The first long endurance run of the year was a stretch of over 50 km to my home town of Gouda. Is it doable, ploughing through the polder? I also made my first acquaintance with the Altra Superior 5.
As the holidays were almost all in the weekend, most runners will have made their good intentions immediately. New Year's Eve I did run, but with a few solo days off, I thought it would be better to put the long-distance run on hold and spend time with the family. Of course, there is a downside to that: during the week, public transport is busier and my free travel is not valid. That is why I decided to do another run in my own surroundings: from home to Gouda station.
Walking in the polder usually means that there are very few unpaved paths to be found. You can often be happy with loam or gravel. Therefore, it seemed like a bad idea to use this trail for my brand new – not even taken out of the box yet – Altra Superior 5. The Superiors are absolutely great on asphalt, but I prefer not to completely grind new shoes right away. The bottom of the most used Superior 4.5 has been ground down as well. In some places you can't find a stud anymore. But that pair still ran well enough to take on this stretch.
Route
Of course, it remained a challenge for me to set up a nice route. A while back, I told my parents that I had cycled to Reeuwijk and that I found it quite beautiful there. But they thought I had better look around Schoonhoven. A quick look in Komoot, however, showed that via Schoonhoven was just a bit too far if I did not want to walk in the dark. So I set my sights on Reeuwijk. And that was just a bit on the short side. Making a nice route is a real puzzle.
Because I not only wanted to run a lot of kilometres, but also wanted to run as much unpaved as possible, I decided to focus first on the natural areas that I could encounter on the way to my hometown of Gouda. Reeuwijks Plassen was of course already number one. Furthermore, close to home there was of course the Bergse Bos – with the famous Rotterdamsche Alp, the Rotte Meren, Bentwoud and the Gouwebos. For the record: no, the route was not planned by a drunken monkey, but to cover all these places, you cannot walk in a straight line to Gouda.
By planning my route like this, the hope was of course that I would not encounter too much asphalt. If I saw an unpaved path in Komoot, I would at least guide the route through it. But unfortunately, the information was often unclear. Komoot indicated that at least half of my route was either paved or asphalt, with another 8 km or so unknown. Paved can be anything, even a clay path, but certainly not grass or sand.
Runway
The first few kilometres, I actually regretted my intention to go to Gouda. Because of the parks later on in the route, I could not start on the unpaved part of De Groenzoom. Also the Lage Bergse Bos had to be ignored. Instead, there was a long stretch of asphalt directly towards the Hoge Bergse Bos.
Only after 10 km of stamping away did I arrive at the unpaved road. It feels so much better when you have a small piece of nature under your feet again. Nature, and a load of rubbish, because this was of course the former rubbish dump that we now call Hoge Bergse Bos. And as expected: if there is a hill, the route has to go over it. At a snail's pace, that is.
Once on top of the Rotterdamsche Alp, I wondered where else my route would lead. Of course, I had made it myself and knew the area well. But because I was trying to walk in the direction of Gouda, instead of just around the Rottemeren or to the Zevenhuizerplas, I was curious if I would discover new parts on this route.
Polder dykes
Yes, I did walk past a few places that I know inside out. Of course, along the quadrangle where I have so often photographed my Me-Mover. But strangely enough, I also soon came across these new roads. Along the Rotte river, there was a nice section where I could run for miles on top of a grassy dike.
Fortunately for me, the walking went pretty well. Thanks to the Generation Ucan and not starting too low, I didn't need to eat for the first 20 km or so. And even after that, my blood sugars held up reasonably well. Although that was largely an estimate. Despite the temperature being around 8-10 C, the Libre soon stopped working because of the cold. The wind in the polders, despite the extra strap over the sensor, was not tolerated by the Libre.
In earlier years, the wind was very much needed to drain the polders. Earlier, we had already passed the big mill race near the Rottemeren, but this route had another nice surprise: near Moerkapelle, there was a large row of mills. These mills, unlike the corridor, were no longer intact. There were stumps left over, which had all been converted into houses in a completely different style. In 1913, two electric pumping stations were installed to keep the polder dry. Those two replaced a total of 27 traditional mills, most of which disappeared or were converted into houses.
Bentwoud
The vastness of Bentwoud was actually an eye-opener for me. Previously, I had found this park to be nice, but also boring with straight asphalt paths. Of course, I was also on my bike then. Walking, I discovered that the area also has kilometres of continuous meadows and muddy paths to walk on. Wide open views along the canal, and for a moment you forget that you are sandwiched between a number of large cities.
When the path turns to asphalt after a while, it fortunately turns out that there is a wide, walkable strip of grass alongside. Everything to soften the surface, because there are plenty of tarmac stretches to come.
