tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45223906598785801302024-02-19T00:26:20.775-08:00Pieter VermeeschRunning blog of Pieter VermeeschUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-33874157873003295202018-02-03T10:30:00.001-08:002021-09-18T09:54:40.882-07:00Suffolk & EssexRunning is a simple sport. It does not require any fancy gear or infrastructure. In essence, it is just a matter of getting from start to finish as fast as one can. This is why Lindley Chambers' Flitch Way 100k race in Essex is close to my heart. No charity fund-raising, no medals, no t-shirts, no nonsense. Just running, pure and simple. The race is set up as a last opportunity to qualify for the Spartathlon. The course is a simple 10 km out-and-back loop along a disused railway turned bicycle path. It is pretty flat apart from two steep bridges, each of which has to be crossed twenty times. I found out about the Flitch Way event a few days before last year's edition, which turned out to be one of my most painful running experiences ever. After 60 km, the two bridges felt like true mountains, and I struggled to finish in just under 9 hours. It was my weakest 100 km performance since 2001. But I had nevertheless enjoyed the true sportsmanship of the event and was determined to come back and do better the next year.<br />
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The rest of 2017 came and went with the usual ups and downs. I did some speed work by including an occasional Parkrun in my usual Saturday morning long run. I love Parkruns because they, like the Flitch Way 100k, reduce racing to its bare essentials. Speaking of 'bare', after experimenting with various kinds of footware in an attempt to recover from a mysterious hip injury in 2012, I settled on £10 aqua shoes from the surfing brand O'Neill. They are cheap, easy to clean and, importantly, unfashionable. Which means that the model does not change every year like regular trainers do. In any case, I have done all my training in these shoes but continued to race in regular flats. Until last year's London Marathon, which went fine until about 30 km when my feet got really tired (duh!) and forced me to slow down to a 2h38' finish. The second race in my fancy new shoes was a 33.1 mile trail run in Suffolk last October, which I won in 3h54' (taking half an hour off the course record) after slipping and sliding my way through the muddy first half, and falling flat on my face on three occasions. Trail running shoes my O'Neills are not! Trail running is a lot of fun though. Whilst watching where you put your feet, time just flies by and you barely feel any tiredness. Road racing is much tougher, as I experienced again last weekend during my second outing on the Flitch Way.<br />
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I was not feeling all that great in the weeks leading up to the race. Bearing in mind last year's painful experience, I devised a somewhat unusual game plan. I decided to go out faster than last year and complete the first 50 km in 3h40' no matter what happened. If I felt tired at this point, then I would simply stop and the race could be considered a good training run. If, on the other hand, I still felt good after 50 km, then I would complete the full 100 km. At that point I could afford to have a 40' positive split for the second half, which should be plenty to dip under 8 hours. The race started at 7 am, and during the first few laps I enjoyed the company of Ian Hammett (2017 Spartathlon finisher) and Alastair Higgins (who came from Ireland to qualify for the 2018 Spartathlon). Sticking to my race plan, I pulled away from my companions after two laps and cruised along the Flitch Way at a pace of exactly 42' per lap. After each lap, I would drink some hot soup from a thermos that I had brought from home. I also had two Mars bars and a waffle (the secret of a proper Belgian runner!). After 3h40', I had completed five laps as planned and still felt surprisingly fresh. Which meant that I had to continue. During the second half of the race, I gradually slowed down to 48'-50' per lap. After 70km, I swapped my aqua shoes for regular trainers, which only slowed me down further to 54' per lap. These are pathetic times compared to my sub-7h days, but I was pretty happy still being in control so far in the race. With two laps to go Alastair overtook me, which I did not mind in the slightest. All I wanted was to finish the 100 km in less than 8 hours. Which I managed to do with a time of 7h56'.<br />
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Thus I have auto-qualified for Sparta. Which is a pleasant surprise!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwSHiaxUB45YP0hrUDZ4ULVFC6CjCmYf8hFUS7nraC7s3Mkru-b9eu5MDPm4c-ZYMDtCWtKWkYM8510uRhQSI5FpLC61KeB43W30CNsPQF9VDE7qJpihAPEpkDCM0XdIQiL7lSGRRkQ/s1600/26992578_1436031086523182_1599354023299198238_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="714" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwSHiaxUB45YP0hrUDZ4ULVFC6CjCmYf8hFUS7nraC7s3Mkru-b9eu5MDPm4c-ZYMDtCWtKWkYM8510uRhQSI5FpLC61KeB43W30CNsPQF9VDE7qJpihAPEpkDCM0XdIQiL7lSGRRkQ/s400/26992578_1436031086523182_1599354023299198238_n.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Alastair Higgins, who won this year's Flitch Way 100k in 7h55'.</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-68906285263163206762015-11-27T03:09:00.001-08:002016-02-27T03:05:24.998-08:00Leicester marathon 2015Back in September, right around the IAU 100km championships (which, needless to say, I gave a pass), and having all but given up hope of ever getting back into shape, I noticed that my running was slowly improving again. I carefully pushed the pace a little, upped the mileage slightly and was happy to note that my body stayed in one piece. I decided to run a marathon, just for fun. And so on a nice Autumn morning in late October, I lined up at the start line of the Leicester marathon, exactly one year after my retirement from competitive ultra running.<br />
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Previous editions of the Leicester marathon had been won in about 2h35'-2h40'. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that I might be able to win the race. There's no contradiction between wanting to win and my earlier statement that I entered the race for fun. After all, there's nothing quite as much fun as winning :-) After six (slightly downhill) miles in 32'56", I found myself in the company of two other runners, Alex Brooks and Matthew Lalor. At half marathon point (76'), Brooks had dropped behind and I had to battle it out with Lalor, who was looking really strong. All I could hope for was that he overplayed his hand and would get cramps or something in the latter stages of the race. Alas for me, this didn't happen and at around 20 miles I had to let him go. The final six miles were a bit of a struggle not the least because I was getting really thirsty (*). I lost nearly four minutes to Lalor (who improved his marathon PB by nearly an hour!) and finished in 2h38'06". Which is okay. On a faster course, with a bit more training and more drinking water, I think I've still got a sub-2h30' marathon in me.<br />
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Now that I feel a bit stronger again, I'm beginning to make plans for next year. These include the Barry 40 in March (perhaps), the London marathon in April (definitely) and London-Brighton in May (definitely). I'm not planning to ever train as much as I did prior to 2015, but at least it's nice to look ahead rather than behind.<br />
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Finally, I should say a few words about my mother, who never had a competitive bone in her body. Until recently. She picked up running at age 58, ran her first marathon at age 60, and never looked back. She's 65 now and just ran a Belgian age group record: 3h42'! And there I was, thinking that my competitive running career was over at 39 :-)<br />
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(*) A request for race organisers: please serve water in bottles or paper cups. It is impossible to drink from a plastic cup whilst running at full speed!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mum</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-54707899523359462892015-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:002016-02-27T03:19:16.971-08:00Welwyn HalfWait a minute? What does a wimpy half marathon race do on this tough going ultramarathon blog? Well, first of all, it's a sign of life. I haven't given up running altogether. Second, this half marathon took place in Welwyn, my home of the past seven years. And third, believe it or not, but this was my first ever half marathon! That's right, nearly 16 years after my first marathon, someone finally managed to convince me to try the half distance. That someone was my wife, who decided to get back into the running business herself, after not have worn trainers for more than a decade. Jianmei thought it would be fun to race together again and besides, there was a £150 cash prize at the finish line!<br />
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And so we both lined up at the start line of the inaugural Welwyn Half Marathon, on the track at Gosling Sports Park. The track which is normally off limits to me. Gosling charges an £8 admission fee and are unwilling to make any exceptions to anyone who hasn't qualified for the Olympic Games. Really, that's what they told me when I asked for free access back when I was winning medals at international championships. Anyway, off we went and I quickly found myself at the front of the pack with a strong looking runner who I later found out to be Kent AC's Tim Lawrence. We chatted a bit and Tim told me he wanted to run 1h17'. I thought I should be able to do better than that and pulled away from him after a mile or so. All I wanted to do was win because I had promised so much to Jianmei.<br />
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After 5 miles I had established a comfortable lead of maybe 200 metres. We ran through the 'AL7' postcode area towards Hertford, followed the old railroad-track-turned-bike path for a while, then turned back to Welwyn along the Old Coach Road. The sun was shining and I should have had fun, but I wasn't feeling comfortable at all. I remembered why I have always avoided short races like this: you never get any time to catch your breath! I was constantly looking over my shoulder to check my lead and, much to my dismay, it wasn't getting bigger. If anything, the guy was getting closer. For a moment, I thought he would catch me but I managed to hold him off and after an agonizing 1h15'56", I crossed the finish line in first place, a mere 20 seconds ahead of Tim Lawrence. Not a great time (my halfway split time in the marathon used to be 8 minutes faster!), but the best I could have hoped for with this shape, on a fairly windy and hilly course, and all by myself.
