2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 16 weeks to go

16 weeks to go...

Monday I went for a 30 minute run. And it took a lot of willpower...for the work day was long and stressful. I did not leave the office before 18:45. But knowing that a run would help me put some dopamine against the stress and irritation I was feeling, eventually helped me pull that door closed behind me and got me on a 4.5km run. Blazing through the streets with 2 Many DJs blasting in my ear, using irritation as fuel...until Spotify changed the game by suddenly skipping to Bob Marley's Don't worry about a thing, and I realised, that I shouldn't have a too emotional of a reaction. All bad things will pass. Everything will turn out allright. 

My calves felt extremely tight after all that energy, so I ended with a foam rolling session.

Tuesday, Vinyasa Yoga day! I try to get at least one yoga session in a week. I enjoy Vinyasa because it's a perfect balance of strength and stretch. It helps me align and straighten out, find my balance. But it also strengthens my core, legs, shoulders and arms.

Wednesday I tried something new: calisthenics. Calisthenics, for those who do not know, is a form of body-weight training that uses your own body as a weight. It's intended to increase not only strength and muscle, but also fitness and flexibility trough movements of pulling, pushing, bending, jumping and swinging from bars and rings.

It was given in this old industrial hall, which have it a real rugged feel. And of course, this one week I went, they did an extra intensive training....Where they not only focused on strength, but on endurance. Meaning, where they usually do 3 rounds of 12 pull ups, it was 3 rounds of 20. And where they did 3 rounds of 12 push ups, it was 80-120 push ups in total (see how you get there, just as long as you get there). Needless to say, I was sweating in all sorts of places and for one hour barely had time to catch my breath. Nonetheless, it was heaps of fun. The atmosphere was good and all the people there were really kind, helpful and encouraging of each other and me, the newbie.

But...the muscle pain, is so, so, so horrible. The next day was fine. No real issues. But Friday and Saturday where horrible! I could not stretch my arms for the life of me.

In order to help stretch my muscles I went to a Yin Yoga class on Friday and spent most of Saturday foam rolling my arm muscles.

Sunday was a day filled with garden work, and I closed the week off with a walk.

2nd try || Training for the Amsterdam Marathon || 17 weeks to go

After two weeks of totally bumming out of running -seriously it's too hot here right now- I decided enough is enough. It was time to dig deep and find a new type of willpower to make my body healthy, slim, strong and marathon ready.

Especially after an aunt calling me out for becoming more 'sturdy'...what does that even mean?

Monday I ran 3 kilometres In the dying heat, which in the Netherlands is about 28 degrees Celsius. Although it was evening, I tried to follow the trees as the sun was still blaring down.
After, I spent 15 minutes on legs and 10 minutes on abs in a HIIT workout form. Talk about breaking out a sweat! Dripping all over the floor!

Tuesday was Vinyasa yoga day. Starting the workout with a good old meditation and slow stretch, working up through loads of moon and sun salutations and almost to many high planks and Vinyasas.

Wednesday. We had a goodbye dinner for a colleague at work. It was a lot of fun. I did not do any workout other than my daily bike ride to and from work.

Thursday my body felt really tired and my bones kept cracking and my legs ached. I was not feeling it.

Friday was a little better. I decided to do a slow yin yoga stretch via YouTube. Getting ready for a 10k run tomorrow!

Saturday: and so I did that, a 10k run. It took some convincing to get up early to avoid the heat. When I woke up our cat Luna was snuggled up against me purring away. After some cuddles I got up anyway, and stepped out into the rain. Hashtag goals achieved!

I finished the week with a nice 30 minute walk on Sunday.

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Next week more running, more yoga and a calisthenics class?

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!

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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!

New Beginnings...and Running Schedules

2017 has begun. It marks the end of many things, one of them being the end of my physical therapy. And so it also marks the beginning of a new running schedule!

The plan? Run the Amsterdam Marathon for real this year. So 42KM in October. Meaning, the schedule starts today! 

As I've not run, really, since August 2016, and basically not only not run but not done anything, it's important to start slowly. Minute per minute, to avoid new injuries and the oh so scary shin splints. In order to get to 42KM in the fall, I've split the training into three blocks. Block 1: build up to 10KM. Block 2: build up to 22KM. Block 3 build up to the marathon. 

