2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 5 weeks to go

The marathon is creeping closer and closer. Am I ready? I'm not sure. I think so...

Monday I did a morning yoga stretch, which got me ready for the week. Tuesday was an other early morning, with a 4K run at 7am. So, not me to get out so early. But I did and it was amazing! And that evening I was at it again, with a vinyasa yoga class.

The rest of the week it was raining cats and dogs, so I was a little less active. And then Sunday was my first 30K! Crazy!

I participated in the 30K of Noord, which is a run through the fields north of Amsterdam. And it went so well! It was amazing.

But knowing I will have to run 12K further than that in a few weeks is very, very scary.

And, on top of that (or because of that) the last week, I was not so good...And I have all of the excuses...It rained. A lot. Like. A lot. And work was stressful and busy (I know, exercise is especially important when stressed, but you know what, I did not listen to that voice, I'm human). 

But then on Saturday, even when I really did not feel like it, I ran 8K at the Damloop by Night in Zaandam with colleagues. Running my own little tempo, until I reached the 6K point and then speeding up all the way to the finish, finally getting rid of some of the stress of the last week. It was liberating. Just the endorphins I needed. I know. You told me so.

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 7 weeks to go

Errrr, 7 weeks...More and more the thought of possible failure creeps up. Or, maybe the even worse thought of, "what if it takes me 6 hours, or longer and the sweep car comes pick me up"?
I try not to think of it. It's too scary.

So what did I do the last two weeks, to dull this fear down a bit?

I got back from Bristol on Monday. Tuesday I took a sweet little break from working out. A good prep for Wednesday, when I ran my farthest run yet, 26K. That.Is.So.Far.I.Cannot.Believe.It! Took forever too. It was extremely warm and sunny. But it felt amazing at the same time. On the right track, right?

Thursday I spent the day in the car travelling to France where we had the best slow vacation in a long time. We were sleeping in this cute and luxe studio, on French castle grounds, surrounded by nothing else but woods and farms. And we did not leave the grounds for en entire week!
We did not have to, there was so much to do. Friday we went swimming in the pool, where I did some arm exercises. And we played table tennis.
Friday, swimming again, practising head stands in the shallow end of the pool. And some table tennis. Saturday, more swimming, playing with head stands and balancing exercises. And we went for a 45 minute walk. Sunday I did a 30 minute yoga sequence. And of course, more swimming, and more table tennis.

I ran into the new week with a 5K run. It was far too warm. I really found it very, very tough indeed. Temperatures reached 33 degrees Celsius during the day. Even when running later or earlier in the day, was really too much. I don't know how some people do it. And of course, the daily swimming and table tennis happened. Tuesday we took on the tennis court on the grounds, where I tried to teach my significant other how to hit a ball the tennis way, and not the squash way. Wednesday was a very, very wet day. But I put in a full body work out, doing exercises for arms, legs and my core for 45 minutes to an hour. Think; lifting small weights, planks, dips, push ups, jumping squats, and many, many others. We ended the day with an other short tennis playing session.
And, alas, Thursday, an other day spent in the car back home. Friday was a rest day. Saturday I did my errands, which turned out to be a lot and in a lot of different places across the city. According to the google fit app on my phone I spent 2 hours and 35 minutes on my bike! Thinking back, this is probably about right...

Sunday was another long distance run. 20K, mostly through IJburg and Diemerpark.

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 11 weeks to go

What a hectic couple of weeks it has been. The days are flying by, and as I wrote down 11 weeks to go, I had a little panic attack...just 11 weeks to go? That's officially less than 3 months! Let's recap the last two weeks. I went for a 5K run on Monday two weeks ago. Taking a day off on Tuesday and back to vinyasa yoga on Wednesday. On Thursday I had an interview with a coffee magazine, so that was my day done. I did spend some time walking through Rotterdam. And finally I moved my long distance run to Friday as I was flying off to Lima, Peru on Saturday. It was a lovely run, 18K through the East of Amsterdam. I split it into 3 sets of 6K, taking some energy gels after every set. Overall I was able to keep a stable speed. Then from Saturday till Saturday I was in Peru! It was an amazing trip where I travelled to the North, to the regions of Cajamarca and Amazonas to visit coffee producers. And although I spent some time climbing steep coffee slopes in the mountains, I mostly sat in a car all day. So time to step it up again this week!

