Training Camp in Monte Gordo, Portugal

I just returned from a 2 week training camp in sunny Portugal. It was my first training camp here to arrive and return without injuries so I was very pleased about that. I managed to put in a lot of training effort, all of which was either running or strength training. I usually did 2 sessions each day with lots of relaxing between and after. Next to our group, there were lots of other athletes too, the place is just absolutely crowded with them. So plenty of oppurtunities to talk, hang-out and train together. Which is most welcome after a period I did all my sessions by myself. I immediatelty start my track season after this camp with two "warm-up" races, a 1000m in Lisse and a 1500m in Hoorn, before the big races start.

New Zealand: an amazing experience

From the 21th of March till the 21th of April I was on holiday with my girlfriend in New Zealand. We had the most wonderful time there and visited so many places and things. In between I managed to do some good training sessions. The hiking trails are generally very good running paths as well and add a whole new dimension to the running experience. Running in the middle of nature and picking up some fantastic sights along the way. Inspirational. Christchurch and Wellington also had a good 400m track to train on and I could do some harder sessions there. For the rest the focus was more on endurance training

Dutch XC Champs: 6th

Hellendoorn 7th of March,
Today a tough race in the short course XC. Covering a distance of 2,6k and 2 laps in total the course winded itself trough a muddy field, up a steep forest path and down on broad sandy slopes. A challeging course, but quite comparable to my training area in the dunes. My goal beforehand was to grab a medal at the least and I figured that my chances of winning were also good. The race developed somewhat differently however, with a group of 4 athletes breaking away from the rest of the field in the early stages. I was unable to close that gap and was left to compete for less inspiring places. I found myself in a strong second group and it was left to sprint to decide our "winner". I placed 6th. Not a particulary good race and definately not the result I hoped for.

15x400 in the snow

The training of tonight sharply contrasted the past trainingcamp in South Africa. In a temperature of around -5 degrees, a strong, gusty wind and track covered with snow and ice I performed my training session. Not quite the 30 degrees Celcius I was used to run in. Also not quite dressed the way I was...tonight at least every patch of skin covered in double clothing, felt a bit like running santa claus.
The program was 3x5x400 rest 4min between series. First two series on running flats which was quite slippery. Actually it felt more like a cross country training then a track training. Serie 1, 1min rest between intervals, 70-69-69-69-68. Serie 2, 90sec rest, 68-67-66-67-66. Serie 3 on spikes 2min rest: 66-63-63-64-63. Pretty decent times given the circumstances! Looking forward to a good period of training now, leading up to the national cross country championships short distance (2,6k).

3rd place at 3k NC Indoor

After a succesful trainingcamp I competed in the Dutch National Indoor Championships this weekend. I chose to compete in the 3000m as I've done a lot of basetraining lately and figured I would have good chances to win a medal. Personally I've been trough a tough week so I was not as focussed as I would have liked. Still I managed to grab the bronze medal in a new PB of 8.23.37. Winner was Gert-Jan Wassink in 8.20.5 and second was Roy Hoornweg in 8.21.9. I will now start with a period of tough training with (again) a lot of base work. I'm not running any competitions in this period but I will, however, round it off with running the Dutch National Cross Championships (short course - 2.6k) on the 7th of March.

Training Camp Potchefstroom

The whole month of January I’m on training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Update 10-01
Training here has been great so far. The weather is sunny and approximately 25 degrees Celsius during the day. Every day consists of two training sessions. In the morning we train early to train in cooler conditions. The morning session usually is an endurance run or swimming. In the afternoon we do the harder sessions on the grass or tartan track which are both close by. This first week was still an easy week to get used to the altitude (1500m) and weather. Next two weeks will be tougher with longer runs and harder sessions.
We’re staying in guesthouse “On Golden Pound”. Annelien and Hannis from the guesthouse arrange everything perfectly for us, so we only have to bother about training. The food Annelien cooks is simply delicious and she keeps our running engines going. I usually spend the rest of the day reading, studying and resting (a total of 10-11 hours of sleep every day).