On bed. Happy belly, happy head. We’re in Spa, Belgium. Tomorrow I’ll run a half marathon on my own, followed by a 10 kilometers with Sara. All trail running of course. This afternoon we already did a little shake out run to loosen up the legs.

Well, I hope it will loosen up the legs. I mean, they feel good, but it was still a little spicy run. Nothing crazy; 5.4 kilometers, but with 235 meters of altitude. That’s something we’re not used to, but that’s the reason we’re here.

Serious hills

For Sara it is only her second time running in some serious hills. She did 10 kilometers at the Bear Trail at the end of last year, in the South of the Netherlands. Those paths were all pretty accessible. Here in Spa it’s a lot more challenging with slippery lime stones, and lots of loose rocks. Beside that, tomorrow Sara will have to climb 368 meters. She’s never done so many.

My first 22 kilometers run tomorrow has 650 meter of altitude. With the 368 meters climbing I will do with Sara I will go over a thousand meters of altitude for the first time in my life. So far my run in Sirola, Italy, was the one with the most altitude; 814 meters. Number 2 was the Houffa Trail, a 24k race nearby here in the Ardennes; 793 meters.

I need this

I need this altitude training. Sussex is coming closer, and it’s coming closer very fast. I mean March 18 is only 3 weeks away. This weekend is my last weekend for some serious training. Monday I should start tapering.

Okay, tapering is not doing nothing, but it is slowing down. Gradually, but still slowing down. And as I’ve told you, in Sussex I have to run 52 kilometers, with 1600 meters of altitude. So I better do some  training this weekend.