We did an extra lap just in case our GPS device was deceiving us!
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I've always had a big appetite so am somewhat concerned about how much I will need to consume when I'm in the full marathon training swing, so I started to look into whey protein. The suspicious big tubs of powder with it's testosterone inspired designs have never looked appealing but after some research they do seem to make sense. Your body can only absorb so much protein at a time. (Apparently just 30g an hour). Therefore you should space out your consumption throughout the day into smaller intakes as oppose to one mega feast. So making a quick milkshake during the day is much easier than creating a full on meal, especially if you're training outside and you need to get some nutrition in you as soon as possible. (Lots of sources say within ten minutes of exercising is the prime time to do so). Whey contains all the essential amino acids required to support muscle maintenance,' as Holland and Barrett's own brand Precision states on the packaging. The whey powder is traditionally mixed in a shaker with milk but to be honest it looks disgusting which is another reason why I've avoided this in past. Whey is derived from milk so as a self diagnosed lactose intolerant person I decided to try the smaller size sachets first. I mixed mine with hot water in the hope it dissolves easier. No such luck. It looks like poop in a mug. Smells like e numbers. Taste isn't actually that bad, but the lumpiness made it harder to down. (It does say to use a blend but who has one at work?). I'm already thinking maybe some kind of protein oat nutty bar may a better option. Anyway, I got another sachet tomorrow in this experiment so lets see how my lactose intolerant stomach handles it... <Follow Up. 20.01.15>
So it seems that my stomach can handle the whey protein powder, no queezy stomach feelings. This is good however I think I'll try and find a brand which doesn't add extra sugar or flavourings... Today was a big day for my friend Theresa and I as we found out we were successful with the Berlin Running Marathon 2015 ballot. Given the unsuccessful stories of previous years when I read the English section of the email I was genuinely shocked that it read 'You made it!' However this is our time, even if my stomach turns every time I think about it. With the skate marathon the day before, this really is going to be something,...!
Bring on the Double. This is my third London Inline Marathon. (Half marathon). However this time the remnants of Hurricane Bertha made it certain it was to be a wet race. With this in mind I accepted that I was not going to touch my personal best time, but instead I was going to set a new benchmark time for the Hillingdon Cycle Circuit in the rain. After my experience in Mittelrhein I have decided not to chase or join people who are beyond my league, to instead go at my pace and not play into anyone else's higher level game. I do want to better myself but I most importantly want to enjoy the race. Richard asked me if I'd worked out who my competition was. I love how focus he is for these events but I just had to laugh the comment off. When we were warming up my thoughts were reinforced by the fact that all the speedy people had Storm Surge wheels on. They were holding the road much better than my Matter F3 wheels, that slipped if I tried the full push. The line up for the race was definitely smaller than last year. I know for a fact a few friends had held off signing up because of the weather, which was a shame. For me most of my marathons had at least some element of rain, so I've given up worrying about a bit of water. (I do not whine - kids whine). The half marathon started first with a couple of guys bustling for lead. I took a steady pace up the hill. Alex was not too far behind and we made the decision to stick together. Best move of the race. We took it in turns each lap to tackle the crazy rainy headwind on the last section of the lap. It was also handy that he was keeping tabs on our laps better than myself. I like to pick up the pace if I can for the final lap. So as I started moving away from Alex, he encouraged me to go ahead. I acknowledged but said to him that he'll probably catch up with me on the windy stretch. Which he did. After passing the final corner the wind cut and had a pretty decent sprint (even if it was still wet) to the finish. After I finished I helped out my friend Chidi who didn't seem to be enjoying it as much as some of the others. She was even more disheartened when she found out her final lap wasn't actually her penultimate. Chidi said to remind her next year not to sign up. I will remind her to sign up early to take advantage of the discounted price. Very typically the track started drying off at this point. So I had a little sprint around the track just for kicks. That wind was still there though. 3 minutes 33 seconds for a lap. Summary. My time was 54 minutes 39 seconds. It turns out I podium-ed. 3rd place in the Men's Half Marathon. 1st place in my age category. Seniors. This is the first time I've got a trophy which is awesome. However we all know if the elite were to have partaken in the Half marathon instead of the Full then I definitely wouldn't have got those shiny prizes. (The top guys lapped us three times!). I'm pleased with my skating all the same. The race was great despite the rain and it was a pleasure working with my teammate Alex to get the time we did. We ended the day with the traditional trip to the pizza parlor. A successful day. All photos are courtesy of London Inline Marathon.
