Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II Shattered Dreams?

Shattered. Gutted. Disappointed. One week ago yesterday I was off to a bouldering site with the bae for a new New Monthly Tryout. We have been trying to go climbing since May and every single time something came up. And so I was so excited to finally go and climb my way up a wall.

I went really well, like a little spider I sped my way up all the routes. Until...we went back to route one of level one -yes, it is that stupid, one of one- and I dislocated my knee while swinging my body to a new little orange stub on the wall.

Luckily I fell quite safely on my back, leaving my knee as good as it can get while dislocated. After the ambulance came after a time that felt like forever, they quite easily pushed everything back in place and I spent the rest of the night in hospital waiting for x-rays and a consult and finally left at midnight with a brace expanding over my entire leg -hip to ankle- and two crutches.

All I could think about while laying on the big mat at the bouldering joint, the ambulance and the hospital, was my marathon. Absolutely gutted. Why did I go out and climb up a wall? Why did I try to change my body position this much while hanging off a 'cliff'? Why did my leg not just say no, instead of twisting off my knee cap? Is this the end of my 2016 marathon?

This Thursday I will make my way to the hospital again and get an update on how my recovery will continue. But at that time I will have spent two weeks limping in a brace instead of building up my long distances. So even with a swift recovery, a marathon in 2 months seems unlikely. 

Somewhere in the distance I still have a glimmer of hope, but in reality I do know that the Amsterdam marathon is just not happening this year. Gutted. Absolutely gutted. The marathon this fall was my 2016 goal. My new year's resolution. I have been working towards this for more than 6 months. And it's not going to happen.

I know things could be worse. I could have fallen on my knee, instead of my back. I could have broken something. Or injured not only my knee, but also something else; a hip or ankle. I mean, I could have been hit by a bus on the way to the bouldering site. I know all this. Still I'm absolutely gutted. The glimmer of hope still has her eye on the Amsterdam marathon. My little bit more realistic brain is thinking about the Rotterdam marathon in April.

We'll see. 

I'll keep you up to date on the recovery and all the next steps. Cheers from a girl restricted by a huge brace -aptly from the brand actimove- on the couch, in stead of out side for a 26K run.

Monthly Tryout II supagolf

It was a cloudy, wet afternoon after a 20K run. I found myself on a big field, surrounded by poles, nets and plastic sheets with rubber ducks on them, swinging around some clubs while enjoying a beer.

Supagolf, its a golf-type game that's in between mini-golf and golf. You get a caddie with 4 different clubs that you roll around a football-sized field containing 9 holes, which vary between 40 and around 80 meters of playing field. And I have to say, it's a lot of fun!

Of course my supagolf partner found his strength in this game, hitting balls perfectly and flying them over the plastic duck water ponds, while I kept struggling, causing me to lose miserably. Let's say it was due to the fact I just almost ran a half marathon...

There are two holes, that aren't really holes, but a game of shooting as many balls as you can into a net, which suited my talents more. Alas, it wasn't enough to make it to the finish line. 

All in all, we had a blast, with one round of holes providing us about an hour and a half of fun with the two of us. 

Supagolf in Amsterdam is a pop-up golf course. They are 'live' until August 28th. Go check them out!

Fore!!!

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II week 20

Week 20...almost half way there. And almost half way a marathon, with a long distance run of 20K this weekend. 

With all the rain in August, I decided to do more strength training on Wednesday in stead of an interval training, as I am a little scared to get injured because of cooling off too much between high intensity intervals. 

This was the first 20K run for a long time in my schedule, and I had to think about bringing along drinks and something to energise during the run again. Which is something you need to think about during the marathon as well. 

When running a half marathon I usually just use the water and banana points of the event itself. But is this something I want during the marathon?

Also, there are no water or banana points during a training! So what to do? I decided to bring some gels, and a bottle of water and every 5-6K I had a gel and a few sips. And it kept me going. 

I was kind of spent though at the end. I discussed with a marathon running friend what to do in these situations where you are too spent to keep going. Is it better to run on, or is it better to just walk a minute or two and then start running again after getting your breath and heart rate down? 

She felt it was better to keep running, because it is so hard to start up again. In my opinion it is kind of nice to have a little walk in between. Especially because I do not like to eat gels and run. Or eat anything while moving, really. So often, when I eat something, I don't run. I walk. It works for me. And if I need to extend my run a couple of km, I kind of like to have a little walk and then run another 5k. It helps me take on those extra minutes and get across the imaginary finish line.