Anyway, all's well that ends well. Jianmei finished in 1h48', which is amazing after just a few weeks of training. I received the prize and that's all that matters in life, isn't it?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First prize: enough money to pay for 18 runs on the Gosling track!</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-11893829840617092742014-11-24T04:59:00.001-08:002014-11-28T08:18:52.018-08:00Sparta, Qatar & outI have run ultras for 15 years. Sometimes I won and sometimes I lost, but I always enjoyed doing it. That has changed this year. As described in my previous post, I have been really struggling to get in shape. Although I'm neither injured nor (demonstrably) ill, for some reason I have become very slow. This situation has dragged on since the beginning of the year, and it has made it increasingly hard to motivate myself to log the miles required to prepare myself for a good ultrarunning performance. The main thing that has kept me going during the past months was the prospect of running the mythical Spartathlon race, which was held on September 26 and 27 between Athens and, well, Sparta (yes that's in Greece).
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To make a long story short, my fears came true, as I felt weak and slow from the word 'go'. Whereas I normally have to apply the hand brake to keep myself from running too fast at the beginning of a long ultra, this time I found it hard to maintain any speed at all. By the time we reached Corinth (80km), I had been passed by two women, which is something I hadn't experienced for many years. Despite good weather conditions (temperatures stayed below 30°C all day which is unusually mild for the Sparathlon), I continued to slow down until 140 km, when I was forced to walk. After 100 miles, at 2 am on the Sangas mountain pass, I decided to call it quits. My legs were still feeling great, but I was completely drained of energy.
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<br />
In the aftermath of the Spartathlon disaster, I initially decided to scrap the world 100km championships in Qatar, which were held two months after Sparta. But I changed my mind because I didn't wan't to turn my back to my Belgian team mates, whom I thought I might be able to help during the first half of the race, despite my weakness. I reduced my training load from the usual 100+ to 40-50 miles per week and really enjoyed that. But unfortunately that didn't suffice to regain my strength. Making another long story short, the 100k championships were even more of a disaster for me than the Spartathlon. I felt a familiar pain in my chest from 40km onwards and then gradually slowed down further until I couldn't move forward anymore at 70km.<br />
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The third DNF in my ultrarunning career is also the second one during the last two months. This is getting scary. I need to get a proper diagnosis before I can even think about racing again. Unfortunately it is not easy to see a specialist doctor in the UK. There's not a great deal of sympathy with 'self inflicted injuries' in this country. Nevertheless, I need to have at least my heart checked, if only to give me some peace of mind.<br />
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But even if I recover from this mysterious malady that is weakening me so much (surely can't be age, can it?), I don't plan to run as much in the future as I did in the past. Quite frankly, I've had enough. The time has come to spend more time with my family, sleep in every once in a while and go on a proper vacation every now and then. Of course I will continue to run, and I will continue to run marathons. But gone are the >100 mile weeks and the need to push myself all the time. Perhaps I'll try a triathlon. I'll definitely run more trails. But most of all, I'm looking forward to being healthy and having fun again. Because running has always been, and will always be the most beautiful sport in the world :-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-42114338268644625232014-07-14T12:35:00.004-07:002014-07-17T13:41:48.624-07:00Ango Celtic PlateI fell ill with the flu immediately after the London marathon, which perhaps explains my poor performance and breathing problems during that race. Twenty days later, my Belgian friend and fellow ultrarunner Gino Casier came over to England for the 50km event during the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100km race in Gravesend, Kent and I decided to register for the long distance. That was a foolish decision given my poor shape at the time. During the first hour of the race, I stayed with Steve Way. Which also foolish, as Steve had just run a 2h16 marathon PB (see previous post). After 50km, I felt pretty miserable already, but nevertheless decided to continue running. Yet again a foolish decision, as I was suffering more and more while getting very badly sunburnt. Meanwhile, Mr. Way managed to stick to his relentless pace and lapped me with increasing frequency. The race was held on the Olympic cycling track, over 48 laps on an undulating course with one particularly nasty little climb of what must have been 20%. On that tough course, Steve ran a mindblowing 6h19'. It was a real privilege to have witnessed this remarkable achievement. Meanwhile, I continued to suffer miserably, and dropped out of the race after 99.999km, a clear case of misplaced pride. My sunburn was so bad that I had to stay in bed with fever for another two days, after which I lost all the skin on my arms, neck, face and back. Ouch!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steve Way and yours truly on their way to a National Record and a bad sunburn, respectively.</td></tr>
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After recovering from that painful experience, I decided to ramp up the mileage in order to get back in shape. During the next month and a half, I ran up to 120-130 miles per week, including a few 40-milers to London. Things weren't improving as much as I had hoped. In fact, the opposite happened, as I felt increasingly fatigued and tired. The upside was that I slept very well during the night! The brutal training regime had two purposes. First, to mentally prepare myself for the Spartathlon in September and second, to get in shape for the Belgian 100km championships at the end of June, which was held during the inaugural "ultramarathon weekend" in Maasmechelen, near the Belgian/Dutch/German border. My fourth race of the year, and yet again I was full of doubts. Right from the start, I got into a small group with 50km runner Frankie Leus and my main 100km rival Wouter Decock, the 30-year old rising star of Belgian ultrarunning. At marathon point, Frankie had to let us go and to keep a long story short, I stayed with Wouter until 70km, at which point I had to abandon my hope of running a sub-7h time. Wouter continued to run strong and finished in a wonderful 6h54', while I suffered badly (albeit not as badly as in Gravesend) for an hour, and then recovered somewhat to finish in third place in 7h20'.<br />
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I don't know what's wrong with me, but something's not right this year. I'm writing this report some two weeks after the race, and I'm still not feeling very well. Perhaps I should go and see a doctor. I better figure this out soon, as the Spartathlon is only 11 weeks away and I'm in no shape to run 152 miles in the burning sun. Once a fool, always a fool!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-7570902307613333152014-04-13T14:02:00.003-07:002014-04-16T04:31:14.369-07:00London Marathon 2014Three years have passed since I last ran the London Marathon. I was injured in 2012 and dropped out at the half-way point last year (partly because I had a 100k race to run 6 days later, but still). Now, in 2014, I am three years older and slower than when I ran that memorable 2h19'. Despite not having access to a running track for speed work (Gosling Sports Centre charges £6 to run on their potholed tartan) and despite a long and horribly wet winter which flooded most of my favourite trails, I was determined to put in a solid performance this year.<br />
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My preparation started in earnest with the 'Barry 40' track race, which I won for the second consecutive time in a slow 4h24' (after passing through 20 miles in 1h59' - ouch!). After Barry, the weather improved a lot, and I steadily increased my weekly mileage to a maximum of 125 (which I only managed once, though). Not quite knowing what to expect for today's marathon, I decided to follow my intuition. The weather was really great and the start was exciting as always. I was standing two metres from the great Haile Gebrselassie and some five metres from the Olympic champions Stephen Kiprotich and Mo Farah. When Farah's name was announced, there was such a loud cheer that I thought my ears would bleed. There is no sport other than marathon running which allows ordinary plodders like me to compete in the same race as the best athletes in the world and stand shoulder to shoulder with them at the starting line.<br />
