Oops, I did it again

When someone googles me they find a youtube film with me making latte art, my twitter and linkedin account, a few pieces I have written, and my end results of the half marathon of Amsterdam 2013 and Dam tot Damloop 2012.

And all that on the first page. Up until the fourth page a lot of relevant links can be found. It sums me up pretty well. Although I do get somewhat insecure that everyone can see how fast, or slow, I was during my first half marathon. Well...I was not really very slow. It took me a good 2 hours and 14 minutes to finish 21+km. Which is not that bad. But it is above 2 hours and 6 minutes, which is how long I wished it had taken me.

I am not really very ambitious in my running speed, I take more pride in the fact that I was able to run that distance at all. It was my first ever half marathon and I was nervous running it. However, the reason the finishing time stings a little is the fact that I injured my knee at the 17km point. Resulting in a very, very slow last 4 km. And it took me a good 3 to 5 months to heal, with little to no running. When the pain finally went away, I was literally back at 3km max, and peeved.

marathon-photos.com

I went to a Physical Therapist, started doing yoga and started to slowly add on some km to my weekly runs. Once I hit 10km I bought myself a fancy watch to celebrate. A lot of people do not like running with a watch, as the run starts to be all about your pace or heart rate, instead of running and letting go. But I love it, because it frees me. I input the km I want to run, shut off my mind, and my watch reminds me when I am half way. As a result I know when to take what turn and I do not have to constantly think about what route I want to run.

marathon-photos.com

I bought the new TomTom watch, which has an integrated heart rate monitor, so no belts needed, but I really do not use the hrm. Mostly, because I do not really understand how to yet. I do try to look at it every once in a while, just to start to understand my heart rate at different speeds. I seem to find a heart rate of 170 the most comfortable for running. This seems a bit high, which is another reason I really do not understand the heart rate system yet. Although my heart rate in rest is also higher than average (according to TomTom) at an average 87. 

marathon-photos.com

Anyway, after that mumbling detour, yesterday was my first 14km run in about a year's time. It was hot, there was a lot of humidity, I did not bring enough water, and it was awesome. My knees felt fine (still a bit afraid of the possible pain), I was not out of breath, and I made it. 14 km. Back on track.
I am however still very, very, very slow at 6:30 minutes per km. Which I believe, I am sorry, maybe I am a little more ambitious than I want myself to believe, really has to drop back down to under 6 minutes.

For the extra motivation to get out the door three times a week to make this happen (unfortunately Cameron's legs as inspiration alone is not doing it for me), I bought myself a starting place for the 2014 Amsterdam Half Marathon. Yes, I will have to run 21km... again... Now here's hoping this time I will not take longer than 2:14 hours.

In the meantime, my shoes travel with me to Barcelona, my yoga class will never again be skipped, I will be planking my ass off (and will be doing other strengthening exercises as well), and will keep drinking coffee before and after my run.