This is my second event at the Bugatti track in Le Mans and again I will be on the Easy Saturday Skate team. (I won’t rewrite the event details as you can find them in last year’s post). Travel. No road trip this year. A group of us travelled by train from London to Le Mans. The Eurostar got us from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. From there we got the Paris metro line 4 to Montparnasse where we then got our connecting SNCF train to Le Mans station. (this is the station name as it’s known as when you book via Eurostar, or Gare du Mans as they call it in France). We then got a tram outside the station which took us to the last stop, Antarès. It’s then a fifteen minute walk to the campsite and entrance. Tip. Buy your metro tickets on the Eurostar to save time later. Or, if possible choose a Eurostar route via Lille Europe as that apparently saves the hassle of the metro, by having the connecting train on the adjacent platform. We were lucky in that a few people had done the route before so we got there without any trouble. I couldn’t help but wonder if we were all first timers if we would have gotten lost, wasted time queuing for tickets, working out the system, etc as we only had fifteen minutes to spare when we got to Montaparnasse. Accomodation. I wimped out of camping this year and opted to stay in a hotel for the Friday and Sundays nights. We stayed in Appart'City Le Mans which was just a five minute walk from Le Mans station. On the Saturday a friend organised for us to stay in the ‘VIP suite.’ It sounds more glamorous than it was. The room is usually hired out for functions but about twenty of us clubbed together for a place to sleep during the event. It was just above the tracks so was very convenient; however it meant we were very near the event speakers pumping all sorts of music and announcing commentary of the event every five minutes. Eventually it became background noise and I was surprised to actually fall asleep through it. The event. I was quite excited to partake in this event once more but this time equipped with speed skates. What I didn’t prepare for was the extensive amount of rain, over twenty hours of the wet stuff for the twenty four hour event. This made it extremely frustrating to get any decent speed and corners had to be taken extra wide, with a certain amount of involuntary drifting! Quad skaters really held their own in the wet with their chunky wheels and whilst they’re not known for speed, it was somewhat depressing to see them over take me on my ‘speed skates!’ A lot of people had Storm Surges wheels on to help with traction, but everyone had to adapt their technique to battle the wet. On my second shift on the Sunday the weather was on and off. It almost dried off a couple of times and I managed to squeeze in two sub ten minute laps. My legs were already tired by then so I knew I wasn’t going to get much more than that this year. My favourite lap was the final in which I joined a bunch of other London skaters at the top of that infamous Dunlop hill. We cheered on the skaters who were taking the event a little more serious than us, before we had our more chilled ‘parade,’ lap. By then the track had finally dried up completely and I could enjoy the track with the technique I had practicing with tight turns and cross-overs. The highlight was as we re-entered the stadium where the atmosphere was buzzing from the crowds in the stands. Summary.
