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Amsterdam Marathon Sunday 16 October 2011
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Sorry for the intrusion but can anyone tell me what drinks are being handed out during the marathon? I have trawled various websites to try and find out but to no avail.
The drink supplier is AA and they only sell their stuff in Holland
http://www.aa-drink.com/en
There are a number of different types and flavours but i am trying to find out exactly which one is supplied. I have a friend coming back from Holland and she has promised to bring a couple of bottles back with her. I just wanted to give them a try before the race as some sports drinks upset me (in all kinds of ways).
Thanks
Hi all! 1st time on this thread, is this the main one for this years 'Dam mara? This will be the 3rd time in a row I've done it, and the reason I keep coming back is it's such a great race, top organisation (like a really big mara, but without the huge numbers), a great start/finish at the stadium, and coiurse in between. Flatter than a very flat thing, I've PB'd both times I've done it, and took 5 mins off last year almost getting under 3 hours (finished in 3.01.40, gutted didnt get the Sub 3, maybe this year though!). Can't recommend it highly enough.
Ironbloke - Yeah, it's AA drink, I think it's a Dutch thing only, I've only ever seen it when doing the 'Dam mara. It's not the worst sports drink I've ever tasted, fairly palatable and easy to get down, i.e. total opposite from Lucozade 'sport' which is utterly disgusting (I'm on a 1 man campaign to have their awful products banned for use in races - it's the pits), I've tasted far worse put it that way.
For those asking is it in cups along the way, then yes, unfortunately it is. Makes it a wee bit more difficult to down than if in a bottle, but just do what your suppossed to, slow down, get it down you, and get off again. What you lose in time in slowing right down (walking even) for a few seconds you'll make up with the energy boost your fuel gives you.
I'll be on here quite a bit from now on, hope everyone's training is going really well. All the best folks!
Hey Neil, welcome back. Ready for another tilt at sub 3 or did you get that at Edinburgh this year? Hope the training is going well.
Ironbloke, can't help you on the drinks, it is the AA stuff served in cups but I didn't try any last year so can't vouch for flavour or whether drinkable.
52 days to go.
Watcha Murph! Unfortunately, I'm still aiming at Sub 3. Did 3.05 at London in April, then 3.08 in Edinburgh a few weeks later, think I've done 5 sub 3.10's now, but just can't convert these to below the 3 (any advice here from anyone, gratefully received!). Training's going well this time though, following the 18 week plan in the P&D book Marathon Bible if that doesnt work, nothing will haha! Hope your trainings going well too. What did you drink en route last year if you didnt use the stations? Take your own round with you on a belt perhaps?
Hi all,
How far is the Ibis Centre from the rail station and the start?
Neil, I heard Edinburgh was difficult with the wind this year but won't mention what I heard about the organisation - no such fears at the Dam thankfully Too new at this game to offer much advice apart from being consistent in training and doing a decent MLR and as many 20+ runs as you can fit in. P&D is as good as they come.
My training is going ok, been injury free and only the odd lurgy slowing me down. Have been running 60 and 70 mile weeks which is a big step up for me, with 4 x 20+ in the bank and another 4 to come. Am hopeful of sub 3 but we'll see on the day. Think I'll be setting off at 6.45mm if you want to join up.
Last years drinks was a disaster for me, I had my better half pass me a few bottles of Lucozade Light at a couple of points as I went round, so I didn't drink at any of the stations, neither water or AA stuff, thought I was being clever saving a few seconds and don't like drinking out of cups. Only problem was the Luc Light was warm so I didn't drink much. I think it was one of the reasons the wheels fell off at mile 21 (lost about 45+ seconds per mile after that). Slow down could also have been to lack of endurance as fairly new to this game but whatever it was a very painful experience I don't wish to repeat. Therefore as you advise above I will take my time at the stations to ensure I get a decent drink, worth losing a few seconds at each station compared to minutes at the end.
At least your boys showed some pride last night.
Minardi, its quite easy if you plan in advance, my lot saw me at the start, then at 7ish kms, which was just outside the stadium as you do a loop around Vrondel Park when you start. They then got on the underground and saw me at around 25 kms just before the start of the industrial park and then went back to the stadium to see me at the finish. If they had been braver they could have got back on the underground and saw me at about 35kms (not a pretty sight by then) but didn't want to take the risk of missing the finish. In the group was 3 adults and 4 kids, aged 8, 6, 5 and a baby in a buggy so if you are just adults or older children you could easily make a few extra spots.
They send you a large map (and I mean large) in the race pack so quite easy to organise where to see folk. Also numbers of spectators aren't anything like London so easy to spot people and for them to see you.
I did the HM last year - was it really that cold? Ha. The excitement must have warmed me up a bit I guess. I do remember spending the rest of the trip regretting not bringing a scarf.
