After the start canons (thanks to the Ford) have fired, the crowd ahead of me gradually starts moving, while the voice of Frank Sinatra sings "New York, New York". Within a couple of minutes I cross the starting line: finally the race is on its way, after four months of training and preparation! Initially, the people around me control the pace, but most of them are on the same page as me: try to warm up, and negotiate the first uphill mile.
Everywhere around me are runners, in the right lane of the bridge, where I am, in the left lane of the bridge, and, unseen, on the lower deck of the bridge underneath me. According to marathon lore the bridge should move slightly with all these runners, and runners on the lower deck should beware for upper deckers spraying them with yellow rain. I can report that I felt neither movement nor saw people doing their business on the bridge (plenty of them after the bridge though, I suppose this early in the race people have some modesty left). The view from the bridge is absolutely glorious: Manhattan in the far distance, Brooklyn ahead of us, and a moving sea of bodies. It is quite striking how international the race is, Italians, French, British, Germans, and the occasional Dutch are all over the place. The Italians and French are most visible showing "France" and "Italia" on their shirts. Mile 1 turns out to be my slowest mile of the whole race, 7:39, mainly because of the long uphill and the still cold legs. The mile marker is on the crest of the hill, and leads into one long downhill mile. This turns into my fastest mile of the whole race, 6:38, which means that I am on average on my target of 7:10 minutes/mile.

Brooklyn
At the end of the bridge we come into Brooklyn. Two quick turns and we are on 4th Avenue, on which we will stay for quite a few miles. Us blue starters are on the right side of the street, the orange starters on the left, while the green starters run yet a different route. Fourth Avenue is long and level, perfect to get in the groove of the race. The sides of the road are lined with people, all yelling us along, ringing bells, or making noise with anything they can lay their hands on. Many bands play alongside the road: rock bands, bagpipers, steel bands, an old man with an accordion.

I wish I could catch more of them than the short fragments I can hear while running by. The main challenge now is to resist the temptation to go too fast. My plan is to keep my pace in the 7:05-7:10 (minutes/mile, or about 13.5 km/h) range. Or, on a more subjective level, I want my running to feel really easy for as long as possible, but at least until the half-way point. That worked out well in Boston, and I want to stick to it here as well. When I force my pace down to 7:05, I notice people start overtaking me. The temptation to go faster is huge, but I try to remember the agony I will in the end if I let myself go at this point. The strategy works out reasonably well in the end, with miles zooming by in 7:04, 7:04, 7:07, 7:15, 7:09 and 7:17. By the end of 4th Avenue 8 miles have gone by, and I am feeling great! This is also the point where all three starting groups merge, which fortunately goes very smoothly. Until now I have had no problems at all with crowding, I feel I always have enough space to run the pace I want. The course now turns right into a slightly narrower street (Lafayette Av.) that is lined with trees, producing a more intimate atmosphere. People are still everywhere, one of the things that make this race so great. One particularly nice spectacle is a church with a grand Gospel Choir in front of it, singing us forward! After Lafayette the course starts taking more twists and turns, with occasional glimpses of Manhattan ahead, but also gradually approaching the half-marathon point. I run the next couple of miles in 7:11, 7:01, 7:20, 7:05 and 7:12. At the end of mile 13 the next bridge looms ahead, and in my poor representation of the course I think it already is the bridge to Manhattan. I somehow had that linked to mile 15 (which is correct), but a bridge can take two miles, like the first one, right? But no, it is the Pulaski Bridge to Queens.

Queens
The bridge to Queens signals the half-marathon point, a good point to judge where I stand. I quick glimpse on my watch tells me my half time is 1:33:46, which would put me at around 3:08 if I can maintain the pace, which I probably won't. But sub 3:10 is certainly possible. I still feel great, and going up the bridge is relatively easy. At this point, people are no longer overtaking me, but things have evened out. I hadn't realized beforehand how short the stretch through Queens is, barely two miles, with many twists and turns. I don't remember too much of it, except for the many surprise glimpses of the Empire State Building, promising that Manhattan now really is near. I run miles 14 and 15 in 7:05 and 7:21. That last mile is a bit slow: I shouldn't get too comfortable! Mile 15 also marks the start of the Queensboro bridge, the dreaded speedbump on the way to Manhattan. Three things make this tough: the upwards incline, the total absence of supporting crowds, and the fact that we are on the lower deck of the bridge, so there is nothing to see except other runners. The upward slope indeed takes a toll my legs, slowing me down to 7:26. It is time for the famous boost of First Avenue!

Manhattan, First Avenue
One of the famous moments of the New York Marathon is coming down the Queensboro bridge, all speeded up by the downwards incline, and then to be boosted along by crowd that is waiting. Down the bridge, two quick turns, and we turn onto First Avenue in all its glory, skyscrapers lining both sides of the broad road, and spectators yelling their lungs out on both sides of the street. This is what the New York Marathon is all about! Manhattan! Running on an Avenue that can normally only be crossed very quickly while casting a fleeting glimpse at its grandeur, because otherwise you will be honked at by a sea of cabbies. Left and right of the street various specialty groups of supporters cluster. Several times I pass clusters of Dutch supporters (and other nationalities, even a Belgian squad), wearing orange crowns and waving Dutch flags. A quick word in Dutch, and they are all fired up! A water station looms in the distance, so I quickly grab a gel from my back pocket and squeeze it in my mouth, ready to wash it down with the water from the water stations. These gels (basically sugar paste) are not particularly tasty, but are essential in making it to the finish line. Taking one every 45 minutes or so is an important survival skill, and this is my third (and last). This should be enough to reach the finish line. I am now keeping an eye on the street numbers, because Steffi is going to wait for me on 96th street. Fortunately, the volume of runners has thinned out a bit, so I am pretty sure she will see me. But I also want to see her, so I keep to the left side of the street. 96th street is just after the 18-mile mark, so I still have a while to go on First Avenue. It took me 7:26 minutes to do mile 16, but that was the bridge. Mile 17, the first on first Avenue was back to 7:00. Mile 18 in 7:13, but I am still feeling great. And there, just after mile 18, is Steffi waiting at the side, encouraging me on! It is great to see her, if only for a short fleeting moment, and keeps me going, because now the endgame of the marathon is approaching. The crowds gradually thin out, as the First Avenue turns into Harlem, and the final bridge looms in the distance: the Willis bridge in the Bronx. Mile 19 also takes me 7:13, and up Willis Avenue Bridge we go, 7:21, there I am, on top of the bridge, First Avenue behind, and welcome to

The Bronx
"Welcome to the Bronx", yells a great group of enthusiast inhabitants of the fifth borough on the route. Despite the short, one mile, distance, people seem to be especially proud of their neighborhood. Mile 20, the last 10 km have started, the infamous wall that some experienced on the Willis bridge: many are walking. Cheerleaders are doing their jumps, bands are playing, the party has just started! Unfortunately, tunnel vision has gradually starting for me as well, although my legs feel still good. Let's hope they will hold out until the end. Another bridge looms up, fortunately no upward incline this time, and brings us back to Manhattan. Mile 21 is done, 7:20 minutes.