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Anyway, Farah <i>et al.</i> were soon out of sight and I joined a decent sized group running at a 5'09"/m pace (2h15' target time). That went very well until about 5 miles, which I suddenly had trouble breathing. Although these problems disappeared a few miles later, I never managed to raise the pace again, and steadily lost speed until the finish. Strangely enough, I never really suffered all that much, and actually enjoyed most of the race, although there were the usual rough patches, when I couldn't quite remember what I liked so much about running! The crowds were larger and noisier than ever, partly because of the good weather, and partly because of Mo Farah.<br />
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To make a long story short, I finished in a disappointing, but not entirely unacceptable 2h27'07". Just a few moments later, my RHUL colleague Tom Stevens finished his first sub-2h30' marathon, with a negative split! And what to say about the dynamic Steve Way, who only decided to race in London at the last minute and finished in a stunning 2h16'. Well done Steve, and see you at the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100k race in 20 days time. I shall not try to keep up with you!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At mile 12: slowly falling apart but still smiling (picture by Pete Grindrod).</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-40727280613298950282013-11-13T03:31:00.002-08:002013-12-16T08:58:30.973-08:00100km Deventer (NL)Last week I drove to a meeting in Aylesbury by car and got stuck in traffic for an hour. Last Saturday, when I had to travel to Deventer in Holland for the 8th Centennial 100k track race, I didn't want to risk missing my flight by getting stuck in traffic again and so I decided to ride to Luton airport by pushbike, which worked great :-) After the race, however, my train from Deventer to Amsterdam was delayed by half an hour because of signalling problems, and my flight back to Luton was delayed by nearly four hours due to mechanical problems. Motorised transportation sucks!<br />
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Anyway, let's talk about running. I went to Deventer for three reasons. First, there are virtually no 100k road races in the UK, which is a real shame. Second, I couldn't run the 100k race in Winschoten in September because I had to work that weekend. Third, I enjoyed the 40 mile track race in Barry earlier this year, and thought that the track could be the right place to knock a few minutes off my 100k PB. To my great relief, the weather was fine on race day, although it had rained a lot the night before, making the track soaking wet and giving me pretty bad blisters. There were just 21 runners at the start, 11 of whom had registered for the 50k race. That suited me fine because overtaking other runners hundreds of times on a 400m track only adds to the distance.<br />
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Being the only one attempting a fast time, I had to set the pace all by myself. Which proved to be a problem, as I found it much tougher to maintain a 4'/km pace in Deventer than I did in Barry and Belves, where I faced some more serious competition. I came through half way in 3h21' feeling fine, but then lost the plot between 60 and 80km. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I couldn't think clearly any more and somehow didn't manage to calculate my lap times. I thought I was still running at a decent pace because I kept passing the slower runners very frequently. Looking at my lap times now (see Dutch version of this blog), I had actually slowed down much more than I realised, to a pace of barely 12km/h. Suddenly I saw that I had only 63' left to cover the last 15k and achieve a sub-7h finish time, which was the minimum requirement I had set for this race. A jolt of adrenalin went through my body and I picked up the pace again. My legs were feeling fine and I had plenty of energy, having refuelled with gels at regular intervals (NB: what a joy to run without feeling sick!). The spectators began to cheer me on more loudly, and I actually started enjoying the race again. I finished the last 10km in 39 minutes to finish in 6h58', two and a half hours ahead of the second place finisher.<br />
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Conclusion 1: legs are superior to engines. Conclusion 2: it ain't easy to race alone. I'm taking a short break from running to please my Mrs. and will return in the spring. 2013 has been a pretty good year. I'm glad to be injury free again and am looking forward to next year!<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WQcEj6dVed0EygF8Sno4hVLr8qgMjEjFIROpcDSC77HXJxyz5uMZeEAGZkUmaklCr5rlXJ-NnT_tbceVSrtwFpG2tuEm1_h24HhqVzVyi58K4OBBZd6sKk-ml-J3EEqEFyLyMq_e2A/s1600/Deventer.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WQcEj6dVed0EygF8Sno4hVLr8qgMjEjFIROpcDSC77HXJxyz5uMZeEAGZkUmaklCr5rlXJ-NnT_tbceVSrtwFpG2tuEm1_h24HhqVzVyi58K4OBBZd6sKk-ml-J3EEqEFyLyMq_e2A/s400/Deventer.jpg" /></a></td>
<td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCec1yR4vIn8DhUG96ZIoHw3J40gQiIRZtWCQtYnaYTXRt0q3Mtoly-vW4z_p3m9v2KrtubQ0f5T1ujf1aBJVseceUwxwWWfCSrO-YUW711SQYfFMWSC2wCFKIA1kQDq8euDgmujaHw/s1600/9475_Pieter_Vermeesch.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCec1yR4vIn8DhUG96ZIoHw3J40gQiIRZtWCQtYnaYTXRt0q3Mtoly-vW4z_p3m9v2KrtubQ0f5T1ujf1aBJVseceUwxwWWfCSrO-YUW711SQYfFMWSC2wCFKIA1kQDq8euDgmujaHw/s400/9475_Pieter_Vermeesch.jpg" width="266" /></a>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-33850011370934044072013-04-29T05:06:00.000-07:002013-04-29T05:24:14.527-07:00EC 100km (Belvès, FR)When the IAU announced that this year's European 100km Championships would be organised on April 27th, I initially decided to give it a pass. Barely six days after the London marathon, it seemed unlikely that I would recover sufficiently to even complete the distance at all. But the Belgian coach somehow convinced me to register anyway, the idea being that if the weather conditions in London were unsuitable for a new PB, then I would complete the marathon as a training run and save my legs for the 100km race. However, the forecast for Sunday April 21st turned out to be absolutely perfect, so I decided to try and set a new PB on the marathon, and forget about the European Championship. That was the plan on the evening of April 20th, but at 3am on Sunday, I woke up sick and vomiting. I travelled to the start line weakened and demoralised. But in the excitement of the great race that is the Virgin London Marathon, I thought I should give it my best shot anyway, hoping that my condition would improve as the race unfolded. Sadly that did not happen. Feeling bloated and miserable, I managed to complete the first 5k within the target time of 16:30, and came through 10k in well under 33 minutes. But at that point, I felt so uncomfortable that I had to slow down, and eventually dropped out shortly after half marathon point. My first DNF in over 20 marathons.<br />
<br />
On to Plan B, then. I was weakened, fatigued and sick until Wednesday, but my health improved significantly from Thursday onwards. I finally felt 100% again on Saturday morning, just in time for the 100km race. The entire podium of last year's championship was absent, due to injuries and other commitments. This was a unique opportunity to claim my first international title. The race took place in the beautiful Périgord Noir region of south-western France, over one long undulating loop, from Belvès to Sarlat and back. The first 50km were uneventful and, as championship races go, relatively pleasant as we ran past spectacular castles and through picturesque villages. I arrived in Sarlat after 3h18', shortly behind three Spaniards. A 100km race doesn't start until 60km, and at that point I felt confident that I would catch the leaders and leave them behind. But then, at the 65km aid station, I couldn't find my supplies! By the time I reached the next fuel stop, I hadn't had anything to drink for 10km and felt significantly weakened. The final 25km of the race became a real struggle. But my Spanish rivals were suffering too and I somehow managed to cling on to second place until 3km before the finish line. Then, I was dealt a tremendous blow by the proverbial hammer, felt dizzy until I reached the final fuel station, at which point two other runners had passed me. At the end of the day, four championship runners managed to complete the hilly course in under 7h, four of whom received a medal and one of whom did not. That poor soul was me. A disappointing end to a roller coaster week.