In addition to the drinks, they also hand out bits of bananas and sponges, something I wish more races in the UK would do.
Hope everyone's training is going well.
oops - dont know what happened there.
Neil - sub 3 advice. Your training plan seems fairly sound but I would include some faster runs of 13 - 15 miles at a little above marathon pace. These will make the marathon pace seem quite comfortable at the beginning of the race at least. Don't set off too fast (easy to do with the adrenelin and crowd support, other runners passing you etc) try and ease up to your target pace over the first 2 - 3 miles. Don't panic if you are behind the clock; try and make up losses over several miles rather than in the next mile. If you are feeling good and comfortable with the pace don't start cranking it up - that way lies disaster. If you are in good shape then it is best to aim for fairly even splits rather than try to put a lot of time in the bank for later. If you aim for about 1:26 for the half then as long as you have done the training you should be OK. Run your own race don't try and keep pace with anyone else unless you manage to get into a group clearly running at your pace. Keep the spectator interaction / high fives etc down to a minimum (this can drain energy you will need later). I'm not suggesting you be unsociable but if you really want to crack the 3 you have to be focussed and single minded. Hope this helps a bit; it is a template i have used successfully many times. My sub-3 days are probably behind me now (I'll be happy with 3:05 - 3:10) but I wish you well in your quest.
Cheers, Joe
I'm thinking I'll carry all of my own drinks. Some drinks and food upset my stomach when I'm running so I wouldn't want to try anything new on the day. Only trouble is, I drink around 2.25L on a 16mile run so it's a lot to carry for the whole mara! I'm not even sure the running platypuses go much bigger...
. My OH should have plenty of time to get around to different points during the race - that's the bonus with being such a slow coach!
Now I just have to sort out my sore knee...
Neil - some great advice from Ironbloke above, and I'd also say you can't go wrong with P+D. FWIW I reckon both you and Murph will nail it this time.
Funny game this running lark. I was seriously thinking of withdrawing from this race or at least changing to the Half, as I've been suffering with loads of niggles in the last month or so (cumulative effect of overdoing it since VLM I think). Anyway, had a very sedate week and today was almost make or break as a session - I honestly thought I'd have to bail my long run, but low and behold I managed 21 miles with the last 10 at 6'20 avg (I was aiming for 6'30 for this block, and didn't think I'd get anywhere near). Absolutely chuffed, so Plan A is back on it seems!
Hope everyone else's training is going ok. 7 weeks from now I'll probably be upsidedown in a bar somewhere, having drank far too much Amstel
The beer, not the canal I hope!
I think we decided on a bar earlier on in the thread, can't remember the name but pretty sure it was in the Leidesplein.
Hahaha!! If you'd seen me drink then I could easily get blotto drinking tap water, let alone river water!!
Just a quick question for those who've done it before - are there pens at the start? And if so are they self-classified? Just wondering really as me and another lad are half thinking of having a pop at 2'45 - so no need to be right at the front, but not sure if we need to get there really early to get relatively near the front.
Cheers
Hi all (again!), just read back over the posts since my last one last week. Murph – Yeah, the last 8 miles of Edinburgh were tough to say the least, straight into a godknows what MPH headwind, at one point I actually got blown back the way the gusts were that bad, the next day the trains up here were cancelled due to the hurricane like ‘breeze’! The organisation was an absolute f*****g shambles, they actually stopped spectators from going down to cheer on people down the home straight of the race, my family and mates were not happy, either was I. Honestly wouldn’t bother doing this race if it wasn’t my hometown one, but like a mug have signed up again for next year.
Like you say, no such concerns at the Dam, always runs like clockwork, pardon the pun! Great to hear your trainings going well, keep it going, not long now mate, I’m at the same miles PW as yourself, around the 60 – 70 mark, I’ve been on that amount for about the last 2 years now, I don’t think I could fit any more into my life really. One thing about the amount of 20+ mile runs, my last 3 marathons I’ve followed this plan of around 8 – 10 of these, but the P&D 55 – 70 mpw 18 week training schedule I’m following only has 4 of these within it, seems a bit light to me, though there is a considerable amount more of midweek ‘medium-long’ runs as they call them. I’m going to add 3 more miles onto a Sunday 17miler they have in the plan in a coupla weeks. I do feel a lot better though for this plan, stronger and can knock the LSR’s easier than before. As you say, we’ll see on the day if it pays off, I’ve a feeling it could go either way, amazing, or an utter disaster! Would be good to meet up, I’ll be taking it easy for the 1st 2 or 3 miles, but will be looking at getting up to 6.45pm after that. Put last years race down to a good learning experience, we all these days where things don’t work, but at least now you know what not to do, that’s half the battle. I’ve had the odd shocker (try 3.25 for Edinburgh 2010, blew up at mile 16!), just gotta learn from the mistakes that’s all.