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 13 weeks to go

Monday, I woke up at 6 am. Which is absolutely ridic for me. I am a notorious sleep-in-er. But I went, I got up, and I biked off to a hot yoga class. I've been to a hot yoga class before, and I have really not enjoyed it. It was too warm, too busy, too clingy and honestly a little dirty. But this time I went to a new yoga school, Equal, on the Middenweg in Amsterdam. It was sweaty, dripping from all of my pores. But it was grand. Best feeling ever. Will probably repeat. Tuesday, I wanted to go to my regular vinyasa yoga, however I did not. Because migraine. Wednesday I still was not on top of my game, plus it was 30 degrees Celsius outside. I did go to a yin yoga class on Friday, stretching everything out. And then Saturday I went for a 10K run through Diemen. I closed the week off on Sunday with a half-hour walk along the waterfront near my house. So all in all, an okay week. Next week, the long distance run will be an 18K...not looking forward to that yet. So I will need to put out a neat route, so as to inspire myself.

 

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 14 weeks to go

I had a lot of fun this week. On Wednesday I had dinner with friends. I made my home made whole wheat wraps, filled with all kinds of delicious, from minced beef with corn, to black bean salsa, and fresh tomatoes and bell peppers. On Thursday I had dinner at my mum's. And then on Friday I had a BBQ party with my colleagues plus partners, hanging out side all day, enjoying the beautiful weather! Alas, that also meant that, as I'm usually late to rise, late to run and exercise - meaning I only move my ass in the evenings-, that I did not do that much of movement this week. Ups....All I did was some vinyasa yoga on Tuesday, and then Saturday I went for a 10K run one way and a 10K bike ride back. It was a beautiful run though. Past the Flevopark, along the water. Two bridges, which I took in stride and then I nice 1 K through the North of Amsterdam, along fields and meadows filled with cows. Oh, and I cleaned my entire house on Sunday. On a week like this one, I think that counts...right?

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 15 weeks to go

It was a short workout week, due to a thunderstorm and some dinner parties. Nonetheless I got some good workouts in. 

Inspired by Sarah's Day, I'm trying to add different types of workouts to my weekly exercise.

Trying to sweat, trying to tone, getting outside to do activities and having a challenge.

This week started off with a 6K run on Monday, where I ran through Diemen, trying to find beautiful green stretches that were not paved. 

Wednesday was a tone day, with a one-hour-and-a-half vinyasa yoga workout. And while thunder and lightning was keeping me from running outside for an interval training, I spent the evening with a HIIT workout.

And then Saturday I spent 14K outside, running along the Amstel river to the centre of Amsterdam, running back past Artis, the zoo, and finally ending up in the beautiful green Flevopark.

Sunday, last day, I still want to do a challenge. I'll probably see if I can run up some stairs a couple of times. 

Back at 10K

Today I ran for 70 minutes. The sun was shining. There was a soft breeze. I ran my way down the Amstel river, past row boats, big white farm houses and past gorgeous green fields. The road was filled with runners, bikers and old men fishing. 

It has been a struggle getting here. The past couple of months have been extremely busy and filled with travel, making getting out there and running a challenge. I travelled to Addis Abeba, Nairobi and the Nyeri region of Kenya in January. Then off to Athens, Greece in February to judge their coffee competitions, only to fly out again to North Carolina a couple of days after getting back from that. Then in March I was in Belgium for the weekend for an other coffee competition. 

All this travelling has been hard on my knee, especially when flying. And so I have had to skip some training sessions. And I do feel the knee being a little bit more unstable when running longer than 30 minutes. However, overall, it's been great and the legs are doing fine!

I started doing some private pilates lessons, which have strengthened my core stability very, very quickly. It's quite expensive though, so I might have to find some other activities for the core the next couple of weeks.

As of tomorrow, the training towards 22K starts. As we are increasing the mileage, less sessions can be missed. Wish me luck!

---

So how am I getting to 22K? I combined some training schedules I found online.

Training schedule - running three times a week

week 14 || 40 minutes, interval training 7x4 minutes, 80 minutes
week 15 || 30 minutes, interval training 10x2 minutes, 70 minutes
week 16 || 40 minutes, interval training 10x2 minutes, 80 minutes
week 17 || 45 minutes, interval training 6x5 minutes, 90 minutes
week 18 || 50 minutes, interval training 6x5 minutes, 95 minutes
week 19 || 50 minutes, interval training 6x5 minutes, 100 minutes
week 20 || 40 minutes, interval training 7x4 minutes, 110 minutes
week 21 || 45 minutes, interval training 7x3 minutes, 115 minutes
week 22 || 50 minutes, interval training 6x3 minutes, 85 minutes
week 23 || 30 minutes, interval training 6x3 minutes, 22K

Now to find a half marathon event in week 23!