Manhattan, the final stretch
A welcome downhill, a turn around the corner, and we are on Fifth Avenue. A pleasant straight stretch again, so I pick up the pace a bit again. Five more miles to go. The street numbers now go down again, and I will have to look out for 96th street again. Contrary to First Avenue, where spectators were kept on the sidewalks by fences, Fifth Avenue is completely open, and spectators leave only a small path through the middle of the street. Fortunately the field has thinned out, so there is space enough to run, and it is nice to be so close to the spectators. After a short block around the Marcus Garvey Memorial Park (Mile 22, 7:23), Fifth Avenue starts a gradual climb. I had read about it, but had dismissed it as insignificant. How wrong I had been: the uphill lasts for two miles, and at this stage I have to clench my teeth to keep going. On the other hand: only four miles to go. Also, even though I have been slowing down somewhat, I have been overtaking people for a while, but here on the final stretch, it becomes even more pronounced.
And there, on 96th street, as promised, is Steffi again, just after Mile 23! Quite a contrast with Mile 18, when I was still waving at the crowds and having a good time, now it is the time to grid teeth and count down the final miles. 7:14 for Mile 23, three more to go. I am looking out for the entrance of Central Park, but for the time being Fifth Avenue keeps going, and its going is up. Where is the Guggenheim museum? Finally there it is! Central Park is hilly, but it least it is up and down instead of just up. And it starts with a down, a moment to catch a breath. Soon Mile 24 is over, 7:31, nine more laps on the track left. My legs are really burning now after the punishment of Fifth Avenue, and I am longing for the finish. I feel slightly lightheaded. Up and down the hills of Central Park go, and there is the 25 mile flag, 7:23, and soon afterwards the 1 mile to go flag. The route now leaves Central Park, skirting the Southern edge of the park. If only I had known the drama that had played out here an hour earlier: Goumri, who was leading the race, was overtaken by dos Santos, so Goumri came in second again. A short piece of flat road. The half mile to go marker. And there is Columbus Circle, on which we make a sharp turn back into the park. I later read in the New York Times that the entrance to the park is guarded by Bandit Hunters, officials on running shoes who will hunt down anyone with an official race number. My tunnel has darkened though, and I only see the blue line that will get me to the finish. The crowds are now rows deep, yelling us on for the final meters. 400 meters, 300 meters, and there is the last hill before the finish. But who cares about that with the finish in sight? The last meters, and there is the finish line. The tunnel widens again, I take in the roaring crowds, the speakers, and congratulate my fellow finishers. For the second time during the race I look at my total time (I have tracked all the individual mile laps though): final time 3:09:37. Mission accomplished!

After the finish we congratulate each other, collect our medals and food bag, pose for the finish photo, and start the Walk. The Walk after the marathon, the painful shuffle that is supposedly good for the muscles. Volunteers congratulate us, but also urge us to move, because the great machinery of the marathon shall not get stuck. The first baggage wagons appear alongside the path, but alas, they start with the highest numbers (50000). With my 9120 I still have quite a walk ahead of me. I pass a man who is lying on the ground screaming in pain, while three medics stretch or massage his calf muscles. But at last I collect my bag, and about time too, because despite the Mylar silver cape we got at he finish I start getting cold. And then out of the park and into the reunion area. And three times is charm: Steffi is also waiting for me at the "9000-10000" point. And now I am not running on anymore!

The Buffalo marathon: race report

2008-05-26T23:48:00.004-04:00

Sunday, May 25, 2008
After putting months of training in the Boston Marathon, the thought of running a second marathon shortly after Boston seemed like an attractive thought: two marathons for the price of one! But how feasible would a second marathon be? Some of the books on marathoning explicitly advise against it: if two marathons a year is enough for the elites, it should definitely be enough for mere mortals. My training book for Boston by Pfitzinger was not committed on the issue, but did provide training schedules to bridge periodes of 4 or 6 weeks in between marathons, with the warning that there was no guarantee about their success.
With that I mind, I decided I would give the marathon in Buffalo a shot. My running career had more or less started with running the half marathon in Buffalo a year ago, so I have good memories of the race. In addition, it would be a good opportunity for Steffi to try that half-marathon: with a couple of 12-mile long runs done she was ready for it (at least that is what I thought: she was less certain about it). Buffalo is about a four-hour drive from Pittsburgh, so we could participate in the event with only one night of hotel, and fairly easy travel arrangements.
How is it to run a second marathon in such a short time? It was a strange experience in the week before: yes, I was going to run a marathon, but it didn't have the glow of anticipation that the previous two had had. One of my maxims about marathoning is that you get out of a race what you put into it. That is why I don't care about bandits in Boston: they haven't qualified, they haven't paid, so what is their accomplishment apart from running 26.2 miles?
But going into Buffalo I thought I could defeat my own maxim. Hadn't I just run a good time on tough course of Boston? And shouldn't the flat course in Buffalo let me run an even better time?
The Buffalo marathon is a medium-sized event, with about 700 runners running the full marathon, and around 1600 the half -marathon. Both races start at the same time in downtown Buffalo on parallel streets that merge after about half a mile. The course proceeds to the harbor area along lake Erie, and makes three loops before returning to the city. After both the Canadian and the US national anthems had been sung, the race started. The start was a bit messy with many slow people lining up way too far at the front, but with only 700 runners this was sorted out in about half a mile. Unfortunately, that was where we merged with the half-marathoners, so the process repeated itself. After the initial jostling for position, things straightened out, and we were off along the shores of the lake. The weather was quite nice at this moment, sunny, but given the early start of 7 a.m., still pretty cool. The first loop around the harbor was around 4 miles, and was followed by a very short loop (around a mile) back and forth a pier to the lighthouse (the ugliest lighthouse I have ever seen: blocky concrete modern design from the sixties). My race strategy was to run effortless for as long as possible, the same strategy that had worked so well in Boston. However, I could feel that I didn't have the same speed as in Boston. I ran miles of around 7:20-7:30 minutes, but they didn't come as easy as I had hoped. In retrospect, I should have heeded this initial feeling a bit more, but I figured that there would be no Newton Hills this time...
The third, and longest loop along the lake was also the ugliest. It came along some past industrial glory of Buffalo, and the road was so uneven that looking at your feet seemed to be strategy enforced by the environment. Steffi called it "the loop of attrition", not just because of the ugliness and the road, but also because it had two hills in it that had to be taken twice each. My miles were still a steady 7:20-7:30, but I again felt unsure about where things were going. Another feature lacking in the "loop of attrition" was any form of crowd support: only the race volunteers were there, although they did do double duty in the cheering department (hurray for them!).
After the third loop it was back to Buffalo, where the finish line beckoned... but only for the half-marathoners. In sight of the finish, the marathoners had to take a right turn, basically running a block around the finish, continuing North into the city. With more than two-thirds of the competitors out of the course, it suddenly became a very quiet race. Fortunately, the course became more scenic through nice residential areas of Buffalo. Also, even though the runners were now spread out very thinly, there was some more crowd support in the form of people sitting in front of their houses cheering us on. Because of the many side streets, police and volunteers had to control the traffic, but also managed to encourage us when we passed by.
Unfortunately, the heat was picking up, and soon salt was dripping in my eyes and fogging up my glasses. I now started drinking at every aid station, and even take in some salt in the form of salty "drop" (Dutch liquorice). Still, I managed to keep a 7:30-ish pace until mile 18. By that time we had run past a cemetery, and through a park. And there it happened. I was overtaken by a guy in a pink tutu with a little magic wand. I vaguely remembered this from someone else's race report: the sign that things are not going well is when you are overtaken by the guy in the tutu. And indeed, in mile 18, I started with a gradual slowdown with miles in the 7:50 range. The pink tutu kept tantalizing me just 100 meters in front of me, but I couldn't keep up with him and eventually he disappeared out of sight. I now started wishing the thing was over, but there were still the last six miles to go (mile 20 wasn't marked, or had I just missed the sign?). Had I hit the wall, or was the heat getting the best of me? Other people were worse off: I overtook several walkers at this point, but was also overtaken by some who had paced themselves better (or were better resistant to the heat). By this time I hadn't looked at my pace for a long time: I was only concerned about the remaining distance. By mile 23 I crossed the 8 minutes/mile barrier, with pace 8:04, 8:20 in mile 24, and 8:11 in mile 25. Even if I had looked, I probably wouldn't have cared. Finally, at the beginning of mile 26 we turned onto Delaware street, a long, slightly downward street for the final stretch. Down to the roundabout with obelisk, clearly visible in the distance, where it would be one last turn before the finish. More importantly, a cool breeze came up Delaware, and this energized me enough to have a strong last mile of 7:37. I finished in 3:20:42, good for 86th place (out of 710).
Steffi was there at the finish, she had run her half-marathon in 2:18, which very good for her first half-marathon. I was very happy for her! I have mixed feelings about my own performance. Was it bad pacing that had done me in, or was it the heat that had taken the energy out of me? Or, could I have done better if this race had been a bit more important for me, forcing me to stay on pace in the later miles? The fact that I could run a relatively fast last mile probably meant I hadn't hit the wall (it didn't feel like that), but that either a lack of motivation or the heat had done me in. My eventual time is still better than my first marathon in Berlin last September, so it was by no means bad, but what have I accomplished with this additional race? Maybe trying to race two marathons so close together is not the best idea, and it is better to stick to a single marathon, or run a second one only for fun.

