Rotterdam Marathon 2010

Pisco Sour

I'm strongly considering doing the Rotterdam Marathon as my first ever marathon. I have a few questions though:

1) Are there pacemakers (the guys with the coloured balloons) in this race and for what distances? I'm a bit torn between targetting 4.00 or 4.15. Do they have a 4.15 pacemaker? I dont trust my own pacing for my first marathon so I feel that following an experienced pacemaker is a must.

2) Do we get a medal for finishing?

3) I'm fully aware that the course is very flat. I looked at last years results and was amazed that 55% of everyone doing the race went sub 4, while at last years Dublin Marathon only 39% went under the 4 hour barrier. Would a 4 hour Rotterdam marathon be equivalent to a 4.15 in Dublin? If I feel that 4.15 is my standard based on running slightly hilly courses in Ireland (Great Ireland Run, Wexford Half Marathon) then does this mean that 4.00 would be closer to my standard on a fully flat course like rotterdam.

Lots of questions sorry, but any comments would be greatly appreciated, especially from anybody who has run Rotterdam.

Thanks

plodder

04072511 wrote: »

I'm strongly considering doing the Rotterdam Marathon as my first ever marathon. I have a few questions though:

1) Are there pacemakers (the guys with the coloured balloons) in this race and for what distances?

Probably for about 26 miles ... sorry couldn't resist that

I'm a bit torn between targetting 4.00 or 4.15. Do they have a 4.15 pacemaker? I dont trust my own pacing for my first marathon so I feel that following an experienced pacemaker is a must.

I've never done Rotterdam. But maybe someone else knows the answers. On pacing, I've used a home-made pacing band, pretty successfully for my marathons so far. So, if the course is flat, then there shouldn't be any major surprises if you did it that way, I think.

village runner

04072511 wrote: »

I'm strongly considering doing the Rotterdam Marathon as my first ever marathon. I have a few questions though:

1) Are there pacemakers (the guys with the coloured balloons) in this race and for what distances? I'm a bit torn between targetting 4.00 or 4.15. Do they have a 4.15

Thanks

Medal yes.
4.00 in rotterdam would equate to maybe 3 min more in Dublin. You have to run a marathon.
Are pacemakers but its hard find them.
No hassle at the start.
Fly in sat as you can collect number sunday am. Race at 11am. I stayed in Westin. 4 star with very reasonable rates. 400 m from start.

Would i go back. If it was 9am definitely. Crowds small from 32-38km when i needed them.
Fast course.

Pisco Sour

plodder wrote: »

Probably for about 26 miles ... sorry couldn't resist that

I've never done Rotterdam. But maybe someone else knows the answers. On pacing, I've used a home-made pacing band, pretty successfully for my marathons so far. So, if the course is flat, then there shouldn't be any major surprises if you did it that way, I think.

Please explain to me what this is. I'm intrigued.

SUNGOD

go to http://www.marathonguide.com/ then go to training followed by running calculator then to pace wristband creator.
type in your expected finishing time and it will print a wrist band with either mile or k splits to get you home under your goal time.

Pisco Sour

SUNGOD wrote: »

go to http://www.marathonguide.com/ then go to training followed by running calculator then to pace wristband creator.
type in your expected finishing time and it will print a wrist band with either mile or k splits to get you home under your goal time.

Thats very interesting indeed. Never thought of that. At the same time though it still means I'd have to judge my own pace, while if there was a lad with a 4.15 balloon I could simply follow that experienced pacemaker and not have to worry about going too fast or too slow.

SUNGOD

you could but you should still keep track of your own progress and take responsableity for your finishing time.
i would not train for x amount of weeks only to find that the pacer has a off day/cramp/injury and i miss out on my goal time.

Pisco Sour

Do they have Mile Markers or Km Markers on the course? Or both?

Also I've been doing some research into how to run the marathon efficiently and I noticed the Run/Walk method or walk for 1 minute at the end of every mile. It seems to make sense. What are people's thoughts on this? Has anybody tried it before?

Pisco Sour

village runner wrote: »

Medal yes.
4.00 in rotterdam would equate to maybe 3 min more in Dublin. You have to run a marathon.
Are pacemakers but its hard find them.
No hassle at the start.
Fly in sat as you can collect number sunday am. Race at 11am I stayed in Westin. 4 star with very reasonable rates. 400 m from start.
.
Would i go back. If it was 9am definitely. Crowds small from 32-38km when i needed them.
Fast course.

Dunno if I'd call 199 euro reasonable :eek: Thats what is quoted for a room per night on their website.

