Fun in the dunes

Had a really good run on Sunday. 42.5 kms through the dunes. I switched between the dunes and beach all the way up past Katwijk and back to The Hague. Legs were a little heavy at the end and I felt my knee a little the day after. But all in all a very good run. I didn't run today because I wanted to let my knee recover some more. I'll be swimming and running tomorrow, so a busy day ahead. I have to really start focusing my running towards carrying more weight, so tomorrow I am going to order the rucksack I'll be using in a years time. I also need to push a run up to 50kms, mainly because I feel like another milestone to aim for. I seem to need something motivational quite often, otherwise I get the feeling that my training is stagnating. 50kms should do the trick!

On another note, it's only 3 days until the next release of Ubuntu hits the mirrors. It's strange how some people can get a kick out of a new version of their favorite operating system. Luckily ubuntu releases a major upgrade every 6 months. As soon as it 's available I'm going to rebuild my pc. Last weekend I finally got around to buying a new printer which is compatible with Linux. The old one was a pain. The only way I could use it was to have windows xp running in a virtual machine.

Well time to get some sleep. At the beginning of last week I didn't sleep too well, but the last few nights I've had no problems. I have no idea why I wasn't sleeping, I just seemed to wake up sweating a lot. Oh well, maybe I just wasn't tired enough!!

Seeing is believing

Last October I had laser surgery to fix my short sightedness. I had to have Lazek as opposed to Lasek. They sound similar, but they're very different. With Lazek the top layer of cells over the eye are dissociated and pushed asside, then the lazer does it's work. The cells are pushed back and a bandage contact lens is placed over the eye for about a week. The first 3 days are hell. I could hardly sleep due to the pain. I laid on the couch and listened to audio books. Stephen Fry did a great job with Harry Potter. In the end I was two and a half weeks away from work. If I'd have had the lazik treatment, I would have been out of action for about 3 days, with hardly any pain, then back to work. I thought originally I would have lazik, but in the end my stigma was too strong, so no choice. Today, I had a follow up eye examination. It turns out my left eye is pretty much ok, but my right eye is still -1.25. This means I'll have to have the same treatment on my right eye. At least I'll be able to see through my left eye. Last time I couldn't stand any light for days. I'm just not looking forwards to the pain. The worst part is that I'll probably have to wait for the surgery until late May or June. So lots of time to think about it.

Well, I had a good swim today. Unfortunately I didn't get a run, since the drops used to dilate my pupils for the eye test make it difficult to see. Tomorrow is another day, and what a day. Friday, my favorite word.

Rotterdam Marathon

I seem to have skipped a few days. Happens sometimes I guess... Anyway, I ran the Rotterdam marathon on Sunday. I posted my usual time of 3:58. I don't know how I came up with my race strategy, but it went something like this. Run as far as I can with my heart rate at 170 (I normally run at 155). Once my legs explode, hang on and use the experience as mental training. What an idiot. At 32kms my legs went and the last 10 were not the greatest. I knew I needed energy, but the dates I normally eat on long runs just didn't quite fit the bill. I found myself craving extran energy drink at the water stations. So, I've learned a couple of lessons.
1. Don't make up your training strategy as you go along. Stick to the pre-race plan (I should have had one).
2. If I'm going to push it, I won't be able to eat solid fuel. So, I'm going to buy a second platypus and fill it with energy drink, that was I'll have plain water, dates and energy drink available on long runs.

The day after the marathon I ran again and felt good. Legs were a little sore, but not too bad. Then on Tuesday it got a little heated at work, so I only ended up swimming. I then made the mistake of not leaving work were it belongs, in the office. I got only a couple of hours sleep because work issues were circling around my mind. So today was an enforced rest day. I thought I sorted out how to leave work at work, but sometimes it just seems impossible. I'll just have to try better next time.

I still need to work on my training schedule. Something for the weekend, I think.

Sci-fi and tired legs....

I've just finished reading an amazing sci-fi novel. It's called Ender's game by Orson Scott Card. I've decided to read some of the sci-fi classics and this one came pretty high on the list. Anyone needing some diversion from aching legs, should give it a go. I guess changing my run style has hit my legs quite a bit. I was tired the whole day. Although the late nights this week haven't helped. Tonight I'm going to bed early, so I'm ready for a good swim tomorrow morning. I guess the moral is, don't watch too much football, especially champions league, since the games finish so late. Also, don't then read for an hour in bed before finally getting 6 or max 7 hours of sleep. But given that I was so tired I was really happy with todays 11 km run. I averaged 11.7kms per hour including very slow warm up.
I have to hit the forums and find out which rucksack I should buy for the main event. I think once I start collecting the equipment it will all star coming together. I also have to start pushing more for sponsorship. I will be running for the charity "Facing Africa" who send doctors to Africa to perform re-constructive surgery on people affected by Noma. The website is pretty graphic, but there's no hiding this debilitating disease. On the website you can also find a link to sponsor me (shameful plug).
Now it's time for that well earned sleep. Although I do have to start the next classic sci-fi novel "Peace and War" by Joe Haldeman. I hope I get some sleep tonight......

Another busy day at work

I had a very good swim this morning. I was tired after yesterday, but felt good. I was planning on a run after work. But in the end I was held up and decided I was too tired. So I came home and watched the Liverpool, Arsenal champions league game. Well worth it in the end. 4-2 to Liverpool. I normally have a lot of pain in my left knee after a long run, but I've hardly felt anything today. My achilles tendons are sore, especially this morning and when walking down stairs, but that's pretty normal. I still need to work out how to get to the marathon on Sunday. I hope I can drive and park somewhere close. The weather is getting worse and worse. Last year the Rotterdam marathon was canceled due to extreme heat. I get the feeling it might be snowing this year!

