1:57:41
Indeed, it took me less than two hours. And if I correct the official time for the three-minutes wait before I could cross the finish line due to the runners jam, I've even made my target of 1h55. Reason enough for happiness, no?
Well, no, not completely. I started too fast and then could not keep up the pace in the second half of the race. At 12k I developed a serious pain high up in my right leg. Between 14 and 16k I had to walk bits.
With a better build-up, I could have finished more comfortably and faster. And I should have seen it coming.
I've also learned that in the coming months I need to do many training runs of two hours or over. It still feels like 20k is way too far for me. But if I want to run a marathon in October, I need to have no difficulty with a half marathon by August.
Sebas has now left. He found out that there is a 10k race in Ermelo, where my mother lives, on 1 September. The plan is now to get several family members to participate.
Tuesday 29 May 2007
Saturday 26 May 2007
THE DAY BEFORE
Since 15 November: 78 hours 46 minutes, 735.8 kilometers
Weight: 76 kilos
Tomorrow's 20 kilometers of Brussels is what started it all. Well, not exactly tomorrow's... More the same race in 2004. It was the first time I took part in this mega-event and signalled the start of what has become a running addiction.
In the first two races I finished in 2h25. Last year, with more training, I did it in 2h12. This year I'm aiming at a time under two hours, say 1h55. That'd be major major progress, but then I'm fitter than I've been at any time in the past 20 years.
Predictions are for temperatures way below 20 degrees C. That's very good. But they also predict rain. And the prospect of standing in the crowd of 28,000 runners for half an hour waiting for the race to start, is hardly appealing if it comes with rain.
We shall see. Tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Amine has suggested he will join my training for the marathon. First time I ran with him was in Cambodia, where we went through (and sometimes over) the Angkor Wat temple complex, early in the morning. A bit surreal, but very pleasant. Amine is considerably faster than I am, so maybe training with him will help my speed develop further.
Since 15 November: 78 hours 46 minutes, 735.8 kilometers
Weight: 76 kilos
Tomorrow's 20 kilometers of Brussels is what started it all. Well, not exactly tomorrow's... More the same race in 2004. It was the first time I took part in this mega-event and signalled the start of what has become a running addiction.
In the first two races I finished in 2h25. Last year, with more training, I did it in 2h12. This year I'm aiming at a time under two hours, say 1h55. That'd be major major progress, but then I'm fitter than I've been at any time in the past 20 years.
Predictions are for temperatures way below 20 degrees C. That's very good. But they also predict rain. And the prospect of standing in the crowd of 28,000 runners for half an hour waiting for the race to start, is hardly appealing if it comes with rain.
We shall see. Tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Amine has suggested he will join my training for the marathon. First time I ran with him was in Cambodia, where we went through (and sometimes over) the Angkor Wat temple complex, early in the morning. A bit surreal, but very pleasant. Amine is considerably faster than I am, so maybe training with him will help my speed develop further.
Monday 21 May 2007
AMAZING RACE
Sebas' target on the 5k in Ninove was 31 minutes; he finished in 28:30. Great job! I know he can go faster, but first I hope he'll train at going farther.
As for my 10k, I was aiming at 54 minutes and got to the finish line in 50:06! That's over 8 minutes off my previous personal best on this distance.
We did not see the tourist attractions of Ninove, but we sure had a great time. Both of us.
Sebas' target on the 5k in Ninove was 31 minutes; he finished in 28:30. Great job! I know he can go faster, but first I hope he'll train at going farther.
As for my 10k, I was aiming at 54 minutes and got to the finish line in 50:06! That's over 8 minutes off my previous personal best on this distance.
We did not see the tourist attractions of Ninove, but we sure had a great time. Both of us.
Sunday 20 May 2007
SEBAS GETS SERIOUS
Since 15 November: 76 hours 41 minutes, 712.8 kilometers
Weight: 77 kilos
In a few hours we'll be in Ninove, half an hour west from Brussels. Sebas will run the 5k loop through the city once, hoping to finish in around 31 minutes. I'll do the loop twice, trying to better my 10k time significantly. I hope the race will go past the touristic highlights of the town, like the Town Hall and the Koepoort.