<pre>
1 CUEVAS Asier Spain 6:53:14
2 BOCH Michaël France 6:56:49
3 REQUEJO José Antonio Spain 6:57:02
<b>4 VERMEESCH Pieter Belgium 6:58:06</b>
5 RISA Jarle Norway 7:01:39
6 JIMENEZ Miguel Angel Spain 7:04:36
7 BORDET Dominique France 7:05:17
8 DOHERTY Dan Ireland 7:06:00
9 PAVLOV Dimitri Russia 7:08:12
10 SPIRIDONOV Vasily Russia 7:08:43
</pre>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-20878865855209206512013-04-03T03:31:00.001-07:002015-02-03T13:29:43.174-08:0060km of TexelThe late Jan Knippenberg was an ultrarunning pioneer and anglophile from Holland, who wrote an influential book about the history of long distance running. In this book, he convincingly shows that what we now call 'ultramarathons' have in fact a much longer history than the marathon itself. Every other year since 1991, a 60km race is held on Knippenberg's beloved island of Texel. Needless to say that I was very happy to accept race director Martien Baars's invitation to take part in this year's 12th edition. Thanks to the Sat Nav on my Android phone (eat that, Apple!), I discovered that there is a fantastic cycle path going from my home all the way to Luton airport, a very pleasant albeit icy cold journey of just 12 miles. I parked my bike at the terminal building, hopped on the plane to Amsterdam and hitched a ride with my parents to Texel. The race started at 10:35 on April Fool's day. The sky was blue and it was freezing, just like in Barry. In fact, I believe that the very same high pressure centre that was responsible for the icy conditions in late February, is still sitting above of the British Isles right now. Whereas I was wearing shorts in Barry, I wasn't quite sure what to do in Texel, due to the strong north-easterly wind. I ended up changing clothes a lot, thus making the race look a bit like, not strip-poker, but 'strip-running':<br />
<br />
<i>distance:</i> 0-20km<br />
<i>clothing:</i> socks, tights, long sleeve t-shirt, regular t-shirt, warm hat, gloves<br />
<i>surface:</i> beach and dunes<br />
<i>conditions:</i> first some tail wind, then a strong and cold head wind.<br />
<i>position:</i> after a gentle start, I catch up with front runner Pascal van Norden, then team up with him and Pieter Mans to fight against the wind. After the first stretch of sand, I pull away from my two companions, then battle against the wind for a second run on the beach, in soft sand and at high tide. I nevertheless enjoy it, as I always do on the surface that reminds me so much of home!<br />
<br />
<i>distance:</i> 20-30km<br />
<i>clothing:</i> shorts, long sleeve t-shirt, t-shirt, regular hat, gloves<br />
<i>surface:</i> gravel path<br />
<i>conditions:</i> head wind<br />
<i>position:</i> gently pulling away from Mans and van Norden, who have the advantage of working together against the wind. I come through half way in 2h05'. Way too slow to break the course record of 3h57'.<br />
<br />
<i>distance:</i> 30-45km<br />
<i>clothing:</i> shorts, t-shirt, hat, gloves<br />
<i>surface:</i> smooth asphalt<br />
<i>conditions:</i> tail wind, nice and sunny. Great running weather!<br />
<i>position:</i> running at 3:40-3:50/km and quickly extending my lead over my rivals, I recover some of my lost time, briefly getting some hope of finishing sub-4h.<br />
<br />
<i>distance:</i> 45-57km<br />
<i>clothing:</i> shorts and t-shirt<br />
<i>surface:</i> mostly asphalt, some cobble stones<br />
<i>conditions:</i> tail wind<br />
<i>position:</i> losing some momentum due to a few sharp turns in the picturesque village of Oosterend, and beginning to run out of fuel, I gradually give up hope of a fast finish time. So I sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.<br />
<br />
<i>distance:</i> 57-60km<br />
<i>clothing:</i> shorts and t-shirt<br />
<i>surface:</i> asphalt<br />
<i>conditions:</i> head wind, slightly uphill!<br />
<i>position:</i> with victory in the bag, I take it easy during the last two miles, allowing me to finish in style, after 4h03'12".<br />
<br />
1h44'13" later, my dad arrives as well. Not being in such a rush, he has enjoyed the race even more than I did. Another hour later, I receive the first prize: an old shoe of Jan Knippenberg! I get to keep this coveted trophy for two years, until the next edition of this great event.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2m2aG3bAwYBkTccz4X6jMvyC8hXh6Sv2N1MHVaTJNINn4MXihfsKIM3vGAsbKKRmzbX0nMItTqPpGs46b1LmN5DRf9_IgaAYFR9HpUGRoe9_1dfqwJyUbvgNHBT7CzQ5M4HJSN0aHg/s1600/Texel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi2m2aG3bAwYBkTccz4X6jMvyC8hXh6Sv2N1MHVaTJNINn4MXihfsKIM3vGAsbKKRmzbX0nMItTqPpGs46b1LmN5DRf9_IgaAYFR9HpUGRoe9_1dfqwJyUbvgNHBT7CzQ5M4HJSN0aHg/s400/Texel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full steam ahead with a tail wind and fellow geologist Furu Mienis for support (picture taken by Erik van Echten).</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-61046960376184756152013-02-25T04:35:00.002-08:002013-04-02T11:42:53.663-07:00'Barry 40' 2013I'm back, after 15 long months of injury trouble! In November 2011, I was preparing to top off an outstanding season with a fast marathon in Sacramento, California. But 10 days before the race, I got injured in the left hip. I still don't know what caused the pain, but whatever it was, it kept returning over the next half year, keeping me away from the London Marathon and 100km WC/EC in Italy. Frustrating! In order to solve the hip problem, I started experimenting with different kinds of minimalist footwear. It has taken my feet and tendons a long time to adjust to these, even though I have been running in Nike Frees since 2005, long before the barefoot running craze started. Anyway, I was out of competition all of July with calf problems, got a stress fracture in August, and struggled with my Achilles tendon throughout. So to make a long story short, it has been a long and arduous journey to get to the start of the <em>'Barry 40'</em>, and I was full of doubt when the gun went off. Would my ankle last through 161 laps around the track?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pwdxR_T3stbpdXixF9WOZz728L0LQDm_scXojzPLIajijLYWkHesa28GHUJRKXrdS3AG86tzz_97ffm9RwPZBGSt53W-re3HYloSmiJq0NfwOffQZ8HVawNYLs0jkfrZ3fhVMKJcKQ/s1600/8507112052_f7087cba7f_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pwdxR_T3stbpdXixF9WOZz728L0LQDm_scXojzPLIajijLYWkHesa28GHUJRKXrdS3AG86tzz_97ffm9RwPZBGSt53W-re3HYloSmiJq0NfwOffQZ8HVawNYLs0jkfrZ3fhVMKJcKQ/s400/8507112052_f7087cba7f_h.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behind me (in yellow) is ultrarunning legend and two-time Spartathlon winner James Zarei (69 years old). Picture taken by Paul Stillman.</td></tr>