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II week 19

It was a rainy week. And so I spent some more time on muscle work-outs with my trusty kettle bell and the amazing Youtube, than running. And, my word, I got some hefty muscle aches from that kettle bell. Especially in my upper leg muscles. And I again suffered some tight muscles in my right leg, even with ante and post stretching moves.

I did go out for an 18km run on Saturday, through Diemerpark, which is filled with field flowers, wild bunnies, butterflies and endless amounts of birds. It was lovely. There are berries growing everywhere, and as the weather was great there were people with baskets collecting fresh berries all along the route. Plus, bonus, At round 12km the tightness in my right leg was lifted. Pretty scary at first, because it felt as if it was tightening even more, but then with a small little pang it freed up completely.

Additionally this week I listened to the Brain Warrior's Way three free videos. To actually participate in their programme you have to pay a fee. But the introduction videos are gratis. And for that reason there is a lot of blah blah in there, with some marketing talk on the side. However it's still quite interesting as it helps you formulate why you want to take care of yourself. What is your motivation to work out? Eat more healthily? Go to bed on time? And what will your life look like if you continue on, or change to, an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise? Then imagine your life 5, or 10 or even 20 years down the line if you change your ways and look after that one body you have.

It sounds simple, but it is more powerful than you think. Of course it kind of leans on the secret and visualisation as well, but it adds some details as to how to what your brain and body need to be healthy. I probably won't do the entire programme, as a lot of information is not new. Let's face it, we all know the basics of healthy living. Work out, but not to much. Eat fruits and vegetables. Don't smoke or drink alcohol. It's not new, is it?

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II week 18

Today I ran a 13 plus km run with Nydia, writer of the blog words to run by. We used to be colleagues, but kind of lost touch last year. It was a great, very hot run, through her old neigbourhood. We chatted the entire way, making sure I did not run too fast. Still it was perhaps a little above my personal pace, especially in this heat.

It's been a sweltering week, making it very hard to train, as one already melts when changing into the work out gear, let alone when going out for a run. I did manage to go out for a 6-7km run on Thursday early morning, but the rest just has been too warm. Not being a morning person and not sure how safe I feel running in the big city at night, it's been tough...

But in better news, no more pains after the longer stretching sessions laid down by the physical therapist.

On the food front, I started reading in the book 'the complete vegan kitchen' by chef Jannequin Bennett. And although I do not agree with everything and I'm not sure if I want to switch to an all vegan diet, it is very inspiring all the same. 

On to next week.

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II week 17

This is one of my favourite routes to run. A rich in nature, lack of traffic lights, windy water-side 10 miles. Running past seasonal flowers. Striding next to wind surfers. It's freeing, makes you feel light.

This week I did alright. Not amazing. But alright. After a monthly hormonal migraine stopped me from running my short distance run and my interval, I did go out for my slightly longer interval and this lovely 10 miles (16 kilometres) run on the left. 

I also made a new vow to stop eating as much sugar, as Oreo cookies are too addictive and make me want other candy as well. So far so good (it has only been 4 days, but still, you know, see the positives).

Additionally I was inspired by an interview on Smart People Podcast with doctor Amen, to eat more healthily and spend some time, not just on my body, but on my brain as well. Although Dr. Amen is against marathons...so perhaps not the best inspirator at the moment...However he does believe in interval training. So perhaps that motivates to never skip that training ever again?

Finally, so amazing, I won the opportunity to run the Afsluitdijk-open. This dyke that closes off the North Sea to the centre of the Netherlands is 32,8 kilometres long and they're closing it off for a run event. At sunrise. This means running 30 kilometres at dawn by the sea, which seems horrible and amazing at the same time. Tickets are still available. Besides getting to run way to early in the day, you also get a once in a life time medal. Awesome! 

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II week 13 - 16

So, again, alas, a tough couple of weeks. I transitioned into the actual marathon training, going from running 3 times a week to 4 times a week.

Week 13 was great. Three short runs and one 10K run on Saturday. It went great. Then the week after I was off to Dublin for work. I gave a talk at Re:co, which is the Ted talk of the coffee industry. It was scary and amazing, to talk in front of 100 of my coffee peers, about a subject so dear to my heart. And it went very well. But. I didn't go out running...

Week 15 saw me run a short 8K on Saturday, which left me injured again! Bullocks, crap, shit, and more of those words. Fortunately I already had an appointment booked with by physical therapist the following Monday, and after some dry needling, a run through some additional stretches that I need to do for my bigger leg muscles and calves before and after running, plus the tip to please go and check out my magnesium levels, I was off home again.

