GOOD PROGRESS

The day after my previous post, I ran my 11k hilly training loop in under one hour and took over three minutes off my previous best time on that track. That was seriously encouraging, especially as it came only two days after attempting to run 14k.

Training continued at a slightly lower rate than normal, as Sanna and I were driving from relative to relative and friend to friend in Holland, on our own Thelma and Louise road trip. I did get to go for a jog with Sebas though, in Deventer where he lives.

On Sunday, I went to Tervuren hoping to run the 9k race there, advertised on some websites as the altenative distance to their 16k. Once there, I found that the choice was between 6.7 and 16k, and even though I was not trained yet for the longer distance I registered for it, feeling that a run under 7k was not worth the trouble.

My target for the upcoming 20k of Brussels translates into a pace of 11k/h, or 5:30 per kilometer. The Tervuren race was through hilly forests (indeed, there was not a kilometer that was more or less flat), so I did not think that pace was feasible yet. Therefore, my thinking was, in an ideal world I would finish this race in 1h28 (target pace), but I will settle for a time under 1h36 (6 minutes per kilometer).

The first kilometer, slightly uphill, I did in 5:10. Too fast, I had to slow down. But I felt great so I decided to stay around 5:30 for a while, allowing the kilometer times to ondulate with the landscape. They stayed between 5:10 and 5:40, and I passed the 11k mark in exactly one hour. The rest of the race I managed to keep my pace, and I finished in an unexpectedly fast time: 1:27:07.

That is seriously good news for the Brussels 20k. But I'll have to keep training hard, especially at getting through the point where my body will switch from burning sugars to burning fats, a point that typically comes after an hour and a half and which reveals itself as hitting a brick wall.

So, for today I have drawn a 18k track on Google maps. If I manage to keep running all the way, however slowly, I'll be well on my way for achieving my pre-summer goals. They are: the Bruges 15k in under 1:20 (in two weeks) and the grand Brussels 20k in under 1:50 (in five weeks).

PEEK-A-BOO

I'm back. And running.

After one failed and one aborted attempt, I'm getting desperate to complete a marathon. Promised myself I would do so before turning 50, which is less than a year away now.

I've signed up for Amsterdam again (19 October). This time I have running mates. Sebas registered, so has one of his colleagues, and I'm working on Luc. Nothing like creating a bit of peer pressure for pushing me through the hard bits.

But my first target is the Brussels 20k, on May 25th. I'm hoping to finish in under 1:50. Sebas is joining for that one, too.

I'm currently doing about 30k per week. Not enough, but if I look at my schedule for the near future it's not going to change significantly any time soon...

MARATHON DAY

It was today, the Amsterdam marathon. I watched it on telly. I felt sad and a bit sick.

The good news is that I have, cautiously, started training again. Nothing big, but half hours on Wednesday, Saturday and today is a nice start.

SURRENDER

Since 15 November: 120 hours 48 minutes, 1150.8 kilometers
Weight: 76 kilos

This is a sad post.

Ever since coming back from India/China, I've been feeling particularly not fit. The family's chickenpox epidemic seems to have affected me a bit, too, in spite of childhood exposure. The trip wore me out completely, because of the mad schedule and a horribly irritated right eye. My GP had stuck to his diagnosis of conjunctivitis, in spite of me telling it felt like there was a tiny object in my eye and in spite of seeing me again after his prescribed medication had failed to work. Finally, when I went to the hospital they removed the folded-over wing of an insect from my eyeball.

So I have been spectacularly weak for weeks now. It became fully apparent during the much-awaited 10k in my mother's town which had turned into a family happening: I struggled to get to the finish line in a bit over 56 minutes, whereas I've done a 10k previously in 50.

Also, I've lost the will to run. Knowing that this is the period where I should be doing my most extensive training for Amsterdam, but also realising that it is equally crunchtime for getting the new house in order for moving in at the end of October, there's only one solution possibly. I'm giving up on running the Amsterdam marathon this year. Sad, but necassary.

Instead, I will pick up running again slowly after giving myself a break, and I'll play a bit of football. I can still meet my target of running - and completing - a full marathon before I turn fifty. No need for pushing myself completely over the edge now.

HARD TIMES

Since 15 November: 116 hours 50 minutes, 1109.7 kilometers
Weight: 76 kilos

Been out of shape terribly. Since my 23k of two weeks ago, I've managed only 4 or 5k runs, incapable of getting any further. It's been very frustrating. Only yesterday I realised that it's probably connected to the chicken pox virus in our family (Sanna had it, Chui Hsia has it now big time). The ongoing eye infection I've been suffering from is a sure sign that I too have something under my skin.

So today I told myself that if I was not able to complete six laps in the park (11.4k) I would definitely not run Wednesday's half marathon in Zaventem. Which would be a pity, because Zaventem is where we move to in October. I finished my task with great relief, and with a fair bit of breath to spare.

Wednesday it is, then. Provided Chui Hsia is fit enough to look after Sanna for a couple of hours.