I'd be looking for somewhere more in the area of 70 per night. Where would you recommend.

KentuckyPete

SUNGOD wrote: »

go to http://www.marathonguide.com/ then go to training followed by running calculator then to pace wristband creator.
type in your expected finishing time and it will print a wrist band with either mile or k splits to get you home under your goal time.

Nice one SUNGOD - cheers :cool:
Now if I could only decide what time to aim for...

village runner

04072511 wrote: »

Dunno if I'd call 199 euro reasonable :eek: Thats what is quoted for a room per night on their website.

I'd be looking for somewhere more in the area of 70 per night. Where would you recommend.

I bookede it last year through a different website. Try that. Got 3 nights for 180 with breakfast. A steal. Good irish bar 1km from start. Expo 800m from hotel. Google it and try different links.

Its 50m from central station

Pisco Sour

village runner wrote: »

I bookede it last year through a different website. Try that. Got 3 nights for 180 with breakfast. A steal. Good irish bar 1km from start. Expo 800m from hotel. Google it and try different links.

Its 50m from central station

What was the name of the website you used?

I dunno where you found that deal to be honest. I cant find anything even closely approaching that price.

village runner

04072511 wrote: »

What was the name of the website you used?

I dunno where you found that deal to be honest. I cant find anything even closely approaching that price.

www.bookings.com


Nothing similar to it there now. Must not have realised that it was marathon weekend. Go into above website and type in central station and at least you wil get hotels around there.

Woddle

04072511 wrote: »

I'm strongly considering doing the Rotterdam Marathon as my first ever marathon. I have a few questions though:

3) I'm fully aware that the course is very flat. I looked at last years results and was amazed that 55% of everyone doing the race went sub 4, while at last years Dublin Marathon only 39% went under the 4 hour barrier. Would a 4 hour Rotterdam marathon be equivalent to a 4.15 in Dublin?

Thanks

Just doing a bit more research on Rotterdam and it has a cut off of 5 hours 15 mins so I would imagine thats the main reason for the deviation in average times and the fact that its so flat its going to attract the speed demons compared with the Dublin course.

Pisco Sour

Woddle wrote: »

Just doing a bit more research on Rotterdam and it has a cut off of 5 hours 15 mins so I would imagine thats the main reason for the deviation in average times and the fact that its so flat its going to attract the speed demons compared with the Dublin course.

WOW, 5hrs 15 is a very harsh cut off point. I dont think I'll have to worry about it (I hope!!!!).

Pisco Sour

I found this on another thread, posted by village runner

I went to Rotterdam this year with a woman. She struggled around. Problems with her kn ees etc left her battle to the line in 5.28 when the cut off was 5.30. She was elated after the race and i admired her so much. I ran 3.04 wasnt near as happy as she was.

Seems like the cutoff is 5.30

Woddle

Could be, still only 15 mins, I got my info from this link
http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=14100411
5th post down

Pisco Sour

Woddle wrote: »

Could be, still only 15 mins, I got my info from this link
http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=14100411
5th post down

Just checked the website and last year the last place runner did it in 5:39 gross time and just under 5.35 chip time. I wonder how strict they are about the cut off. Clearly not too strict if they let people finish after 5hrs 30.

Roddy23

How's people's training coming along? I've started off pretty slowly am up to about 6miles, on the LSR, and won't get a chance to head out this weekend, but am hoping to be up to about 10miles by Christmas.

I'm following Hal Higdon's novice 1 plan, I'm hoping I'll be able to run within the cut off time. Just on that, it seems to be 5hr 15mins. :eek:

Pisco Sour

Roddy23 wrote: »

How's people's training coming along? I've started off pretty slowly am up to about 6miles, on the LSR, and won't get a chance to head out this weekend, but am hoping to be up to about 10miles by Christmas.

I'm following Hal Higdon's novice 1 plan, I'm hoping I'll be able to run within the cut off time. Just on that, it seems to be 5hr 15mins. :eek:

Fear not, its actually 5hr 30 cut off, and if you look at last years results a few people finished slower than that so perhaps if your really close to finishing they would still let you finish anyway.

I'm a month into my training and am up to 8.4 miles LSR. Cumulative miles is at 57 miles. I'm sticking to 3 days a week as it gives me a bit of a balance. I'm 24 and want to go out on the beer with my mates so running 5-6 days a week is just not worth it (and I cant run when hungover). My 2 midweek runs are about 3-4 miles each, and my weekend LSR I'm increasing by about 1.25 - 1.5 miles a week. I'm going to up it to 9.75 miles this weekend, and hopefully be up to about 12 by Christmas all things going well.

misty floyd

04072511 wrote: »

I'm 24 and want to go out on the beer with my mates so running 5-6 days a week is just not worth it (and I cant run when hungover).

