Duinentrail Schoorl 2012

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Welcome back! As you might remember, we were going to run the duinentrail in Schoorl. The event was last Sunday, and because it’s an 1,5 hour drive we decided to go there for a long weekend instead of just for the event itself. We arrived Friday in the end of the afternoon in a drizzling rain, hoping the weather would be better the rest of the weekend. I mean, hiking and running are a lot more fun when done in sunshine 😉 However, during the night we had some of the heaviest thunderstorms I have ever heard, so that was promising…

Saturday we went out to explore the area where the race would be, so we made a 15 km hike through the dunes of Schoorl. It’s a quite a beautiful dune area with a diverse nature and some steep dunes that would be absolute hell to run!

After the hike we could already collect our race bibs at a hotel. When we came home I got a little scared something was wrong because I did not receive a timing chip, but then I realized I probably said I would use my own chip when I signed up…. At that point I also started to get a little worried about my knee. Stephan decided to switch to the 14k, but I figured my knee would probably hold up after a month of active rest. Meaning: no running, but a lot of biking, hiking and knee exercises. But only time could really tell if everything went well, or would be a minor disaster. In every case I had decided to finish, no matter what. So even when I had to walk, I’d try to finish within the time limit of 4,5 hours.

Before the start I was really excited and nervous, did I make the right decision? Well, early on in the race I noticed I did not. Not only did my knee start to hurt after just a few kilometres, but because I had not run for a month it was merely impossible for me to run uphill! Now I know I have never been the biggest fan of running uphill, but at least I used to be capable of it for a while. This time it was a practically impossible to get up any hill, which was really frustrating. After I settled for walking all the uphills it went better, but the pain in my knee was not exactly becoming less. I was longing for the first aid station, but that appeared to be after kilometre 12, which was ‘slightly’ further from where I expected it :p To that point I could stumble on, but when I tried running away from the station the pain was excruciating. After a little bit of walking it was not so bad anymore so I could run the part over the beach. In the next dune section, after about 16k, I unfortunately had to stop, the pain became really too much. By that time I figured I had to be officially the last person on the track, but that I would be able to finish within the time limit anyway. I walked through the rest of the course (after getting a pain killer from another trailer, thanks!) and found out that I had not been the last person at the point I had to walk. In the end I did finish last of course, after 3.45 hours, but at least I did finish and I have a finisher shirt to prove it! 🙂

The next day my knee hurt like hell when we wanted to hike a last round before going home (it did fade after a while and I did not notice it again until after the ride home), and every muscle in my body was sore. After a week now I do not feel it anymore, so hopefully my next very short run will go fine.

Silence

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Sorry it has been silent for such a long time. School started, I got ill and my knee hurted again after a running session to and from college. So we didn’t really run much, and I had little time to write. I’ll try to keep it up from now on… What we also had little time for was preparing for the Duinentrail in Schoorl last weekend, but I’ll write a report on that later!

Huarache running

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I must admit, I still need some practice in running on huaraches… The first run (900 meters away, wait a few minutes, 800 meters back) I developed quite a big blister right before the base of my smallest toe. The running itself however went surprisingly smooth, so I was pretty annoyed with the blister. The second time (when I thought the blister was pretty much gone) I managed to crack it open while running. So I will have to give it a few more attempts, and hopefully my feet are getting stronger and my skin more sturdy…

Tying these things requires quite some practice and experience. I tried different tying styles, some existing ones and some were my own creations. The problem with tying is that it can feel good and secure when just tied, but when you start walking the heel can slide back too far and the heel strap becomes very tight. And sometimes a style works out fine for a while, but when worn for a few hours the heel strap starts to slide down or something like that. I like to think I become better at tying though, so let’s hope that is true 🙂

Todays run

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My run from today in just a few words:

  • Rain
  • Heavy rain
  • Very, very heavy rain
  • Shelter under tree and get cold
  • Going on in more rain
  • Seeing sun and thinking the worst is over
  • Being wrong about that
  • Getting in a thunderstorm, including a ten-minute rain burst
  • Running in small rivers that used to paths

The differences with last week could not have been bigger. Today it was only 15° Celsius and pouring with rain, instead of 30° and a lot of sun. The forest was pretty much deserted for a Sunday morning, since I only saw 4 mountain bikers and 2 other runners. But well, I guess you aren’t a real runner unless you went out in the rain! 😉

Cross-training: Mountain biking

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Yesterday we went to do a little cross-training, inspired by the holidays of us and a friend of ours. We had both enjoyed mountain biking and wanted to do this again on the Heuvelrug. Since only Stephan owns a mountain bike we had to rent one from a local rental. These bikes turned out to be very good, with excellent shifters and brakes (which I need a lot when mountain biking, I’m not exactly blazing down the hills…).

We started out with a route of 16.2 kilometres, which we extended with another route of 10 kilometres which started halfway our original one. “The boys” were clearly more experienced and/or less careful, especially on the downhill and sandy parts (I absolutely HATE loose sand) where the distance between us grew very quickly. Some of the climbs were pretty steep and resulted in constantly acidified calves, so it was definitely a workout! When we finished the route it was time for lunch, but the ‘restaurant’ lies about halfway of the 16-kilometre route. By that time my legs were pretty exhausted, so I went there using the bicycle path, while they headed out to follow the route again.

