Rotterdam Marathon 2010

aero2k

Well done, great race report.

KentuckyPete wrote: »

... to make the push closer to the magic 3:00 I think I’d need to become a faster runner.
23 07:05
24 07:06
25 07:04
26 07:05

If you can run the last few miles at that pace, then you're nearer to the maagical sub 3 than you think. Have a look at Misty's log and tergat's posts.

pug_

misty floyd wrote: »

Well done pug. By the way, that Italian was great and everyone in our group (6) had a great meal. Thank your sister.

Glad you liked it. I think you were probably sitting behind me at one stage. We were a group of 4 by the window. I was going to say something, but it just felt a bit weird asking a table of strangers sitting behind me if they were by any chance Irish, and if so did I talk to them on the Internet recently

Moycullen1

Rotterdam 2010 Race Report and Review
I'm going to start with my own race report and I'm not going to labour on it because even though I enjoyed the experience my own performance was disappointing. I hadn't trained enough and to make matters worse I got a rotten cold (another one) the week before the event. So for that reason I decided I would take it nice and easy so that I could come back this week and start running straight away and hopefully make a better go of things in Cork. This was going quite well until mile 12 at which point I was ticking over comfortably at about 8:45 m/m pace only to get a dirty cramp in my right calf which caused my toes to start clawing. This went of for about seven or eight miles and after loads of stretching stops and attempts to relace my shoe I gave in and started run/walking so I eventually hobbled home in 4:24 which is almost three quarters of an hour outside my PB. All in all the only view I can take is that its another one done albeit slower than hoped but it means I can pick up the pieces this week and get stuck in again. As it happens I ran at lunch time yesterday and in an attempt to clear out all lingering memories or Sunday I turned up my ipod so loud that my ears hurt. I think my legs were a bit sore but like I said I was more conscious of the throbbing sensation in my ears!

In relation to the event itself and the weekend generally the first thing I would like to do is thank all the boards contributors who made the lead up to the event interesting and enjoyable and who contributed to making Sunday evening one I'll remember for quite some time. It was a real pleasure to put a few faces to the cyber names. It was also nice to discover that my up to now virtual friends were in fact a dead sound bunch of enthusiastic runners. On that note there were some notable performances, that I am aware of, worthy of mention. Robinph did well to achieve a PB, 007 ran a really good first marathon and misty_floyd and KentuckyPetes 3:00:30 and 3:14 respectively were both savage runs. Well done boys.
Moving on to the review I must confess that I am feeling a bit stupid today. Anybody who met me on Sunday evening would certainly have gotten the impression from me that my overall opinion of the marathon was a mixed one which would still be the case. Given that a lot of people, myself included, will take into consideration reviews they read on boards in picking a marathon I feel it is important to give honest reviews and for that reason I was going to post a review giving the positives, of which in fairness there were quite a few but also the negatives of which there are also a few . The problem however is that I got caught off guard immediately after finishing the race, during that twenty second period of relief when your brain wanders off to visions of a nice steak a bath and beers, and was asked for my views by an interviewer. In typically Irish fashion, like the person in the restaurant who cant bear their dinner but tells the waitress they are having a wonderful time, I blurted out a whole pile of garbage. The problem now is that I have just discovered that a few of my carefully chosen random clumsy ramblings have been included on the 'highlights' compilation video which will probably be on their damn website for the next twelve months, so to avoid looking like a complete Walter Mitty, I should really just shut up and say nothing but then again that would be boring.

I'll start with the frivolous stuff. Rotterdam was almost completely leveled and was rebuilt in the last 50 years. Unless you have a passion for sixties and seventies mass form construction you wont find the city particularly attractive. The recently developed buildings which aren't much better are typically European, gaudy and vulgar but that's just a personal opinion.

Rotterdam is however very easy to get to. There is a direct train from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in to the center of Rotterdam which takes between 30 to 50 minutes. Air Lingus fly to Schiphol five times a day. The start and finish and the expo are in the center of the city. If anyone is thinking about doing the event if you keep an eye on the rates in the Hilton which is actually at the Start/Finish as demonstrated by the photo provided by robinph and book a room early you should get good value. The expo is about four hundred meters in one direction and the train station is about four hundred meters in another direction.

