EDR #30.1 “The biggest factor in you having a great race, is your own patience”: Niels talks with Andy about his Eindhoven marathon preparation

This episode is based around Niels Esmeijer asking questions about my training and preparation for the Eindhoven Marathon on Sunday 13th October, 2024. 

 

Doing this episode is a means to hold myself accountable to how I think I’m feeling now and how I’m aiming to do this race. Niels is one of the persons who I have been in a dialogue with throughout my training, so, he is not totally unfamiliar with how I’ve been going. 

 

I’ve got three main goals for this race. The first is to race it well; to enjoy it and to get a PB. By racing it well, I mean, being patient until deep into the race. Enjoyment is clear enough: but yes, I guess it means, ‘being in the moment’. For a PB: well, my last three marathons have been 2:36, 2:35 and 2:37. So, setting off at a pace of 3:40 per kilometre is, I believe, something I’m capable of. I’m sticking messages and my splits to my gels so that they can provide me with visual reminders of what I need to do to race well. 

 

Running seems like an individual sport. But I think that is overstated. I know I’ve got to this point in my marathon block thanks to Joji Mori, Neils Esmeijer, the Leiden Atletiek crew, led by Bram Wassenaar and Han Kulker and two of my local besties Joao and Leon. 

 

As I record this, Leiden is having perfect autumn conditions. I’m convinced that this is the most beautiful season in the Netherlands. We’re being enveloped in so-called Dutch light: the sun shining through the low-dark clouds, the light being reflected off the water-scapes. Showers come and go quickly; storms seem to brew, only not to break out. Running in autumn can be mightily unpleasant at times, but, it can also provide the most stable and perfect conditions. I hope this weather holds until Sunday afternoon. But, whatever the case, the conditions are part of the race. 

 

Anyway, without much more from me, before there is more from me talking with Niels; I’ll sign off. Thanks for listening and I hope that there is something in this following discussion to keep you coming back, at a later point for another episode. 

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