Triumph trip to Amsterdam half marathon - Amsterdam Half Marathon, October 20, 2019

Disclaimer: Automatically translated from Russian

I owe an indecent number of reports already, I’ll start with the last race - Mizuno Amsterdam Half Marathon.

A couple of weeks before the event, a colleague in a running club in Wotsapa and during training tried to find those who wanted to participate in his business team. I really wanted to, but that weekend my family and I, sort of, had to go on vacation. Therefore, a week before I was actively running and did not blow to the mustache. In the week of the competition, I again planned to run about 90 km, so I ran so much until Thursday, how much the work and home schedule allowed. I started a wonderful tradition for myself - on Thursdays after arriving from work and the time when I need to rush for a child in the pool, I have an hour of time for training, and I got used to running for Mooie Nel on trail hills. On Thursday evening, it turned out that we had booked camping from Monday, and so I managed to run a half marathon on Sunday. I am writing to a colleague and, oh miracle, he just has the last place in the CWI team (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica). I register and start to think - how will I run, because a week before the competition I usually recover, and here I already caught up with a rather decent volume and was very tired. Well, oh well - since it turns out so spontaneously without eyeliner and preparation - we will experiment. I decide on Friday to rest, on Saturday to arrange a short run, and on Sunday to the start. On that and decided:

The plan was extremely simple - out of 80 minutes. He began to morally tune in to the pace of 3:47 min / km, which corresponds to the time of 1:19:50. It will turn out - excellent, it won’t work out - well, I didn’t prepare what you wanted.

The year on the start day was promised good - + 13 degrees without wind. The start is late at around 13 o’clock. Since the race in the business category was supposed to be a rather large crowd, and therefore zigzags and other funny maneuvers. But as far as everything will be tight, I did not know - before that, the Amsterdam half marathon did not run.

Sleep early - at 22:30 and extended until 8:30. In the morning he weighed - 68 kg - an excellent competitive weight.

Lyrical digression about weight. I follow him very carefully (in the sense of weighing myself, but I don’t consider any calories used and all sorts of proteins, fat-carboxes-chips) and the optimal competitive weight for me is 69 kg (in the sense, with such weight I feel normal, although I look, they say, thin). Recently, this indicator has stabilized, mainly, it seems to me, because of my experiments with nutrition: from May 1 I don’t drink alcohol (not strictly - I can socially drink non-alcoholic beer once a month), I don’t drink coffee from the beginning of June (x why, I just decided before some race not to drink a week so that the caffeine gel sticks out harder, but remains), since July I don’t eat meat (not strictly - I can eat soup cooked on meat,but I’ll pre-catch the pieces and leave them in a pan) and all kinds of milk eggs (not strictly - still sometimes I eat ice cream). In general, with such nutrition and constant training, weight remains in the region of 68-70 kg and does not rock the boat, which makes me very happy.

I had breakfast and sat down to watch the broadcast of the Amsterdam Marathon.

Checked the shell again. Battle lining:

I was not sure that I would put on my sleeves - still warm enough. Instead of a T-shirt, he hoped to put on a T-shirt, although, like, they promised to give out a corporate T-shirt. Well, the biggest doubts were about the sneakers - I wanted to go all-in and try to put on something softer. Google and found that “ heavy and bulky ” Saucony Kinvara 10, which I use for recovery runs, is a couple of tens of grams lighter than my “ light competitive ” NB 1500v5. As a result, he went to Kinvara, and took the NB with him.

We met with the guys at the train station in Harlem and went by bus to Amsterdam. How good it is when starting at such a late time - you do not need to puzzle over how to get there and where to park. We arrived, handed over things, changed clothes, took pictures and went to warm up.

Started from the second cluster at 13:26, 6 minutes after the first. In advance, managed to squeeze into the front rows. Start, run. The first few minutes the road is free, but then we catch up with the first cluster and the petals begin. In some places, the road is one lane wide, on the left tram tracks or some lawns - you have to jump over obstacles, risking tapping your leg. A lot of people run in headphones, so they don’t respond to shouts. One thing is good - the pace in such conditions above the target cannot be dispersed. But more energy is spent, and turns pass through a long radius.

On one of the lifts, I notice ahead of the vice president of our office. He is a pretty active runner and a big fan of trolling in a working running chat. Aligning with him, I clap on the shoulder:

• Andrea, coffee?
• w00t?
• Well then I ran

I’m running on. I overtake a club colleague. Then after some time, the dude in the blue T-shirt of the triathlon club of Nizhny Novgorod ( if I do not confuse ):

• Triathlon, come on, come on!
• Come on, come on!