Race Report

2008-04-23T22:19:00.010-04:00

Hopkinton

The Boston marathon is not a race in Boston, but a race to Boston. The start is in rural Hopkinton, a small village that has its yearly upset by an influx of 25000 people that all want to rest, use toilets, eat and do their warm-ups. The start itself was on a fairly narrow street, but everyone was sorted by qualifying speed into corrals, making sure there is no strong need for overtaking in the first stages of the race. So, after doing all my business in "Athletes Village", I slowly moved with the masses towards the start, and found my corral number 8.

While waiting we could hear the start of the Elite women, who started half an hour before us, but couldn't see it because the start was at the other side of a small hill from corral 8. I did have good view of the corrals behind me: quite an impressive mass of people, and that was only a small part of everyone, because half of the runners would start half an hour later in the second wave.
Just before the start the sun came out, and I was glad that I had opted for shorts and a singlet and nothing more. In athletes village it was still very cold: I needed and fleece pullover and a jacket to stay warm, but now it was warming up quickly. Only problem: with all the clouds I thought it would be unnecessary to use sunscreen. Big mistake.
Minutes before the start the American national anthem was sung, and we were preparing for the start. The announcer mentioned the big names that would race at the front, mentioned Lance Armstrong, but unfortunately the hill block our sight. And then the gun sounded. No immediate running in corral 8: we shuffled forward slowly, then started walking, and saw the corral signs counting down: corral 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, people started a slow jog, 2, 1, and then suddenly, without much warning the starting mats were there, and we were off!

The first miles

The first miles of the race were fairly steeply downhill. Unfortunately, the only thing to do at this point is to run with the rest of the crowd, because overtaking is virtually impossible, unless you want to expend energy you need later. Almost immediately after the start there was a small patch of trees with dozens of runners in them that had miscalculated their water management. The first three miles was a matter of running with the crowd, and enjoying the atmosphere. I ran mile 1 in 7:33 minutes, which was too slow according to schedule, but nothing I could do about it, mile 2 in 7:12, which was good, and mile 3 in 7:03, also at a good pace for downhill. My pacing strategy was aimed at something in the 3:13-3:15 hours finish time, with the assumption that the first part would be faster than the last part. The necessary average pacing I needed for a 3:15 finish was 7:28 minutes/mile.

The Early Race

Now that the start was behind me, it was time to run as easy as possible to mile 10, the next psychological waypoint. The hard part was to not be caught up in the race and go too fast. My goal was to run completely effortlessly (as far as that is possible) to at least the 10 mile point, and hopefully a bit longer. The course went through Ashland (never saw the sign), Framingham and Natick. Quite some people were cheering us on, children were handing out slices of orange, but the sun also came out and made it just a little bit on the warm side for running. On the other hand the predicted head wind was barely noticeable, so conditions were close to perfect. This part of the race was just plain fun: easy running, waving at the crowds, low-fiving children. My mile splits were nicely on target: 7:05/7:15/7:04/7:10/7:24/7:14/7:17.

Wellesley and preparation for the hills

With the first 10 miles out of the way, I now wanted to extend the "almost effortless" running for as long as possible. Miles 11 and 12 went by easily (7:20/7:13), and I made myself ready for the infamous "Scream tunnel" at Wellesley College. Halfway mile 13 the noise could be heard in the distance, and there they were! A long row of girls screaming their heads off, all begging to be high-fived (which I did), and having signs daring you to kiss them (which I didn't). Quite a bit of entertainment at a point in the race that would otherwise have been quite boring. Mile 13 went by in 7:18: all the high-fiving didn't slow me down too much. Soon afterwards, the 13.1 halfway mark passed by in the middle of the village of Wellesley, and it was time to start thinking about the upcoming hills. Half of the race done, but all the challenges were still ahead. In anticipation, I slowed down a bit to be optimally prepared. Before the onset of the hills, I ran into someone I know as RunningJim. RunningJim is also from Pittsburgh, had about my qualifying time, and is about my age, and he and I have exchanged tips on where to run over the internet (he mainly had tips for me). We ran along for a bit and chatted, but at some point I lost track of him (he eventually finished about a minute after me). I did miles 14 ,15 and 16 in 7:21, 7:33, and 7:18, respectively.

The Newton Hills

Now it was time for the dreaded hills of Newton: four hills spread out over five miles. According to some fellow Pittsburghers the hills are no big deal if you are used to the running in the city, but others said they were completely destroyed by them. So, when the first hill loomed up ahead I didn't exactly know what to expect. The first hill crossed a larger freeway, and was a steady upwards climb for about half a mile. Sure, the going was tougher, but with a slight slowdown it was quite manageable. After the climb, there was a downwards stretch again where I could make up for the lost speed. Mile 17 went by in 7:33, not bad for the first hill. At mile 17.5, the course made a sharp turn to the right into Newton proper, and up on the second hill. This hill felt a little bit steeper than the first one, but also was a bit shorter. Running in Pittsburgh paid off: I started overtaking people, and some people were even walking. I reached mile marker 18 in 7:30. Mile 19 was relatively even, so I used this recover a bit, and to mentally prepare for the final two hills (7:27 pace). Hill 3 started during Mile 20. I don't remember too much from that hill: I guess it wasn't too bad, because I ran that mile in 7:36.

Finally, mile marker number 20 came up, signaling the start of the last and most infamous of the hills: Heartbreak Hill. At the bottom of the hill, Ken (who had told me the hills were no big deal) and Lynn, two of our running friends, were cheering me on, just the little boost I needed to get up the last hill! Up and up it went, but fortunately it was not steeper than any of the other hills, it just went on a little longer. It even played a little prank in the end: it leveled off, but then had a final incline before reaching Boston College. And indeed, it would turn out to be my slowest mile of the race, a 7:53, but it was not the heartbreaker I feared it could be.

Looking back on the hills, I think they are a nice challenge, and something to remember the race by. I don't remember much from mile 16-21 from the Berlin Marathon, but here they were the major hurdle that everyone talks about. And when they were done I was already in mile 21! I do think the hills had taken some strength out of me, and that the final miles would have been easier without them. Talking about the final miles, now it was time for that final challenge, the last six miles that almost defeated me in Berlin.

The last miles

Although the Newton Hills are officially the main challenge of the Boston Marathon, I was more apprehensive about the final six miles. In Berlin I had felt a tiredness in those miles that I had never experienced before, and I needed to push through exhaustion for more than half an hour. Going into the final miles I wondered when the pain would start. At least the hills had already brought me through mile 21, and I was still alive! Mile 22 turned out to be an easy mile, because it was the downhill side of Heartbreak Hill. It went by quickly in 7:06. Only four miles and change to go! By now I started to gradually get tired, but not as bad as Berlin. The crowds were growing bigger and louder here, cheering me on towards the finish! One more mile crawled by, and suddenly there were only three miles left. I was still feeling reasonably ok, given the circumstances, but was desperately wishing for the end. I thought back to the last half-marathon, where I managed to accelerate in the last three miles. No such luck here: I ran mile 23 in 7:26, but was past caring about my pace. Mile 24 went by in 7:33, and I remember little of it, except the crowds pushing me on! At the beginning of mile 25 I could see another piece of Boston legend, the Citgo sign, the informal marker of the last mile. It was still so far away...

The Final Stretch

The crowds kept cheering, and I was losing strength, but didn't have the urge to start walking, which I had in Berlin. I must have done something right. Mile 25 goes by in 7:42, and there is the Citgo sign right in front of me. One mile to go! It is good thing that the race will be over soon, because I have very little left in me. Commonwealth avenue, a turn to the right, a turn to the left, and at the end of mile 26 (7:51), I turn onto Boylston street, for the final 385 yards of the race! The crowds are cheering, but the finish is still so far away! It is like a bad dream, I run, but it isn't getting closer! Or is it? The finish arches finally grow larger. I think about raising my arms in triumph, but they are so heavy! And finally I am there and cross the line, raising my arms nonetheless. Final time: 3:14:53.
After the finish I receive water, the silver blanket, my medal, and food. The fatigue kicks in seriously: I need to sit down, I feel dizzy. I find a spot, sit down and start drinking and eating. My muscles start to cramp. I devour a bag of chips, and suddenly feel less light-headed: I guess I must have suffered from some salt deficiency on the last stretch. I managed to get a good sunburn: now not only my shorts and singlet are red, but also my shoulders, arms and neck. But it all doesn't matter: the goal has been achieved, and the wounds will heal.

