Too hot to run in Belgium!

Some runs don't work out as planned.

My training run for today was supposed to be a speed 'intervals' session at the Cinquantenaire Parc, at the mid-day break close to where I work. I knew it was going to be tough, having underslept for a couple of nights, and with the weather getting sunnier and hotter. So I was already doubtful about completing this session successfully.

The first two 1000 metre efforts went reasonably well, and I registered good times in them. But the loop where I do my intervals in the park is practically the only area without any shade, and it was hot! I normally do five efforts, each consisting of 2 laps of 500m, with one lap jog recovery in between. By the end of the fourth effort, which was also completed in a good time, I was so tired that I decided to give up. I was worried of hurting myself or getting heatstroke, so I found a spot in the shade and lay down to recover.

That was it! My training run had been aborted. It rarely happens, but sometimes it does. After a few minutes I resumed the next recovery jog, and embarked on the final 1000 metre effort, but my heart wasn't in it, my legs had turned to jelly, and the effort fizzled into a jog, merging with the routine 'cool down' jog back to the shower at the office.

I reflected a bit on this partial disaster, and realised it's not a disaster at all. There are several positive elements:

1. I'm fully fit to continue training at full blast, not to mention that I consider myself to be in good form.
2. I have still run a distance of 10 km, so my training has not been interrupted at all.
3. It was almost a full regular intervals session - 4 x 1000 metres at a good pace and in blistering conditions are almost equivalent to what I normally do at a speed training session.
4. My target is long distance, the October Brussels marathon to be precise, and long distance training is proceeding perfectly well.
5. I will approach the upcoming Birżebbuġa 10k race with more caution and less overconfidence, which is not a bad idea at all.
6. I will bounce back, as I always do after a partial 'disaster'.

So I decided to list these points here and give myself a boost :-) But I have to admit that this was a novel experience. I never realised it could actually be too hot to run in Belgium!

Machelen, 9.6 km - 0h41:58 - lovely race!

If you're a motorist in Belgium, you had better watch out for the linguistic tangle that is one of the main characteristics of this country. They have this rigid policy that, unless you're in the officially bilingual Brussels, signposting is strictly monolingual. They even go out of their way to black out any writing in the "offensive" language. This policy is vigorously applied in Dutch-speaking Flanders, as a reaction to French-speakers' linguistic chauvinism, to the detriment of the very idea of Belgium as one nation, and of innocent neutrals, especially expatriates who have to learn TWO instead of one new language to integrate properly in this country. It has apparently not occurred to anyone to follow the Brussels region model of two official languages for the whole of Belgium, which would go a long way to eliminate this ridiculous state of affairs and restore national unity.

The monolingual policy is also enforced for signposting of place names. Therefore, if you're in Flanders and you wish to drive to Mons, you will only approach your desired destination by following the signs to... Bergen! If you wish to go Liège, the word disappears from all signs as you enter Flemish territory, and unless you know that the Dutch name for Liège is Luik, you'll think you've lost your way. Further examples abound. Antwerp is Anvers for the francophones. Bruxelles is Brussel for the Flemish, while Namur becomes Namen.

It would hardly be surprising, then, if a newcomer who was on the way from Brussels to the beautiful town of Mechelen were to think that they had arrived on seeing the arrows leading to a place called Machelen. Surely, this must be one of the two conflicting language versions of the town's name. How mistaken they would be! Mechelen in French is... Malines! And, in any case, they would rather die than write the word in French on their roadsigns.

In fact, apart from the close proximity and the fact that they are both Flemish towns, Machelen and Mechelen are two distinct and completely unrelated places. Mechelen I've visited several times, and I hope to go there many times again. I was curious about Machelen, but I shouldn't have been. It's situated close to the "Brussels" airport, which is actually in Zaventem, not Brussels. It's also close to a main motorway, the E19 that links Brussels to Antwerp. But, in spite of the background noise created by airplanes and the motorway traffic, it's still a quiet, peaceful, unpretentious village, with a beautiful church dedicated to Christ the King in the centre, and consisting mostly of tree-lined streets and houses surrounded by gardens, large areas of green, parks, fields, and extensive sports grounds.

The Machelen '10' km race, which forms part of the Watermolen Cup series, is the main event in an afternoon with several smaller events, including races for children, all starting and finishing in the athletics track of the Machelen sports centre.

For a few seconds at the beginning of the race, when we commenced a second lap of the track, I thought the entire race would consist of 25 laps on the track, which is of course impossible to manage with over 200 participants. In fact, midway through the second lap we left the track, and went off on an interesting, convoluted route going through grass, parkland, road pavements, around sports pavillions, public gardens and country roads that were completely devoid of traffic and surrounded by large cornfields. It was a beautiful route, and almost completely flat. I started at a moderate pace and after a kilometre or so started my usual overtaking routine, never exerting myself too much. When we re-entered the stadium I was hardly winded at all, but a look at the watch revealed that we had already done half the distance. So, it would be a double loop, quite popular around these parts, apparently.

The second loop went by smoothly enough. For me, the water station was useless as they gave us water in plastic cups. I can't drink out of a cup while running, so I just poured the water over my hair to cool down a little bit. Another look at the watch as we approached the stadium for the second and last time, and I thought that there was something wrong. The time was just 38 minutes - much less than my anticipated time for a 10k. But in fact we were almost there. A three-quarter loop on the outside of the stadium and I was on the final 100 metre stretch.

A final look at the watch at the finish showed 41:58! I haven't run a sub-42 minute 10k for ages. Surely, the distance run must have been less than 10 km. I asked someone as we left the stadium, and his GPS had measured the route at 9.63 km. That's much more realistic, for me, but it's still a very good time - just under 7 minutes per mile for 6 miles.

I thoroughly enjoyed this picturesque, quiet, and very flat route. They sent us away with a much appreciated farewell gift, too - a bottle of French red wine named Coteaux du Languedoc. Now, I wonder what they would call THAT in Flemish...

Thank you so much, Machelen, I enjoyed myself tremendously today. I hope to return next year.