Its funny that. I'm 30 and over the past few months I've been thinking that drinking beer with my mates is just not worth it. I'm stuggling with once a week. Its knocking the stuffing out of me. Still.....when I was your age young man.....

Back to topic r.e training: I'm fairly happy anyway. I've been ticking over since DCM where I had a full week off afterwards. Followed by a week of 3 slow runs (19 miles total). And two weeks of half decent effort (26 miles including 2 x speed sessions and 2 x tempo runs).

Feeling good anyway and about to step it up. I'm going to set up a log like yourself 040 and others. 18 week training plan from 6th of December! Time to get serious soon. [xmas is cancelled]

robinph

Bumpity, bump. Just checking in.

When are people flying out to Rotterdam, and I guess more importantly when are we all flying back? We'll need to do some investigation as to a decent hostelry for after race refreshments and probably fodder as well.

misty floyd

Flying to Eindhoven with Ryanair on the Saturday (10.20 flight), leaving Eindhoven on the Monday at 19.10. We'll have to get a bus from the airport to Eindhoven and then a train from there to Rotterdam but I don't think it'll be much of a problem. Worked out ~ €100 return.

Staying in the Bilderberg Parkhotel in Rotterdam for the Sat and Sun nights. €160 booked with hotels.nl

Tunguska is the same. Seperate rooms though!

How Strange

We're going out on Saturday and back on Tuesday. I haven't booked flights yet though. I think it'd be nice to have a look around Rotterdam on Monday although I'd say I'll probably be too sore to do much.

FYI, if you haven't registered yet the registration fee changes on 15th Dec to €55.

robinph

I'm flying to Schiphol on EI getting in at midday on the Saturday and then leaving from there at 5 on the Monday evening.

Pisco Sour

misty floyd wrote: »

Flying to Eindhoven with Ryanair on the Saturday (10.20 flight), leaving Eindhoven on the Monday at 19.10. We'll have to get a bus from the airport to Eindhoven and then a train from there to Rotterdam but I don't think it'll be much of a problem. Worked out ~ €100 return.

Staying in the Bilderberg Parkhotel in Rotterdam for the Sat and Sun nights. €160 booked with hotels.nl

Tunguska is the same. Seperate rooms though!

Thats funny, I was looking at the exact same combination of flights and hotels. Havent booked yet though. Will probably do so this week.

donothoponpop

How Strange wrote: »

I think it'd be nice to have a look around Rotterdam on Monday although I'd say I'll probably be too sore to do much.

Most of Rotterdam is closed on a Monday (certainly all the museums, galleries, are). Far better that you get the train to Amsterdam for the day( <hour trip), lots more to see. I know SJ and I wandered round a deserted R'dam on Monday morning, before getting the train to A'dam, the difference was amazing. Highlight of the weekend for me was the Reiksmuseum. Great burger at a canal side cafe too, checking out how elegant Dutch ladies of every age look while riding two to one bike. In fact, if I was doing the R'dam marathon again, I'd stay in A'dam and get the train that morning to the race.

Schiphol is just outside AmDam anyway.

robinph

Hmm, a day in Amsterdam sober would be a new experience for me. Might give that idea a go actually, although the Monday will most likely be just about doing as little as possible.

Pisco Sour

misty floyd wrote: »

Staying in the Bilderberg Parkhotel in Rotterdam for the Sat and Sun nights. €160 booked with hotels.nl

When did you book that? Its €209 now for 2 nights, and excludes breakfast :eek:

misty floyd

04072511 wrote: »

When did you book that? Its €209 now for 2 nights, and excludes breakfast :eek:

About 4 weeks ago. The €160 doesn't include breakfast.

Pisco Sour

misty floyd wrote: »

About 4 weeks ago. The €160 doesn't include breakfast.

Those rooms must be sold out so.

I've booked Hotel Emma, its €175 for 2 nights including breakfast and you can cancel at no cost up to 2 days before check-in which is a nice added bonus. Its only a 7 minute walk from central station so shouldnt be too much further from the Race Start.

I'm on the same Ryanair flights as yourself.

Pisco Sour

From looking at hot to trot's thread there, does anybody know if you need to have a signed medical cert to run the Rotterdam Marathon?

robinph

Rotterdam Marathon wrote:

3.4 The Entrant declares that he is aware that participation requires good mental and physical health, and declares that he satisfies these requirements, and that he has himself adequately prepared for the Event. The Organizer expressly and urgently advises the Entrant to have himself medically examined in connection with the participation in the Event.

