Hi! Welcome back to, finally, a new update to my “The road to 26.2” series in which I tracking my progress towards running my first marathon. If you haven’t read the previous post yet, head over there first, but note that it’s been quite some months since then and that a lot has changed.
So, first of all, since the previous update in this series, I have been doing a lot of running, improving and even racing. If you have been following along from the beginning, you might remember that I suffered quite a lot from an inflamed tendon in my right ankle. After doing a lot of strengthening exercises specifically targeted at the, as prescribed by the physical therapist, the pain went away and the inflammation is mostly gone now 🙂
In this post, I will be sharing all of the things that I learned over the last few months and that have really helped me in better managing my running and keep my injury-free.
A dedicated training plan
In order to measure my current level of fitness and somehow get an idea of my specific heart rate zones, I decided to do a fitness test in the Ghent University Hospital. I was hooked up to a dozen of wires and a face mask with a tube measuring the amount of oxygen going in and the amount of CO2 coming out of my body whilst I’m running. The results of this test were then passed on to a specialist that devised the different paces which I should be running at to improve most efficiently and how much of running I was safely allowed while minimising the risk of injuries.
Using this information, I devised my own training plan in which I gradually increase the weekly mileage and in which I plan the different runs throughout the weeks in advance. This makes it a lot to keep track of how much I should be running and to make sure I’m not increasing the weekly mileage too much.
I took some time to figure out a system that works best for me, but I eventually decided on keeping track of my runs and running plans in a spreadsheet. My fixed running days each week are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I sometimes adjust these in function of my work or other planned activities that week, but this gives me more structure and peace of mind.
At the beginning of the year, I also decided on what races I wanted to run such that I could optimally train for them and also plan some tapering and recovery around them.
Race results
In the first half of 2023, I had actually planned to do 4 different races initially (all with differing length and terrain types to shake things up a bit), but eventually decided to add the Brussels 20K as the 6th one. The plan for the future is to always select between 3 and 6 races every half year and devise my training plan around them. I had also selected some goal times that I aimed for at each race. I have included a summary of the 5 different races below and how each of them went.
Nationaal Park Run – Maasmechelen (March 5th, 2023)
Length (planned / actual): 14km / 14.5km (See activity on Strava)
Goal time / pace: 01:10:00 (5 min/km)
Actual time / pace: 01:12:50 (5:01 min/km)
Result: 22 / 440
With this race, I actually pretty much nailed my goal pace, but since the route was about 500 meters longer than planned, I didn’t reach my goal time. This doesn’t really matter, as I still achieved to run at my target pace and that’s what actually matters to me anyway. I’ve made a pretty significant improvement when compared to last year where I ran at an average pace of 5:27 min/km, but that can largely be explained by the big difference in weather conditions. Last year, I often ended up in a puddle of mud that reached higher than my ankles while this year proceeded completely dry and without landslides.
Sofico Ghent – Ghent (March 23rd, 2023)
Length (planned / actual): 11km / 10km (See activity on Strava)
Goal time / pace: 00:51:20 (4:40 min/km)
Actual time / pace: 00:46:40 (4:38 min/km)
Result: 102 / 1835
At the end of March, people from all over the world come to Ghent and participate in the Sofico Ghent Marathon. Even if you’re not planning to run the actual 42km, you can still participate in one of the shorter distances this day. People get to choose and pick between 5K, 11K, a half marathon or the full marathon. I initially intended to my second ever half marathon here, but because of the issues I had with a tendon in my ankle before and not being able to train as much as I wanted, I decided to go for the 11km variant instead. Due to the bad weather conditions on this day (and the days prior), part of the route was cut off and the organisation decided to transform the race into a 10K one.
Antwerp 10 Miles – Antwerp (April 23rd, 2023)
Length (planned / actual): 16km / 16km (See activity on Strava)
Goal time / pace: 01:13:30 (4:35 min/km)
Actual time / pace: 01:12:53 (4:33 min/km)
Result: 2309 / 30883
My favourite race of the year has to be the Antwerp 10 miles. The atmosphere is great, people are cheering you on all the way and the course is great. It’s actually one of the very rare occasions where cars are banned from crossing the river “Schelde” using the highway and the infamous Kennedytunnel. Instead, the tunnel is has been part of the course for years and will be so for many more to come.
Compared to last year, I was in much better shape to stand a chance during the race this year. In 2022, it turned out I had COVID while racing and this did not make the race any easier 😅 (surprisingly)… Together with the lower temperatures this year, I was able to make it in 1 hour, 12 minutes and 53 seconds. A time I’m actually really proud of 😊
I will definitely compete again next year where my ultimate goal is to run under 1 hour and 10 minutes. Time will tell if I will ever achieve this.
Brussels 20K – Brussels (May 28th, 2023)
Length (planned / actual): 20km / 20km (See activity on Strava)
Goal time / pace: 01:35:00 (4:45 min/km)
Actual time / pace: 01:38:22 (4:55 min/km)
Result: 4657 / 41316
The Brussels 20K is a race that I have never participated in before and proved to be a real challenge. It’s already the end of May now and the weather has completely shifted towards the summer in Belgium now, with temperatures reaching 25 degrees today and a lot of sunshine. Although still do-able, I didn’t have the opportunity to run much in the heat the weeks before this race and my body was not yet adjusted to the summer temperatures.
In comparison to most of Flanders where I usually do my runs, Brussels is not flat and there was approximately 150 meters of elevation and equal descent. The start and finish was located at the highest point and thus the first half of the race consisted of a big descend towards Watermaal and Bosvoorde in the Sonian Forest and the second half of a slow but steady climb back up to the city center.
The last 3 kilometers were brutal, forcing me to drop the pace in order for me not to overheat after which I finished in 1 hour, 38 minutes and 22 seconds. A few minutes slower than my initial goal, but I was still happy considering the circumstances.
Waasmunster 10 miles – Waasmunster (June 24th, 2023)
Length (planned / actual): 16km / 16km (See activity on Strava)
Goal time / pace: 01:12:25 (4:30 min/km)
Actual time / pace: 01:19:15 (4:53 min/km)
Result: 96 / 443
The last race before summer starts is typically the 10 miles of Waasmunster. Although being a relatively small city, this race is quite popular in this area and it’s definitely worth it to participate. Since it always takes place at the end of June, it’s often the case that the temperature rises to more than 30 degrees in the afternoon. The race is set to start at 4pm at which time the temperature was around 31 degrees.
I set a pretty competitive goal at 1:12:25 in order to sharpen my PB that I achieved in Antwerp, but because of the greatly differing weather conditions (it was more than 15 degrees warmer now) I didn’t even come close to achieving my goal. After crossing the finish line, I had to admit that this was one of the hardest races I have ever attempted to run and I can clearly start to see a pattern here; I’m not made to race in the heat 😅.
Summer plans
The spring season if fully over now and I’m turning to the summer planning now. I’m actually very happy with how things eventually turned out and I feel like I’m more and more getting to know what I need to do in order to slowly increase my weekly mileage and stay on top of injuries. I will be taking into account all the different things that I learned during the first half of the year and incorporate them into my training plan for the summer and autumn.
I will be talking about this in the next blog post of this series, hopefully coming soon 😅.