Race day

2008-04-21T21:24:00.003-04:00

Finally, no more virtual runs but the real thing! Today I ran the race that this whole blog was about. Right now, Steffi and I are in our hotel, and we both are exhausted from the day. Therefore, I will write an extended report tomorrow or another day.

But let me report on a few of the basics: I ran 3:14:53, improving my Berlin time by a good 6 minutes. The course was a lot tougher than Berlin, but I managed to survive the Newton hills, and I was not as completely crushed by the last miles.

More information will follow!

FE

2008-04-19T21:54:00.003-04:00

FE means: Forum Event. We have arrived in Boston, and met people from the Runner's world web forum on Boston. Here is a photo:

Off to Boston!

2008-04-18T22:21:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we will fly out to Boston. Tapering is a strange thing, especially in the last week. I have the feeling I have hardly done any running, so the prospect of the race on Monday is almost unreal. But I am sure the itch will start as soon as we fly out!

I had a last run together with Steffi in the park. Today was almost like the first day of summer: warm and sunny weather, and we ate outside for the first time this year. A great day for Steffi's birthday! Fortunately, the weather forecast for Boston on Monday is a lot cooler: cloudy and around 12 degrees C. Perfect for running.

Dress rehearsal

2008-04-16T22:18:00.003-04:00

The burning question for Monday is what pace I have to start out with. Run too fast in the beginning and I will regret it later (probably happened in Berlin). But if I start too conservatively, I might not make the most of it. I am still not entirely sure what I will be shooting for, 3:15, or faster? In Berlin I took the risk of going for the Boston qualifier, and I just made it.

I guess I have to decide during the race itself, and just start running in a tempo that feels easy. The two "dress rehearsal" miles I ran today definitely felt pretty easy, even though they were at a 7:11 pace, which is certainly faster than I dare to go in Boston. Well, there you have it, pre-marathon brooding.

Yesterday the jacket arrived, and it is totally outrageous. No subtlety in this garment, thank you very much!

Taper madness

2008-04-14T22:25:00.003-04:00

Many marathon books warn about Taper Madness: runners that get edgy and nervous because they have to hold themselves back in the final weeks. I don't understand it: I love the taper! Today I had a lovely easy run in Frick park, just 4 miles, and it felt like running a couple of years ago when I didn't have a Garmin, and I would just run a bit in the park for half an hour. In retrospect I should have left the Garmin at home: I think I will do that later this week.

Sunday morning very early Steffi and I watched the London Marathon on the internet (on a laptop in bed), where rain was pouring down by the bucket. Martin Lel won with an amazing sprint at the end.

One more week

2008-04-12T18:53:00.002-04:00

In seven days Steffi and I will fly to Boston to prepare for the race. Today I ran the last weekend run, 12 miles, which is almost too short to be called a long run. When I logged my run on runningahead.com, I saw that it was a year ago that started running seriously enough to keep a log. At that time 12 miles was still beyond the horizon...

The run today was very pleasant, with cool temperatures and partially clouded sky. I ran an old route again, Beechwood Boulevard, Schenley Park, Shadyside, that I ran a lot for the Berlin Marathon, but hardly for this one after discovering running along the rivers.

Virtual tour is done!

2008-04-11T19:55:00.003-04:00

Goal is achieved! Hopkinton is reached!

The virtual tour has finally come to an end, with today's 5 mile recovery run. The total tally since I started the blog (half December) is 759 miles. The real training is also almost over, with just over a week to go before the marathon, with 34 miles left. Today's run was otherwise unremarkable and slightly boring. I am ready for the race!

The last interval workout

2008-04-09T21:33:00.005-04:00

The Pfitzinger taper philosophy is to reduce miles, but not intensity. To stipulate this point, today's workout was 8 miles (which is not very long), with 3 miles at 5k pace (which is pretty intense). The weather was just borderline: it was almost too hot, but a couple of clouds kept the direct sun away most of the time. The 3 miles went quite well, with paces of around 6:17, which is about my 5k pace (since last race).

By now most of the hard work is done: most of the remaining runs are recovery with some strides (short sprints) and a 12 mile no-so-long run in the weekend.

The virtual run has almost reached Hopkinton, just a few more miles until the start!

The heat pounces

2008-04-08T20:26:00.004-04:00

I hope the weather during the marathon will not be like today: hot and sunny. I welcome the spring, don't get me wrong, but during my late afternoon run I was reminded of all those hot runs last summer. I fled into shady Frick park, and ran my 7 miles in the park's hills.

The virtual run now really does the Boston marathon in reverse: going through the last of Newton, with appropriate hills, and Wellesley, home the famous screaming tunnel. The tour ends in Natick, just miles away from Hopkinton...

Pittsburgh awakes from hibernation

2008-04-06T20:27:00.005-04:00

Steffi and I ran Eliza Furnace and the the South side again, but this time is was quite a different seen than when we ran it during the deep frost. Hordes of people had dragged their bicycles out of their garages, put them on the back of their cars, and headed out with the family for some cycling in the city. The parking lot at Eliza furnace, with normally one or two other cars, was completely packed with cars, and there was only a single parking spot left when we arrived. As you have probably deducted, the weather was quite nice today, warm and sunny, and by the end of our run almost a bit too sunny.

We did 10 miles today, and I am proud of Steffi that she managed this distance, which she has never run before. The last two miles were tough, but she made it!

The virtual run is now going along the Boston marathon course in reverse direction. We have passed through Brookline, and the Newton Hills, and on my next run I will be headed for Wellesley.

Virtual tour has reached Boston!

2008-04-05T15:01:00.004-04:00

16.4 more miles of long run were enough to bring me to Boston! But as the name of the blog implies, that is not enough. I now have to make it to the start in Hopkinton, which is, surprise, surprise, 26.2 more miles. This was also the last long run, because next Saturday will be only 12 miles. To celebrate, I speeded up the last 7 miles, and tried to take Panther Hollow with a good pace. It worked out pretty well: if I can do that in Boston I would be quite happy. Eventual pace: 7:55.

Weather was great: cool and sunny, but not too sunny (thin clouds). I can have this weather any time.

Nature in Frick

2008-04-03T20:07:00.004-04:00

Like last Thursday, I ran in Frick Park, a welcome escape from the boring track. While I was down in the park, I suddenly ran past a deer, who was just watching be from the side of the trail. It was only meters away, and wasn't afraid at all! I ran the bottom loop a second time, but the deer was gone, and I saw a man with a dog just ahead of me...

Delayed hard work

2008-04-02T22:01:00.002-04:00

I made another attempt at the intervals, and this time with good success. The weather was nice, not as windy as yesterday, cooler but sunny, and I had a good time chatting with Dan about last weekend's race (he ran the 30k, and ended in 6th place on a 6:40-ish pace, which is pretty amazing). The 600 meter intervals went pretty well, with paces 5:46/5:45/5:41/5:42/5:47. It seems the training is bearing fruits. As an encore Wayne challenged us for a last 300 meter, which I ran at a 5:04 pace. That is the pace the elites run the whole marathon.

Lunch spoils the intervals

2008-04-01T18:54:00.005-04:00

I wanted to run intervals today, because that was on the schedule, but due to some delayed telephone meeting my lunch was bobbing up and down in my stomach, effectively maximizing by speed. Also, there was a huge group of boys on the track that were quite in the way, so that wouldn't have been so good either. So, instead I resigned to just running a 6 miler.

On a more positive note, some photo's were up from the race. Below my finish photo, and Steffi's.

End of peak training

2008-03-30T20:42:00.004-04:00

With three weeks to go before the race, this day marks the end of peak training, and the start of the taper. To celebrate this, I did a last long run of 22 miles. Although only 20 miles were scheduled, I wanted to push it a bit further, inspired by the Runner's world forum fellow Boston runners, who all run long runs over 20 miles.