First up - block 1

I found this schedule a while ago online. Unfortunately I cannot remember where. But I have adopted it into my calendar. It should have me up to an hour of running, or about 10KM on the first of April. Let's see how I go, I'm looking forward to it! And that is halve the work, right?




I'm starting on week 4 in the schedule, so my schedule will look as follows:
week 4 - 6x2 minutes
week 5 - 12x2 minutes and 6x3 minutes
week 6 - 8x3 minutes and 10x3 minutes
week 7 - 12x3 minutes and 6x4 minutes
week 8 - 8x4 minutes and 10x4 minutes
week 9 - 12x4 minutes and 6x5 minutes
week 10 - 8x5 minutes and 10x5 minutes
week 11 - 12x5 minutes and 6x10 minutes
week 12 - 3x20 minutes and 6x10 minutes
week 13 - 1x60 minutes and 1x70 minutes (sounding off the bell for the next round, building up to 22K) 

Running again!

It's been four months since I twisted my knee cap. The last run I went on was the 17th of August! Seems like forever ago. And these shoes! Also bought forever ago. I usually do not go to the gym and so I have never invested in fancy in door shoes. I just have these old classics, that have been in my life since age...like...13? But for the last couple of weeks I've been going to the gym for a session with my physical therapist, cycling, planking, squatting...and now finally today, RUNNING!

And so my first run in four months was on these old babies. 

Well, I say run, what I mean is 1 minute jogs. Everything I'm doing is based, not only on rebuilding muscles, but also regaining muscle memory. The first time walking without a cast. The first time walking up and down the stairs without lifting my hip awkwardly. Every time I try something I have not done in a while, I realise my body had forgotten how to do it. And it was the same with running. 

Running after this injury felt like the bones in my leg were bone to bone, without any cushioning. Like, bones smashing into each other. Not nice. Not painful, but not nice. According to the therapist, this is normal, as your leg muscles have forgotten that they have to cushion the blow. This is why, when you start running again after a long stop, you need to build back up from scratch. Literally, run a minute, walk a minute, run a minute, walk a minute...and so on. 

But even with the awkwardness, being there, on the treadmill, in my old shoes, running, running was amazing. It felt like a hurdle I had to jump over, and I made it. Progress is actually happening. In October 2017 the 42 marathon of Amsterdam will take place. And I want to be there. And today I could feel the start of a new chance of making it across the finish line after 42KM. We will see if it will happen, but I'm sure going to try. And although there is a very, very long way to go, the first hurdle -running without pain- has been taken!

The Day of the Amsterdam Marathon 2016

It's a beautiful sunny Autumn day. Perfect running weather. It's the day I should have run my first marathon. In stead, I'm on the side line -which is just a few hundred metres from my front door- to cheer. It's a bitter sweet feeling. Bitter, because I wished I had been running. I have to say, seeing people pass me by, it's more emotional than I thought it was. Sweet, because, it is a lovely day to be outside, and because people I know who are running are putting down some amazing times.

It's been two months since I dislocated my knee. And as of this week I'm finally allowed to bend my knee to a 90 degree angle. I say allowed, but really, I should add that even if I was allowed, I'm physically not able to bend it any further anyway.

This day is not how I thought it would be. I'm not one to break a new year's resolution. But I've had to. Where I thought I would be running 42 KM this year, I've had to change that to running a marathon in the Spring of 2017. Now, I've had to change my resolution to being able to ride my bike by myself through traffic before the end of December. And it sucks.
Especially as my rehabilitation process is slower than expected, because my first doctor told me to wear a stiff, non-bending, brace for 6 weeks, where all the doctors and physical therapists after him have told me that is one of the worst things I could have done. I've lost a lot of muscle, and my knee is very unstable because of this.

But I'm trying to live in the now and to feel gratitude for what my knee is able to do today. And I have to say, being able to walk to the marathon trail without crutches, feels amazing. 

Training for the Amsterdam Marathon II Shattered Dreams?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We'll see. 

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