48 Days to Amsterdam

48 Days to Amsterdam

Forty-eight days until the Amsterdam Marathon on 18 October. Somehow, writing it down makes it feel rather more real.

Amsterdam is an interesting place to have chosen for a marathon. The city hosted the Olympic marathon in 1928, and the modern Amsterdam Marathon began in 1975. 

It starts and finishes in the Olympic Stadium, the same stadium built for those 1928 Olympic Games, with the route taking runners through the city, along the Amstel River and through Vondelpark before returning to the stadium.

The times at the front of the field are rather frightening. The men's course record is 2:03:30, set by Kenya's Geofry Kipchumba in 2025, while the women's record is 2:16:52, set by Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw in 2024.

Needless to say, I have no such lofty ambitions.

As I opened the week's exercise plan sent over by my coach Ash, though, I allowed myself to feel that little flicker of excitement again.

Just a little.

There is still plenty of work to do, and I'm not yet ready, so the sensible thing is to keep my mind in the moment and simply get on with what's in front of me.

Looking back over last week, several things have come to mind. There were six runs in the plan. I actually like running six days a week; the day I rest always leaves me feeling surprisingly lethargic. I understand that's perfectly normal, and that rest is where much of the adaptation takes place.

Following and trusting the process is probably the wiser counsel, and I'm comfortable with that.

Fatigue-wise, I'm not doing too badly, testament to a balanced programme .

After downloading the week's runs, I log them and then start thinking about shoe rotation. I do think varying the shoes has helped protect my lower limbs, so I try to match the shoe to the session. There were a couple of new additions to the rotation this week, which is always interesting.

So, here's how the week unfolded, as set by Ash, who, incidentally, is about to tackle his second Spartathlon. If you're not familiar with the race, it is well worth a Google. Following his journey is inspiring.

Monday

Monday was a running rest day, but there was still a strength session to complete at the gym.

I was aching this morning, though. The weekend had been a tough one, with a tempo session of more than seven miles on Saturday followed by a park walk, then a 4:50am Sunday long run of 10.5 miles. Why so early? We needed to get to the Dereham 10-mile event in time to marshal on the route.

It was a great event and, by the end of the day, we enjoyed a bag of chips. Something we haven't done for a while.

So I'm not perfect. I did, though, hold the battered fish.

I use a local gym which also doubles as a martial arts centre. Being about as agile as a stone pig trough, martial arts might do me some good, but I'll abstain for now.

Strength sessions used to be twice a week, but as the mileage has increased they've dropped to once a week. The sessions are still progressive, though, with more weight and more repetitions gradually being introduced.

I realised that not all exercises are equal. My strength sessions work on multiple body parts, which is one of the benefits of using a coach to design the schedule.

I also rationalise the effort by reminding myself that it is important. There is little point being able to run fast at 70 if I can't get myself off the floor afterwards.

When I ran my last marathon training block, my weight increased by around 2kg. It may have been muscle, or perhaps the additional water carried by that extra muscle, but it still has to be carried around the marathon course.

This time I'm keeping an eye on my weight, hence no battered fish.

Anyone who thinks runners can eat whatever they want perhaps needs to amend that thought to:

Some runners can eat whatever they want. BUT not me.

So I dragged the weary body to the gym and repeated my sustaining mantra:

Never fade, never quit.

Tuesday

Tuesday started as most days do — early. There isn't much choice when you have an active Cockapoo who needs walking.

Overnight oats first, mixed with protein powder, banana, blueberries — apparently a superfood — some sort of bird seed and Greek yoghurt. Apparently the unstrained variety matters.

I consume without complaint.

Stay focused, Scoth.

Strong coffee consumed and I was chirpy as a budgie on a rusk and ready to go.

I'm not sure whether it was the coffee or the bird seed at this stage.

Off we went on a 3.5-mile circuit walk with Poppy. It's an hour and a half of canine lunacy, but if it doesn't happen, the rest of the day can become problematic. Every day starts much the same way. An under-exercised and bored Cockapoo has a remarkable ability to disrupt any carefully planned activity.