Via the Gouwebos, you then enter Waddinxveen. Soon there was a large amount of asphalt again, with some sad gallery flats here and there. But you cannot avoid the area, for we still have to cross the Gouwe to get to Gouda. And for that, the lift in Waddinxveen is perfect.
Boot-tracks
When my sisters talk about the area around Waddinxveen, one of the first things they mention is the multitude of little canals separating the meadows. Between those meadows, there are often only narrow roads, where cars can barely pass each other and a wrong manoeuvre will end in a wet suit. Not very pleasant to walk, let alone cycle on, but very beautiful to see. Fortunately, however, I found a better path: a real boot path between and through the meadows towards Reeuwijk.
On a narrow strip less than a metre wide, I walked through the meadows. Even passing pedestrians was a bit of a challenge here. But I thought it would make for some nice photos. Once I reached a small bridge, I tried to set up the GoPro. That did not even work for 5 seconds. The thing just blew over immediately, because there was no protection against the wind at all. Only many attempts later, I managed to leave the camera on just long enough. Fortunately, it was not busy on this path.
By the way, anyone who wonders why I am wearing a cap in the photos despite the strong wind and the lack of rain’it was precisely because of the strong wind. So I really can't see anything when it's windy at the moment, even though I was one of the last ones to go to the hairdresser. I now understand why female runners almost always have very short hair, or a ponytail.
Reeuwijkse Plassen
After about 40 kilometres, I finally reached the beginning of the Reeuwijkse Plassen. There are many holiday resorts in the area, and that was immediately noticeable. Here it became really busy again with hikers. And finally, there were coffee-to-go shops that were open. And they sold a can of cola just when I needed a sugar boost.
The route along the lakes themselves began very nicely with stretches of reed along a loam path. Unfortunately, there soon came a point where the loam was so new that it almost looked like asphalt. And the path where I was supposed to walk – a piece of long-distance footpath – was even worse: it consisted of a narrow piece of asphalt that had been completely destroyed by tree roots. Let it be clear that paved/unpaved on this route almost always turned out to be ordinary asphalt footpath or cycle path in practice. In any case, it did not make walking along the ponds, the beautiful pollard-willows, the wild foam and the muskrat traps very comfortable.
So I was glad when I got closer to Gouda. Still a lot of paved roads, but a path along the Breevaart made walking easier. And there the run went quite well. Especially because there was an ordinary runner who threatened to outrun me. No way, even after 45+ km there was still some fight left in the legs.
Because of the holidays, the Breevaart close to the centre was beautifully decorated with Christmas trees. And I could even take photos of them, because the other runner had already turned off to go home. Every few metres, there was an island with a decorated tree floating in the canal. Whereas in Gouda I saw all the children dragging the Christmas trees behind their bicycles, removing the trees here seemed no child's play to me. It would take the municipality a few days.
Of course, I also had to stop by the town hall for a selfie before arriving at the station after more than 50 km. I managed to get there before the worst of the rush hour. And although there was a lot of asphalt, luckily my legs were still supple. A good sign for when I will be running a road marathon in April.
Superior 5
The run for day two of my week off started a little less successfully. Actually, I was going to walk a long stretch, but getting up didn't go so well. The rain didn't help either. And contrary to expectations, I wasn't home alone after all. Routes were adjusted, changed and put aside. Finally, around three o'clock, I was going to go outside without a fixed route to the unpaved paths in the neighbourhood. And then, of course, the blood sugar stopped cooperating. I ate quite a bit before leaving, and also during the first few kilometres, without getting above 5.5 mmol/l. (Nice detail: it was colder today, but not so windy, so the Libre worked for a change)
Nevertheless, the walk went quite well after that. I stayed within the Groenzoom, but picked up some extra pieces of grass, mud and clay paths here and there. On some of the paths, I passed them a few times to end up with a distance of about half a marathon.
So the terrain was not very complicated, but I could try out all kinds of surfaces. Plus a few nice deep pools and a shallow ditch. That immediately took away any fears about the model change. Unlike the previous Superiors, the 5.0 has no drainage holes in the front. But they ran dry nicely.
The biggest surprise, however, was how great these shoes performed on mud layers. All my previous Superiors were out of the box skis. Absolutely no grip at all in meadows or on mud tracks. That is exactly why I bought the King MT in the first place. But this new model just runs through it. The sole has a different design with larger studs and is made of a different type of plastic. Maybe the comparison is not entirely fair: the older pairs are practically worn smooth now, but I know the Superior through and through (this is my sixth pair of Superior now).
After more than 20 km, I am actually confident that this pair will be a lot of fun. I also noticed how supple they still were – the most used 4.5 is now a little bit crooked due to my running style – and can't wait to take them on longer distances. You can read more about that in the next blog.
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