Dam tot Damloop 2019
Disclaimer: Automatically translated from Russian
Dam tot Damloop — 10 mile race ( 16 km ) from Amsterdam to Zaand. Event, individual slots for which are sold out in a matter of hours and in which I have already participated two years ago in the business category from our company — IDEXX Laboratories. Last year I missed, because at about the same time there seemed to be plans to work as a team remotely from some warm country, although they did not gather. In general, I decided that this year I had to run at all costs. Moreover, after the year-long start, people involved in the registration of teams promised to try to register at least one of them in the competitive category, which means with an earlier start and in a faster cluster. Actually, if not for this promise — would hardly have been recorded in this mess again.
The months before the start were in decent shape — good volumes were running, PB on the top ten, nothing hurts — set to break his record — 1:01:39. At the end of July, he went to Russia — to work one week remotely and then two rest.
Last year, during a vacation in Saratov / Moscow, he ran almost every day, there was no reason not to repeat it now. However, something went wrong.
If you look at the graphs below (from bottom to top), you can see that the running volumes during this period (almost all of August) are completely scanty:
In fact, for all this time I ran away 7 times — in Saratov I didn’t want to run around the park for some reason, I tried once or twice a week to get out to the stadium to do high-speed work, which was performed by club colleagues in those days, and in Moscow there was no time to run somehow. In general, at first he began to worry about this, but then he decided that a little rest was also necessary, and that was essentially from last fall and did not rest — either crosses or half marathons, then something else. And here is the new autumn competitive season on the nose. In general, he relaxed and tried to have fun.
Returning to the Netherlands, he again plunged into training with his head to gain volumes and enter the form. It ran well, speed did not go anywhere, the traditional race in honor of his birthday (this time for 38 km) also went on a bang. In general, he began to tune in to Damloop. Based on the current PB for 10 km and the half marathon (average pace of 3:38 min / km and 3:49 min / km, respectively), I decided that I would aim at a rate of 3:40 min/km and time 58:40 — if it doesn’t work out, then I’ll definitely run out of an hour. Splits were as follows: 5 km — 18:20 10 km — 36:40 15 km — 55:00 16 km — 58:40
It looks quite lifting. If you start from a fast cluster so as not to overtake or loop, and in favorable weather — you can overpower.
But as it always happens — if something can go wrong — it will definitely go wrong. A couple of weeks before the race, when we received the starting numbers, it turned out that we were running again as a recreational business team, then you were big (very big!) and a close crowd. He began to ask his colleagues if anyone would like to buy a ticket from me for this wonderful event. There were no those who wanted to. Pancake. Discussed his misfortune with his club colleague. This year he also registered in the business category, but started an hour later. So I’m still very lucky. In general, there is nothing to do — will have to run.
In the starting week I do traditional work in the stadium, and the rest of the days I recover and save up strength (an approach that I don’t currently adhere to). Well, out of the corner of my eye I look at the weather forecast, hoping that at least in the rain and wind they will not spoil anything for me. With rain and wind, everything looked promising, but with a temperature not very — + 24 degrees. And in such conditions, running on PB is not very simple, which I managed to see two months earlier on Marquetteloop half marathon.
On the start day, the weather forecast did not change. Check weighing — 69 kg. I select equipment and go to the start:
I come to the central station of Amsterdam, where teams meet and things give up. Bags are loaded into trucks and taken to the place of the finish. Due to a sudden attack of patriotism, I decide to run in a corporate T-shirt. Well, to look harmonious in the general photograph, and indeed. I hand over things, warm myself in a free strip:
The free strip looks something like this:
Colleagues are pulled up. A couple of them say that well, no sense to dress so warm in such heat and the T-shirts are loosening. My train has already left. Well, that is, the train, that is, the truck, is still standing, but the bag, already littered with hundreds of other bags, no one will look for me. Okay. The fool himself. I say goodbye to colleagues and go to the ritual queue. After some time we are going to for a general photo:
Then we go to take a place in the starting cluster. As usual, I try to squeeze closer to the starting gate, but, unfortunately, — there are still hundreds of people ahead. 12 hours, shot, ran. I try to overtake as many people as possible before entering the tunnel and through it we run in front of a small group. After a kilometer and a half, the tail of the previous start-up group appears and looping begins. Hot. I look at the clock, but since the tunnel did not have a GPS signal — the distance traveled is not shown accurately. At 5 km, I check the number with the planned time — no, I no longer pull — the gap is 40 seconds, and then it will only be hotter and closer. I’m running. Nothing special happens — no one overtakes, the crowd is tolerable, even with elbows you do not need to push around. At water stations I allow myself to slow down to drink normally. Hot.In a T-shirt it would be better. Although this would still not have done much weather. After half the way, it feels like we are constantly running to the hill. The nine-kilometer mark — is tired, as soon as possible already finish:
Zigzags through the streets begin in Zaandam, spectators appear. The finish is coming soon. I see the finish gate. I recall that these are fake — to the finish line about a kilometer. Rather, already:
How long did — run short. I decide not to wait for anyone from the team, but to immediately go for things. I get a bag, change clothes and go to the finish town, where we agreed to meet with teams and where our colleagues deployed a tent with food and drinks. I walk for half an hour around the town, suddenly which of my friends I will meet, then I go to ours. Someone has already finished and began to cool beer. We share our impressions, complain about the weather, argue that it is better — heat in + 25-26 degrees (yes, it warmed up a little more) or cold and rain as it was last year. Then the general photo:
Someone remains hanging out further, and I move towards the station:
I run a couple of kilometers as a hitch. Around the sounds of ambulances are heard. A message arrives on the phone that we were still lucky — we at least ran and even ran — subsequent start-up waves were canceled due to heavy heat. That is probably a shame on people. Or maybe not.
What do we have as a result of: — time — 1:03:40 (average pace 3:57 min / km) — 34th of 13997 in the category of recreational business runners (I don’t know if those who did not start are included in the total number)
Splits: 5 km — 19:00 — 03:48 min / km 10 km — 38:56 — 03:59 min / km 15 km — 59:23 — 04:05 min / km 16 km — 1:03:04 — 03:56 min / km
If you think about it, it’s quite a good result, taking into account weather conditions. 2 years ago, the position was slightly higher than — 26th of 16511 — although then it was cooler by 10 degrees.
Two teams fled from our organization: team 1 — 55th place — 06:24:42 team 2 — 222nd place — 06:47:39
I don’t know how it gives access to the competitive category for the team, but it seems that next year we will not see it. So my participation in this event is a big question.
PS. During the race he lost 2 kilograms of weight / water and sucked 2 gels.