Website van Alex Reuneker over taal, hardlopen, wielrennen en reizen

Schotland 2015, dag 2: Newcastle - Aberfoyle

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Op donderdagochtend 14 mei rijden we rond 9.30 uur lokale tijd de boot af om daarna achteraan te sluiten voor de paspoortcontrole. Het was ons de avond ervoor al opgevallen dat er veel motorrijders aan boord waren - vooral Harley-rijders. Er blijkt, zo horen we deze ochtend, een groot Harley-treffen te zijn in Schotland en er is besloten de paspoorten van alle motorrijders te controleren... Gelukkig hebben we geen haast en is het mooi weer.

enter image description here De route van dag 2: Newcastle - Aberfoyle

Eindelijk voorbij de controle rijden we, volgens plan, over de grote weg in de richting van Hawick naar de Engels-Schotse grens. Daar drinken we een flinke kop koffie, maken we de verplichte foto bij de border stone en luisteren we met een half oor naar de doedelzakspeler in Schotse kilt. We laten Engeland en de grote weg achter ons en rijden over de A6088 naar Hawick. Vervolgens pakken we een aantal kleine wegen, waaronder de A698 en de B6405 langs Lilliesleaf en Midlem.

enter image description here Grens tussen Engeland en Schotland

Delen van de route bestaan uit smalle paden met veel schapen. Dat is ontzettend mooi, maar je moet wel op overstekend 'wild' letten. Lammetjes staan her en der verspreid en hoewel onze motoren een beschaafd geluid maken, schrikken ze er toch van en rennen ze, zonder om zich heen te kijken, in een rechte lijn naar hun moeder. Oppassen dus! Snel rijd je op dergelijke wegen niet, maar dat geeft je wel de tijd om lekker om je heen te kijken en van het landschap te genieten.

De volgende weg is de A72 in de richting van Peebles. In Peebles drinken we wat in een verlaten café en daarna tanken we. Je weet hier nooit hoeveel kilometer het nog duurt tot de volgende pomp, dus je kunt maar beter met een zo vol mogelijke tank rijden. De A72 was goed te doen, dus die volgen we tot Blyth Bridge en we slaan daarna een kleiner weggetje (de A721) in en we vervolgen de weg naar Armadale. Net na Carstairs pakken we de A706 noordwaarts. Aangezien er wat wegafzettingen zijn, pakken we een stukje grote weg in de richting van Falkirk. Je gaat echter niet naar Schotland voor de snelweg en daarom rijden we zo snel mogelijk de B8028 op, net voorbij Slamannan in de richting van Kilsyth.

enter image description here Het mooie plaatsje Aberfoyle

Vervolgens rijden we door het geweldig mooie Carron Valley om in Fintry eens te vragen naar een B&B. Dat blijkt niet mee te vallen; de Fintry Inn blijkt al jaren geen B&B meer en we rijden verder in de richting van Port of Menteith. Ook daar is het schitterend, met een groot meer, prachtige bomen en dito wegen. We rijden vervolgens naar Aberfoyle en komen daar voldoende B&B's tegen. We kiezen voor Mayfield B&B à £65 per nacht. Er is ook een mooie Mayfield Faerie-wandeling die je leidt naar het Fairy Forest. De wandeling is de moeite waard vanwege het uitzicht, maar ook om even lekker de benen te strekken na een tocht van bijna 350 kilometer. Morgen gaan we verder naar Fort William en Mallaig. Het weer vandaag was fantastisch en we houden onze 'fingers crossed' voor morgen.

Dagafstand: 341 kilometer

Totaalafstand: 441 kilometer

Liedje van de dag: Cream - N.S.U.

Schotland 2015, dag 1: Newcastle

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Op woensdag 13 mei 2015 begint de reis naar Schotland en vertrek ik naar IJmuiden. Pa en ik spreken om 15.30 uur af op de kade en eenmaal daar gaan we het schip, de King Seaways, op. We drinken een biertje, eten wat en lezen nog wat. Daarna lekker slapen, want we moeten morgen vroeg op.

enter image description here

Dagafstand: 100 kilometer

Totaalafstand: 100 kilometer

Liedje van de dag: Art Blakey - It's only a paper moon

Leenderbos Ultra Trail (52K)

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On Saturday May 15th, one of my running mates at RA and I organised a trail run in Leende, Brabant, just south of Eindhoven. As the pandemic is still with us, we kept it small and easy by inviting only our group members and using gpx files for navigation. Ten people participated, and it was a day to remember!

enter image description here The runners at the start of the Leenderbostrail

The courses

We offered routes of 22K, 32K, and 42K, but there was also a 52K ultra trail. All routes were almost exclusively on non-paved surfaces like single tracks and forest paths.