The expo, which was fairly small, was efficient and well laid out. The branded Adidas merchandise was really nice. I cant really comment about the start because I walked straight out my hotel door and straight in to my coral although it seemed quite organized. Although the announcements were all in Dutch(I Presume) there was a good atmosphere and you couldn't but have been moved by a singer singing 'You'll never walk alone' although after 15 miles I found myself humming a slightly personalized version of it - 'You'll never walk again' - sorry, couldn't resist that!! This does bring me on to probably the main negative point. The start was very congested and took a long time to thin out. I was told that the 3:15 pace maker (7:25 min/mile goal pace) started with two 8:30's. The qualifying corals only go up to 3 hrs so the first free entry coral which included people aiming for a sub 3:15 and even sub 3 hr runners also included people who put down a 3:30 target time but may have actually have run off at a 5 hr pace. This in itself would have been fine were it not for the fact that large sections of the course were generally very tight.

I missed the fact that there wasn't really a buzz at the finish area. In Vienna and Hamburg there is almost a mini beer fest with marquees serving food and drinks and stalls selling all sorts of stuff. There was nothing to do in Rotterdam. All they gave out were bananas, cups of water and small bottles of Extran. The eleven o clock start didn't matter this year cause it was cold but it did last year and on even a 14 or 15 degree day it makes a big difference.

I don't think the organizers do enough to earn the respect the event actually commands. The goody bag was empty and there was no bag at the finish. At some Spanish marathons you get bottles of wine, full running kits, towels, meals and beer.

In summary I would still say I enjoyed it despite my time. On some of the criticisms I suppose I am nitpicking a bit but because I am lucky enough to have done a few particularly well organized European marathons and for an event that holds itself out to be one of the best in the world I think it falls short on a couple of fronts. For the purists not bothered by the disorganized drinks stations, scarce and sometimes unmanned medical and massage points, the occasionally tight course and the nonexistent finishing area it is spot on but if you like the whole marathon experience I think there are better events that also offer PB potential.

Again it is important to stress that this is not sour grapes on my part. My poor performance had absolutely nothing to do with the event. As a runners marathon it does tick all the boxes as long as you are there early and towards the front of the coral but as a marathon experience for someone doing their first or possibly only marathon their are better ones.

By the way Pug your sisters recommendation of the Italian restaurant Olivia was spot on. The food was really superb. You might thank her for that and all the other recommendations she provided.

Moycullen1

pug_ wrote: »

finished in 4:02:44 was aiming for around the 4 hour mark so well pleased with that.

Thought I was going to do better as I did the half in 1.56:32 and I was still bombing along around the 20 mile mark. But then for some reason hunger struck, or should I say starvation. I was for some reason ravenous and had no damned food anywhere in sight. I also started to feel a bit light headed in waves so went for a walk run strategy until I could get something other than water into me. That happened around mile 24 thanks to some kind stranger who was giving out pretzels and I got an immediate boost, also picked up a banana shortly after and sailed home the last two miles.

Well done Pug. Any time you come within a couple of minutes of your goal pace you should be happy. On the hunger front that's a real bummer. From talking to people it seems that some runners suffer from that more than others. I don't know what it is, whether it is down to the digestive system or metabolism but I really struggle with it. Some times on LSR's I get so hungry I get dizzy and unsteady. For a twenty miler I need to eat a bowl of porridge followed by a bowl of cereal followed by a banana sandwich. I wouldn't like to tell you what I eat before a marathon. I know it sounds nuts but its the worst feeling when you run out of energy. For some reason gels will only help a bit. You really need to get solid matter into your system. At the other end of the spectrum my friend could get up in the morning eat one weetabix and go out the door and run 20 miles. If I did that I think I would arrive home in an ambulance.

Pisco Sour

Anybody have any idea whats the story with that Personalised DVD you can get for 28 euro? Is it just the same videos that are already on the website or are their more videos of us at other points during the race?

Also does anybody know how to download these videos from the website?

robinph

04072511 wrote: »

Also does anybody know how to download these videos from the website?

Yes.

robinph

Actually, ignore what I said in the PM 12345. I just opened up IE, something I never do, just to see how well that would play the video, and RealPlayer popped up and offered to download the video for me. It seems to have captured it without the overlays of the start/ stop/ buy a dvd buttons as well so that looks like a better way of doing things.

Pisco Sour

robinph wrote: »

Actually, ignore what I said in the PM 12345. I just opened up IE, something I never do, just to see how well that would play the video, and RealPlayer popped up and offered to download the video for me. It seems to have captured it without the overlays of the start/ stop/ buy a dvd buttons as well so that looks like a better way of doing things.