Just went off in search of those details and it thankfully appear not as that would be a major hassle for me.

Robinph is perfectly capable of doing whatever crazy activity it is that he decides to do.

Signed

Robinph

That should do I think according to the rules.

misty floyd

18 weeks and counting!!!

So today is day one of most peoples 18 week programs for Rotterdam. What programs are you following (if any)? I know what some of you are doing form your logs.

I was going to follow the daniels one but haven't gotten around to reading the book. Doing a tempo, speed, long and recovery sessions at the moment. LSR's have gone up to 14 so 15 this weekend.

Roddy23

18 weeks :eek:

Anybody running the Aware 10k this weekend? Should be a bit of craic, and don't think it'll be as cold as last year.

Just been looking at flights this morning, thinking of getting RyanAir to Eindhoven in on the Saturday and out on the Monday, 100€ return so not too bad. Where's best place to stay, up around the Central Station?

Moycullen1

Just been looking at flights this morning, thinking of getting RyanAir to Eindhoven in on the Saturday and out on the Monday, 100€ return so not too bad. Where's best place to stay, up around the Central Station?[/quote]

Roddy23, I notice a few people discussing the Eindhoven option but you should check out the transfer options to Rotterdam. I looked into it and didn't think it was particularly easy. I think you have to go into Eindhoven and get a train or bus from there. There is a train directly from schipol(four flights per day out of dublin) to Rotterdam centraal station which takes between 30 to 50 minutes depending on which one you get. I have been looking at the Aer Lingus flights waiting for the April sale to start. I expect to get a return flight for about €100 - €110 based on the February and March promotional prices flying at 13:30 on Friday and departing at 13:10 on Monday. My friend and I are booked into the Hilton. It is within walking distance of the train station(500m), the expo(500m) and the start(300m).

robinph

The train from Schiphol is between 25 minutes and an hour by the looks of it and there is gazzillions of them during the day and it's €10.80 for a one way ticket.

http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers

Roddy23

Thanks for that - ended up booking into the Westin for two nights - they've a special on for a room for two people - rates are pretty good, but no brekkie so - it'll be a bag of flahavan's for myself, and load up on the banana's when I get over there.

Ye flights with Ryanair are pretty good atm, but I might hold off for another week or two and see if Aer Lingus do go down.

How Strange

My training hasn't started yet. I have neck, shoulder and back problems which I'm getting sorted at the moment but until then I've been told to do nothing. Hopefully, I'll be better by Saturday, will do the aware 10k and then officially start the training.

Haven't booked any flights yet either. Still watching AL as Schipol is a more convenient airport so would prefer to fly in and out of there.

How Strange

How Strange wrote: »

My training hasn't started yet. I have neck, shoulder and back problems which I'm getting sorted at the moment but until then I've been told to do nothing. Hopefully, I'll be better by Saturday, will do the aware 10k and then officially start the training.

No running for me until after Christmas

robinph

Just having a read of the thread about what to do with the 1000mile thread for next year and it occurred to me that these Europeans over in Rotterdam are likely to use that funny foreign distance measuring unit, the kill-o-meter.

Now not being too familiar with that strange distance and not having done a race in those foreign parts before I was curious as to if they tend to mark the routes in the proper unit of miles. I'd really rather not have to learn to get my head around these other units, and counting down from 40 odd just seems much harder than from 26.

donothoponpop

The route is marked in kilometers, save for the 13.1 mile halfway point. Get a pacing band which is marked in 5k splits, which will give you a better understanding of how your race is going than mile pacing.

robinph

Boo.

Was going to switch the autolap on the Garmin off and check the mile splits against the ones marked on the road to keep a general idea of where I'm at on the way round, not going to be doing that for each km though. Checking where I'm at at each 5km would probably work instead, I'd tend to miss seeing a few mile markers on the way round anyway so would definitely miss about half the km ones.

If they have big balloon things across the road at certain points that always helps with keeping track of where your up to.

pete_mcs

04072511 wrote: »

Do they have Mile Markers or Km Markers on the course? Or both?

Also I've been doing some research into how to run the marathon efficiently and I noticed the Run/Walk method or walk for 1 minute at the end of every mile. It seems to make sense. What are people's thoughts on this? Has anybody tried it before?

Have not tried after every mile, but I have walked after going through every water station, for 30 secs or so to make sure I can get all the fluids into me. Seemed to work well, had no major issues during the race.