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I took a defensive start and stayed safely behind 29 year old Scottish champion Grant Jeans (100km PB: 7h11'), with Englishman Paul Fernandez (2h32' marathon) following closely behind. It was freezing cold, which made life miserable for the 16 lap scorers (one for each runner) in the stands of the Barry Town FC stadium. They, in my opinion, were the true heroes of the day. My right Achilles tendon hurt quite badly in the beginning, but the pain disappeared when I took off my socks half an hour into the race. After completing the first 40 laps in 62', I decided to give Grant a hand in setting the tempo. Much to my surprise, he couldn't follow the pace. I lapped him half an hour later, and soon thereafter caught Paul Fernandez for a second time. It was too early to declare victory, but I was feeling surprisingly good. The second 40 laps also took me 62'. After two and a half hours, Grant Jeans unfortunately dropped out of the race, hopefully not because of the stress fracture that has troubled him during the second half of last year. Paul Fernandez was still going strong until 50km, when he slowed down and I lapped him another couple of times. The third 40 laps again took me exactly 62' and I was feeling more confident with every stride. The next half hour was my best of the entire race, and I was consistently running sub 1'30" laps. But then, with only 10 laps left to go, I suddenly felt dehydrated, cold and slightly dizzy. I decided to back off and allowed a revived Paul Fernandez to get one lap back on me. I finished in a decent 4h08'59", which was a pleasant surprise and a great relief. Amazingly, the fourth and final set of 40 laps ended up taking me exactly 62 minutes once again. Speaking of running at an even pace!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIlk8CoC2HQvsfKTBHpM4r76VWbw-x24TTi9dyhXLPPmXph-BJMpZqCKxjPplfffGc3I_zq2a_4HgrLlXLNTc51vmEnwr3ZTMELWK-pa8g1QW3zLRey0pYB1zZEem7cQEc_QY8_6SCA/s1600/8507522652_21cc1d3fea_h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPIlk8CoC2HQvsfKTBHpM4r76VWbw-x24TTi9dyhXLPPmXph-BJMpZqCKxjPplfffGc3I_zq2a_4HgrLlXLNTc51vmEnwr3ZTMELWK-pa8g1QW3zLRey0pYB1zZEem7cQEc_QY8_6SCA/s400/8507522652_21cc1d3fea_h.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm the inaugural winner of the George Dayantis Memorial Trophy, which is named after three-times Barry 40 winner George Dayantis, who sadly passed away in June 2011. I ran the Boddington 50km race with George in 2009 and remember him vividly from the RRC vest which he was proudly wearing at the time.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I've still got a lot of work to do before I can think of improving my 2011 times. But finishing the Barry 40 in good style (and with no sore legs the following day!) makes me very hopeful for the future. I am proud to add my name to the illustrious list of 'Barry 40' winners, which includes legends of the sport Simon Pride, Martin Daykin, and race organiser Mick McGeoch, all of whom have finished the 40 miles in under 4 hours. Perhaps I'll give that a shot myself one day, if my body stays in one piece.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-9285198473925028522011-09-11T05:53:00.000-07:002011-10-24T05:53:25.004-07:00WC/EC 100km 2011Running 100km isn't tougher or more exhausting than running a marathon. But it is definitely more <i>difficult</i>, because there is one additional variable in the equation: <span>the stomach</span>. I've never liked sports drinks. They make me feel sick. Back in the early days of my ultrarunning career, I used to only drink water. That, of course, made me run out of energy after 75-80km. Later, I followed the science-based advice to ingest at least 60g of carbohydrates per hour. That worked reasonably well once, in 2008, when I achieved my first sub-7h finish, but led to miserable failures in the following three 100km races. This year, I decided to try a compromise, drinking water in the first half of the race, and switching to moderate amounts of sports drink in the second half.<div><br /></div><div>It's been a horrible summer, with cold and wet weather from early July until mid September. Except, of course, on my three race days. Assen was hot, Boddington was sizzling, and Winschoten felt as tropical as the Amazon rain forest. When we lined up at the start, I knew that many of the competitors in the IAU World and European Championships wouldn't make it to the finish line. It turned out that only 60% did. For some reason, I usually cope with the heat better than most, so I wasn't in the least concerned when I came through the 30km point in 12th place. What did trouble me more, however, were intestinal cramps that followed my impulsive decision to eat some of the Dutch 'peperkoek' provided at the organisation's aid station. I lost some time and a few pounds during the next 20km, but then my bowels calmed down and I settled back into my rhythm while pouring gallons of water over my head, provided by the friendly people and children of Winschoten. At 70k, I took some energy gels which, somewhat to my surprise, stayed down. At 80k, I passed defending European Champion Jonas Buud. I then decided to hold my pace because, in the chaos of hundreds of relay runners, I didn't know that I was quickly closing down on Americans Andrew Henshaw and Michael Wardian. So I ended up a few minutes short of a WC podium place. I guess that'll have to wait until next year's WC race in Italy, land of the formidable Giorgio Calcaterra, who won the race in an amazing 6h27', all by himself.</div><table style="text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="text-align: left;float: right; margin-left: 1em; "><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n_hWb_JeTUYczS61IfsrAiDczbZbaGIhIDBEIxK9nqtc-hp4owk2Cnt7KZO8Scgqseg0B6fo2jfqfM88momEJEWk7WpiavwbJzVQ6XGNDs2EF06MIYAPMns0W7vEm_4SWSwqX4tOJeE/s1600/winschoten1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n_hWb_JeTUYczS61IfsrAiDczbZbaGIhIDBEIxK9nqtc-hp4owk2Cnt7KZO8Scgqseg0B6fo2jfqfM88momEJEWk7WpiavwbJzVQ6XGNDs2EF06MIYAPMns0W7vEm_4SWSwqX4tOJeE/s320/winschoten1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">Lap times: 39:15 - 39:20 - 39:22 - 39:44 - 40:51 - 40:49 - 40:48 - 41:37 - 42:12 - 43:06</span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><meta equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; "><meta equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">In conclusion, it looks like my new food strategy works and that, after 12 years in the business, I'm finally getting close to realising my potential in ultrarunning.</div><meta equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="text-align: left; "><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; ">1. Giorgio Calcaterra ITA 06:27:32</div><div style="text-align: left; ">2. Michael Wardian USA 06:42:49</div><div style="text-align: left; ">3. Andrew Henshaw USA 06:44:35</div><div style="text-align: left; "><b>4. Pieter Vermeesch BEL 06:47:01</b></div></div><div style="text-align: left; ">5. Shinji Nakadai JPN 06:48:32</div><div style="text-align: left; ">6. Matt Wood USA 06:50:23</div><div style="text-align: left; ">7. Jonas Buud SWE 06:52:19</div><div style="text-align: left; ">8. Yoshiki Takada JPN 07:03:55</div><div style="text-align: left; ">9. André Collet GER 07:04:35</div><div style="text-align: left; ">10. Dominique Bordet FRA 07:04:37</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-71614554665920104552011-08-22T07:37:00.000-07:002013-04-02T14:53:19.342-07:00IAU World 50K Trophy finalThe IAU 50km World Trophy is a series of 18 races held in 14 different countries, from Argentina to Latvia. The winners of each race (male and female) are invited to participate in the final which, this year, was held in Assen, the Netherlands.<div>