Nice one. I had been using Firefox,

So I assume theres nothing much extra worth having in this personalised DVD you can buy, and that its just a money making scam?

robinph

I couldn't see any suggestions of any extra stuff you get with the DVD, just those videos as far as I could tell, and you can stick them on a DVD yourself if your wanting to be able to show yourself looking knackered to uncomputerised relatives at some point.

KentuckyPete

Just ran my first miles since Rotterdam - 5 miles@ 8:20 pace -shattered! My legs will be a while more I think...

misty floyd

I've been out Wednesday and Friday, real easy pace. During them was fine. Afterwards, the calves were like rocks. Drinking last night and all day today so that will keep me off the roads. Life is tough

Now that we are almost a week from the race, have you any plans to take on another in 2010? I know Brian is doing Cork (fair play). I'm thinking about this Autumn but mainly because I can't do one next Spring.

Its great not to have to hit a long run today but the weather is perfect. Soon as we finish training eh? Typical.

pug_

I ran my first miles around the curragh yesterday, thought I was grand before I set off, but I was wrong. I only managed 3 miles at about 8:00 and I was in bits afterwards, my calves are still a bit tender even now. Looks like it'll be another few days before I can get back to proper running.

I was going to do the Cork Marathon, but after yesterday I'm not so sure. I really want to do Dublin this year as I had a bit of a disaster last year and I want to put in a good performance at this one to make up for it. I think I'll just concentrate on some speed work and maybe some shorter races between now and start of Dublin training.

robinph

Was out on Tuesday and Thursday doing about 4 slow miles each, felt a bit stiff but nothing major and a lot easier than the last few miles on Sunday. Have to try and get the legs able to turn over at a bit higher rate before next weekend for the 10k round the K-Club. Have already put my cash down for the DCM entry though so will be hoping to take more of a minute off my PB then and avoid the wall.

Pisco Sour

Haven't done a tap since the marathon!

It could be quite awhile until my next one. I'll be studying for my finals all Summer and then plan to go travelling for a year or so from September onwards, so I'll have to wait a good while until my next one. I'm young though, plenty of time

Going to concentrate on shorter distances for the next 6 months.

KentuckyPete

Hey Robin - just noticed your new location - nice one!

Pisco Sour

Check it out lads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGSbc5Huihk

It may be in Dutch but is enjoyable to watch nonetheless.

Feck it, I should have just forgotten about my time and just strolled in in last place. I would have got an insane amount of attention and would have got myself some good airtime on Dutch TV.:D:p

Pisco Sour

Hate to bring up such an old thread guys but having a bit of a problem getting access to my race videos so wanted to check if others are having the same problem.

I'm down in Australia now and have a new laptop down here so wanted to back up my videos onto my new laptop and went onto the website today and to my horror noticed that every time I try to look at my videos the words "The webpage cannot be found" shows up.

Can you guys take a quick look and see if this is happening to you aswell.

Really annoying.

Brianderunner

04072511 wrote: »

Hate to bring up such an old thread guys but having a bit of a problem getting access to my race videos so wanted to check if others are having the same problem.

I'm down in Australia now and have a new laptop down here so wanted to back up my videos onto my new laptop and went onto the website today and to my horror noticed that every time I try to look at my videos the words "The webpage cannot be found" shows up.

Can you guys take a quick look and see if this is happening to you aswell.

Really annoying.

I would check my one, but you only get a video if you finish the race

Moycullen1

04072511 wrote: »

Hate to bring up such an old thread guys but having a bit of a problem getting access to my race videos so wanted to check if others are having the same problem.

I'm down in Australia now and have a new laptop down here so wanted to back up my videos onto my new laptop and went onto the website today and to my horror noticed that every time I try to look at my videos the words "The webpage cannot be found" shows up.

Can you guys take a quick look and see if this is happening to you aswell.

Really annoying.

Its working fine at this end. I'll PM you your video link to see if it helps. Well done in Dublin BTW.

Pisco Sour

Moycullen1 wrote: »

Its working fine at this end. I'll PM you your video link to see if it helps. Well done in Dublin BTW.

Think you are getting me mixed up with somebody else. I didnt run dublin

I emailed them anyway and it is all fixed now anyway. They thanked me for pointing out the problem to them!:)

Moycullen1

04072511 wrote: »

Think you are getting me mixed up with somebody else. I didnt run dublin

Sorry J. I don't know what happened but I had misty floyd in my head while reading your post so I pm'd you his clips and commended you on his PB in Dublin. I must have spotted a post from him as I was opening the link to your post or something like that!!