Pisco Sour

pete_mcs wrote: »

Have not tried after every mile, but I have walked after going through every water station, for 30 secs or so to make sure I can get all the fluids into me. Seemed to work well, had no major issues during the race.

Wow I had asked that question quite awhile ago. I certainly wont be gallowalking in Rotterdam. I think at the time I was a little nervous about the idea of taking on the marathon and was doing a bit of research on different ways to approach it.

Regarding the Km's V Miles debate, we are Europeans after all, we should move with the times

Moycullen1

While pricing flights to Amsterdam I noticed the link for Aer Lingus Hotels. Eventhough I am already booked in to the Hilton I typed in the dates to see what was available and it brought up a very good rate for the Hilton. For the three nights from Fri to Sunday inclusive it is quoting €221 including taxes and breakfast. Seems cheap but the only problem is that it is pre-pay non refundable. Might suit the determined no-messing runners amongst you. I on the other hand because of my propensity to get injured will stick with my fully refundable booking for €285.

http://www.aerlingushotels.com/site/...AERhp_Qlink_IE

PS Is it just me on is anyone else growing increasingly fed up with the weather. Every day I see my chances of a PB in Rotterdam diminishing like our governments popularity.

TJC

Roddy23, I notice a few people discussing the Eindhoven option but you should check out the transfer options to Rotterdam. I looked into it and didn't think it was particularly easy. I think you have to go into Eindhoven and get a train or bus from there. There is a train directly from schipol(four flights per day out of dublin) to Rotterdam centraal station which takes between 30 to 50 minutes depending on which one you get. I have been looking at the Aer Lingus flights waiting for the April sale to start. I expect to get a return flight for about €100 - €110 based on the February and March promotional prices flying at 13:30 on Friday and departing at 13:10 on Monday. My friend and I are booked into the Hilton. It is within walking distance of the train station(500m), the expo(500m) and the start(300m).

Rite, i think i am gona enter this race soon enough for my sins..
May aswell have a go at a little 26 miler...
Just wondering bout flights...aer lingus will hardly come down between now and race??? April not included in the sale on presently...

Pisco Sour

This time 13 weeks we will all hopefully be enjoying a pint or 10. Hows the training going for everyone? I'm up to 135 miles in training with my longest run at 13.35 miles. The weather is stopping much further progress and with me being away next weekend on a piss-up in Europe I wont get to do another LSR for 14 days, when I hopefully will up my LSR to 15 miles. I may have to invest in a water belt now, and perhaps try out these gels, though I dont particularly want to, would rather stick to water and energy drinks if I can get away with it.

KentuckyPete

Just started training properly last week - I've kept to the bike since DCM and stated some loose running in mid-December. This was my first 30 mile week.

So, I'm looking at around 30 miles per week through Jan ramping up to 35/40 in February. A couple of big weeks at 45/50 in late Feb/early March and then begin to taper in from mid-March on.

Doing the training plan I've discovered that 50 miles is a lot to fit in a week! Even if you do 20 on on your Sunday run you still have to put in at least one 15 miler during the week - jaysus.

I'm trying to learn from the Dublin "first marathon" experience where I went off great guns, was looking at sub 3:15 at 17 miles and then had nothing from 20 miles on - eventally slogging home in 3:25. Also want to avoid the big injury to the achilles again. I did a lot of speed work in September and ended up in a bad way - ice baths, physio, almost no training etc. I'll consider a target time much later on. TBH priority 1 is to get around the course and try to enjoy the thing - if I could do 3:25 again but actually avoid the "ghost runnner" routine over the last 6 I'd take it.

So, I'm going for high mileage at a steady pace - put plenty of condition into the legs and avoid sprint training to take it easy on the achilles. Regular physio through the program as well.

Really enjoyed an 11-miler yesterday - ramped it up over the last four miles as the snow came down and felt like there was lots more in me - a great buzz.

Booked Aer lingus from Cork to Amsterdam. Will get the train from Schipol to Rotterdam Centraal. Then Saturday/Sunday night at the Grand Hotel Central (€99 per night incl. breakfast).

heffsarmy

Aerlingus flights are a little cheaper at the moment, I booked sat to mon late flight home coming in at 140euro.

Moycullen1

If you price dub - amsterdam with aer lingus the fare is free on the return leg and the return leg taxes are 44.31. If you do amsterdam - dublin one way only the fare is still free but the taxes are only 29.99. I just booked one way coming back leaving at 13.10 on the monday for 29.99 & 15 bag & 5 handling fee. Cheap even by ryanair standards. The outward price is still high at the moment but the fares quoted during the current promotional period -February and March started at 0.00 although they have crept up on the friday flights. We await the April sale.