I ran the last 20 mile before the Berlin marathon last fall way too fast, only 10 seconds above MP, and was exhausted from that for quite a while. But at that time I needed it to reassure myself that I could do it at that pace. With a bit more experience now, I decide to push the milage and test the waters in the "wall" part (the last 6.2 miles) of the race. I am happy to report that I did not feel the wall in today's run, and comfortably (well, let's say relatively comfortably) ran the last two miles. But I kept the pace easy at 8:25. I did have a nasty big hill at mile 18 though, so that will be good Newton hill simulation.

Just a short run

2008-03-29T22:56:00.004-04:00

Race time again! Steffi and I both raced today in "Just a short run", a race (again) in North Park. We both ran 5 kilometer (or "5k" as they call them here), so we took the title of the race seriously, not opting for the half-marathon or 30 kilometers. It was Steffi's first race, and she was quite excited (and grumpy when we had to get up at 6 in the morning). The course of the race was pretty nasty, because it started with a fairly steep upwards hill in the first mile. No easing into the race here!

I started at the front of the race, and actually managed to keep up with the leaders for a while. But the brutal hill made me pick my own tempo, and although many dropped back there (to be honest, they were mostly half-marathoners, so burning yourself on the first hill is not a clever strategy), the front people pulled away from me. I ran my first mile in 6:33, which was pretty decent given that it was mostly uphill. The second mile started with the downhill part, and here I was fairly on my own, and this would continue for the rest of the race except for one guy whom I first overtook, then he overtook me, and I overtook him in the end. He went on to run the half-marathon, making him the stronger runner in the end. Mile 2 was in 6:04, so I was benefitting from the downhill part. In the last mile there were so few people left that I almost ran the wrong way, because there was no one to point in the right direction. Luckily, I saw the right path just in time! Mile 3 came by in 6:08, and with a small stretch left to the finish I was

done in about 19:28, a new PR!

Now I had the pleasure of waiting for Steffi at the finish, which usually the other way around, because she always comes along to races to cheer me on. She ran a good race for her first time, 32:52 (265th place). I'm proud of her!

My time turned out to be good enough for 5th place (among men, 6th overall of 399 participants), although it took them a while to figure that out because they had messed up my results. Because of that they probably forgot to give me my prize money of fifteen dollars. Who would have thought you could actually earn money with these races... Well, they'd better donate it to their good cause, I'm happy enough with the result itself.

Virtual map is still forthcoming: Google maps is bitching; instead I include the real map of what we ran.

The shoes have arrived!

2008-03-27T20:42:00.004-04:00

My shoes for Boston were in the mail today! I took a bit of a gamble by ordering the new Asics Gel Kayano 14's, based on good reviews, and on the fact that I have been running on Kayano 13's. I took them for a test run in Frick park, and I am pleased about them: they fit a bit better at the heel, and have a bit more room for the toes. That will reduce the black toe problems.

It was good to run in Frick park again, after running on the road and on the track all the time. Frick was the reason to pick up running again: when we moved here, I decided to buy a pair of runnings shoes (Kayano 10's, yes I stick to shoes I like), and started with short half hour runs in the park. And now Boston is on the horizon! On the virtual run you can see that I am closing in: in the bottom left corner you can see todays 5.4 miles, Boston obviously in the top right corner, and the blue marker top-left of the middle is Hopkinton.

A nice midweek run

2008-03-26T21:10:00.004-04:00

Just after I proclaimed last weeks that I hate the midweek long runs, I had one today that was actually very nice. Probably the weather was the main difference: whereas last week it was soaking rain, today the sun was out, and I could run in shorts. After a round through Squirrel Hill, I finished of with 5 miles on the track with the Wednesday group, for a total of 10.5 miles.

Last full week

2008-03-24T20:27:00.004-04:00

The last full week before taper, and I am glad that the training will diminish in intensity soon. I have the feeling that I have trained enough, and that I should be loading up for the race. Maybe the 50+ miles per week is just a bit too strenuous to sustain for too long periods (the Pfitz schedule also seems to have forgotten about recovery weeks for a while).

In the "let's get it over with" spirit I tackled one of the harder workouts for the day: the 10 mile with 4 x 1200 meter intervals. Weather on the track alternated between sun and snow, so I alternated putting my jacket on and off. I ran the intervals at a fairly decent pace, 6:08 for the first two, 6:14 for the last two. After the run I had some pain in my shin, so I hope that will not will be a problem. My shins have been protesting for a couple of weeks, but I think I have it under control. They'll get better during the taper.

This Saturday I will run a 5k race (with Steffi, it will be her first race!), so if I can keep a 6:14-6:20 pace, I will be very happy. The other hard workout this week is the final 20 miler on Sunday. Let's not think about that yet...

Easter run

2008-03-23T19:37:00.004-04:00

Running with Steffi again today, for a nine mile recovery/long run. Spring was back, as it should be on Easter! Although barely above freezing, the sun was out, and the weather was delightful for running. And that despite the weather forecast of clouds and snow. As you can see, the primary is approaching Pennsylvania, and more and more signs are coming up. It seems most of the ones in our neighborhood are for Oboma, but according to the Newsweek the Hillary fans can be found in Polish Hill. Maybe we should run there next week.

One more month

2008-03-22T17:04:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the first day of spring, and was very nice weather. For the Boston trainees, it was also the start of the final month of training. Today, however, is a different story: I was running in the snow again. After a day of spring, winter just doesn't want to give up.

Today was also long run day again, 17 miles, like last week, but now a regular long run instead of running at marathon pace. Not much to tell about it: nice run, the snow was not staying, so it was not too much of a nuisance.

Yesterday, I ordered my shoes for the race, the new version of the shoes I am running on now (Asics Gel Kayano 14). The shoes have good reviews, although someone on the Runner's World forum didn't like them. It is a bit of a gamble to order shoes untried, but I am confident it will work out.

Windy midweek six

2008-03-20T21:06:00.006-04:00

Continuing yesterday's theme: it is not the hard runs in the schedule that you prepare for, but the inconspicuous ones that can wear you down. Six miles recovery with a few strides, how hard can that be? Actually, not that hard, but I felt exhausted afterwards. Tomorrow is rest day, and then a 17 mile long run. But I will be mentally ready for that one!

The virtual run is through the water right now, crossing over from Long Island to Connecticut. The end is in sight with the coast of New England on the horizon!

Rainy midweek eleven

2008-03-19T23:29:00.004-04:00

Part of the training program are the semi-long runs of 10-12 miles. These runs are always surprisingly challenging, because I tend to underestimate them. The Saturday long run is the main challenge of the week, and so are interval and tempo runs. But the mid-week mid-distance run is always a nasty surprise.

Today would have been quite ok if it weren't for the heavy rain and wind. By the end of the run I was thoroughly soaked and cold, and was very very glad it was over. One more 10 miler next week, and then we are done with them. Today the starting numbers for Boston were announced, I am number 8817, which means I start in the 8th corral of the first wave.

Two weeks to taper!

2008-03-17T22:13:00.004-04:00

For a long time it felt that I was just training and training, but now the end is coming in sight! It is still five weeks to the race, but the final three weeks are the so-called "Taper", in which I will gradually decrease the distances I run top be optimally fit for the race. That means there are just two more hard weeks to go!

Several people on the Runners World forum have organized a dinner/drinks get together two days before the race, so it will be fun to see all the people that share each others training progress on the web.

Today was light interval training again, 5 x 600 meters, which I did on the track. I was almost banned from the track because the CMU track team had come out of hibernation (where were they when the track was covered with snow?), but after I mentioned Boston they allowed me to stay.

2:04:26

2008-03-16T18:32:00.004-04:00

2:04:26 is the current world record for the marathon. It also happened to be my time on yesterday's 17 mile. The real marathon is 26.2 mile, so that gives some perceptive on how I am doing.

Today was time for recovery from yesterday's exertion. Steffi and I ran 8 miles through hilly Squirrel Hill to CMU and back. The winter hadn't given up yet, peppering is with some snow. For Steffi this was quite an accomplishment: she had never run this far before. Although 8 miles is now routine for me, it was only last April that 8 miles was my longest long run!

Long marathon pace run

2008-03-15T23:13:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday, I wrote I was back on track, but I felt very exhausted after Thursday's run, and was tired all Friday. So, not complete back on track after all. I therefore wasn't sure whether I would be up to one of the toughest runs on the schedule, the 17 miles with 14 miles at marathon pace run.