I doubted between doing the 32K and the 42K, because technically I'm still recovering from my 2:46 PB on the marathon last month. However, two of the other runners opted for the 52K and eventually I decided, 15 minutes prior to the start, to join them.

enter image description here The 52K route

A 52K ultra (or, as someone called it, a 'baby ultra')

Although I did taper a bit last week, and I carb-loaded (though not as extensively as last month), this was no perfect preparation, of course. I did not regret it, however! The running went smooth, we enjoyed the forests, paths and company. Apart from one very heavy shower, the weather was quite nice. There were very, very muddy parts, and one part in which the water came up to our ankles, but in retrospect those things are part of the fun. The route wasn't correct all the time and we had to reroute a number of times, but luckily one of us had a Garmin Forerunner 945 with maps, so I had just to follow along. Navigation has never been my strong suit...

enter image description here The 52K group after the trail run

I think the hardest part for me was between 40 and 45K. After that, I was able to speed up the pace again, but I just hit that largely mental point at which I struggled to find joy in what I was doing. Although running together for 52K is great the whole time, for me, these are the times running in a small group keeps me focused. I think one of the other two runners also hit the same point, but later on, just when I got out of it. To be honest, I definitely was the weakest runner of the three, at least when looking at race times, so I couldn't help but feeling I held them up a bit, but they denied that, and apart from that, this was no race. (However, as many runners, I do want to keep a certain pace, of course, which we managed.)

In the end, we finished the 52.1K in 4:05:04, with an average pace of 4:42 per kilometre (that's 7:34 per mile).

enter image description here 51.1K

Given the unpaved, slippery and sometimes rough terrain with and really deep puddles and mudd, I'm very happy with that.

enter image description here It was quite muddy out there...

enter image description here Still great shoes, those New Balance Minimus Trail editions

Afterwards

We bought some pre- and post-run snacks for the group, and my wife offered to bake quinoa-blueberry power bars from Donna Hay, which were delicious.

enter image description here Sticky and delicious

All in all, it was not only great to complete a 52K trail run together, but also to have a day off together, and to enjoy running, company and snacks together!

enter image description here Post-run stretching and eating

Short heart rate chest strap tip

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Recently I bought a new heart rate strap. I have owned a number of Garmin straps, but they all break down when changing batteries, even when replacing the rubber o-ring. There's much to say about that, but let's just leave at the fact that I was fed up with that. As always, I checked many reviews, including DCRainmaker, of course.

In the end, I opted for what many hail as the most accurate heart rate strap, namely the Polar H10. I was, therefore, very unpleasantly surprised that it really didn't work that well. Specifically, going for a run meant having around 3K's of extremely low heart rates. I did all the manual asked of me – yes, I really did read it – and that was exactly the problem.

The problem was that all strap manual ask you to moisten the pads that go on your skin, but I found a YouTube video (see below) that shows how wrong that advice is.

The drops of water have already left the pads, because those are very smooth and slippery. As the video will show you, it is much better to moisten your skin a bit and then properly put the dry strap on. I've tried it, and now the strap works absolutely fine. Thank you, Tom Tech!

Marathon pacing 2021: course, wind, and team work

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As I discussed earlier, I was in doubt whether I should start at a 4:05 pace, and probably race alone, or join a group of another athletics club taking a 4:00 pace. As 4:00 was my plan A, and there was a lot of wind (I felt it immediately cycling to the course), I opted for the latter.

The course and wind

The course was a loop of 5 kilometres which you had to complete 8 times. The loop had a small detour, in order to arrive at the finish at 42.195K instead of 40K. This way, during the pandemic, only a small piece of cycling paths had to be guarded and inspected by volunteers. They did a great job handing out water, keeping the course clean et cetera, so thanks for that!

enter image description here The course (small loop to the right is the 'extra' 2K)

The course itself had a small hilly bit, which, in all countries besides the Netherlands, would probably just count as flat. As I mentioned earlier, each loop had approximately 2K of strong head wind, which was a pity, but given that the weather forecasts predicted snow up until two days prior, I'm not complaining too much. The only downside to the course was a very, very slippery part, which was covered in some kind of mash of wet, flattened leaves. I nearly fell two times, and I wasn't the only one. People asked me whether it wasn't tough mentally to do 5K loops, but for me it wasn't. The nice thing of such a course is that you know exactly how far you are, and after a round or two, you know which parts are the gnarly bits and at which parts you can increase your pace a bit.

Team work

We did the first K at 3:59, then 4:01 (head wind), and then some K's in the low 3:50's. We kept each other at watch for the pace, and after a few kilometres, it evened out at a pace consistently around 3:56-3:58. Fast (for me), but it felt great and changing lead every 2 kilometres worked very well.

enter image description here Team work (this was the full group, I think)

In the first half, when the group was around 8 men strong, this meant head wind only once in 16K, but soon runners started to drop and I think we entered the second half with a group of around 6 people, and after 32, we were left with four. This meant more head wind, but still, it beats running alone! The group work was – in my view – perfect, and it felt good to return favours constantly. At the end, two runners indicated they couldn't bear anymore head wind, to the other one and I took the lead some more. All in all, it was a nice piece of team work.

Final thoughts

I'm am really very glad that I chose to join the 4:00 group at the start. I shaved more than 12 minutes of off my PB (from 2:58:43 to 2:46:37)! We also had some nice small chats, shared some water bottles (which you should'nt, of course, in times of corona), and when some runner messed up the provisions table, making it impossible to grab my last Torq-gel, another runner in the group offered me a piece of banana. That's what I love about running: I guess everyone dreams of racing and winning like Kipchoge, but in the end, were all in it together to beat our own previous PB's and that motivates people to share, care and race hard. Great!

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