Yeah, the Hearts got our pride back at WHL the other week, great night for the fans who were bloody amazing down there, followed that up with yet another doing of our lowly local rivals h**s on Sunday
to secure them to the bottom of the league (they’ve not beaten us in over 2 years, it’s all good
!!)
Keep on posting bud, cheers!!
Oops, ran outta space above (too much waffle
!!)
Iron/Joe – Cheers for the advice mate, this will be my 14th marathon though, so kinda know the pitfalls (pity I don’t know enough of the other way round haha!!), see my reply to Murph, kinda explains where I’ve been in the last coupla years in terms of training. Always follow the general rule of faster last few miles in my long slow runs, (and medium long runs from the P&D book), along with marathon pace runs, lactate thresholds, and Vo2 maxers. Have made the mistake of starting too fast in races before (would like to meet anyone who hasn’t haha!), so have cut that right out, so do what you say, gently does it and build gradually over the 1st 2 or 3 miles. I honestly couldn’t give a flying toss about what anyone else is doing in a race either, I do it for myself and don’t get hung up on others, agree, you have to be focussed running at that level really. My ½ mara PB is just a few seconds over 1.23, so fingers crossed one day I’ll crack sub 3 for the full, so close at Dam last year with 3.01. Hope your own trainings going well, and you have a great race!
LS21 – Good to hear from you again! Sounds like you may’ve overdone it a little bit, and the wee rest has done you the power, you must be chuffed to be back into the full now, nice one, that’s a pretty fantastic, if not utterly amazing, last 10m pace there
. Yes, there are seperate pens for times, from previous years and what I can remember, I'm not sure these are clour coded with your bib so just get yourself into whichever one you know you should be starting at (sub 3 for your goodself), it's normally a little tight at the start but I've never found it to be a problem to get into the correct pen.
Looking forward to a post race scoop of the Amstel (BEER, not river!), cannae wait, roll on the next few weeks!
Orra best everyone!
NM.
Hi all,
Not much action on the thread the past few days (probably bored everyone to tears with my rank chat haha
!!). Just wondered how everyone's training is going and general catch up. I did the Great Scottish Run ½ mara in Glasgow yesterday, as always, a great race with brilliant organisation and support all round. Managed to complete in 1.24.29, not a PB, or best for this year but happy with the way it went, fairly even split times (slightly faster 2nd half) and the last 4 miles really stuck the foot down for a nice strong finish in what was actually a pretty warm day for up here! Just hoping I can transfer that to the main event in October.
Naturally celebrated finishing with a few beers in the afternoon, well, you gotta have some kind of reward for all that effort! Back to lonely, long, running schedule tomorrow though after a feet up day today.
Cheers all, hope everythings on course for you all.
Neil.
After all
Wise words on race day strategy IronBloke - now just need to make sure I follow the advice.
LS21 - that is a quality run, amazing what a bit of rest can do, bodes really well. As Neil says there are pens based on your estimated finishing time, I think sub 3 is just behind the elites soyou might want to get there a bit early as it does get crowded around the stadium track but you quickly get into your running after you exit the stadium. By the way I presume first one to the bar gets them in
.
Neil M - thats a nice half, always good to finish strongly. Good disipline not to hit the pop too heavily on Saturday given the football. Oh and you are a real glutten to sign up for Edinburgh again - not allowing spectators at the finish, wtf???
21.5 miles at MP+45 seconds brought up another 65+ week for me. Thats my 6th 20+ mile run of the campaign, finally getting to a point when the legs aren't grumbling too much from mile 18. I have a half on Sunday and can't decide whether to give it the gun or to add a few miles on before and after and treat it as a long run with 13 at MP, decisions decisions???
Does anyone know if theres anywhere to have a shower after the Marathon?
We'll have checked out of our hotel in the morning and have a late ish filght back to the UK
After an ineffective summer of training around holidays in France and Cornwall (all that beer, baguette and ice cream really weighs you down...) it's nice to be back running the streets of London town, in the cold, in the rain....I must be a real townie I hate all that running through beuatiful countryside, it gets your trainers muddy!
Ok getting freaked out now reading this thread as my longest run to date is one 16 miler, will get two 20's and 2 18's in before taper with a final 13 miles the week before the race (running Royal Parks). But I reckon you boys running your nuts off are probably much closer to the 3 hour mark than my target of anywhere under 4! It's my 6th mara and I realised after my first that I was not going to be qualifying as an elite anytime soon!
mugpunter showers at the finish as per the marathon website
beers after the race anyone got the name of the bar?
race times anyone fancy putting up a table here to see what we predict we'll finish in? I can start by going for best time 3h55. I always like stating an expected time as I have loads of really good excuses already drafted for when I miss it!!! (although Paris 2011 was mentally hot and I was happy just to finish that one)