Just two more days until the Spijkenisse Spark Marathon. I am excited and feel pretty ready. Just like 2024, if Spijkenisse is succesfull I will close 2025 with 4 marathons ran within a year again!
Mentally I am almost there, did completed my race day planning (from 06:30 to 10:30 as race preparation, 10:30 - 13:30 as plan A, 10:30 to 13:45 as plan B).
Physically I am doing pretty well, some last remainders of being sick. But my HRV back to 70 again, which is a great sign. My legs feel ok, little heavy this morning - but nothing serious.
This week I focussed on increasing blood circulation to be able to speed up recovery. Mostly short and eady runs, Monday - Friday now at 37km with 95% in zone 1 - max - 2.
Today was also such a run. Low BPM, slow and steady! Felt almost effortless - which might open a door for me to do an longer distance (50 - 60 km?) in this pace later in December.
Whereas tomorrow I will do my last (mini) run “shakeout” in Spijkenisse when picking up the BIB number. After starting with the Nitrite loading on Tuesday, I started with carbs today! At 06:30 I had a delicious pasta salad with smoked chicken - just to start the day. While taking these large poetions with me everywhere today and tomorrow might get your appitite for pasta ruined pretty fast, it is way easier than the classic 5 day load I did earlier this year!
Happy running !