No trail but tough: Marathon of Ghent

About how an urban marathon turns out to be a nature run, but you can still significantly improve PR through better nutrition. At the same time I the Nutripleister: does it really work as advertised?

During the Rotterdam marathon it became very clear how much better I run when someone can keep me in check during the first few kilometers. Ramona (Den Toom, pun intended) did that very well, she has a similar pace and is in terms of speed a good match. Only last time it went wrong at the 25 km due to a hypo. Just like the year before that by the way.

A hypo during a run doesn't just mean you need a moment to recover. It also means that you have to stand still for a while/walk for a while and that your mental state takes a knock. That's why my marathon time (5.09.18) was so disappointing and why I had cramps in Rotterdam.

Fortunately Ramona wanted a rematch in the fall. And we thought it would be cool to do that in Belgium. Because we are not the fastest runners, we also looked at the end times. Brussels was a tight spot, especially since that city also has a lot of hills, but we thought Ghent was doable.

Carrying

Because Ghent is quite a distance away, and we didn't want to stress about the starting permit and such, we already went to Ghent on Saturday. Of course with way too many heavy bags, so we could enjoy being our own pack mule during the marathon. With the many train changes, we had to be careful to keep everything together, but the trip went great. And this is the first time I've made all the connections to Ghent.

Once at the station, we immediately went in search of lunch. Runners and hungry… The menu of the busiest restaurant only had hot food and not those frugal Dutch sandwiches. So we opted for an omelet, but it had very few carbohydrates: only 2 mini-buns… Fortunately, we were able to laugh about it.

Next stop was the hotel – 1.5 km away – to drop those heavy bags and set up our two rooms. It looked good and a lot lighter we left for the House of Sports, another 2 km, to return with start number, heavy bottle of Gulden Draeck and t-shirt and to trudge back to the center, where I had to soak up some local culture (buying comic books that is). And of course we ended up at a restaurant that served pasta. We skipped the shopping to save our legs. But we also had to dance to the Bollywood-music of the Ghent Festivities. Well, half a minute, because the rest of the audience was silent.

Nutri-plasters on and go

Maybe you already noticed in the first picture: there are two green stripes sticking out from under my tight. Those are the Nutriplegs, of which I received a sample from Mud Sweat Trails Store. According to the manufacturer, the patches should deliver nutrients directly to the place where they are needed, namely the leg muscles. This would prevent acidification – cramps – and reduce the amount of food needed during meals.

Those are not small promises. Especially that last one sounds, of course very nice, but makes the patch dangerous to test in a race if you are diabetic. To be honest: there are no sugars in it, so I wasn't convinced of the food reduction. At the last minute I decided to put the plasters on anyway, one hour before the race. Furthermore, I would just use the standard nutrition that also gave good results at the Airborne Freedom Trail. So half an hour before the start I also took a package of Ucan to give a good basis to the blood sugars.

Ready to start

As a nice surprise for Ramona, her husband and children had arrived early to cheer us on before the start. And so they could see us off while we nervously searched for the starting area.

The start itself was very quiet. But soon there came the first hill and we were suddenly allowed to walk right past fast car traffic – separated from the running route by a few pawns –. Special and it promised something. But we walked quite easy, I thought.

As anyone can expect, I made a few comments here and there about the surroundings. About the few people along the side who encouraged us, et cetera. So, very inefficient in terms of walking, which prompted Ramona to call out “Can't you just shut up, we really need to focus on the route”. Followed by a lot of laughter from the audience. Ouch, but deserved and I should have known after Rotterdam.

Nature Marathon

Beforehand, we thought Ghent would be fairly hard path and we might see a bit of the inner city. As the marathon approached, however, it turned out to be pure parkland and some road. That surface disappointed us a lot. It was mainly gravel paths with holes and concrete, but also miles of wooden walkways and even a Finnish slope. All surfaces that make you lose a lot of energy in your bounce and not paths where you can run very well with thin, flexible shoes like the Altra Escalante Racer.

Ramona in particular had a tough time with the course and got a bit Rotterdammy at times in the Belgian parks. Fortunately the handful of spectators made up for this. They were really enthusiastic towards all the participants and that's something you often see differently. Chic ladies with neat haircuts and suits standing in front of their villa cheering on ‘Romano’ you don't see that in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, my nutrition was going pretty well and I was able to keep up with Ramona past the 25 km mark. Without cramp in the upper legs. It went pretty good. Until Ramona got fed up with the route and I couldn't push anymore at the umpteenth hill. But that was only about 5 km before the end and I only walked a few times 100 m on the last stretch. Who ends up with a soft Finnish slope when their hips have already had a hard time?

The last part was a bit heavy. I was happy when I walked into the dark hall and saw Ramona waiting. I finished in 4.43.19, almost 26 minutes faster than Rotterdam on a much harder course.

The plaster

So, did the patch work? I'm pretty positive about it. Now, the day after the marathon, my legs still feel pretty good. Going up and down the stairs went pretty smoothly yesterday and today. Better than after Rotterdam. So for a two day ultra it would help, I think.

In terms of nutrition, however, I don't notice any difference. I just took the same amount of carbohydrates as usual. And I ended up with a very nice 5.9 mmol/l. So replacing food with it, as the advertisement promises, doesn't seem wise to me. I felt good the whole race. A short summary of my diet:

• Breakfast: cornflakes and insulin (2 units Novorapid less than normal)
• Half an hour before: 1 drink solution Ucan chocolate
• First 23 km 1 Ucan vanilla, rest almost 1 Ucan neutral
• Nearly 1 Torq Orange drink solution on the entire distance; less than expected but accommodated with gels
• Two nougat (10 and 25 km)
• Two gels (20 and 35 km)

I can reassure those who are afraid of comfort issues. I didn't feel the plaster while walking. There was a salt cake (or did the contents leak?) at the bottom of one of the plasters, but I rinsed it off in the shower. I then left the repair patch on until the next morning. Removal was easy with minimal hair loss.

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