She does like to run, though, and occasionally joins us, but there was no running for her today.

More food eaten and off to Norwich to see Charles. An hour of treatment, including an hour of stimulating conversation without extra charge, isn't a bad combination in my view. Subjects range from sport to philosophy, and over the years I've always found the conversation as interesting as the treatment.

Like most people, we originally went to see him when something hurt.

Now we go because we don't want something to hurt.

It's an important lesson.

Prehab before rehab every time for us — although I know there are no guarantees.

Afterwards, it was time to look at marathon shoes in Sportlink.

I wanted a carbon shoe that was fast but stable. Something perhaps less aggressively designed than some of the elite racing shoes, but capable of giving me the pace and stability I need for 26.2 miles.

The last marathon I ran in the New Balance SC Elite 5. I didn't love those shoes and found the heel rather narrow. They have just been replaced in a short time by the V6, but confidence is everything.

One of the benefits of dealing with the team at Sportlink is that the expertise is solid and the customer service second to none. After trying several options, I settled on a pair of On Cloudboom Strikes.

But that wasn't the end of the shoe shopping.

I also needed a replacement for the ASICS Superblast 3, which has been my long-run shoe. It's a good shoe, but in my view it isn't a replacement for the Superblast 2. It's considerably softer and, for me, works better as a recovery shoe than as a long-run shoe where I want to pick up the pace a little. The SB3 is also approaching the end of its life.

Then I found the shoe that felt the most comfortable.

It looked like something that might have appeared in the costumes department of a 1970s science-fiction film called UFO.

Dare I?

Hell yes.

On Running Cloudmonster Hyper 3 – Lightspray.

My first run in them that evening consisted of a 20-minute warm-up followed by six, six-minute targeted effort pace then a warm down.

I was very impressed. The Cloudmonster Hyper 3’s felt secure and surprisingly comfortable, and the pacing seemed easier than expected. More importantly, they gave me a degree of confidence that some shoes simply don't.

Tuesday is normally club night, but Poppy was suddenly poorly. Nothing serious, but we decided to run at home separately instead and not leave her. She was subsequently fine, of course — probably hoovered a stray kebab on the trail.

After the run, more of my audiobook. Galahad and the Grail, with Malcolm Guite's voice proving remarkably hypnotic. It absorbs you into the story and leaves you ready for sleep.

Wednesday

3:30am.

Awake

The question was whether to get up and go out to photograph the sunrise. Five hours and 54 minutes of sleep didn't seem ideal, but the photography side of my brain was already calling.

This is one of the problems with having two passions. Sometimes the camera wins.

But then I remembered another of my mantras:

Always make the main thing the main thing.

At the moment, marathon training is the main thing.

With the race approaching, sleep is important for recovery, so after a cup of tea I decided to go back to bed for an hour.

Waking early is something I've always done. Helen has a theory that it's because I love this stage of life and there's always something to do that excites me. Perhaps she's right. My mind seems to switch on the moment I wake, already anticipating the day.

Ah, dopamine.

Don't you just love it?

Perhaps I need to stop rewarding myself so early.

Later I completed a 75-minute easy run with strides. I chose the Mizuno Neo Zen 2, which has become my usual daily trainer. I normally have a rule: daily trainer for up to an hour, long-run shoes beyond that. The Zen 2 is a great daily trainer.  

There are exceptions to every rule.

I learned today that if I run in the late afternoon, I need to fuel the run properly. Otherwise, after an hour there is an energy drop.

Thursday

Thursday was a treadmill session.

I know the dreaded treadmill divides opinion, but I've never really minded it. In fact, I think it has some advantages during a marathon training block.

The miles are easier from an impact perspective, which becomes useful as the mileage builds towards peak weeks, and speed sessions make it easier to lock into a particular pace. There's also the obvious advantage of avoiding the rain.

Again, the Mizuno Neo Zen 2 was the workhorse. A brilliant shoe.

I don't normally wear the same shoe two days running, but it was a good fit for this week's training.