Le Mans 2014 didn’t turn out to be the speed injected race I had hoped because of the weather, but it was great fun all the same to travel down as a team and meet new people. I missed out on the happenings and sogginess on the campsite, but enjoyed the company of the others who also chose to hotel instead. Regardless of how disheartening the rain was it gave everyone the same unified experience for the race of 2014. My first roller marathon was at the Goodwood circuit in Chichester. Unfortunately the organisers decided not to continue with the event due to the amount of time and effort required. As a result the owner of the Everglides skate shop have since put on a no thrills event (South Coast Roll) at Goodwood every year. So Everglides rent out the track, insurance sorted and you just pay £7 to enjoy the use of the track. I’ve missed it the past two years and I have wanted to revisit the track as I was eager to know how much I’ve improved. To compare my progress I wanted to use exactly the same pair of skates I used the first time around. Salamon Chill LX. 84mm wheels. I know conditions won’t ever be exactly the same but I was still eager to know what’s changed for me in six years. Eleven laps of Goodwood counts to a full marathon. 26.5 miles. My first two laps I was skating with my friend Van. He was using speed skates so it wasn’t long before he shot off. The next four laps I was pacing it on my own. Averaging 11 minute laps. My other friends arrived on the circuit on my seventh lap. I continued skating with them in a paceline. We took in turns to take the lead. However as we were of varying abilities being behind was sometimes more difficult even though you had no headwind. This is because you had to change your pace to get close to the person in front, this was done by reducing your stride length but upping your cadence to ensure skates don’t clash. (Matching their movements). As a result I was using up more energy. In fact this was quite reminiscent of my Mittelrhein race the previous week. On my final lap I broke from the pack. My friend Joe urged me to push on for a sprint finish. He gave me a little boost from behind to catch up with some people we knew, Chris and Van. Once we caught up it was difficult keeping up with their speed skates. Cramps started coming in so I slowly dropped back again. Joe pointed out that our friends who we raced away from was embarrassingly catching up at this point, despite our earlier sprint. Sometimes you need someone to motivate you at times like these. I pushed on and finished just over 2 hours. (46 minutes faster than my first roller marathon attempt). I brought my speed skates to Goodwood so I swapped them after my marathon for a test run. First attempt failed horribly with cramps setting in on all calf and thigh muscles. After bailing onto the grass for five minutes I made my way slowly back to the start point to stretch off properly. Second time around was better. I started off slowly, warming up again before attempting a ‘faster,’ lap. 9:46. Well that gives a baseline to look at for next year.. 1:47:25 should be achievable.. Summary. So yes I have improved with my skate endurance and it will be interesting to see how a full marathon on the speed skates will be next year. Most importantly however it was a great day out with everyone at the Goodwood motor circuit. What caught my attention with the Mittelrhein Marathon were the scenic views of the river Rhine which ran parallel to most of the course. Another thing that appealed to me with the course was that it’s a one way skate, so the start and finish point are at completely different points! I enjoy skating so it’s nice that it can take me places which I would otherwise have not considered venturing to. The Mittelrhein Marathon starts at Bad Salzig and ends in the town of Koblenz, situated between Cologne and Frankfurt. Koblenz itself is a very quiet town. Even for a Friday night the trendy bars weren’t that busy. Look elsewhere if you’re looking for a party, but Koblenz is a very pleasant small town to walk around, especially along the riverside promenade. For the three nights we were there two of us stayed in a little bed and breakfast Hotel Jan van Werth which was basic, but a comfortable place to stay. The staff were very welcoming. Goals. On my last skate marathon was in the wet with a time of 1:39:39. Mitterlrhein is known to be a fast race because of the track so getting a sub 1:30 would be awesome. Signing Up. For a change this was not so straight forward to do as the website was mainly in German. (Probably fine if you can read German). The English section of the website is really cut down with a lot less information than the main German section. You need to make the actual booking in German, which I did with the help of Google Translate. Everything seemed to go through except my payment, I ended up settling this in person on the day of the event. Expo. This was held at the Intersport store just outside Koblenz town. We had a rental car so it wasn’t too difficult to get to. Our main purpose for attending was to pick up our race number and timer chip so we weren’t so rushed on the day. However when we got there my race pack was not available as apparently I selected the option to pick it up at the event starting point. (Obviously Google Translate didn’t do a perfect job). The expo