Meanwhile, Sebas is just setting up his own running blog, in Dutch. He did not write anything yet, but I'm sure he will tonight after finishing his first 5k race.
Since 15 November: 76 hours 41 minutes, 712.8 kilometers
Weight: 77 kilos
In a few hours we'll be in Ninove, half an hour west from Brussels. Sebas will run the 5k loop through the city once, hoping to finish in around 31 minutes. I'll do the loop twice, trying to better my 10k time significantly. I hope the race will go past the touristic highlights of the town, like the Town Hall and the Koepoort.
Meanwhile, Sebas is just setting up his own running blog, in Dutch. He did not write anything yet, but I'm sure he will tonight after finishing his first 5k race.
Thursday 17 May 2007
RUNNING WITH SEBAS
My nephew Sebastiaan came over on Friday; he'll be staying for a couple of weeks and wants to run. Sebas use to run a fair bit but that was over a year ago, so we more or less started from scratch. And with good results.
On Saturday we set out to run 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 minutes consecutively, with 2 minutes walking intervals. We ended up including an extra 4 and 3 minutes. On Sunday, Sebas ran a full round in the park (about 1.8 kilometers).
When I got back from Athens on Tuesday, we did another interval run, this time with the sequence of 7+6+5+4+3+2+1 minutes. I pushed Sebas a bit by speeding up occasionally, and he cold only just keep his food in towards the end. But he completed this tough assignment. Yesterday, he did two full Park laps, about 3.6 kilometers.
So we've decided not to waste time (or let any grass grow over it, as we Dutch would say). This Sunday, Sebas will compete in a 5k race in Ninove, half an hour from here. I'll do a 10k in the same town, hoping to bring down my personal best from a bit over 58 minutes to under 54. It'll be a good challenge for the both of us.
Meanwhile, the Brussels 20k is only ten days away. So I set out alone this morning, went down to the city, around the city centre and up to our house again. Took me about an hour.
And tomorrow's training (with Sebas) will be 15+10+5 minutes, followed by a day off on Saturday.
My nephew Sebastiaan came over on Friday; he'll be staying for a couple of weeks and wants to run. Sebas use to run a fair bit but that was over a year ago, so we more or less started from scratch. And with good results.
On Saturday we set out to run 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 minutes consecutively, with 2 minutes walking intervals. We ended up including an extra 4 and 3 minutes. On Sunday, Sebas ran a full round in the park (about 1.8 kilometers).
When I got back from Athens on Tuesday, we did another interval run, this time with the sequence of 7+6+5+4+3+2+1 minutes. I pushed Sebas a bit by speeding up occasionally, and he cold only just keep his food in towards the end. But he completed this tough assignment. Yesterday, he did two full Park laps, about 3.6 kilometers.
So we've decided not to waste time (or let any grass grow over it, as we Dutch would say). This Sunday, Sebas will compete in a 5k race in Ninove, half an hour from here. I'll do a 10k in the same town, hoping to bring down my personal best from a bit over 58 minutes to under 54. It'll be a good challenge for the both of us.
Meanwhile, the Brussels 20k is only ten days away. So I set out alone this morning, went down to the city, around the city centre and up to our house again. Took me about an hour.
And tomorrow's training (with Sebas) will be 15+10+5 minutes, followed by a day off on Saturday.
Thursday 10 May 2007
REMARKABLE RUN
Today's lunchtime 6k was memorable for a number of reasons. First, it marked the moment when I exceeded a total of 500 kilometers since January 1st. Second, I improved my track record on the "big office loop" by almost 2 minutes, signalling amazing progress on speed. Third, and connected with this: I took on average less than five minutes per kilometer.
In the greater scheme of things, this means little. For me it means much. No longer is my long-distance speed more than two times slower than that of world champions. This kind of speed should allow me to finish in the top half of the table at many recreational runs.
But the difference with the ever-so-recent past can be expressed in even starker terms: no longer do I feel as if I am trying to get there I now truly feel that I am running.
And I enjoy it to the max.
