Weblog Alex Reuneker

Last Sunday I ran a distance beyond the marathon for the first time, one of the reasons being the frustration of having almost completed a tough training plan just when the marathon of Rotterdam got cancelled. Given the pandemic, I do understand and fully support this decision, of course, but it still sucks.

Trying an ultra-distance I didn't feel like racing on my own, because I do like having other runners around to group up with, keep each other out of wind et cetera, so I decided to try an ultra distance – a 50K, at long run pace, so around 4:30 per kilometer. Below you'll see the route.

It was a weird experience, running beyond 42K and especially doing it without other runners or people along the sides of the roads. Luckily, my wife was crazy enough to accompany me on her bike and provide me with support, drinks and, near the end, some small foods.

How it felt The only thing I regret is wearing Hoka Clifton's. Of course, they are made for long runs, but the toebox is so narrow that 35K may still be okay (I've worn them for most of my long runs), but not for more than that. I already felt chafing at 10K and I had two major blisters afterwards, while I actually never really have any blister issues.

During the run, there were the usual emotions: first 20K were fun, from 20 to 30K I felt okay, from 30 to 35K I was fed up with it, and from 35K onwards it was okay again, apart from the wind that got stronger and stronger. Hitting 42K I felt good until 47K and at that time, I just didn't want to run anymore. Of course, I kept on going, keeping cadence high and pace steady, but it felt like it cost a lot of energy. Which it probably did. Hitting 50K was a milestone, of course, and doing a 2K cooling-down felt okay, so mission accomplished.

Conclusion Would I do it again? Well, a 50K I'd do again, but only in an organised race, I think. And wearing different shoes, of course.

It's been a while since I posted anything here. A lot has happened running-wise, most importantly of course cancellations, like the cancellation of the Rotterdam Marathon, due to the corona virus.

I'd like to focus here on something else however. I've created a simple page with downloadable metronome MP3 files, ranging from 170 to 200 BPM. Each MP3 is an hour long and can be looped in your favourite player.

Photo by Steve Harvey on Unsplash

Although everyone can generate metronomes using Audacity, I thought it would be handy for others to be able to just download lengthy metronome MP3's. They're great to use when working on your cadence and technique.

If you're interested, the files are free of course and can be found on https://www.reuneker.nl/files/metronome. Enjoy!

Today, I ran the final race of the training schedule I made. It was a local 10K and turned out to be a lot of fun.

Part of race was on an off-road path

The race

I ran a 10K race in Delft, the Bertusloop, organized by DIJC Bertus, which is small and local, but does attract a healthy amount of runners from Delft, Rotterdam and places around that area.

This race was on my schedule as the final race, with the last race, two weeks ago, as a tune-up that, if it went well, would be the end of the training program. However, as my footpod was apparently keeping track of distance instead of my GPS, I ran a good race, but paced based on the wrong information. So the 3:29 per km was in fact around 3:37. So, my watch registered a race that was too long, the course was too long, and in the end, I just don't know how I did. So, this was kind of a chance to try again.

I started the first K too fast, at 3:23, but quickly got back to 3:30. That was my goal pace, and I knew it would be hard. It was hard and I couldn't keep it up, so I 'dropped' to splits around 3:36. Not what I was hoping for, but still, I managed to run my own race, which was really important here, because there was one runner in front of me, who kind of collapsed after 5K. I knew the first part of the race that I shouldn't keep his pace, because it just felt too fast for a 10K for me, so, in hindsight, I'm really glad I kept my own pace. At 5.5K, I overtook him without speeding up and I was able to finish the race first by more than a minute.

So, what's my finish time, you ask? Well, 36:03. Four lousy second short of sub-36, which was my goal. I ran behind the cyclist who navigated and he blocked my view on the official time. My watch was set up to show lap time, distance, pace and cadence, so when I saw 35:50 on the clock, I knew it was probably too late for a final end sprint to catch up. I did sprint, but to no avail. So, that really sucks. Besides that, I am pleased with my time, as last year, I set my PB at 36:26, and I shaved more than 20 seconds off. I'm really pleased with that, although, of course, I was hoping for more.

The race was a lot of fun – local and well organized

Conclusions

The weather was great, so nothing to complain about in that department. I do think not having two sharp turn-arounds, which I really suck at, and some really slippery, uneven paths would have gotten me a sub-36 10K, but still, that's all part of the course and something I can't control. What can I do better next time?

Post-race coffee

First, I think I should not be working in the garden and definitely shouldn't be carrying very heavy window frames on our small steps into the basement the day before a race. What was I thinking? I felt it directly the first kilometer. On the other hand, I have only the weekends to do that kind of stuff and I can't sit around doing nothing the whole weekend of a race.

Second, I think I'll just have to admit that pacing a 10K at 3:30 is too ambitious right now. Next season, I'll try again.

Third, doing hard strides the day before – I don't know. I see it in a lot of training plans, but maybe I should experiment doing them two days before a race and doing no running at all the day before.

Race data and results

If you want to see the race, check it out on Garmin or on Strava. The official results can be found on the DIJC Bertus website.