itself was probably the most disappointing I’ve been to. Only three stalls were there. My old primary school’s summer fair had more to offer! Event day. In order to reach the start point we needed to catch a train to Bad Salzig. (The station name is Boppard – Bad Salzig). If we had received our race number this would have also acted as our train ticket. We probably could have talked our way without the race number if we spoke German. Rather than chance it those of us without race numbers just paid the €5 for peace of mind. Once we arrived at the station a polite volunteer directed us to the start point where we collected our race packs (if we hadn’t done so already at the expo). We got there really early so had time to relax. One of the happy staff members came around with water while we were waiting. There were plenty of portaloos available at the start. Not a lot to do before the race but enjoy the vibes under a tree. The event. Skating wasn’t the only thing happening, there were also running marathons at various distances as well as team relays much earlier during the day. The exact course was slightly different for the events. For the skate our course included two laps of a loop at the beginning. Skaters were also separated into Speed and Fitness categories. (We were fitness). Twelve of us skaters were from London including three of us from the recreational ESS (Easy Saturday Skate), group, plus others from the somewhat more focussed LSST (London Skaters Speed Team). I wasn’t convinced I could keep up with the LSST guys but a few of them persuaded me to join them from the start of the race. Twelve of us skaters were from London including three of us from the recreational ESS (Easy Saturday Skate), group, plus others from the somewhat more focussed LSST (London Skaters Speed Team). I wasn’t convinced I could keep up with the LSST guys but a few of them persuaded me to join them from the start of the race. Three hundred and forty two of us were packed into the fitness starting grid. I pushed my way near the front close to the other LSST members. The start is always frantic at these races as everyone fights to establish their positions. I managed to catch up with Richard and Fred from LSST. The paceline we were with was pretty pacey. Quickly changing and reforming on the sharp corners and steep up hills. After only ten minutes my back started aching. It’s not uncommon for this to happen but the exact reasons for this no one has ever put this in black and white. Richard had suggested doing situps to help build muscles to support the back. I have been doing a lot of situps but did not seem to help for this race. Another possible reason was that I did not warm up enough before the start. In the past I’ve started slowly at the back of the race, slowly building myself up. Going full on from the start may be part of the reason for my back aching early on. The scenery was beautiful but only from the short glances I remember. With so much happening with the race there was little time to take in the green hills and the River Rhine. It’s nice to have captured everything with the camera though. Not long after half way the person in front was feeling fatigued and moved aside to let me through. Fred called out for me to close the gap created. I was in a lot of pain, I was here to enjoy myself not kill myself. Therefore I too pulled aside slowing right down. I felt relieved to just stand upright, stretch out and relieve the pressure on my back. The good thing about skates is that while I wasn’t moving my muscles I was still rolling down the hill with my momentum. Over the last twenty minutes I had noticed my left foot had begun pronating, which normally isn’t a problem for me. My skate seemed to have become loose. I decided to take the bullet and come to a complete stop to adjust my footwear. The laces were a lot looser on the left boot which I had weaved my timer chip with. I have a feeling the timer chip moved about during the skate which slowly loosened my skate. (Perhaps..). I sacrificed a minute on the roadside but I think it was worth doing so. Richard later showed me an ankle strap he had for his timer chip. I’ll look into getting one too. I wish I could speak more languages. Twice during the skate someone said something to me. First time it sounded like he mentioned ‘pretzels,’ so I just smiled and said okay. The second time I only realised later that the person was talking to me as I heard him say ‘JC,’ as he skated past. I take it was words of encouragement, or perhaps gloating as he was passing. (We’ll go with the first option!). As we whizzed down the little towns there were a lot of families outside cheering us on. I thanked everyone who did so as I really appreciated it. “Danke.” The surface was okay, not quite as smooth as I hoped but the others were quite happy with it. However everyone was in agreement with the short stretch of cobbles, it was awful. I slowed right down and over twenty people somehow managed to keep speed and overtake me. Having taken the train to the start point I remember some landmarks such as the Koblenzer beer shop. This gave me some comfort that I was getting close to the finish. On the last stretch I could see the finish line. I love a sprint finish but today I could move no faster. Passing the final timer mats was such a relief. My time was 1:34:08. Post event.
