Preparation
I had waited for this race for quite some time, around 1.5years! After the past year not being able to run, not knowing if I would be able to run a half marathon again, I only signed up for short races this year. As the season progressed and I was able to increase the running volume I finally decided to sign up for a half distance race again, being this race. So I had looked forward to this one quite a bit!
But then I got sick with flu like symptoms a little over a week out of race day. So I had to shut down training earlier than planned and finally felt better the Tuesday before race day on Saturday. On Wednesday I tried a 5k run just to see how the body felt and in 1 word it was horrible. I was able to run for 5k but my heart rate was around 20bpm higher than what it should have been at the pace I was going. So I was less than confident that it would be going well on race day, but I still had 2 days to get things turned around. Exactly because of this I didn't had much expectations related to finish time or pacing.
Location
3rd year in a row racing this venue, coming back because I love the venue and organization.
Registration, swim start and finish line are all located at the promenade in Almere Stad. So from a logistics point of view this race is very easy. Although this year they moved T1/T2 around 1k away from the promenade. The swim is a one loop in Weerwater which is an artificial lake, so no current whatsoever. The bike course was a flat one loop setup around the city of Almere Stad. This year the run setup was a 2 loop setup around Weerwater.
Stay
Drove up to Almere on Friday and arrived around noon. Picked up my transition bags at registration, checked my bike and bags in and headed to the hotel. Picked the same hotel as 2 years ago, Fletcher Nautisch Kwartier Hotel in Huizen. Race start for age groupers was around 9:30 so no need for an early start of the day, just tried to be at the race venue around 7 to have all the time in the world to prep.
Swim 0:30:08
- Compared to last year the full distance athletes started way earlier than the middle distance athletes, so I didn't ran into any of the full distance athletes during the swim. Waited as long as I could to put on my wet suit as it was hot! Putting on my wet suit I pulled a tear into my right sleeve, so I was bummed about that. It wasn't to big so tried to set it aside and focus on the work ahead.
- As it was a rolling start I had most of the time clear water, don't think I found any quick feet to sit in. Felt like a controlled swim, never felt really gassed, great time and pace.
- The course was a bit different then the past years so not a one to one comparison, but best so far for what it's worth:
- 2021: 30:53
- 2022: 31:06
- 2023: 30:08 (1:35/100m)
T1 0:04:50
- Took me quite some time to get my wet suit off. Besides that a non eventful transition, slow as always 😁
Bike 2:27:51
- 1 loop setup for the middle distance around Almere, 2 loops for the full distance athletes. Almost the same loop as last year, this time 94k instead of 96k of last year.
- I felt pretty good on the bike, once you pass the technical part and get on the dike, at around 18k, you can finally start getting into it and that is what I did. Tried to keep the power around 270-280W and managed to stay there without feeling gassed. No problem with drafting packs for me this time, just picking up athletes one by one. There was one athlete that stayed with me, but kudos to him for staying at a decent distance and not trying to get a free ride.
- But then ... when reaching around 55k in I started to feel like the wheels came off. First I thought no worries it's just a dip, push trough it and in a few minutes you will start feeling better again. But that never happened, it just got worse and worse. The guy that was behind me until now passed me and I was unable to close the last gap to a group I was closing in on. After a while I couldn't even push 200W anymore, just felt flat flat flat. The last 30k just felt horrible, people were passing me every few seconds, the only thing I could do was counting down the k's to T2. By then I already decided to not start the run and DNF, it sucked big time and not at all what I had hoped for but the body just didn't feel normal.
- Looking back at the power and heart rate numbers they just went south from 55k on. Don't think it was a nutrition issue, I just did what I always do nutrition wise. During the race I didn't pay attention at all to my heart rate, I was just focusing on hitting my power numbers. Looking back to my heart rate I was most of the first 50k above 140bpm, so probably just to high to maintain for the full 94k. I assume it was still due to the body not being 100% recovered from the illness the week before as the power that I was pushing was normally not outside of my possibilities.
- Comparing the numbers of past years my average speed wasn't even to bad overall, just means that my first 50k were really fast:
- 2021: 2:19:39 - 38.6km/h - NP = 227W, 91.3km - 31m elevation
- 2022: 2:22:33 - 40.4km/h - NP = 276W, 96.3km - 28m elevation
- 2023: 2:27:51 - 38.5km/h - NP = 241W, 94.9km - 26m elevation
T2
- As the last 30k on the bike felt so horrible, without any energy and knowing I had another middle distance the following week, I decided that I wouldn't put my body through a half marathon in the heath. I was just hoping it was all due to the illness of the week earlier and that I would feel better the next weekend.
- Mentioned to a race official that I was dropping out and took advantage of the facilities by taking a shower and getting a massage.
Run DNS
Overall
- One word: FRUSTRATING. Should have been my first finish line in a 70.3 in over 1.5 years. Although maybe somewhere I expected this outcome with having been sick the week before.
- In hindsight I made the only correct decision by pulling out, the body was just not 100% and putting me through a half marathon in the heath would just have been unhealthy.
Some lessons learned
- Think twice about getting to the start line if you still have sickness lingering in your body …
- Don't follow your power meter blindly, keep as well an eye on your heart rate as its an indication on how your body reacts on race day.
Result
- Swim 0:30:08
- T1 0:04:50
- Bike 2:27:51
Tags: Challenge Almere-Amsterdam race report, race report Challenge Almere-Amsterdam, Challenge Almere-Amsterdam 70.3 race report
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