<br /></div><div>I qualified by winning the Boddington 50km race on June 26, barely 8 days after the Belgian 100km championships. It was a sweltering hot day, with temperatures of close to 30°C. Despite these tropical conditions, British 100km champ Martin Matthews and I set off at silly pace, passing 10km point in just over 34'. I soon felt the effects of the heat and slowed down. Matthews did the same. For the next 20km, he followed me like a shadow, accelerating and slowing down whenever I did. At 35km, I felt a bit better and decided to test my opponent. We pulled a crazy sprint of about a kilometer, at 20km/h or so. Matthews had to let go, and I quickly gained significant ground. The following 10 miles were pretty tough. The heat was taking its toll and I plodded along while pouring gallons and gallons of water over my head in order to stay cool. I crossed the finish line after 3h23'. Martin Matthews finished nine minutes later, staying just one minute ahead of first female Emma Gooderham, who had clearly run much more intelligently than us. Anyway, I had won the English championship and qualified for Assen. Mission accomplished.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Nearly two months later, on Saturday August 20, Emma and I lined up at the start in Holland, alongside 150 other athletes, amongst whom 35 invited runners for the IAU Trophy Final. Five African runners were the pre-race favourites. South African Samuel Moleshioa had run the fastest qualifying time, by winning the Loskop 50km race in a truly world class 2h44'. My personal favourite, however, was Kenya's Eliot Biwott Kiplagat, who'd won the hilly 50km Di Romagna race in Italy. Almost immediately after the starting gun went off, the Africans took charge, and quickly pulled away from the rest of the pack. I stayed in seventh place for the first half of the race. Although most of the course was shaded, it was nevertheless pretty hot, so I took great care to stay hydrated. This wasn't easy because of two minor flaws in the otherwise perfect race organisation. First, the main supply station was placed on the outside lane of the running track, requiring a detour of at least ten metres per lap. Second, water was served in plastic cups, which are impossible to drink from while running (as opposed to bottles or paper cups). I therefore had to stop to drink, losing 10-20 metres each lap. Other runners were unwilling to make this sacrifice, with dire consequences for them later in the race. After 20km, I caught up with Claude Moshiya (RSA), the first victim of the fast starting pace of the front runners. At 30km, Japanese runner Kaito Iwayama sped away from me, but he didn't drink enough either, so I caught up with him again during the final lap. The same story for Eliya Mogoboya (RSA) and John Wachira (KEN). Moleshioa dropped out altogether. There was only one man who stayed out of my reach, and that was Eliot Kiplagat, who won the race in a solid 2h54'53". I finished second in 2h57'23", and Kaito Iwayama third in 2h59'12". Three different continents on the podium, how many sports can say that? My time was a 4 minute improvement of the Belgian national record, which had stood for more than 15 years and was jointly held by Jan Vandendriessche and Marc Papanikitas. Emma Gooderham won the women's race in a superb 3h17'30", setting a marathon PB of 2h46' along the way. My dad suffered from the heat and didn't quite achieve his goal of running under 4 hours. Like so many runners that day, he started too fast and drank too little. At age 62, he's still a bit green behind the ears when it comes to ultrarunning ;-)</div>
<br /><img src="http://ucl.ac.uk/~ucfbpve/images/AssenSmall.gif"/><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Animated GIF based on still pictures from Erik Van Echten.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-33532854410688600752011-06-21T13:02:00.000-07:002011-06-22T01:27:51.530-07:00Night of Flanders 2011The <span style="font-style: italic;">Night of Flanders</span> is Belgium's most important ultrarunning event, and one of the world's oldest 100km races, with a glorious 32 year history full of heroic battles and blistering fast times, set by ultrarunning legends such as Jean-Paul Praet, Konstantin Santalov, and Yiannis Kouros. Although there has been a steady decline in the performances over the past decade, this year's lineup was pretty good, with four sub-7h runners, including myself.<br /><br />Those four race favourites clustered together right from the start. Ukrainian Oleksandr Holovnitsky (European silver medal holder and winner of the 2004 edition of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Night</span>) set a brisk opening pace, with compatriot Evgeni Glyva, Czech champion Daniel Oralek, and I following closely behind. Despite the rather strong wind, we passed the 10km point in just under 38'. Projected finishing time: 6h20'! At 30k, Glyva accelerated, and I was the only one who could follow. 10k later, however, I decided to let him go, and settle down in my own pace. My stomach was troubling me, and I didn't want to risk blowing up my engine. Slowly but steadily, Glyva ran away from me. I passed marathon point in 2h45', and 50k in 3h17'. Despite feeling sick, I tried to drink some sugar. The next 50k were a succession of vomiting and drinking. Amazingly, I still managed to keep running at a reasonable pace. After 80k, I was 5' behind the leader, and more than 10' ahead of the Holovnitsky. Then, suddenly, spectactors told me that I was closing down the gap. At 95k, Glyva's lead had been reduced to a mere 2'30".<br /><br />Alas, he somehow found a final kick, and finished in just under 6h53'. I was happy and relieved to cross the finish line in less than 7h. Although I didn't win the race, and had hoped to run at least 10' faster than I did, I'm satisfied with my second place and fourth consecutive Belgian 100k title. My stomach hurt for another 12 hours, whereas my legs felt just fine. Frustrating. But I think I know how to solve those stomach problems. Just wait and see in Winschoten!<br /><span style="font-family:courier new;"><br />1. GLYVA Evgeni<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">......</span>41 UKR 6:52:58 14.53</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;">2. VERMEESCH Pieter<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">..</span>35 BEL 6:57:35 14.37</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">3. HOLOVNITSKY O.<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">....</span>41 UKR 7:15:07 13.79</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">4. VRAJICS Marija<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">....</span>41 CRO 7:37:34 13.11</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">5. VAN HOECK Yves<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">....</span>40 BEL 7:44:46 12.90</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">6. CASIER Gino<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.......</span>39 BEL 7:56:25 12.59</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">7. MERTENS Gert<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">......