After a long break for lunch (with pancakes and fruit :)) we went out to do the last part of the track for the second time. When that was completed we went for a drink at Stephans parents house and tried a very short track of 1.2 kilometres. That turned out to be not very exciting and by that time we had to return the bikes anyway. We all had a very fun day and we definitely want to do it again. I’m now even looking for a not so expensive second-hand mountain bike, since having to rent one every time is not very handy and it is a fun form of cross-training.

Morning run and testing gear

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As Stephan mentioned in his last post, we bought some new running gear. What else to do after two weeks of summer work than spending some of the earned money 😉 We needed small running backpacks to carry enough water for 2+hour runs, as well as some food and clothing (e.g. training jacket). To get those we went to the only trail-running shop in the Benelux, scarabee sports and outdoor. After quite a long testing/fitting session we both found a pack we liked, as well as a top (for me) and shorts (for Stephan). Unfortunately, Stephan got hurt on our first test run the day after so I had to continue on my own. Running with a backpack needs some getting used to, but today on my second run with it, it already felt more comfortable than the first time. I can’t wait to do some really long runs for which I have to bring some food as well and fully use my pack! (And hopefully Stephan can join me again by then.) We bought the two packs below, mine is on the left, Stephans is on the right.

Salomon<br>XT WINGS 5 - 128541 Afbeelding (1)Salomon<br>Advanced Skin S-LAB 5 - 119900 Afbeelding (1)

Today the planning was to rise really early and run right after dawn (7.00) when it’s not very hot yet, but without setting the alarm (I did want to wake naturally…). After waking up at 4 o’clock at night (which I considered a bit too early), the next time I woke it was already light outside and it turned out to be 7.40. Luckily the woods provide much shade, so most of the time the heat was not as bad as I had feared, but when I came back home and stopped running my whole body looked like it came right out of a sauna: covered in a thin layer of water. It meant that today had been an excellent opportunity to test the pack while wearing a top and sweating, and it passed with flying colours. I had no problems with friction on my shoulders whatsoever. 🙂

The next run I will test some other ‘new’ running gear, next time I’ll run on huaraches!

So much for running this week

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The week started quite promising with an excellent long run garnished with some sprints up- and downhill. The remainder of that day was filled with a short hike with our dogs and some relaxing in the sun.

The day after Manon and I went shopping for running gear. Our long runs got too long for the amount of water we could carry along with us, so we needed something better. In short: we succeeded, but more on that later, I’ll let Manon do the honours.

Next morning we figured we should put our new toys to the test and decided to go for a relaxed two hour+ run. The plan was to head into the woods and run one of the local mountain bike trails (16,5 km). By the time we reached the starting point of this trail, my knee felt as if someone was hammering a nail into it. Probably one of the downhill dashes, 2 days before, caused an injury. So I decided to take no chances and hiked back to home. During that walk I didn’t feel anything anymore, but running was clearly impossible.

So I decided I would forget about running for a couple of days and give my knee some rest. The things that bugs me is the fact that I have no problems at all during all kind of other activities. Yesterday we went for a 30k hike – without a hitch – and today I played tennis for a couple of hours (for the first time in weeks :$ ), also without any issues.

I suppose I am going to test my knee with a short run tomorrow or the day after, depending on how early I wake up tomorrow. The next couple of days are projected to be very sunny and warm (30° – 35° Celsius), so I want to run when it is relatively cold. I really hope I face no more problems and this was just an onetime issue.

Becoming creative…

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After reading Born to run I was inspired by the footwear worn by the Tarahumara, the huaraches. I liked to try barefootstyle running before that (truly barefoot is not ‘my thing’, I like to keep my feet uninjured), but very minimalistic shoes are surprisingly expensive, especially if you mainly want to try out. I found out that it’s possible to order a Do It Yourself kit from invisibleshoes.com, which costs relatively little. Unfortunately, these are coming from the U.S., meaning shipping costs are high. That I could overcome, but apparently you also have to pay fees for customs and tax, and our national postal service asks a ridiculous amount of money as ‘administration costs’. So that was not a serious option after all.

After looking feverishly on the internet for (re)sellers in Europe, I gave up. Then I would just have to become creative (me, creative!?) and make them myself, how hard could that be with instructions from the aforementioned site? It turned out to be harder to obtain suitable materials, than to make the sandals themselves. The soles I eventually got from a shoe maker (rubber soles, 5 mm thick), and the laces are called paracord and were ordered online. I’m quite happy with the result, now I only have to ‘polish’ the sides and figure out what tying style I like best. I have been walking on them for three days now, so I can probably start to run really short distances towards the weekend! 🙂 So these are my (almost) end products, tied with an extended toga style:

Does anyone else have experience with making their own huaraches, either from a kit or from scratch? All advice for improvement, materials and tying are welcome 😉