FEAR AND SLOWTHING IN ENSCHEDE.

FEAR AND SLOWTHING IN ENSHEDE.

By Bar Runner Phil "the Instigator" Morris. 

Originally posted in the Bar Runner Facebook Group

 

Enschede Half Marathon 2012.

(Enchede is pronounced en-skeer-day a bit like 'I love you' in Norwegian.)

As previously stated my last run was a source of contempt and self loathing for me so I decided to do things right and prepare properly. As there were only 2 weeks since the last one where I had calf issues I had only trained once which was planned as 10 mins slow out and return fast but turned out to 7 mins out and then I just turned around and ran home as my leg was hurting and I didn't want to injure it (any more). So there was an element of logic to me not training beforehand however topsy turvy that logic may of been..

So, no drinking alcohol on Friday or Saturday and I had pasta for dinner both nights I made a point of drinking one or two sports drinks on the days beforehand to keep my hydration levels up.

The "sports drink" in question. Picture from Great Britain Olympic Marathon Team.

I have to say, for me at least, maintaing a good preparation plan was mentally very fullfilling, I felt great Sunday morning and was raring to go, confident in the knowledge a decent (for me) time was on the cards. I would of accepted anywhere between 1.58 to 2.03 as acceptably ok.

Sunday morning I had a few bananna's for breakfast - dunno why.. I heard somewhere they're good...something to do with pottasium I believe - and a sports drink and headed off to the event arriving....ONE HOUR EARLY!!!

Yea....I felt like a winner alredy ;) LOL!

As it was a bit chilly I jogged around warming up. Not smoking.

The sun came out just as we were forming up on the start, which I again took as good karma for the run ahead. Confidence was high.

I found the 1hr 55 pacer dude with his orange coloured ballons and away we went.

The first few k I was leaving the pacer behind and thought to myself Woa phil boy - easy tiger and slowed myself to maintain his pace.

At 5k the cramps in my calf started, I tried to block it out but it was really pissing me off more than hurting me to be honest I've never had injury problems.

At 7k the 1.55 dude passed me (and that was the last I saw of him LOL...).

At 8k I stopped and stretched my calf which pissed me off to as it's been years since I stopped or walked one step of a run.

The stretching did seem to help for a k or 2.

At 10k the 2.00 pacer passed me.

I felt like giving up I knew I was in for a shit time. But me not being in the business of quitting compounded by not wanting to give away any unnecessary joy to the haters I carried on.

I was running a few k stopping stretching and so on at this stage.

It started raining which soon turned to hail (?) but both lasted a couple of minutes only. No problem there I actually like running in the rain.

12k to 16k went ok really I guess, I was stopping and walking say 20 metre's or so every now and then.

I will say one thing I noticed and please read it all before you jump to any conclusions...

There are some real spazzy gymp type mother fuckers who run these here half marathons...I know, half the fuckers were overtaking me. 

Honestly there were people running with arms and legs flailing all over the place, one dude was flopping around so much I considered wrestling him to the ground and pinning his tounge to his lip so he didn't swallow the feckin thing...I thought he was having some kind of seizure!!

Google search of "gymp" resulted in this.

But, to be honest I salute these people more than natural athlete's for getting out there and doing it. And what could I say...I was a gympy mother fucker too, getting beaten by other gymps!

Another thing I'll say was the level of inspiration from these people was top notch too. A few times I'd stop and someone would say 'come on mate' (in dutch...and one dude in german) which always gave me the motivation to carry on. I did it to others too. I ran with maybe half a dozen men or women at different times gee-ing each other on till they left me or I left them. It was nice I gotta say.

At 17k the 2.05 pacer passed me and I thought right you gympy mother fucker, it's just pain, deal with it and stick with the 2.05 and you can still get an improved time then before.

It wasn't to be. Mental toughness was lacking I guess. From here on out I basically ran a k walked 50m and so on.

So I crossed the line at 2. (fucking) 15. Shit.

I had noticed on my last run my breathing was super easy and had put that down to not smoking on the startline, It was super easy here too. I came to the conclusion I'm running so slow that my heart rate is only slightly above normal therefore I didn't need to breathe hard!!

I blame was new trainers, as mentioned earlier. I'm going to replace them and try again on the 20th May in a cross country half marathon.

They may have cramped up his calves, but damn he looked fabulous!

To end on a positive note I would say to my Barruning amigo's what I learnt on this run is having a pre planned and perfectly exectuted preparation agenda is mentally very rewarding, as someone who took race day as any other day I found proper preparation extremely rewarding.

Taste of the Trail

After a week or two of gradually testing the foot on slow 10Ks on asphalt without any flare-ups it was time to get back on the program. I'm planning to start it in a couple of weeks so I better get in shape. I did a nice hill workout last week, 2 minutes x 6 and felt confident to hit the trails up the valley side.

I probably should have walked the first bit, 300 meters of elevation on the first 2-3 Ks is a pretty brutal warm up, and I hadn't reached the forest yet. When I reached the trail I was pretty winded, when I negotiated the first rocky hill I was pretty tired.* I walked up some of the worst inclines and tried to jog up the rest. Of course, the infamous Blåsteinsbakkene being just a series of insane inclines, I walked quite alot.

The one thing about trailrunning I've forgotten or taken lightly was the fact that you have to pay attention to where you're placing your foot. When it comes to road running the worst thing that happens is treading on dogshit (or horseshit, when you're running in Nedre Eiker), but the trail is strewn with natures evil little booby-traps, i.e. rocks and roots. When I almost stumbled for the third time I had to stop daydreaming about hooking up with Megan Fox around the corner and focus on the ground. Tripping on a rock was slightly more realistic than finding her jogging around here. Just slightly.

I finally reached a cabin at the 5,5 K mark according to the Garmin so I had some water, a breather and a long shiver. Even if it's spring, I was caught out with shorts and a technical shirt at 400 meters. It started to snow. Both my nipples pointed me home.

Now started what must be the high point of trail running, the downhills. Of course by fun, I mean "the exhilarating feeling of fear of smashing your face on pointy rocks because you can't f***ing stop". And in some places I skedaddled down sheet ice and crusty snow, which was equally fun/terrifying. When I hit the road again, my knees and thighs were quivering with exhaustion/fear. I think I've found a new addiction. All the stats here.

On another happy note, Bar Runner Team Member Keiko has put on his running shoes. According to rumors, it was rather reluctant and forced, but his efforts has been duly noted. Hopefully this will last longer than his attempted solo career as MC Cool Ice.