They ushered you to carry on skating another few hundred metres where you got your medal, fruits, energy drink and non-alcoholic beer. I must say I could have easily have been fooled that it was alcoholic, very tasty. However anything is delicious after a marathon, even those electrolyte drinks. Summary. I missed my target by four minutes, but still had a respectable time of 1:34:08. While this is still a personal best I was just a bit disappointed I didn’t enjoy the race as much a previous events, mainly because of the back ache. Speed skates are quite unforgiving at times, so it probably didn’t help that apart from a brief session a few days before; I hadn’t worn my speed skates for over six months. (Been focusing on Tough Mudder). Next time I must get in more practice before using the speeds skates for a race. Koblenz town was nice and I would like to have another attack on the Mittlerhein course. However I don’t have an immediate urge to go back soon while there are still many other races in Europe to try first.. Run Frimley is an annual 2.5k and 10k run. It is a small local event held in Frimley, Surrey. The event is in aid of raising money for Breast Care Appeal, hoping to raise over £70,000. Last year they ran a last minute trial for the roller event with much positivity, so this year it was the first official Roller 10k race. I was still feeling a little achy from the previous weekend's Tough Mudder so thought it may be best to sit this one out despite already paying my entry fee. With a bigger marathon skate in two weeks I thought this was the right decision. However I still made the trip down to support my friends who were also partaking in the skate race. The event had a very nice small community feel and everyone there was filled with positivity. (My only gripe was there weren't quite enough portaloos). Best costume group is without doubt the Wizard of Oz people. Great effort! After the skaters shot off at the start I made my way to the hotdog tent ran by the local Scouts. I then had a little wander around before figuring out the best place for taking photographs. Feedback from my friends with the Roller event was that the surface wasn't particularly smooth but it was sufficient. Sometimes it was easier to go on the roads however the traffic could be too busy at times to do so. There are quite a few hills. Everyone said they'd definitely do it again next year however they would not recommend it to anybody who are not use to street skating. My friends did really well and took quite a few podium positions.
Woman's 10k Roller: 1st Elisabeth. 3rd Chidi. For the Men’s. 2nd Alex. 3rd Alan. 4th Bryan. 5th Muhayman. 9th François. The event was really enjoyable even though for a change I was spectating. Everyone I met that day was really friendly and down to earth. Hopefully the Roller event will gain popularity next year and it would be great to see other running events involve the skating community too. As in terms of logistics for road races, it's only a case of holding the track open for that little bit longer. It'll be great one day to see the London Marathon do the same, just as they do for the equivalent Berlin Marathon. What Frimley is doing is a great thing, so I look forward to taking part in the Run Frimley 10k Roller 2015.. This review came about after a post on a Facebook group post. I've written a lot of this for friends previously so I collated it all here for all who want to know my own thoughts on this unconventional skate: I got a pair of Powerslide Doops last year. 84mm wheels version. The selling point of these skates is that you can wear any flat shoes with them, so it reduces the need to carry your shoes whilst you skate. Previously I had a Salomon Chill LX which had a similar design, I really loved them but they started to fall apart after years of use. Sadly they stopped manufacturing them so I was hopeful the Powerslides would compare well to the Salomons. The Doops. Surprising the Doops are still quite heavy even though it’s missing the boot. (My Seba FR1 are about the same weight). This might be an issue for some people but I don’t mind giving the legs a little extra weight to work out with! They do feel very secure and responsive. People often question this but remember they’re based on an aggressive skate, Xsjado, so it’s going to be able to take some punishing! I like the ratchet system in the middle that makes it feels nice and snug. Two of the other tightening mechanisms are just Velcro but these can be replaced if needed. I've substituted the mechanism above the ankle with a more standard skate strap just so it's that little bit faster to tighten. The break is a standard Powerslide setup which in my opinion is really badly designed. It’s difficult to and fiddly to put on. You need to keep an eye on the wear and adjust it every now and again. Salomon’s break pad was so much simpler and easy to use, which I’ve also heard repeatedly from other skaters and even skate shop staff. I’ve tried swapping the break system with a Seba breaking system. This is easy to install but the break pad is very small, which will result in it being