Harm Wiegers

Every time we run a PB, it somehow resets our baseline:

“This is what I’m capable of. This is now the new normal”

The bar has been raised. Scary. But also cool, cause this is how we grow.

Gonna try to surpass last year’s 220k in May’s 24hour race. Let’s grow!

(pic: 2024 age group podium)

After failure, the next succes is never guaranteed.

My 2025: a DNF + trainings canceled because of pains

But then: finishing a painfree Rotterdam marathon (last sunday)

Maybe this is life: after every setback… to just keep running

That's some decent prepping! Nice. Best of luck, and enjoy those 100 kms!

Prepping for sunday’s marathon!
What about race nerves?

Pro marathoner Scott Fauble said:

“The only thing I’ve learned about handling my nerves is to not try and change anything.
If I’m nervous, I let myself be nervous. If I’m calm, I’m calm.”

Scott Fauble - Inside a marathon

Doing a short taper until sunday’s Rotterdam Marathon

Tapering is not just mindlessly running fewer hours. Essential is still doing some tempo/intervals.

As coach Jason Koop says: maintenance of training *intensity* is critical.

(Jason Koop - Training essentials for ultrarunning)

Soft forest floors offer lower impact than paved roads. A perfect excuse for hitting the trails

Sensitive leg muscle requires creative training at the moment

Tho honestly.. do we need any excuse at all for hitting the trails? 😎

Pic: today’s run @De Leyen, Netherlands
#trailrunning

A leg muscle started aching at the end of friday’s run. 2 weeks before my next big marathon...

Coach and I decided on cycling instead of running for 4 days.

Feel insecure about the upcoming race. Living day by day.

Big plans or not: I guess sometimes all we can do is focus on the next small step

Ultras are not just physical: mental endurance is essential

Plenty ways to train the mind: meditation, rain-runs, visualization, cold showers, repetition,
mantras…

Pick yours. Andy Jones-Wilkins said:

“For every one minute you spend training your body, spend two minutes training your mind”

Some days we run for numbers. Some days for competition.

But some days… we run for beauty.

Attuning our frequencies to nature’s heartbeat. When our feet become one with the trails, we leave our daily burdens behind.

(pics: yesterday’s run at Den Treek, Netherlands)
#trailrunning

Loved this read. Think the beginner's mindset applies to more than just running. This specific quote really got me thinking:

"There's unique freedom in admitting "I don't know," a special joy in learning something for the first time"

Yesternight's training ran along this canal, where lots of rowers were training.

Just like runners, they had coaches watching and giving instructions.

It struck me how rowers, runners... and all human beings:

we need others to get the most out of ourselves 🖤

10 ways to make sure you don’t become a better runner 😀📉

‘Inverse thinking’: list ways to make sure you DON’T reach
your goal.

...and then do the opposite.

This fun exercise often gets attributed to mathematician Carl Jacobi. I decided to try it on running 😀
(pic)

Love how you describe thinking about your why! Very strong 5th tip. Thx for sharing!

Asked an olympian at tuesday’s running symposium:

When quitting your lawyer job for running: how did you experience making unusual choices? How did others react?

Her reply:
“My experience is that when we choose to follow our dream, we will find the people around us to be very supportive”

Wow.

After reading how Ibuprofen interferes with healing, I decided not to use it on runs.

Ibu and other NSAIDs seem to:
-compromise healing of muscles, tendons, bones, cartilage
-increase damage to the body in extreme exercise

Valuable overview on Fellrnr:
fellrnr.com/wiki/NSAIDs_and_Running

There’s many reasons to run a marathon. One is growing our courage:

“Courage comes in many forms. Today you discover the courage to keep trying, to not give up, no matter how dire things become.”

What we learn during a marathon, we can apply to all of life.

Quote from Dean Karnazes’s book 50|50

Beautiful!

The way you captured it looks like art. Love it!

Strides Make You Faster. Here’s How If you've been neglecting speed, strides might be the solution. Here is what they are, why you need to do them, and how to get the most out of them.

Strides are the only running drill I do. They rock.

In this great explanation, the experienced David Roche tells how strides:

-improve running economy
-teach brain+muscles to operate smoothly at all paces

www.trailrunnermag.com/training/trail-tips-training/running-strides-how-to/

Vitamins/anti-oxidants help our body recover. But this paper found that supplementing may reduce the positive effects of our training.

This was new to me.

Vitamin-rich foods are healthy, but vitamin C/E pills may not always be constructive?

doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2013.267419

Healthy sports nutrition is important. But during ultras, our palate and needs change.

Food you can stomach becomes more valuable than food with the best nutrients.

That’s why you see ultra runners eating all kinds of foods.

Here’s some original pics of strange foods I’ve used during runs 😛

To run is to witness.

Runners get to know nature intimately, by witnessing her subtle changes. We know what moment the sun rises, understand when different animals raise their young, we read when the first flowers come to herald spring.

To run is to witness.

(pic: sunrise @today's morning run)

Maintaining fitness during recovery

An injury is keeping me from long/intensive runs. But cross-training with other sports can help maintain (most) fitness, while keeping mechanical stress on the body low.

Setbacks like injury teach us: there’s always creative ways to contribute to our goals.

At the 100k world championships last december, we ran among outliers. People we put on a pedestal.

But hearing their stories during breakfast, it turned out they just grew into this life one bit at a time. Their pedestals were staircases, consisting of 1000 small steps.

Small steps add up.

How to keep running when our body’s hurting and asks us to stop?

Having a clear 'why' helps us push on when it gets hard. Before every ultra, take some time to think why this endeavor is important to you. This can give us wings when we’d otherwise give up.

Pic: me at a sign saying "Why am I here?"

Start a race fast, or keep an even pace? This study on 24hour-runners showed that:

"the fastest runners start at lower relative intensities and display a more even pacing strategy than slower runners"

To me, this was a reason to race even-paced since I read this.

doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2016-0237

This study showed how a significant lowering of magnesium was found up to 11 months after completing a 120km march (at the end of a military training programme).

Enough reason to supplement magnesium after a long ultra?

source:
PubMed - PMID 1863536

Preparing my own gels to eat 120g carbs/hour in tomorrow's 100miler. Why?

Carbs are not just fuel for fast races. They are stored as glycogen in the muscles. Glycogen is required for proper muscle contractions and combatting fatigue.

source:
doi: 10.1079/PNS2004344

Trained with these 2 guys yesternight. We're all a bit scared for Saturday's race, where we run either 100k or 100mi. We concluded that:

"it's good when a big goal scares you a bit, cause then we know that it means something to our heart "

Hi, this is Harm!

I love running long distances and enjoy learning about running. My aim is to share a 2 thoughts a week that might benefit every runner. This could be an insight on nutrition, a thought about training, interesting research, or even a life lesson.

Welcome aboard!