This morning we slept in generously, and we had a good big breakfast, so I felt a bit more confident about doing the big run today. I drove down to the start of the Eliza Furnace trail, did a two mile warmup and some stretching, and felt that I was up to the challenge. I set off at a good pace of just of 7 minutes/mile, which was actually quite a bit too fast, but it felt good so I tried to keep to it. Crossing over to the South Side, I ran along the river, and reached Station Square, which gradually filled up with early St. Patrick's day celebrants. They didn't look like they had a good time though: most of them looked subdued and drunk, so I was glad I was running and not one of them! Back along Eliza Furnace finished my first 6.5 miles of the marathon pace part. I had a drink and something to eat from the car, and set off for the rest of the run. Because I wanted to avoid the St. Patrick day's crowds, I kept going back and forth along Eliza Furnace, and finished the Pace run with an average pace of 7:06. Now I am already thinking about increasing my marathon goal pace (which is now at 7:28 for a 3:15 hours goal), but 7:06 is definitely not something I can do for 26.2 miles! Maybe 7:20?

Gimme back the cold!

2008-03-13T21:08:00.004-04:00

This afternoon the temperature suddenly soared to 17 degrees (C) with the sun shining. Very nice, but almost too nice for running. I ran 12 miles along the river, and I was already wishing for some shade with the sweat stinging by eyes. Are we ever satisfied about the weather? It was actually pretty nice, the last part of the run was just pretty hard, because the fatigue from yesterday's intervals was still in my legs, and then 12 miles is pretty long.

In case you have lost a sense of where the virtual route is going: we are on Long Island, heading for the ferry.

Back on track

2008-03-12T21:58:00.002-04:00

The last couple of days I was afraid my training was sliding a bit, first the limited long run in New Haven, and then the wisdom teeth. Today I picked up the right pace again with the Wednesday running group. The weather was great, and although the jaws still hurt I was prepped to get going again. Unfortunately the Garmin ran out of battery, so we tried to keep track of the laps, but all in all I ran about 12 miles. Dan timed the 5 x 1000 meter intervals for me though, and I ran each of them at around a 6:00 pace, with which I am pretty pleased. I hope I can keep up the good work for the rest of the week: two more tough weeks after that and the taper starts...

Wisdom teeth

2008-03-11T20:10:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I the dental surgeon removed my two remaining wisdom teeth, one of which was tilted and therefore needed quite some (painful!) drilling and pulling. I was supposed to run 8 miles yesterday, and was already on my way to the track when I decided to not go through with it: my gums were still bleeding and I felt slightly lightheaded, so I decided the the healing process would not be helped by pumping up the pressure through running. Today I already felt better, but decided to be careful, and just have a short run together with Steffi. It felt good, but I was clearly not back to top stamina. But I think I will be ready to pick up the hard work again that forms the remainder of the week.

A long run cut short

2008-03-09T20:29:00.002-04:00

I was going to run 17 miles in New Haven, but daylight saving time turned out to be the spoiler. I wasn't aware that the clocks were going to be put forward an hour, so luckily my iPod and laptop did, otherwise I would have missed the plane. But I did set out too late for my run, and ended up doing 13 miles instead. With no proper plan to run (nobody I talked to had good advise for a run, except pointing me in the direction of Yale), I picked one particular road, and kept going on it. After a couple of miles there was a park on my right, so I decided to give that a try. This turned into a long steep climb up to an overlook point: the view was great, but it took some effort to get there. The weather was sunny (after two days of rain!), but it was extremely windy, especially on the top of this lookout point. Nevertheless an enjoyable run!

New Haven

2008-03-07T23:05:00.003-05:00

I arrived in New Haven for a workshop on time perception. On Sunday I plan to do a long run here, but today I just had a 4 miler on the hotel's treadmill. Not much to tell about it: the typical hotel sweat room, with, again typically, no other people. This was a good thing, because the treadmill was very noisy.

Spring is coming

2008-03-06T22:36:00.004-05:00

Another nice and sunny day on the track – not as warm as Monday, but warm enough for shorts and a shirt. Now there was a rugby game going on in the field: CMU against Duquesne. The Dusquesne boys looked a lot meaner than the CMU geeks, but I neither group seemed to have the upper hand (meaning: I didn't see anyone score, but what do I know about rugby).

Midweek semi-long

2008-03-05T23:03:00.006-05:00

Pfitzinger's runs in the middle of the week are always treacherous, an innocent "Medium-long run 11 miles" always sounds not too bad for a long run, but nevertheless is still one-and-a-half hours on your feet. I remember starting extending my runs last April and feeling pretty good about 9 miles (here it is: 21 April 2007, 9.16 miles long). Luckily it was the Wednesday night running club evening, so I had company for more than half of the run. While I was running my last miles alone on the track, there was a game of lacrosse going on between CMU and Pitt on the field in the middle. I think Pitt was doing better, because I saw them score at least twice.

Start of phase 3

2008-03-03T21:13:00.003-05:00

With 7 weeks to go before the marathon, it is time for the third "mesocycle" in the training program, which involves interval training. Today was my first official sample of it, although I has such a workout two weeks ago already: 8 miles with 5 x 600 meter intervals. I wasn't sure whether I would be up for it today, because the long run was only yesterday.

However, today was unexpectedly sunny and warm: 18 degrees Celcius, so I ran in shorts a just a shirt for the first time this year, and it felt great! The track was full of other people, training 100 meters, 200 meters, quite a contrast with last weeks snowstorms. I ran the intervals with paces 6:17/6:06/5:58/5:58/6:04, which is faster than the previous interval session.

For the virtual run I have decided to head for Boston now, and then make my way back to Hopkinton. That should be about right with respect to distance.

Photo tour of the long run

2008-03-02T17:34:00.007-05:00

My postponed long run was up for today, and I took along the camera to document the North-Southside route. Here is a map of my run to put everything in perspective:

During the run I short around 100 pictures, of which I post a very small selection here. The weather was excellent today: sunny and just above freezing.

On this first picture, about 4 miles into the run, you can see me descending towards the 50th street bridge, which will bring me to the North side.

The North side turned out to be very icy and slushy: the picture above was definitely the worst part, but it was slow going until there was a parallel road that I could use.

Reaching downtown going underneath Pittsburgh's many bridges

And reaching the far point of my run, look back toward downtown.

Upon return from the far point, I cross one of the bridges to downtown.

Passing by the ice rink in downtown.

Back towards home using the Eliza furnace trail.

And through Panther Hollow.

My virtual run now brought me to Central Park! I now have to figure out my next destination, straight to Hopkinton, or another detour first...

A run in Frick Park

2008-03-01T17:12:00.004-05:00

Because of the amount of snow that fell yesterday I have postponed my long run to tomorrow, when it is supposed to be warm an sunny. Today Steffi and I had a shorter run in Frick Park, which gave me the opportunity to try out a small camera I bought this week. It worked perfectly, so I might give it a try on the long run tomorrow.

Here you can see two of the resulting photos: Frick was picturesque today (although somewhat slippery).

The virtual run is in Newark, approaching New York...

Result of last week are finally in

2008-02-29T14:28:00.003-05:00

The results of last Saturday's Spring Thaw are finally in: I ended up being 10th on the 20 mile, with a time of 2:26:41. Although 381 people participated, only 66 of the did the full 20 mile. My 5 mile round times were 37:05/35:40/36:57/36:59, with paces 7:25/7:08/7:23/7:24. All of that is pretty consistent with how I felt during the race, and you can see that I tried to get a good time at the end of round 2. I was reasonably successful in that, ending 57th (out of all 381), and fifth in my age group.

Today it is snowing vigorously, so I ended up doing 10.1 mile on the treadmill. Why 10.1 and not 10? Well, 10.1 brought my total milage for February up to 200. The tyranny of the running log.

Running in the snow

2008-02-27T23:12:00.004-05:00

When I looked out of my office window during the afternoon, I was almost sure I would end up on the treadmill: it was snowing and there was an icy wind. When I went outside at the end the afternoon, the snowing had stopped, so I decided to check out conditions on the track. Two other people were already running, one of them even in shorts, so I decided to give it a try. The wind was fairly strong, but it was actually quite nice with a late watery sun. A thin layer of snow covered the track, and the there were some icy patches, but running was quite doable. After a couple of rounds Ken and Eric joined my running, and we chatted about Boston and other running things. By the end of my mile 6, Ken and Eric left: I still had another six to go. By that time the snow picked up, and the track became more and more icy. Nevertheless, I felt much better than yesterday. Unfortunately, after I was done weathering the snowstorm my left heel was sore. I hope it recovers soon, because tomorrow there is more running to come.