replaced often. Also it makes a horrible squeaking sound that doesn’t do much for my street cred. On the plus it ensures everyone around you are aware you’re coming! Usually the wheels that come with any skate are basic. The ones that come with these are absolute rubbish. Rock hard wheels which I could feel every bump on the London roads. It made hard work of the ‘Sunday Stroll,’ skate. The frames that come with them are also of poor design. I have to pull and force the wheels on some sections of the frame to get them in and out. Since I’ve bought them I’ve swapped the frame for some Sebas ones. I’ve also got some nice Gyro wheels in combination to the horrible wheels. The horrible wheels are just on the toes, which I use as a break. (Good to find some use for them). Because of this I’ve got a semi rocker wheel layout. The setup is now great. Are the Doops fast? I’ve been asked this a lot, but they're only as fast as the wheels you've got attached, or more importantly the skater using them! Le Mans. I used the Doops for the Le Mans 24 Hours Skate relay race. The starting skaters are required to have their skates on the other side of the track. When the race starts you run across the track and put on your skates before racing. Now I thought the Doops would give me a nice advantage but even though it took me 25 seconds to put on both skates, there were people booting up a lot faster. The benefit for me however is that the mats we were standing on at the start of the race were wet, so no soggy socks for me whilst I skate! What shoes can you wear with the Doops? Most flat shoes work well. I’ve managed to use my formal shoes and even some wellington boots with them. Chunky Vans don’t work; they’re just too wide. The thing for myself is that I have really wide feet. Last year I bought some cheap New Look sneakers, however the tight fit of the shoes started to become a problem for me. This problem only started when I began changing my skating style, skating more like a speed skater and hitting the outside edges of the wheels. So my toes felt most of the impact in my tight shoes. (This problem wasn’t particular to these skates as my speed skates gave me similar issues until they were heat moulded). I tried using the shoes that worked previously with the Salomons and similar pains still happened that never occurred with the Chill LX. For most people the shoe fitting wouldn’t be an issue but having wide feet has often been a problem for me. There are definitely shoes that would fit my feet and would work with my Doops but I’m yet to find it. Powerslide Doops vs Salomon Chill LX. Both have plus and minuses. Weight-wise the Doops are slightly more heavy but not a huge amount. Salomon just seems to be made of better quality material but the buckles eventually gave way. The Doops already has some fraying with some part of the fabric. However the main ratchet on the Doops just feels so much more secure. Salomon loses out massively by the fact the frames cannot be changed, as they have been riveted into the boot. Doops can fit most frames, it can even attach to those mountain skis! Baseplate. As with most skates the frames can be removed. I personally don't know much about the common frame setups as I've only ever swapped the frames once before. For my Doops the shop assistant suggested the Seba GT frames. However here is an image of the baseplate which will give you a general idea of what you can fit on to the Doops. Summary.
Regretfully I’ve stopped using the Doops for now and gone back to my nice wide fitting Seba skates, until I find a suitable shoe. However I really miss the convenience the Doops offer whilst street skating, especially hopping on and off public transport, or popping in quickly into the shops. So it seems I’ve caught the skate marathon bug. As much as I loved Berlin and I intend to be back again for the skate I want to use skating as an opportunity to visit new places. The idea came about through Alex within the Easy Saturday Skate (ESS) group for Copenhagen this year. We had over twenty of us from ESS, plus others from the London skate scene. Goals. This would be my first full marathon on speed skates so it should give me a massive advantage over my previous attempts, fastest being at Berlin 1h:47m:47s. A sub 1h:30m would be great but not sure given how open the track is compared to Berlin. Copenhagen is the world’s leader in wind turbine production, if that’s anything to go by then headwind may end up being a major factor! A sub 1h:40m time I really wanted as it would mean I’d jump up a skate starting block for the next time I race in Berlin. The Trip. Copenhagen was my third trip abroad with the ESS group and just as memorable as the others. A lot of us had never been to Denmark before so we were excited about experiencing some new culture. On the day we arrived there was supposed to have been a Friday Night skate but it had been raining heavy. The showers stopped before the start of the event so a few of us went down to the rendezvous. At the start point there were still quite a few likeminded hopeful skaters. Unfortunately it was just too wet. We spoke