Making up for yesterday

It's hard when you miss a long training day. It's impossible to make up for, but ah, in the end I had 2 days of rest and a really good run today. I averaged 11.2kms/hr over 32kms. For me that's sprinting. I've changed my running style a little, in that I've started picking up my heels more. I'm really focusing on kicking my heel towards my bum at the end of each stride. I've noticed my pulse is a little higher, but I get a much better feeling from the stride. It's as if I'm running downhill even on the flat and my speed is on average 1km/hr faster. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep it up over 32kms, but in the end I didn't have too many problems. Even with a strong headwind (you get that a lot in Holland), I managed to keep the speed up. So, all in all, I'm pretty happy with today. Tomorrow I'm off to the pool again to race the Olympians (read, watch them lap me repeatedly). Then I'll do a run with weight. Feeling pretty energized, although just after the run I was so hungry and thirsty. I'm going to start experimenting with some more foods soon. I've had pretty good success with dried dates, but I'm bad a pacing my fluid intake. Oh well, still a year to learn...

Disrupted Sunday

I was planning on a 32km run today. I woke up, had breakfast and then I got a call from work. I spent the next 12 hours on a conference call. My run was out the window, which is really annoying. I'm planning on making up for it tomorrow, by taking time off work as compensation. Luckily this doesn't happen too often, but in my line of work, which means I need to be available 24/7, you never know. At least my legs have had an extra day of rest, but I want to get a long run in this week ready for the Rotterdam marathon next weekend.

Well, time to go and enjoy the rest of the evening (once the current conference call ends).

Friday

Always the best day of the week. I woke up at 05:30 and was running in the dunes by 06:00. The sun was still just making a smudge on the horizon and the birds were busy with the dawn chorus. The rabbits were everywhere and the dear were sprinting out of my way as a barn owl flew low over my head on it's final hunt of the night. I made my way to the beach for a 5km stretch before heading back inland. Really not a bad way to start a Friday. 16.5 kms later I was back home and ready for a typical Friday at work. Drive office, breakfast (cornflakes with chocolate soya milk), meetings, then a long lunch at cafe de wink with some of my team. Afternoon involved a few more meetings, then squash and the long drive home. Now it's time to kick back, open a bottle of wine and enjoy the evening before my only rest day.

In short, heaven....

Fun at the pool

Up at 5:45 and off to the swimming pool for a quick 3000m. It's pretty motivating swimming in the same pool and at the same time as the Dutch national team. I was doing my best not to be lapped too many times by the new 50m butterfly world record holder. Not a bad way to start the day. Rest of the day was work as usual. I manage a team of testers and a deployment/support team. We take care of provisioning new internet, telephony and digital tv subscribers in 12 countries across Europe. It's quite a challenging job, but I manage to fit in the sport (most of the time). After work I drove home with my wife, who works across the road from me at Microsoft (I'm a linux fan, so I'm always making fun of her). Then I went for a 11km run with 4.5 kilo rucksack (averaged 11.4kms/hr). Didn't get home until after 20:00, ate, wrote this and now it's time for bed. I'll be up again at 5:30 tomorrow morning for a 16km run before driving to work. But the good news is, it's Friday tomorrow. I run in the morning, have a nice long lunch with the team, play squash with some guys from work, then buy a bottle of wine. You see Friday is the day before my only day off in the week. Which means Friday is the only day I can have a drink! Getting used to this has been interesting, since I got very used to drinking wine with all my meals. But I find it fun to look forwards to it all week, then finally make a really big deal of the "evening before my day off".
Saturday will be back on the wagon ready for a long run on Sunday morning.
Well, time to get not quite enough sleep, before strapping on the heart rate meter and foot pod (I use a Polar 725x) and hitting the dunes.

First time out

I have a lot of questions about the marathon des sables. I've read the forums, read all the books I could find and tried to adapt various training schedules to my needs. In the end though, I have to admit that I'm flying by the seat of my pants and hoping I'll put together the right set of training to get me through. I figured writing about my day to day struggle with training, work, home etc... would help me get my head straight and maybe provide some useful information to other mad fools who suddenly wake up and wonder why they've entered this crazy race.
Today, I ran 11kms with no weight at a reasonable (for me) tempo, averaging 11.4 kms per hour. I'm relatively fresh this week, since I didn't attempt a long run on the weekend or Monday. I'm still getting over a bout of Flu and a sprained ankle. I sprained my ankle while running in the sand dunes near my home in The Hague. During the nice painful walk back to civilization, I managed depressed my immune system so much I ended up with the flu. I guess life likes to play these nice jokes now and again.
Over the coming weeks, I'm going to add some links which might come in handy fellow crazy people. I've already added a link to my training schedule/log. If you take a look the start of this year has not been amazingly smooth. I did manage a few good weeks where I built up to marathon length training sessions (handy living exactly 42 kms from work). Last year I did pretty well at sticking to the program. I just had some time off last October after having laser surgery, from which I still haven't recovered.
Well, wish me luck. Only a year to go and I've got to go from a plodding 4 hour marathon runner to a full blown multi day ultra marathon specialist.

Oh god, what have I done........