NOT PRETTY

The last three races were all very hard. In Bruges I took three minutes longer than last year. In Gent, I took more than an hour for 10 kilometers. And the Brussels 20k was disastrous, with a time more than 10 minutes over last year's.

Explanations? All three were run on very hot days, and as it stayed cold for a long time this year I was not really prepared for that. But the main thing is that I have trained less long distances than last year.

So here's the drill for the coming two months: run 30-40 minutes twice a week, over one hour once every week, and build up to two-and-a-half hour runs in the weekends, alternated with races every three-four weeks. Then, from the last week of July onward, I will have tom rigidly follow a twelve-weeks preparation course for the marathon.

I have the ambition, I have the schedules. Now I need the determination and stamina.

GAME ON

Tomorrow is the Bruges 15k. I'll be running it for the fourth time, I think. Last year I finished in 1h16, a really good time for me. Would like to better it this year, but I doubt I will.

I have this race scoring system, to establish how well I have done in a particular race. It works like this. I take the time of the race winner, multiply it by tow, take off my time, divide what is left by the winner's time, and multiply this by 100. With this system, my score in the Tervuren 16k was 35. In a formula:

(2w-m) / w x 10

with w being the winner's time and m being mine. Theoretically, this formula gives me a score of 100 is I finish in the same time as the winner (meaning, if I am the winner). It also gives me a zero score if I take twice as long as the winner, and a negative score if I take even longer.

Let's see if I can beat that 35 tomorrow...