briefly with the organisers who were a really friendly bunch. (Danish are the happiest people in the world apparently). That evening they intended to have been a special clown skate, raising money for the local children’s hospital. I don’t like clowns but the clowns there were nice Danish clowns. We were all given red noses to wear and balloons tied to us, in a sort of Mario Kart fashion. We decided to head back and re-join the rest of our group near the hostel. Four of us chose to skate back so we could start to get a feel for the city. I really like Copenhagen. The bicycle lanes are great. We were unsure at first whether we as skaters were allowed to use the cycle lanes, but the local skaters had reassured us it was okay. As we skated nobody took a second look at us, unlike in the UK where a lot of people are ignorant and unopened to accepting anything but the norm, shouting unholy words. (I’ll leave my rant at that). The roads were wet but we took it easy to avoid slipping up, plus allowing us extra breaking distance. We went through a cycle only pathway on one section. It took us over a bridge which was really well lit for us. On the quieter sections my friend Hazel showed us a cool skate slide move, which I believe is called the New York Slide. (I’ll always call it the Hazel Slide though!). The next day we went on a free guided tour that was offered by the Generator Hostel. It was a good way to explore the city as I am somewhat uneducated to any Danish history. On our lunch break it was a good chance for me to practice some Danish. I’ve been learning from podcasts for the last couple of months prior to the trip. I’m not sure if I made sense but I guess in context it was pretty obvious I wanted the biggest hotdog they had on offer. We spent a few hours after the tour in the Tivoli theme park before our evening meal at this place which had dynamite as display pieces. Signing up. Again our fantastic group organiser Alex did this for us. We got a group discount, I believe for every ten people signed up you get one entry free. The discount was shared between all of us. Registration. You need to confirm your attendance and collect your race number and electronic timer chip. (Which was a sticker you put on your helmet. Sensors on an arch picked this up every lap). Everything was very straight forward and well organised. I was less organised and misplaced my timer chip. The people there sorted out a replacement without any problems. “Mange tak!” (Thanks a lot). I said after. She was surprised but seemed to appreciate my small attempt at Danish. I found most people just simply used “tak,” in most situations. The Course. It was a 7.1km lap. The half marathon you had to skate three laps. So the full marathon was six laps. The asphalt is generally very good. A few pot holes were marked with yellow spray, other skaters signalled ahead as well at these. It was windy on some sections but not as extreme as I was expecting. The wind was about the same as other events like Goodwood and London Inline Marathon. Guess it depends on the weather at the time. One section of the course was a part of the motorway. It is a little strange at first as the road markings were going the opposite way to the race. On the last section there were three roundabouts which you could go either way around to pass. These were especially slippery when wet and you had to dramatically reduce your speed to handle this. The Half Marathon Race. What I really like about the setup for this event is that the Half and Full marathons were separate. Our group had a mix of people going for the two options. It meant we could enjoy supporting each other’s race. Although two of the guys, Alex and Muhayman opted for both races. (Greedy for medals!). Over the speaker they spoke Danish but I was so happy when I recognised a phrase. ‘Held og lykke!.’ (Good luck). I was on the side for the Half Marathon, cheering them all on. The thing is sometimes they went by so fast that by the time you’ve recognised them they’ve already shot off! Our green and black jerseys made it easier to spot each other though. It was slightly overcast for the race, with the sun popping out every now and again. Just under two hundred people took part in the Half Marathon. Our group finished between 52 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes. The Full Marathon Race. Three hundred and twenty one people took part in this race. Everyone started at the same time. We were towards the mid back so it took a bit of time to worm through the pack. The others from the ESS group were taking it easy for the race so I loss them quickly. As we turned the first corner the rain started to descend. It wasn’t just a few drops, it was full on! So glad I had the waterproof casing for the GoPro. I found a bunch of ‘Rolling Vikings,’ who were easy to spot in their red and black jerseys. For most of the first lap I was following their lead. On the last stretch I went to take the lead as I only see it as good sportsmanship to share the brunt of the headwind. The roundabouts I mentioned earlier were so slippery when we reached them. It was awful as