One cold drizzly winter morning, with heavy legs, clad in an iron will, from Dorpstraat in Landgraaf, South Limburg we started our intended 28km long run.
The route
It came as a surprise that we were crossing the “border” into Germany. It was quite an adventure not knowing. Though half way through the run, i had trouble keeping up with Gertjan. I started with a pace of 6.30, improved to 6.00 but then slowed down terribly after ~15km of running. The park in Germany and the restricted NATO area was quite a distraction. The only tall physical fence covering a wide area i have observed. There were no patrols in the area, just the fence and a lot of surveillance cameras. I was distracted as naively, expecting to see uniformed soldiers in training, like in the Hollywood movies. Haha…
The park was not deserted, we passed by walkers walking their dogs, walkers taking a stroll through the park, and horse riders. Then , there were the mini lakes, still as statues. I am constantly fascinated with the borderless nature and trust they cultivate within Europe.
The land along the border of Netherlands and Germany was massively plain (photo below) with little human contact.
The stamina
Well, well, well. 6.41 average pace today. Blimey. It is very unusual. To be this fatigued in long run. This is not even > 30km of running. I compared my run stats from a month ago and notice that the increment was ~60% from average December weekly run.
The Garmin watch popped up with this message recently; “Unproductive: Your training load is at a good level, but your fitness is decreasing. Your body may be struggling to recover, so be sure to pay attention to your overall health including stress, nutrition and rest.” Quite apt, i thought. It’s how i feel.
Rambles
I do not usually pen training sessions in, but reflecting on this run was ummm… somewhat therapeutic in that… it hopefully dispel any negative thoughts. And a good reminder to turn a bad run day into something positive. Because after all, training miles are (religiously) logged, and discovering new paths a pleasure.
meysrunningjourney.com 