Race Date: 20 October 2024

The marathon is tough. That’s the attraction and why some keep going back to it. In this honest and self-critical report from Luke Mair we get an insight into how he went for a five minute pb at Amsterdam. It compliments Laura Mellor Amsterdam Marathon Report Both had a tough time.

Training

I chose to do a Ben Parkes training programme having had success previously. (Never heard of him Ed.) They are £6 to buy and nicely colour coded and easy to follow. Training went really well. I didn’t hit the full recommended mileage every week… very hard when you have a full time job (including night shifts Ed.) but I was consistent and peaked a few weeks of 100km which is big for me! Thanks to Rob Byers and Luke Tipping for helping out with some key long runs. I completed five 20+ milers during the fifteen week block. I was feeling good though marathon pace of 6:30 mins miles always felt slightly uncomfortable.

Kit

I decided to race in Saucony Endorphin Pros. I found I had a slight burning sensation under my feet when I wore them in the few runs pre marathon. I hoped it wouldn’t impact me too much on race day but maybe I was naive. When you spend so much money on a shoe you don’t want to accept defeat!

Race Preparation

Classic error made of booking a hotel too late and they were very pricey in Amsterdam! So I ended up staying at a friends on the Friday outside the city and then moving to a hotel for the Saturday evening before the marathon. This meant I was carrying round my large rucksack on the Saturday which is probably a cardinal sin. Always be prepared is the lesson. A recommendation to others would be to stay near Amsterdam Zuid station. You can walk it from there in 20 mins.

The Race

The race was well organised. They have two waves at the start. Wave A begins inside the Olympic Stadium. As I was late to apply I was in Wave B which started outside the stadium but this seemed quite easy to access so maybe a blessing.  The bag drop and other amenities were perfect and the atmosphere was building nicely.

The conditions were good. Slightly cloudy but no rain and actually surprisingly warm. I was shooting for a 2:50 time which would be a big PB and I was ready to go.

Over first few kilometres I was slightly hampered as I got stuck behind the giant three hour pacing group that set off in Wave A. Some early surging and ducking and weaving was needed to get where I wanted to be and try to settle in. Those following on the Amsterdam Marathon App were enthused by the consistency of my splits at this stage.

The course goes through lovely Vondelpark and then the outer doors to the Riksmuseum are opened and running under the arches is one of the highlights of the course. There was good entertainment from DJs and Steel bands. I was feeling relaxed. The first 15km were smooth but I felt the 6:30 pace was slightly hard to hold and unfortunately my new shoes were causing my feet to burn up on the soles.

The course then heads out on an out and back of the Amstel River. I had been warned to expect a head wind on the way out but winds were not too high. I took the advice to get in a group and joined three French runners from the same club. We worked well together and the pace felt fine. I came through half way in 1:26 and feeling like a good time was on the cards.

At 30km I was still on for a good time but my quads were slowly getting stiffer and stiffer and my feet were still burning. Unfortunately at 35km my pace slowed dramatically. The inevitable “hitting the wall” probably contributed to by some lack of mental resilience. The 2:50 time was a distant memory but I did struggle through the final kilometres to get another respectable sub three.

Debrief

Thoughts on possible reasons for the blow up.

1) Lack of electrolytes. I took on all my gels but didn’t use specific electrolytes and I was covered in salt crystals at the finish.

2) The shoes. I don’t like to blame kit but it was hard work running 26 miles with burning feet!

3) Lack of races. I haven’t raced hard for a long while. Potentially I should have done a 10km or Half Marathon in the build up. (Really important, the old hands still swear by the 2xhalf marathon time plus 10 minutes as a predictor of marathon race pace. Ed.)

When I crossed the line I was exhausted. My quads were agony and my feet were on fire. I took my shoes off soon after crossing the line. I told my friend that was it. I was retiring from marathons. I am done with this. But now a few days later I am wondering. Shall I do another one in Spring or Autumn?