every time we hit the surface we had to stop skating just in order to brace ourselves from falling over. Having to navigate three of these obstacles every lap caused us to loose rhythm and played a massive part in reducing our overall performance. By the time I got to the lap crossing it seemed I’d lost the Vikings. (They must have been playing a different tactic as I’m sure I saw the same guys overtake later on)… I looked to my right after the first lap and was surprised to see all the other ESS half marathoners out there despite the heavy rain. They were in blue ponchos but cheering out to me. What good friends right?! The cheer did give me a surge of energy. I ploughed on through and shot past skater after skater. Hiding momentarily behind pacelines or individual skaters to hop on up the position ladder. Dispite the rain and my super soggy skates I was holding a nice pace. However as I past the last paceline in sight I turned around the corner and to my dismay there was nobody else in view, only wind and rain. I held on to my position for a while but the strong paceline of about eight people eventually caught up, so I joined them at the back. After a while at being at the back I regained my strength and was getting a bit restless. I pushed up and took over the lead again. The three of us at the front rotated frequently and this worked out well. We slowly dropped people until there were four of us. You could see the others were getting a little annoyed with the old man who just hid at the back, hitching a ride. One of the others invited him to the front, only then did he lead, albeit briefly. I guess we can forgive him for being a lot older than us, but it was still annoying. And then there were two. It was myself and another guy who I later found out was Swedish, called Jonny. For the majority of the race it was just us two. We rotated frequently. Although he did seem to want to take the lead more as we passed the lap crossing with the crowds of people. (He’d probably say otherwise but hey this is my blog!). All the same we wouldn’t have been able to have made the same progress on our own. It’s this kind of tactical and collaborative play which I really like about the skate marathons. On the final lap Jonny and I were beginning to feel it. That ‘old man and co,’ paceline came passed us. (Old man still hiding in the middle). We tagged on. The thing is they seem to have unleashed their extra energy reserve. It became a battle to hang on. Annoyingly the old man was getting away. (easy when you’ve been letting others do the work). “I must not let him beat me.” I kept saying to myself. A moment lapsed and he was ten feet away now, no longer was I benefiting from the group as a windshield. Jonny overtook me. Lactic acid was really hitting the legs as I passed those horrible slippery roundabouts for the last time. (Although it was starting to dry up now). Final stretch. At this point I usually find that once time use boost button. My sprint began. Up ahead Jonny was beginning to lag. He called him on joining me for the last dash. Jonny declined by waving me on. I could then hear this crazy screaming. This sound was my friends Floju and Chidi flapping their arms frantically as they ran along the side. I joined in with the screaming and entered full arm swing sprint mode. My net time was 1:39:58. Just sneaked under one of my targets. I am very happy considering the weather. Post Skate. One thing to keep in mind with Copenhagen is that on a Sunday evening a lot of restaurants are closed. The places that were open were particularly expensive. Restaurants of the Mc variety I usually avoid but a hungry skater can’t be choosers, especially that day! Back at the hostel we had a few drinks at the bar. We discovered there was a urinal based computer game in the gents toilet. You peed on different pressure sensors to make your snowboarder go left and right to collect the snowmen and avoid the barriers. The game was called ‘On the Piste.’ “Crazy Danes!” I thought. Only later I found out that it was actually developed by a British company! We’d hold our bladders for that little bit longer than usual so we could compete for the leaderboard. Summary. I was disappointed with the weather. This meant that I could not properly stretch those speed skates out after having the speed lessons with Mike Van Erp this summer. Hopefully next time I can have a good attack at this course as well as actually attend Copehagen’s Friday Night Skate. That said I can now move up a skate group for the Berlin marathon, which is ace! So until next time Copenhagen, “tak farvel.” (Thanks and goodbye). PS. “Undskyld, hvor er toilettet?” Another phrase I found very useful. Pronouned: ‘en skool, vor air toileet?’ |
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"Any tips, reviews and advice are my own opinions and are not to be taken as professional view points. The information on this site is what has worked for me and is here for guidance only, but I hope you gain insight into the various activities I partake in." Jonathan Chen Archives
December 2019
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