Amstel Gold 2012 uitslag

Afstand :	150 km
Rugnummer :	6660
Jaar :	2012

Mijn Tijden

Start	0 km	08:59:25
Geulhemmer berg	2.8 km	09:10:13	15.5 km/u
Euverem	48.2 km	11:17:11	20.9 km/u
Camerig	79.8 km	13:21:28	18.2 km/u
Eijserbosweg	112.3 km	16:04:10	15.8 km/u
Fromberg1	134.4 km	17:10:58	16.4 km/u
Keutenberg	139.9 km	17:32:22	16.3 km/u
Cauberg Voet	150 km	18:08:24	16.3 km/u
Cauberg Finish	150.9 km	18:16:03	16.2 km/u
Totale tijd:
Tijd:	9 uur 16 minuten en 38 seconden
Gemiddelde snelheid	16.2 km/u

Amstel Gold 2012

The race is the Netherlands' largest professional race but is frequently criticised for the danger of its course. The Netherlands is a densely populated country and the race runs through many suburbs and villages. With pressure on land being so great, many Dutch houses do not have garages and cars are left parked in the street. There are also many traffic-calming obstacles such as pinches, chicanes and speed humps, and further obstacles such as roundabouts and traffic islands. Crashes are not uncommon in the race.

The course is tough and selective, mainly because of the 31 hills that have to be climbed, some with angles as steep as 20% (Keutenberg). The Amstel can be confusing for first time riders, because the course features a lot of turns, plus some spots are visited more than one time during the race.

Velonews summarized the race in 2009 as follows:

This is the mack-daddy race on the Dutch calendar. It’s Holland’s most important event and Dutch [teams do their] best to try to dominate the demanding, 258.6km course... Held in the hilly Limburg region in southern Holland, Amstel Gold often gets bundled with next week’s Flèche and Liège races to create what pundits like to call “Ardennes week.” Though geographically distinct than the nearby Belgian Ardennes, the Limburg region serves up a similarly endless menu of steep, narrow climbs. Any race named after a beer should be a big party and tens of thousands of beer-guzzling Dutch fans turn up to line the endless string of bergs and clog outdoor beer gardens to cheer on the pack as they ply treacherously narrow roads. The course starts in the main square at Maastricht and, since 2003, ends atop the Cauberg climb just above Valkenburg (site of another huge party). The route map looks like a plate of spaghetti, with four loops tracing back and forth over deceptively steep climbs. An endless string of 31 climbs are wickedly steep, with Keutenberg featuring ramps as steep as 20 percent. Coupled with the narrow roads, strong winds and the danger of crashing, Amstel is one of the season’s most nerve-wracking races. The addition of the Cauberg finish dramatically altered the race dynamics. The finish used to be on the flats alongside the Maas River, giving teams a chance to regroup after the last climb and position their sprinters for a sometimes-large group sprint. [It now favors whippet-thin climbers and hilly course specialists.][1]

Attempting to explain the difficulty of the course Peter Easton recounts a mathematician's calculations:

...applying logic to overcome a sense of incomprehension is the key to understanding this race. And there is truth in numbers. Six of the climbs come in the first 92 kilometers - one every 15.2 kilometers. The remaining 25 come over the final 165 kilometers. That’s one every 6.6 kilometers. Breaking it down further, the final hour of racing has eight climbs in 42 kilometers. Now we’re down to one every 5.25 km. At 40 km/h, that’s one every 7 ½ minutes. Not overly funny, and definitely all business. [2]

The current hills in the Amstel Gold Race are

27/09/09 Race Report Paris Versailles

1. Assignment: 16k race in Paris Finished in 2:16. Not particularly fast, but not last either.

Here's my "diploma" http://www.parisversailles.com/diplome.php?dossard=1698

2. I did it! And I learned a lot about racing out of town. A lot more preparation is required than going down to the beach!

3. Pace Assigned: 8min/km first 2-3 km, then 7.5min/km, then at 12k, whatever I want. Slower when warmer. It was warm, and I was slow. Here's what my new toy (the garmin) recorded:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14533071'>http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14533071'>http://connect.garmin.com/activity/14533071

Ave. Pace:

first two km: 8:22 (talking with other people on the course)
next ten: 8:38 (in the sun and UPHILL!)
last four: 8:03 (I picked it up finally!)

I felt really good at 12km and was finally able to pick up my pace. This part of the course was in the woods and cooler. Most of the race was really sunny and I was covered in salt by the time I finished. I started in one of the last waves of the +17,000 runners. In hindsight, being as slow as I am, I should have started earlier if I wanted to hear any of the music playing along the course. At the beginning of the race, I slowed to walk with an older woman who was walking the race. She had flown all the way from Calgary for the race. I also took a lot of photos.

I just felt like I had legs of lead, however. It was tiring to travel and walk all over Paris looking for the sports hall where the packet pickup was being held. There are two "Palais de Sports". So, one lesson learned was to "map up" routes before traveling and leave luggage at the hotel before going on the packet hunt. I did stop for a chic hair cut and a delicious roasted chicken while out, however. So I kept a good sense of humor, particularly important. I burst out laughing when I finally got to the correct sports hall only to find myself locked in the bathroom stall when the door malfunctioned! Thankfully, I jiggled my way out of having to call for help.

