London Sport is running a series of blog posts on our five chosen runners for this year’s London Marathon.
We caught up with Patrick back in March and he’s given us his latest update on his training with the big day fast approaching this weekend.
How has training progressed since we last caught up in January?
Generally my training has progressed well. In the 13 weeks of training until now I have made around 715 kilometres and that ranks the training for this marathon first in number of kilometres made compared to the previous 13 marathons I have trained for.
What’s been the best thing about training?
To be honest, I love the training part as much as, or perhaps even more than, the racing part. Although it is not always easy to fit five runs into an already packed schedule, it always works out by keeping the weekday runs shorter.
What I also like is the peace of mind training provides me with, nothing better than to do some running after a busy day.
And last but not least, there’s always a training you don’t want to do (for whatever reason)… and once I’ve done that training there is this huge feeling of victory that I have managed to keep the promise made to myself.
What’s the best/worst piece of advice you’ve been given so far?
There’s two pieces of advice that I always take into account with regard to marathon running.
The first is relevant to training as well as racing: ‘listen to your body’. Better to take some extra rest, reschedule a training or decrease the intensity of a training than pushing to hard.
The second one particularly applies to race day: ‘running a marathon is an energy game’.
Your body contains nowhere near enough easily available energy sources (carbohydrates) to run 3-5 hours. By doing long-runs at an easy pace the body is trained to use energy sources that are plenty available (fat) but harder to access.
In order to be successful in such an extraordinary challenge as a marathon, energy sources need to be replenished during running. So always train with gels beforehand to test the effect on your stomach and use them in a planned way on race day.
And, last but not least, don’t forget to drink!
What’s got you through the long runs?
As long-runs are mostly done at a relative easy pace, I particularly enjoy this part of my training schedule (opposite to intervals). I also live in a beautiful area in the Netherlands, meaning I have plenty of nice trails to choose from.
One of the trails that I frequently run during my longest training’s is the Heuvelrug Trail, leading from Rhenen to Driebergen. This trail is very scenic and goes entirely over unpaved roads, through the hilly and forested Utrechtse Heuvelrug National Park.
Do you feel ready for the marathon next month?
Absolutely! I’ve followed a training schedule that prepares me well. So I know, if I just work myself through the training, I’ve done all I can do to be ready to go at race day.
Our Virgin Money London Marathon 2019 runners will be raising funds to help inactive or less active Londoners in a range of underrepresented communities – specifically to support deaf and disabled Londoners to become more active.