Outside, the rain hammered against the roof, sounding like a dance troupe in full flow. Inside, I became increasingly comfortable with the treadmill, helped by music providing a steady beat.

Friday

Friday morning.

Here we go again.

3:30am and I was as alert as a grizzly bear in salmon season, albeit, I'd like to think, better natured.

My relationship with sleep has always been complicated. I've always admired people who can sleep a solid eight hours, but that has never really been me. Too many irregular hours, too many thoughts and too many images wandering around my head during the night.

As hard as I try, 3:30am often seems to be the point where my brain decides it has had enough.

So: coffee, porridge, protein powder, fruit, nuts, bird seed — and we're fuelled.

Today's session was an 80-minute shakedown run. I was reaching for the Cloudmonster Hyper 3 again, their second outing, with a smile on my face.

The plantar fascia felt tight, so a little prehab was needed. I have a pre-run routine involving a ball to work on the tender arches, along with a few resistance-band exercises to wake up the lower limbs and glutes.

I don't run within two hours of eating, so there was time beforehand to write in my journal and perhaps edit some photographs from my recent camera walk around Castle Rising. Check out this link if interested further. https://www.milesandframes.uk/england/castle-rising

The run itself was another good one.

It also gave me time to think of an excuse for why I shouldn't have to go shopping at Tesco, my least favourite chore. Thinking and running usually works well in combination, but not this time.

The Cloudmonster Hyper 3s were excellent. There was plenty of mud and gravel on the country roads and they didn't seem to care one bit.

Afterwards I made sure I had a five-minute cool-down rather than simply stopping. It seemed to leave the legs feeling better.

By the afternoon I needed a nap.

An old man indeed.

But if it's good enough for Churchill, it's good enough for me.

Marathon running is tiring. I think it's probably to be expected.

That evening we also entered the Stockholm Half Marathon in August 2027.

Run the world?

Not quite, but running tourism is certainly for us.

Saturday

Saturday morning is always wrapped around parkrun.

Helen was Run Director at Swaffham, while I had the results to deal with. I was hoping there wouldn't be another hen or stag party where the celebration mindset appears to remove the need for carrying barcodes or being scanned.

A frequent event recently.

I was also on course set-up duty, so I started my watch for the easy 45-minute shakedown run and set off jogging around the course with a set of corner flags under my arm.

There were 78 runners, which is a good turnout for us. The atmosphere is always good at Swaffham. It's not the most interesting course in the world, but when you run the same course often enough, you eventually know every corner so well that you could probably get around it blindfolded.

I set off with a friend, a man coming towards the end of his service to the nation. We have a strong military connection at Swaffham and we're proud of it.

We put the world to rights while keeping the heart rate and pace under control and finished in 25:18, including some strides towards the end, with an average heart rate of 128 bpm. That will do nicely. 

I rarely run parkrun at pace. I enjoy the social aspect too much, catching up with people I haven't seen for a week.

A ten-minute warm-down and the 45-minute session was up.

Sunday

I'm surprisingly perky this morning, which usually means fatigue levels are reasonably under control. Good news. 

Today's plan was a full RNR route recce: 16.35 miles, at a reasonable pace, with a few questions to answer before the main race in two weeks' time.

The choice of shoe was the Hoka Rocket X 3. They are stable and offer a reasonable return. I don't love this shoe, but it is a good all-rounder for the mixed terrain. Stability is the word across road, sand and gravel on the Norfolk Coastal Path and the Rocket feels like a low slung ride , albeit the stats suggest otherwise. 

The run was good.

The conditions were first class and I'll be very fortunate if they remain that way in two weeks' time. Even the sand was firm, which made the route considerably easier than it might have been.

I was tired towards the end and didn't have much left for a final push, but that's OK. I'm marathon training; it's to be expected. Today's objective was simply to complete the distance and see how everything felt.

The 16.35 miles brought the week's total to 53 miles and counting.

It has been a big week, but a good one.

There is still plenty of work to do before Amsterdam, but for the first time the race is beginning to feel close enough to touch.

And that, if I'm honest, is rather exciting. Bring on next week.