It runs pretty well - all systems work fine, at each power point I take water / isotonic / sponge. I constantly check with the target time inscribed on the inside of the number - while I fit in reserve. I eat gel at 8 km. By this point, it becomes completely clear that I’m not alone - someone hangs on the tail and does not let go a couple of kilometers - some guy in a yellow T-shirt and cap. Usually, in moments of suffering, I really want to drop such riders, but today is not such a day - let it run - it does not hide from the wind ( there is no wind ), it does not particularly snot.

On the tenth kilometer after the next overtaking I get a kick on the left sole. I don’t know what it was, but a few hundred meters of the leg itched and, frankly, I was scared, as it were, some kind of cramp or something else did not start. But after some time it let go.

Again ran into Amsterdam. The number of fans began to increase, roads have already begun. Somewhere on the 16th kilometer, according to the stories of our comrades, we were waiting for a rather steep rise from under the river. As a moral preparation, he ate a second gel on the 15th kilometer. At this point, I was seriously tired of something, but it was impossible to slow down. It still fit in time, but much can happen on the last kilometers. Somewhere on the 17th kilometer when I slowed down at another water station, my tail went forward. And I was left to suffer alone.

We are approaching Vondelpark. I remember this place in the Amsterdam marathon - a narrow corridor of fans, all so funny, and you suffer. But this time it’s quieter - the bulk of the marathoners have already finished, although there are still a large number of “ walkers ” on the track (from some kilometer the routes of the half marathon and marathon merge and go together to the finish line at the Olympic Stadium). The maneuver mode is again turned on (although this is nothing more than what was at the beginning):

We run out of the park. A couple of kilometers remain. It became very hard. In my head I imagine a route along which I run near the house - two kilometers is like from the entrance to that bridge - is it really not possible to run? It is necessary to accelerate. For hours, sort of like, while I fit. But I’m afraid to look at the average pace of the entire distance - if it has already risen to the average target pace, then you can come to terms and give up. Early. I want to give all my best to fall at the finish line.

Yeah - the stadium seemed. Already very close. A couple more turns and a half-blood of honor. I run in. Look at the scoreboard:

Eyes cannot focus, to hell with him - full gas:

Finish. Turn off the motor. I look at the clock - 1:19:57 - damn it, did you have time? From experience, the net time will be plus / minus a couple of seconds. But it seems to have time!

I stand. I look around. Crowds on the stands loosened, but the atmosphere is still powerful. Marathon runners and half marathoners finish. Someone in front of the finish line pulls the pens up, someone (like me) finishes with swelling with the efforts of the faces (then you don’t need to then buy pictures for crazy money, profit!). I’m going to get a medal. Medal. The golden status of the IAAF in this marathon, and the medal is not serious, and the design has not changed for years. This year, it seems, it was updated, but I could not find differences from the version four years ago.

I took the cloak. Went to wash. All legs are stained with mud with small crumbs from paper cups with power points. I wash myself and go back to the finish area to penetrate the atmosphere. I notice a dude in a T-shirt like mine, I come up - hello, you are from my team, it seems. It turns out yes - this is the same Dutch Australian who triathloned last weekend at the Ironman World Cup in Kona, walked with friends at the wedding yesterday, and today he still managed to replace the suddenly sick member of our team and run in a good time. We are waiting for a couple more of our people and go to the exit - to change clothes.

We wait for the rest of the guys, share our impressions. For everyone, the race went very well - everyone achieved what they wanted. And then they announce that we took first place in the team event.

After the award, we begin to quietly get out through the crowd of barely moving marathoners.

Team result:

My result: time - 1:19:55 5th of 781 among business runners 97th of 15530 if you add up a business and not a business category

Layout:

The schedule makes me very happy - it bent, of course, on the last third, but not terribly much:

Strava Link.

What else can I say. The result, of course, is very pleased. Barely climbed into the limit. It is very good that the last two kilometers pressed - one jerk at the stadium would clearly not be enough. I also think that the choice of sneakers played far from the last role - debt on stones in hard shoes still takes a lot of effort. There is also a feeling that starting a little on tired legs is better than on those who have lost tone in two or three days of rest before the start. No wonder some of the best trainings on the track are obtained in those days when you can barely crawl to the stadium and tell yourself that today I will do everything at the end.

In the evening, a dude in a yellow T-shirt wrote in passion, who ran after me.

Norwegian, it turns out. He finished for 1:19:38. I didn’t get too lazy, I remembered the number, well, or I found by flyby. Well done.

Well, Andrea also unsubscribed in the evening:

By the way, exactly a year ago - October 21, 2018 - I asked about the training plan for the half marathon and the ability to run it quickly out of 80. Yes - exactly one year and 4 attempts took 4.5 minutes to throw off:

1:24:16 - > 1:23:31 - > 1:20:24 - > 1:22:48- > 1:19:55

In January, the Egmond half marathon will now have to come up with a new goal.