Recovery is slow...

2008-02-26T19:11:00.003-05:00

This morning most of the aches of this weekend's race seemed to be gone, so I was somewhat optimistic about today's runs. Alas, the legs haven't completely recovered yet. I ran 8 miles, starting at 9 minutes/mile, and gradually speeding up towards 8 minutes/mile. The weather wasn't helping: it was just above freezing and it rained. To summarize: the best moment was when it was over.

The legs are still tired

2008-02-24T21:05:00.003-05:00

They are! When Steffi and I started our weekly run together, my legs felt like lead. It made me remember of a rowing relay (the "Elfstedentocht") I used to participate in, in which we each had to row four stages. Because it was a race that had to be finished within 24 hours, we had sleep periods in the middle. The first stage rowing after the sleep period: lead in the arms and legs. Fortunately, today there was no pressure of going fast, and would have been ill-advised anyway. The Elfstedentocht had many moments where I thought it is impossible to be more exhausted, and still had to go on. One memory I have from the Berlin marathon, during the last couple of miles, is that I thought "This is even worse than the Elfstedentocht".

Spring Thaw race

2008-02-23T17:46:00.007-05:00

"Spring Thaw" is an optimistic name for a race. The race T-shirt has an unhappy melting snowman on it. Unfortunately, spring is not here yet (although the cardinals started to sing today). When we got up this morning, it was snowing, and we left earlier to compensate for the weather. Fortunately, the roads were reasonably clean, so we arrived in North Park nice in time. By the time we arrived it has stopped snowing, but there was still some snow and ice on the roads that we had to run on. In the end this was not very problematic.

The Spring Thaw race consists of loops around the North Park lake. One loop is 5 mile, and the choice was to run 2, 3 or 4 laps, or 10, 15 or 20 miles. Given my marathon plans I chose the 20 miler. There was a good number of participants, probably 300 or so, and my guess is that most ran 15 miles (it was suddenly very quiet on the road after my third lap).

Given that I never ran 20 miles before, I wasn't sure about the best race strategy. I started my first lap rather conservatively, with a pace of approximately 7:20.

As you can see on the first picture, I was still fresh after 5 miles. The second lap felt quite good, and I picked up speed in the last miles (6:52 and 6:46), because I wanted a good 10 mile time. The reason for this is that the final results are based on the 10 mile time. The second picture shows me after the second lap.

Because of my extra effort at the end of the second lap, I needed a bit of recovery at the beginning of lap 3.
Although I felt as I was slowing down a lot, I was just going back to approximately 7:20 miles, which was quite ok. Halfway through lap 3 I felt better again, and it was time for the final 5 miles.

These final five were as tough as they should be, but it didn't reach the level of agony of the full marathon. 20 miles have no wall! I did slow down a bit in the last lap, to approximately 7:25/mile, but I don't complain about that. Finally the finish was there, with Steffi (who made all the pictures) waiting for me!

Short run

2008-02-21T20:54:00.004-05:00

There is not much to tell about today's run: 5 mile on the track supposedly at recovery pace, but I didn't feel I needed recovery so I made it a regular run. No big heroic stories about these short runs! Let's save them for Satuday....

More intervals

2008-02-20T21:35:00.004-05:00

The Wednesday night running group wanted to run intervals today, meaning a second session this week! I tried to hold back a bit with the race in mind, and ran 4 mile intervals at around 6:30 pace each. It felt pretty good, and I don't think I overextended myself. I will know on Saturday!

Here is an overview of my virtual run up to now: Hopkinton is getting closer... Today I also booked the flight and the hotel, so it is really going to happen!

Interval training

2008-02-18T20:19:00.004-05:00

This week starts with a little taste of the next phase of the training: interval training. Today's treat was rather mild: 5 x 600 meters. And according to Pfitzinger they should be run at 5k race pace, and not much faster (my current estimate for 5k race pace is 6:30, but that might be on the conservative side, because the last 5k I ran was in August). I felt good today, and recovered from Saturday's MP run, so I ran them with paces 6:21/6:16/6:11/6:02/6:00.

Now that this tough run is out of the way, I can take it easy for the rest of the week to be ready for Saturday's race.

Half way training!

2008-02-17T18:20:00.002-05:00

Today was the end of week 9 of training, which means: half way! Nine more weeks to go until Boston, and for the next couple of weeks the training will become more and more challenging. I signed up for the 32nd annual spring thaw race next weekend, in which I intend to run 20 miles (you can also run 15 or 10, and even decide during the race to switch), so next week will be a bit tougher than the prescribed recovery week. Maybe I can do recovery the week after...

Steffi and I ran Eliza Furnace again, given that it is the only place where you can run safely without snow or ice. Although it was raining before and after, it remained dry during our run. A nice 6 miles to downtown and back, with a few other runners on the trail.

15 mile test

2008-02-16T19:11:00.004-05:00

After last week's treadmill and icy track workouts it was finally time for a good run on the road. The sun was out, so I headed for Eliza Furnace, hoping that they had removed the snow. Fortunately they had, so I was looking at a level run on a good surface.

Today's schedule prescribed a 15 mile run with 12 mile at goal pace. My current goal pace is 7:28 minutes/mile, but in the first mile I already felt so good that I decided to up the ante, and went for an all 15 mile goal pace run. It turned out to be one of those runs where you notice that all the training does pay off: I managed to run at 7:13 minute/mile on average, with a couple of strong miles in the end (7:06/6:59/7:09/7:03).

My virtual run has brought me to Philadelphia, the second stop on my way to Hopkinton. Next destination: New York.

Icy track

2008-02-14T20:19:00.004-05:00

Finally a run outside again! Six mile recovery for today, and I did them on an ice and snow covered track. This forced me to run slowly, because although the ice was not very slippery it was uneven, and therefore straining on the ankles. So I got a good workout in that department. On the sunny side of the track the ice was a bit brittle, so after picking the exact same path multiple times, I cleared myself a decent trail. Didn't work on the shady side. Steffi wrote a poem today about running, on the rhythm of the breathing. Very cool! I hope you will see it published somewhere sometime.

Long on the Treadmill

2008-02-13T20:41:00.004-05:00

I have been able to avoid it for a long time, but today I ran a long run (14 miles) on the treadmill. After two days of snow there was just no way around it. The day of rest had done be good: my legs felt fresh for the challenge, and after some initial warmup, I accelerated to just below marathon pace, switching to marathon pace at moments my iPod would pick a song with a good beat. After one hour, the treadmill apparently decided that the run was over: it slowed down, and I had to press the speed-up button until I was back to my speed. Five minutes later (its pre-programmed cool-down time, I later realized) it came to a halt again, and didn't want to move again until I completely reset it for a "new" run. These machines are not used to marathoners. I finished the run at 4 miles slightly faster than marathon pace, which helped to break the monotony.

This experience confirmed my theory about perceiving durations in runs that I outlined in an earlier post: the first part seemed to go much slower than the remainder. I hope that the road are clear again on Saturday, so that I can run outside again!

Still tired

2008-02-11T22:42:00.000-05:00

My posts seemed to get predictable: I typed in "Still" in the title box, and the browser completed it with "in recovery mode". Must have said that already in an earlier post. Anyway, today's run was a six mile recovery, and I still needed it after last week's 20 mile. Luckily my legs felt more tired at the beginning than at the end, so recovery must be working. It had to be done on the treadmill though: it was extremely cold today (-15 C), and my fingers had almost frozen of biking to work, so I chose the warmth of the gym. With a rest day tomorrow, I should be fresh for the 14 miles on Wednesday, and hopefully prepared for 12 miles at marathon pace on Saturday.

Icy winds (again)

2008-02-10T17:42:00.001-05:00

Steffi and I wanted to run in North Park today, just to try out something new. The weather didn't want to cooperate today though, with snow and very strong icy winds. We went to North Park nevertheless, and started running. The wind, however, was so strong that we felt completely frozen after only minutes. Also, dead branches were blowing out of the trees, so we also didn't feel particularly secure. So, back to the car, and back home to run a round in Frick park. Even though we were reasonably sheltered from the wind, we could never properly warm up for a good run. Maybe the treadmill would have been the right alternative for today...

