5 days, 5 marathons…

Where normally the year is filled with all sorts of events, this year has been ‘eventless’, which is weird, since it was an eventful year…

In October coach Jacomina did a self-organised “Dutor” (DoubleUltraTriathlonOffRoad), and I joined during the 84km run through the night. During that run I started to realise: with no races or other events on, I needed a new adventure for myself! The last challenge was my 100km run in july, and while there have been other fun adventures (like my 24-hour-marathon), it was time for something that was just scary enough to be a challenge, but not so scary that it would distract me from next years Deca… So a simple plan was born: run 5 marathons in 5 consecutive days… How hard can it be?

In terms of logistics I wanted to keep it simple; 42.2km a day, everyday on a different course, starting and finishing from home, on roads/trails that are not too busy… This did mean that there were quite a few roads that I’d see more than once, since the most efficient ways to get out of the city are limited…

day 1

It’s been raining ‘a bit’ the last few days, so I know it’s probably not so smart to go offroad today… But not-being-smart never stopped me… In the pouring rain I run a few loops of the local ‘panbos’, and in all the years I’ve been running here, I’ve never seen it this muddy and wet… The good part is, that when your feet are soaked anyway, you don’t have to be careful to keep them dry anymore…

It’s an awesome run, I’m actually enjoying the rain, I stick to the nutrition plan (which is always my biggest challenge, so am pretty pleased with that!), and totally soaked I get home after the first 42.2km of the week…

day 2

The legs still feel fresh when I get out. Today it’s a ‘boring road route’, and it’s easy to find a rhythm and get into my ‘meditative running state’. Just like yesterday I break up the run into 6km parts, where after every 6km I have to get my nutrition in. Counting down those kilometers is nice, but it’s actually réally nice to focus on the places where these points are (so not just knowing ‘4 more km’, but ‘at that white farm after the next village’). That’s one of the advantages of running over well-known roads (and planning the course only a day before, so it’s easy to remember the km-markers!)

Slightly faster than yesterday I’m back home, and when I struggle to get myself off the couch to the kitchen to get some tea all I think is “really??? three more days??? how????”

day 3

I wake up and everything hurts… But weirdly my morning-routine feels ‘normal’ by now… Slowly I get my breakfast, get my kit ready, and wonder how I’m going to run a marathon today, since everything hurts… And when I get out the door the body ‘switches on’, and it’s easy to run away!

Nothing special happens today; it’s a freezing cold start, but when the sun finally gets out it’s actually a really nice day to run… One thing I did learn though; adding a few bridges at 30 and 33km after almost three days of marathonrunning is not the best idea of the week…

day 4

The wind has picked up, and by now I have to work a bit harder to run my ‘easy pace’. But it still feels (sort of) comfortable, so I just keep going… Nutrition is still going to plan but when I stop to get some food in at 18km I feel a little bit of pain in my knee… Hmmm… would this mean I have to make a smart decision and plan the shortest course back home? I decide to ignore it for a bit, and 10km later the pain has gone… When I get back home the knee is a bit sore, so something to keep track of tomorrow! (since it’s okay if crazy plans hurt, but it’s not worth the risk getting injured for longer than a few days!)

day 5

Today was going to be ‘the easy day’, since the last one doesn’t really count anyway… (well, anything to trick the mind into thinking this is all nice!). Unfortunately, storm Bella decided to visit, so I leave with heavy wind in the morning… Going against the wind means working hard to go slow, but luckily there’s also parts where the wind helps a bit…

Today feels as only a half marathon, since during a big part of the second half Eline joins me, so those km’s are mainly spent socialising… So far it’s been a solo-challenge, but it is kind of nice to end it with a little help to distract from the final kilometers!

When I’m nearly home I do a little loop through the local Whilhelminapark, and think that I cóuld do one more marathon tomorrow… To then think immediately that I don’t really want to…

final thoughts…

Okay, this whole ‘5-marathons-in-5-days’ (or: ‘How I Forrest-Gumped my way through Christmas 2020’) was a stupid idea… But definitely the right kind of stupid! Running 211km in 5 days is hard, although a single-marathon at race-pace is a lot harder… (but that’s just my inner-ultra-runner talking…). I am seriously happy with my nutrition-plan and the almost flawless execution… Lessons learned for the Big Adventures to come… And I’m really, really happy with how comfortable the discomfort was… Meaning: over the last few years my mind has gotten so much stronger to push the body through the discomfort… It’s not that the pain isn’t there, it’s just that there’s lots of ways to deal with it…

And now time for recovery, and then focus on an awesome 2021-season!

 

day 1 – 42.21km – 03’51’04

day 2 – 42.21km – 03’44’33

day 3 – 42.22km – 03’45’14

day 4 – 42.23km – 03’49’36

day 5 – 42.21km – 03’58’37

(all times are ‘running times’ – approximately 30minutes per day was used for nutrition/toiletbreaks/photos… since it wasn’t a race I ‘autopaused’ the watch there…)