Amsterdam Diary #5

The longest run

Things were going well, very well actually, until my trip, after that I’ve been having to pick up things and do some extra work.

Finally on Sunday, I went long. The first time I’ve been doing such a distance for a while, and it proved to continue to be a very interesting experience.

Above the physical effort required, it’s always the mental one.

Running, like everything else, it’s a combination of things. Training, nutrition, sleep, hydration, weather conditions, and of course, the mind. Get on of these out of balance and the rest will be immediately affected.

It was an eventful run, with lows and highs, but overall, very steady, which is what you want when you are doing 36K just three weeks before the big day.

The main challenge and mystery continues to be the nutrition during the event. I know that I’ll be going out fasted, that’s for sure. I also know I can manage until the half-way point in those circumstances without any problems.

The puzzle continues to be what to do after that, and although I’ve been trying different products, there still a couple that need to be tested, hoping to do so during the remaining two Sunday long runs.

At that point, I hope I’ve found the right items and to just set a strategy around them for the day. If not, then I already have a back-up plan that comprehends products that I’ve used before but that I have only tested once in training conditions, which means, I know it will work, just don’t know how well, so let’s hope for the best.

I mean, it’s only a 42 kilometres race, what could go wrong? 😜