There were so many participants that the starting waves of about 350 took more than 90 minutes to launch. I walked around and took pictures instead of crushing into the chute. Eventually I walked to a crepe stand and got some more breakfast when my stomach started growling. I packed my own sports drink/nutrition. I am glad I did because although the course offered water and powerade, only water was still available by the time I arrived. I made peace with running in last place for the short time I was last. I realised afterwards that being slow and starting in the last wave exaggerated my place. I took walk breaks, but felt fairly disorganised for the first km - I carried my warm up clothes up to Versailles - After the difficulty to find the packet pick up, I just didn't have the wherewithal to get up early and hunt for the drop off location near the Eiffel Tower before the race. Other people simply discarded the clothes they wore in the rather cool morning. It was a strange sight. Lots of runners wore garbage bags too. This must be typical because dozens of rag pickers descended with bags to collect the clothing.

About Porta-Potties. I haven't figured out how much to drink in the morning to be able to avoid those nasty things. Important lesson learned. Never use a porta-potty after someone has spent an unusally long time in one ahead of you. It's worth waiting for a different one to become available. I suffered along with several other gals who went first. I should have paid more attention to the looks on their faces when they came out.

The course was mostly urban roadway. I dislike the litter created by the runners. There were close to a billion French kids out picking up after us, though. They had uniforms that made me think of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. I said thank you a lot. I received lots of cheers, including from the bored-looking traffic controllers! They gave me a boost of spirit. And whenever I remembered where I was (running from Paris to Versailles) I GRINNED!

I ran with all the courageous people - the ones who aren't as fit or young or fast as the others and who have the courage to still show up and run - middle-aged women like myself, overweight folks out to change their lives, grey-haired warriors still going strong, survivors of all manner of challenges. It took a lot of mental effort to keep going sometimes because my legs felt so useless. I just couldn't find my groove - the temperature and the grade I think took their toll. Today I have more muscle soreness than usual, so I feel like I gave it an honest effort. Also, looking at my heart rate chart, I can see that my heart rate matched my perception of effort. So, I didn't hold back. I still really would like to turn into a runner instead of a jogger. I know I am a runner, but I hope you understand what I mean. I told myself I'm a baby runner, having been at this "seriously" or at least regularly - maybe religiously is the right word - for only nine months.

It was also really challenging to focus on the race so soon after pacing during my husband's surgery. I had to take him back to the emergency room for pain relief only a couple hours after bringing him home from the hospital on Thursday. We were there until nearly midnight - me thinking this was supposed to be the pre-race night of the "good night sleep".

All of the training exercises you gave me to do really helped me to prepare myself - especially the 800m repeats - they have - for me anyway - a mental component that helps me go past the discomfort and the limiting beliefs into the beyond. My eyes are tearing up again with gratitude for your help.

Well, that's enough out of me. It's my son's 15th birthday today, so I will close. Attached are a couple pictures you might enjoy. My favourite is with one of the volunteer girls at the finish. I told her next year it was her turn to run.

First Long Training Run 11 April 2009

I ran 13 or 14k Saturday. It was fun. Only thing was I ran 5k on Friday since my mid-week runs got off by a day - so my knees were still a little sore even this morning - just going up the stairs. They were fine when I took a spin with a friend who hadn't been on her bike since Oct. Easy 27k. Earn those chocolates! Odie slept a lot today. He ran both Fri & Saturday and was, well, dog-tired.


Weekend Workout Assigned: 10k
Actual: ~13.5k
Time 1:47 HRM 148 average; 168 max
Pace: ~ 10k/60 min. I took walk breaks when I felt like it. First one after about 15 minutes. More frequent after the first hour. I stopped to chat with my husband and son, who had camped on the beach overnight to get a good storage spot for the Hobie Cat at the sailing club. Stopped at the end to chat goodbye to running buddy. I subtracted chatting time to arrive at the estimate, using a pace of 10k/60min (my last race pace - probably a bit generous); actual time minus ~20 minutes standing around talking. A lot of walking towards the very end.

Comments
I estimated the distance because I ran on the beach, without obvious landmarks. I based my estimate on a comparable pace on other runs where I know the distance. I realized Saturday morning that the GPS I wanted to carry lacked fresh batteries. I commit to better prep & planning for next week.

Weather & Temperature: clear and sunny; 20C - probably cooler when I started out.

Aches & Pains? My knees were a little sore immediately afterwards. They were tender climbing stairs on Sunday morning. Took 200mg advil & extra dose of fish oil. Felt fine during & after my bike ride on Sunday. My mid-week training schedule was off by a day due to family committments. So I ended up running my second mid-week run on Friday morning, rather than on Thursday. Next week I won't run the day before the weekend run.

Questions for the Coach:
1. I do not know how to pace myself using a time/distance metric. I have always trained with a heart rate monitor and by adapting to my current physical condition - perception of effort, breathing, fatigue, etc. Do I need to carry a GPS? Run somewhere else on a pre-measured route?

2. I want to increase my pace. The woman I am running with on Saturdays can run faster, but has been satisfied with my pace so far. I'd like to try to speed up. When/how do I work on this? Once a week on my mid-week run, I have been adding high intensity intervals - short sprints followed by walk recovery.

3. The Paris race features a huge hill. How should I prepare for it, considering I live in "the low country"? I have been running up a hill near my house and running up a long flight of stairs in the Dunes. Is this enough? Add in treadmill with incline?

Next Week's Planned Workouts

Sunday - 26K bike ride (done)
Monday - easy row - weights (when I get done with this post!) (DONE - skipped the weights)
Tuesday - 30 - 45 minute run (at least 5 K) HIIT - Swim laps
Wednesday - easy row & weights
Thursday - 30 - 45 minute run (at least 5 K)
Friday - easy row & sauna (rest before run)
Saturday - assigned training run - 5k