Today's lunchtime 6k was memorable for a number of reasons. First, it marked the moment when I exceeded a total of 500 kilometers since January 1st. Second, I improved my track record on the "big office loop" by almost 2 minutes, signalling amazing progress on speed. Third, and connected with this: I took on average less than five minutes per kilometer.
In the greater scheme of things, this means little. For me it means much. No longer is my long-distance speed more than two times slower than that of world champions. This kind of speed should allow me to finish in the top half of the table at many recreational runs.
But the difference with the ever-so-recent past can be expressed in even starker terms: no longer do I feel as if I am trying to get there I now truly feel that I am running.
And I enjoy it to the max.
Tuesday 8 May 2007
TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Sunday's run in Brugge was highly successful. Though my preparation was less than optimal - painful left knee in the days prior and a heavy football match on Saturday followed by the club's end of season bash - conditions conspired to make it a good day. It was so hard to find parking space that I only arrived at the starting area fifteen minutes before GO, leaving me little time to fiddle around nervously. The weather had changed to a wonderful 16 degrees C with a slight breeze for additional cooling. And all along the 14.3 kilometers circuit spectators were flanking the roads in large numbers, contributing to a great atmosphere.
Of course, with over 5,000 runners on the small roads, the start was slow. Just before leaving home, I had decided to adjust my target from finishing in 1h30m to finishing in 1h24m. That meant an average of about 5m50s per kilometer. As it happened, I did the first in 5m45s and the following four or five kilometers in about 5m30s each.
And then I really got into my stride.
Head down for most of it, floating on the rhythm of my pace and breath and the noise from the audience, I ran lighter than ever before. Not each kilometer point was marked, and much to my surprise I reached the 11k point in 58m40s (that's about the best time I had previously run over 10 kilometers!). I even picked up pace further to finish in under 1h15m. That's 19 minutes faster than a year earlier on the same run.
And I wasn't even that tired...
Promising. If I'm fit and conditions are right, I should be able to make my target for the Brussels 20k on 27 May: finish in less than 2 hours. At Sunday's pace, I'd even get close to 1h45m. But that'd really be pushing it, also because Brussels is much hillier than Bruges.
Still, it feels like I've reached the next level indeed. I used to finish my races among the last 20% of the runners. In Bruges I finished number 2,530 out of the 5,000 that started. Pretty soon, I'll rank among the 50% fastest runners.
Sunday's run in Brugge was highly successful. Though my preparation was less than optimal - painful left knee in the days prior and a heavy football match on Saturday followed by the club's end of season bash - conditions conspired to make it a good day. It was so hard to find parking space that I only arrived at the starting area fifteen minutes before GO, leaving me little time to fiddle around nervously. The weather had changed to a wonderful 16 degrees C with a slight breeze for additional cooling. And all along the 14.3 kilometers circuit spectators were flanking the roads in large numbers, contributing to a great atmosphere.
Of course, with over 5,000 runners on the small roads, the start was slow. Just before leaving home, I had decided to adjust my target from finishing in 1h30m to finishing in 1h24m. That meant an average of about 5m50s per kilometer. As it happened, I did the first in 5m45s and the following four or five kilometers in about 5m30s each.
And then I really got into my stride.
Head down for most of it, floating on the rhythm of my pace and breath and the noise from the audience, I ran lighter than ever before. Not each kilometer point was marked, and much to my surprise I reached the 11k point in 58m40s (that's about the best time I had previously run over 10 kilometers!). I even picked up pace further to finish in under 1h15m. That's 19 minutes faster than a year earlier on the same run.
And I wasn't even that tired...
Promising. If I'm fit and conditions are right, I should be able to make my target for the Brussels 20k on 27 May: finish in less than 2 hours. At Sunday's pace, I'd even get close to 1h45m. But that'd really be pushing it, also because Brussels is much hillier than Bruges.
Still, it feels like I've reached the next level indeed. I used to finish my races among the last 20% of the runners. In Bruges I finished number 2,530 out of the 5,000 that started. Pretty soon, I'll rank among the 50% fastest runners.
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