</span>47 BEL 7:59:33 12.51</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">8. DEDAPPER Yves<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.....</span>38 BEL 8:02:10 12.44</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">9. BOMERÉ Kurt<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.......</span>43 BEL 8:10:36 12.23</span><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">10.MOLEMANS Patrick<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">..</span>49 BEL 8:26:04 11.85</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-6797474769122882812011-04-24T09:40:00.000-07:002011-04-24T10:18:46.240-07:00London Marathon 2011<span><span>Two hours, nineteen minutes and forty-five seconds. I'm reminded of last Sunday's achievement by the toaster every morning. Of course I'm delighted to have run my first sub-2:20 marathon, but what makes me particularly happy is the way I ran that time. I passed through half marathon point more than 20 seconds slower than last year, and at that point, I had all but given up hope to get under 2:20. From 13 to 23 miles, I had to set the pace all by myself, with Steve Way (aka '<a href="http://www.steveway.co.uk/">Fat Boy</a>') and Paolo Natali staying closely behind me. Steve took over at mile 23. I had to dig very deep to keep up with him, but succeeded. I was so happy when I finished.<br /><br />2:19:45... my ninth personal best on the marathon. Where will this end? How much faster can I go? I'm tall, I'm heavy, I don't do any speed work or interval training. I'm not supposed to run this fast. Who knows? </span></span>With some cooler weather, and with larger group of athletes to run with, I think I might be able to knock off another minute or so from my time. Or more? The IAAF's A-standard for the Olympic marathon is 2h15'. It's going to be a long shot, but I never imagined even contemplating it.<br /><br /><table><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><br />Split Time<br />5K 00:16:17<br />10K 00:32:41<br />15K 00:49:08<br />20K 01:05:38<br />HALF 01:09:13<br />25K 01:21:58<br />30K 01:38:29<br />35K 01:55:21<br />40K 02:12:17<br />FINISH 02:19:45</td> <td width="50"></td><td><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CGPcrJf67B8xJwkUDDNf8HB6pLsCP8VYXnGLSmY85NeBAd7qeLKO6qji3hw064DdXdvpyeDNgM6yaTohSMzktI28_scJ0QnU1LpjeDC8-BTxbwDwtNKzR0KfiZcE_o7GM4h7Q4IBIdZH/s1600/P4170024.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CGPcrJf67B8xJwkUDDNf8HB6pLsCP8VYXnGLSmY85NeBAd7qeLKO6qji3hw064DdXdvpyeDNgM6yaTohSMzktI28_scJ0QnU1LpjeDC8-BTxbwDwtNKzR0KfiZcE_o7GM4h7Q4IBIdZH/s400/P4170024.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5597020021596068018" /></a><br /></td> </tr></tbody></table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-50450832268268658592011-04-19T12:57:00.000-07:002011-04-19T13:02:28.553-07:00WC 100km (Gibraltar)Ultrarunning is a small sport practised and organised mostly by amateurs. The 24th IAU world 100km championships suffered a lot from that amateurism. I am usually quite proud of being an amateur, in a XIX<sup>th</sup> century kind of way. But this time, the word 'amateurism' is to be interpreted in its usual, pejorative way.<br /><br />Initially, however, things looked very professional. The local organising committee seemed to have learned from the disasterous World 50km trophy which they had organised in 2009, when the course was measured just minutes before the start and the athletes were housed in a filthy dump of a hostel. One year later, we were staying in a truly luxurious yacht. The quality of the catering was top notch and everybody was looking forward to a great race. But almost immediately after the start of the race, everything fell apart.<br /><br />The course consisted of one short introductory loop followed by 24 longer loops through Gibraltar's city centre. Apparently, the course marshalls weren't informed of this, because just ten minutes into the race, they sent us into the wrong direction, back to the start for a second short loop, causing a lot of confusion and delay.<br /><br />The organisers attempt to 'fix' this gaffe by shortening the 11<sup>th</sup> lap partially failed, causing some athletes to run two 'shortened' laps, for which they were subsequently disqualified. Due to this error, the Russian team were denied their bronze medal in the European championships.<br /><br />The automatic time registration didn't work properly, resulting in my 17<sup>th</sup> lap not being recorded, and the Swedish women's champion and record holder having to run an extra lap. Fortunately for me, I had several eye witnesses who could verify that I had indeed completed the 17<sup>th</sup> loop.<br /><br />In the end, it all didn't matter because I badly cocked up myself. I felt stronger than ever before during the first half of the race, easily keeping up with the later winner as well as the European silver medal winner (see picture). I didn't feel my legs at all, and was already dreaming of medals and a new PB. But then my stomach started to trouble me. I couldn't eat or drink anything during the last 40km, causing me to lose a lot of time. I finished in a disappointing 7h15', still barely feeling any tiredness other than in my stomach.<br /><br />Instead of criticising the amateurism of others, I'd better sort out my own problems. Shite.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqXVus_Az3vQClfZ4LnyMNHgy43G3BV95OY0nvBqbTpuk_vH9WwPSPzLM9pnGigj0imAFPoOuf86acbmEdm2QVY7nIZiLIPO92qsTXYpXPZRg_prCxvXwAsbDjn91TjE9n3qswEU2wMw0/s1600/Gibraltar2010.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqXVus_Az3vQClfZ4LnyMNHgy43G3BV95OY0nvBqbTpuk_vH9WwPSPzLM9pnGigj0imAFPoOuf86acbmEdm2QVY7nIZiLIPO92qsTXYpXPZRg_prCxvXwAsbDjn91TjE9n3qswEU2wMw0/s320/Gibraltar2010.png" width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With world Champion Shinji Nakadai (117) and European silver medal winner Oleksandr Holovnytskyy (183).</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-18268532299712674772010-07-01T13:01:00.001-07:002010-07-08T09:52:32.344-07:00Night of Flanders 2010Lady Luck hasn't been kind to me lately. I haven't been able to cash in on the great shape I've been in all year. I fell ill a few days before the world 24h championships, and got injured three weeks before the Belgian 100k championships. Probably trained a bit too much. On May 30, I went out for my usual Sunday run with my friend Mark (a 2:28 marathoner). We always push each other quite hard, easily completing my 2h loop 10 minutes faster than usual. On that Sunday, we set a new course record: 1h43', and I didn't even feel tired. But soon after arriving home, I felt a sharp pain on the outside of my left shin. The next day, I could hardly walk. Turns out I had an inflammation of my <i>tibialis anterior</i>. A common injury caused by overtraining, which takes up to three weeks of recovery time. Bye bye Belgian championship.