Twenty mile

2008-02-09T18:26:00.001-05:00

For many runners, including me, 20 miles is the maximum training distance for the marathon. According the Hal Higdon, everything above that is "holy ground", and should only be experienced in a real race. More rational arguments are that anything you do above 20 has little training benefit, increases the chance of injury, and will leave you exhausted for too long. So 20 it is. For my previous marathon I ran three 20-milers, all of which were both memorable and hard. I ran none of them in Pittsburgh itself, because due to circumstances I was someplace else each time. The first twenty miler was in Ann Arbor, where I was for a conference. I got up at 5 am, and started at 6 am in order to be in time for that day's meeting (I would skip the first talk, having heard it before). It turned out to be a really, really hard, much harder than the 18 miles I had run the week before (in much hillier Pittsburgh). I remember that I really had to push myself in the last couple of miles, and that I was thoroughly exhausted afterwards.

The second 20 miler was in Manhattan, where we were because one of Steffi's friends was visiting, and we wanted to show her more of the US than Pittsburgh. This was one of my best running experiences: starting from the hotel, I ran up and down the Brookline bridge, ran to Battery park, along the Hudson river, a loop and a half through Central Park, ending at the Angel statue where Steffi was waiting. It absolutely great, especially because there were so many other runners (running in the park seemed almost like being in a race). I was also quite a bit faster than in Ann Arbor.

The final 20 miler was in Groningen (Netherlands). I still not confident that I could run a whole marathon at a 7:40 min/mile pace, so I pushed my pace during this last long run, running 7:45 min/mile. Probably a bad idea from a training perspective, because I was sore for more than a week, but it gave me the confidence that I could do it. But I was so exhausted in the last couple of miles that the idea of doing 6 more seemed impossible. (and that is indeed how it more or less felt during the marathon itself).

Back to today, though. I ran more or less the same route as for last week's 18 mile, but extended it a bit to reach 20. Somehow 20 mile is a lot harder than 18 mile, because it again really hurt again the last couple of miles. Will it ever become routine? The weather was quite nice today, although it started with a drizzle, but once I reached the river the sun came out. Some of the paths were muddy (better than last week's ice though), and some of them were blocked off because of flooding, but I managed to get around them all right. My average speed was 8:04 minutes/mile, still a bit too fast for a long run, but I ran comfortably during most of the run, so I don't feel too bad about it.

First Marathons

2008-02-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

This week I started reading the book "First Marathons", which describes tales from a long list of people running their first marathon. It's set up the same way as the Spirit of the Marathon movie, with famous runners like John Kelley and Bill Rodgers, but mostly ordinary people who at some point decided to pick up the challenge. It is fun to read (for someone who recently went through the experience), although I am only in story 2, so I hope it stays engaging until the end.

Today 4 recovery miles with 6x100 meter strides. I ran on the treadmill today, because my iPod shuffle died after yesterday's soaking, and I didn't want to expose my expensive iPod touch to the elements (but wanted to listen to something nevertheless, yes, I'm addicted). I hope the Shuffle will revive after some drying up. Strides on the treadmill is tricky, especially strides during recovery: crank up the TM from 7 miles/hour to 10.5 miles/hour and back in less than a minute.

Two a day

2008-02-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

The Pfitzinger training schedules with the higher milages (70+ miles) sometimes need to fit multiple runs into a single day to achieve the target miles for a particular week. Although the "wimpy" 55 mile schedule has no such doubles, I did one today anyway, because the 12 miles I had to run didn't fit in with my other obligations. So, I did 5 miles on the treadmill during lunch break, and 7 miles at 6 o'clock with the Wednesday night running group. Today was uncommonly warm: about 18 degrees Celcius, but during the evening run their was a big thunderstorm that completely soaked us. Later on, the wind picked up, making the against-the-wind leg of the track feel like hill training!

Tough Day

2008-02-04T21:22:00.000-05:00

Today I juggled the official schedule for this week a bit to make it more like previous weeks, and put one of the harder runs up for today: 11 miles with 6 miles tempo. The other harder run being the 20 mile run on Saturday. I don't know whether I put the hard run too much forward, whether I hadn't recovered enough, or whether I had too spicy a lunch, but the run didn't go very well. My stomach was playing up, especially when I put up the pace. I had decided to not run on the track, but run the Eliza Furnace loop, which is 11 miles when starting at CMU, and the loop itself is slightly over 6 miles, perfect for the tempo part of the run. Despite the good plan, I couldn't pull of last week's pace (of approximately 6:52 min/mile), but had to contend with about 7:10 min/mile, even though it felt that I had to put in much more effort. Let's just hope this was a bit of training for the mind, to keep going even if you feel like crap.

I noted yesterday that my little poll in the right margin had expired. It seems that most people who respond to the poll are training for Boston. Does that mean that my Blog mainly attracts Boston runners, or that Boston runners feel more obliged to respond to the poll... I bet on the latter. I try to come up with another poll if something amusing strikes me.

End of the 50 mile week

2008-02-03T19:09:00.000-05:00

With a 7 mile run with Steffi my total for this week reaches 50 miles. I am happy to report that I am still doing fine, have no injuries, and most importantly, still enjoy running! The weather today was glorious for running: about 5 degrees (C) and sunny weather. We ran along the river again, just a little bit longer than the previous time. The only mishap was that Steffi fell on one of the bridges, and had a nasty-looking knee wound. However, she kept running, and afterwards we went to a pharmacy to get some bandages to patch her up. I wish tomorrow would be as great a running day is today, but rain is coming, so probably no such luck.

Three River Run

2008-02-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

Long run time again today, with 18 mile on the plate. I had figured out a route that would take me along Pittsburgh's three rivers (although only a tiny bit of Ohio river), going to the North side first, towards downtown, into downtown, and back along the South side. The North side turned out to be quite icy, so I had to be really careful there, and couldn't run very fast. That was probably good for me, because I tend to run my long runs too fast, so this slowed me down a bit. Crossing over to downtown was also tricker than I thought, because one of the bridges was closed off for pedestrians. Fortunately, Pittsburgh has many bridges, so I eventually found my way. I decided to not cross over to the South side to make up for the extra distance, and instead ran back via Eliza Furnace. All in all a good run, and I'm ready for next week's Venti.

The virtual run brings me into Baltimore, which happens to be on the way between Washington and Philadelphia. Having checked "Avoid Highways" in Google maps, it sends me right through the center.

Easy day

2008-01-31T20:15:00.000-05:00

Today was again time for a recovery run, only 4 miles. Somehow I do indeed need a day to recover from a tough run, because even though 4 miles in not much, the fatigue of yesterday was still in my legs. Tomorrow a true rest day again though. I listened to some podcast from Running Times, where the elites talk about their long run strategies. "Yes, I start out real easy the first 20 minutes at about 7 minutes/mile, then pick up to low sixes, ending with a couple of 5 minute miles). I am not going to do that on Saturday.

Icy winds

2008-01-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

A short update for today: I ran again with the Wednesday runners group, but only three others showed up. The reason was probably the uninviting weather, with very harsh winds that made the moderate frost feel double as cold. Fortunately, by the evening the wind has subsided a little bit, so it was in fact not too bad to run, and the layers of clothing I had picked turned out to be sufficient (contrary to what I had feared).

On the virtual run I leave the Washington beltway behind, an am quickly approaching Baltimore on my way to the next destination: Philadelphia.

The new cycle

2008-01-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

As I already alluded to in earlier posts, today was the first day of the second cycle in the training program. It started off with the main theme of the cycle: lactate threshold, meaning tempo runs. Todays tempo run was similar to earlier ones, except longer and therefore harder. The run was 10 miles, 5 of which were tempo miles. The goal was to run between your 15k and half-marathon pace. Based on my last half-marathon that comes down to between 6:53 minutes/mile and 7:02 minutes/mile (preferably the faster 15k pace if you are relatively slow in the Pfitzinger universe, which I am). My tempo miles were 6:51, 6:53, 6:48, 6:50 and 6:48, so was pretty close to the 15k pace. And, quite spent afterwards...