And then I got sick. Yes. I. Got. Sick...the flu. What can you do...I sneezed and wheezed all week, promising myself I would be better before the weekend. Thankfully I did feel a lot better on Saturday of week 16, so I pushed myself out of the door, after some extensive stretching (no worries, I was warmed up) and ran a quite lovely 14 K. Yeah. But the last 2K I did feel the same injury on the inside of my leg again! Not as bad as before, so hopefully the very time consuming stretches afterwards helped, and I can start training in week 17 without any pains or tribulations. 

Speak next week!

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || week 1

I did it. I went for it. I bought it. I made the commitment...Running my first marathon in my home town Amsterdam. In 41 weeks from today I will run 42K. Kind of overwhelming? Maybe, but I like a challenge.

As I am just about comfortable around 60 minutes of running at a pace of about 6:10-6:30 per kilometre, there is still quite some work to do and so I set out to write a training plan.

I got a lot of use out of the Run2Day website, a friend's training schedule for her first marathon (shout out to Nydia of wordstorunby), plus some overall googling.

The first halve of my training I will be running 3 times a week ( a short run, an interval training for speed, and an indurance run for distance) all based on time in stead of kilometers. When starting to build up stamina and working towards a longer distance run this is often advised as you do not get to focussed on distance, but rather learn to listen to your body. 

The next halve of my training will be all about the kilometers (I mean, I do need to get over that 42K mark, right?) and will bring my running up to 4 days a week.

And this week was my first week. I kind of got off to a medium start. Monday I ran for 30 minutes, walked for 5, and ran again for 20. Which was great. But then I did not go on my interval run of 6x 3 minutes on Thursday (o, dear). Work had been busy and I just wanted to relax and sleep...But I also did go out on a lovely sunny Saturday. I took the metro to pick up the Bae from work and while he biked next to me I ran home in 70 minutes. We took a lovely route, following the Amstel river.

---

Next week I'll give you guys a new update on my training, week 2 of 41! I have to run for 35 minutes on Monday, with some 1 minute speed ups, do a 5 times 4 minute interval on Wednesday and run another 70 minutes on Saturday. I'll go back to incorporating yoga into my routine on Tuesdays and I need to find a way to add in some weight training as well, not sure how yet.

Plus I am also getting an aerial yoga workout for my monthly sporty tryouts! Excitement all around!

Getting Started

New year's eve was mindblowingly gorgeous. We were lucky enough to be invited to a house party with a balcony on the 12th floor overlooking the entire city of Amsterdam! The view was amazing, seeing all the firework being blown up into the air above the broad Amsterdam skyline really inspires  a person to learn from the past en look towards the future.

As we did spend too much time looking at the fireworks, lasting for over an hour, and drinking champagne, today was a little slow to get started. Quiet, still, with a hearty omelet du fromage breakfast.

But, no worries, the plan for fitness was started today. As I haven't run  as much as a mile in a while, I applied for a course of 12 weeks to get from a 30 minute run up to 1 hour at ZOEV, as the thought of having to run for an hour at a reasonable pace kind of freaks me out. The course starts January 25th, so I still have 3 weeks to get comfortable with 30 minutes.

And to add in a little fun, me and my sweat mate decided to try a new -and hopefully a little odd- sport every month, like trampoline jumping, circus workout, a bodytec session... Now off for a short walk, then a lovely non-running pasta party. Let's get this year started!

Fitness and Food Goals

The dreaded new year's resolutions...Become a morning person. Eat better. Run more. Add weights to your routine. Become more flexible, literally and figuratively. Get out more. Say yes. Always take the stairs...

2015 was a great year. Travel-wise; a white ski getaway, an eventful summer road trip through Scandinavia, a short Oslo birthday surprise and some awesome work trips all across Europe and even Chicago. Blog-wise; an interview with world's leading coffee news website Sprudge on a subject dear to my heart. Work-wise; educational courses not only followed, but passed. All wins...except...sport and health-wise.

2015 was not a great year of fitness. I got a lot of colds and flu's. I participated in fewer running events, and the ones I did participate in were finished in turtle tempo. I gained a few pounds, which is not too bad in and of itself, however my otherwise fabulous wardrobe is getting a little too snug in certain places.

And so, I came to the new year's resolution to become fit again; move more, eat better and feel healthy. 

And I thought I would take you along for the ride. You know, to keep me motivated. And who knows, to get you motivated to move more too.

So, what's the plan? As of January 1st I will keep you updated regularly on my fitness regime, with training schedules, healthy foods, running routes, fitness diaries and probable weak moments. And then, hopefully run a marathon at the end of 2016. Any great tips for which one to run? Let me know! I'm still looking.