<br /><br />But after a week of rest and a visit to the doctor (in Belgium, because the NHS couldn't and wouldn't help me), I started to feel better. So I decided to enter the race anyway. Starting at a 4'/km pace, I soon had to slow down in order not to strain my shin. The first 60km were stressful and unpleasant. At that point, fellow race leaders Nid Rumphakwaen and Jaroslaw Janicki broke away from me and I immediately felt more relaxed. At 80km, I was almost 5 minutes behind Rumphakwaen, meaning that I had to run almost a full kilometre per hour faster than him in order to retain my Belgian title. The next 10km were the best of my race. I picked up the pace to a healthy 15km/h, stopped worrying about the injury, and quickly cut down Rumphakwaen's lead. After 92km, he was forced to walk, allowing me to pass him and slow down again. I felt surprisingly fresh when crossing the finish line.<br /><br />Despite the relatively poor time of 7:22', I am still quite happy with my performance. Moreover, this was undoubtedly the most exciting and therefore also the most rewarding of my three consecutive Belgian 100km titles. Jaroslaw Janicki finished 12 minutes ahead of me and I am very grateful for that, because otherwise I would have been the slowest winner of the Night of Flanders in its 31-year history. And that's the kind of record I would rather not have associated with my name.<br /><span class="left-caption"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sites.google.com/site/kasperfotos10/nvv.wmv"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHOtGQiVwXhDqCT47LaOG8ccpMv7nlvMpsAzYWVKwAGzb71S_faz7iwKceX14tH5Z5rhlDZvoadG3b4iVWjfFZWDroRCSLVOvNrhRkmIwy6egUsyHGxdQr3OA6MYT-Dhfrjte42JbiOnd8/s400/nvv.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485643893594788082" border="0" /></a><br />Video 20-06-2010 (~4Mb, in Dutch)<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-74878446529386230182010-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:002011-04-21T05:11:55.876-07:00WC 24h (Brive, FR)First of all, some excuses:<br /><ol><li>The 24h race took place less than three weeks after London Marathon. Although I had completely recovered from the marathon, my entire preparation was aimed at running 26 miles as fast as possible and I hadn't done any specific ultramarathon training.</li><li>I had only just recovered from a nasty stomach flu, with 39 degree fever which prevented me from eating for three full days. At the start of the race, I only weighed 68kg, which is not much for someone who's 1m90' tall, and probably not enough to survive an epic 24h battle.</li><li>I had been training without socks for a year. That's all fine until 100km, beyond was uncharted territory. Because of the rainy weather forecast for the night of May 14 and 13, I made a last minute decision to put on some socks anyway.</li></ol>The actual race is best summarised with the following graph:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84l8ForgMgZDQ3Rg4UBPbzrnTg5TCrkLvydP-hHQu4nyNd2kNPW4dCdN_6K4p6li32C5M4eq2eHyNpTWwFup1hrVotPjAgBssTAMfel96IZZTX9dHCri9vCQCuLZblO1AA9kKvJaxaU8/s1600/Brive.png"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84l8ForgMgZDQ3Rg4UBPbzrnTg5TCrkLvydP-hHQu4nyNd2kNPW4dCdN_6K4p6li32C5M4eq2eHyNpTWwFup1hrVotPjAgBssTAMfel96IZZTX9dHCri9vCQCuLZblO1AA9kKvJaxaU8/s400/Brive.png" width="400" /></a><br />I ran at a decent pace for the first 15 hours of the race, well on target to a distance of more than 240km. What the chart does not show is that my thighs began to hurt after only 100km, and that I didn't enjoy a minute of the race. The race course was twisting, turning, and overcrowded with slower runners and walkers. After 100 miles, my shoes were feeling tight so I took a pit stop to have a look at my feet, because. After a 20 minute break to treat some huge blisters, I could barely get out of my chair and immediately know that there would be no more running. So I walked for the final eight hours, reaching an honorable 205km.<br /><br />Conclusions:<br /><ol><li>A 24-hour race is not a marathon. The two disciplines are hard if not impossible to combine. If I am to run a decent 24h race, I will have to specifically prepare for it. That would probably hurt my performance on the shorter distances. I am not (yet) prepared to make that sacrifice.</li><li>I am not too disappointed about my sub-par performance. Given the aforementioned three excuses, this was probably the best I could have done under the given circumstances. I'm actually quite proud that despite the blisters, the fatigue and the sore legs, the thought of giving up never once crossed my mind.</li><li>It was a real privilege to witness the titanic battle between Shingo Inoue (273km) and Scott Jurek (266km) from nearby. It is bizarre to think that neither to athletes come close to my marathon and 100km times.</li></ol><div><br />Acknowledgments:<br /><br />It would be impossible to continuously run for 24 hours without the help of others. I owe a big thank you to the many volunteers who provided the runners with food, drink, and encouragement, but especially to the Belgian support team: André, Philippe Michel, Magda and Greet. Thanks!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522390659878580130.post-37041967438337669252010-06-26T01:16:00.000-07:002010-06-26T01:17:09.381-07:00London marathon 2010Last Sunday I finished 20th in the London Marathon with a time of 2:20:16. Next year I will join the elite start, alongside people like Samuel Wanjiru and Abel Kirui. I won't be wearing a bib number on my chest, but my name. Perhaps now is a good time to start a blog, on which I will post short reports of my most important races.<br /><br />My 2:20:16 was a more than four minute improvement of my personal best, which I had set two years earlier, also in London. Last year I was injured and ran a disappointing 2:30. With my injuries finally gone, I set out on a 'kamikaze mission' to a sub-2h20' time, joining a nice group of elite runners trying to qualify for British marathon team for the European Championships. We passed though the half marathon point in 1:08:52. I expected to hit the wall at some point, but that point never came. Nevertheless, I slowed down somewhat during the second half of the race and after 40km was only a handful of seconds ahead of my 2h20' schedule. With only 70m to go, I saw the clock switch from 2h19'59" to 2h20'00" and crossed the finish line in anger and disappointment.<br /><br />My initial disappointment about those silly 16 seconds quickly faded and gave way to a sense of pride. 20th place in one of the world's most important marathons is not bad for a complete amateur like myself. On Wednesday, merely three days after the race, I had already recovered from the race. So I apparently haven't gone very deep, and should be able to run even faster. Perhaps I will already do this in September, in Berlin.<br /><br /><table><tr><td valign="top"><br />Split Time<br />5K 00:16:09<br />10K 00:32:34<br />15K 00:48:59<br />20K 01:05:22<br />HALF 01:08:52<br />25K 01:21:35<br />30K 01:38:12<br />35K 01:55:23<br />40K 02:12:41<br />FINISH 02:20:16<br /></td> <td width="50"></td><td><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJgIHeI5vl16EyHz97eu0oIAFb4aOxGMgBBSvmD2wP74Ok5AOrg6Nb3755mAmkUWWWa_Lq2d2i-g47ugt4OO8wG0wSQHKwL4FKgGkW0F9e7Xq7pfHO2KreSQT_NtFdkL81okscHpQEFM/s1600/Screenshot-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZJgIHeI5vl16EyHz97eu0oIAFb4aOxGMgBBSvmD2wP74Ok5AOrg6Nb3755mAmkUWWWa_Lq2d2i-g47ugt4OO8wG0wSQHKwL4FKgGkW0F9e7Xq7pfHO2KreSQT_NtFdkL81okscHpQEFM/s320/Screenshot-1.jpg" /></a><br /></td> </table>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com