This is where I warmed up for today's 30th edition of Les Hivernales de Boitsfort 20km:
It was much greyer, and more wintry, as the name of the event implies, but the misty charm of Les etangs de Boitsfort was, if anything, even more beautiful.
At three successive participations this has now become the race that I have done most times in Belgium, one more than the Brussels marathon and the Hoeilaart 11,2km.
Various factors combined so that I would achieve an excellent performance today. I'm currently running 2h30m long runs each weekend which, endurance-wise, seems to be the ideal preparation for 20km: enough to give me the stamina to last the distance without getting too tired, but not so long as to render me worn out at the starting line. For several weeks now I've managed to put in a good speed session each midweek. I've also done a mini-tapering phase the week ahead of the race, cutting out the speed session and running for just 6km on Friday.
Then today I happened to hit on the ideal pace. I didn't get involved in the frenetic jostle for space at the crowded beginning, and simply moved along with them while seeking empty spaces. A strong but moderate pace as we entered the Foret de Soignes and the field thinned enabled me to overtake many rivals, and I managed to keep this up for practically the entire race. The Foret de Soignes, sometimes referred to as the 'lung' of Brussels, is my favourite Sunday long run haunt, which is another reason why this is fast becoming one of my favourite races.
At 1h26:48 - 260th out of 925 who finished the race - I finished two and a half minutes faster than 2009, and exactly one minute ahead of 2008.
Overall, it was a great race for me. Thank you, Royal Racing Club Bruxelles. I hope we'll meet again on 6 February 2011 at 10h30, as you have suggested in your email with the unofficial results, received barely 5 hours after the end of the race.
It was much greyer, and more wintry, as the name of the event implies, but the misty charm of Les etangs de Boitsfort was, if anything, even more beautiful.At three successive participations this has now become the race that I have done most times in Belgium, one more than the Brussels marathon and the Hoeilaart 11,2km.
Various factors combined so that I would achieve an excellent performance today. I'm currently running 2h30m long runs each weekend which, endurance-wise, seems to be the ideal preparation for 20km: enough to give me the stamina to last the distance without getting too tired, but not so long as to render me worn out at the starting line. For several weeks now I've managed to put in a good speed session each midweek. I've also done a mini-tapering phase the week ahead of the race, cutting out the speed session and running for just 6km on Friday.
Then today I happened to hit on the ideal pace. I didn't get involved in the frenetic jostle for space at the crowded beginning, and simply moved along with them while seeking empty spaces. A strong but moderate pace as we entered the Foret de Soignes and the field thinned enabled me to overtake many rivals, and I managed to keep this up for practically the entire race. The Foret de Soignes, sometimes referred to as the 'lung' of Brussels, is my favourite Sunday long run haunt, which is another reason why this is fast becoming one of my favourite races.
At 1h26:48 - 260th out of 925 who finished the race - I finished two and a half minutes faster than 2009, and exactly one minute ahead of 2008.
Overall, it was a great race for me. Thank you, Royal Racing Club Bruxelles. I hope we'll meet again on 6 February 2011 at 10h30, as you have suggested in your email with the unofficial results, received barely 5 hours after the end of the race.
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