Running#
I developed a strong passion for competitive running during high school, progressing from casual road runs to structured training under professional coaching. As a member of Jaspers Running Team, I competed in national and regional races, achieving personal bests across multiple distances and winning several local events. My commitment included participation in international training camps and a consistent focus on performance improvement.
Fig. 30 Winning at the ECI Letterenloop (2017)#
Starting#
During the last two and a half years of high school I got into running, as I found that my fitness was lacking after a 2 week Christmas holiday. During a run out on the road I met two guys that were doing a training together and they invited me to join their team for some track sessions later. I then started going to track sessions weekly. A couple of weeks later, I was doing 2 track sessions every week. I then decided to quit tennis and ice skating to solemly focus on running. I joined Jaspers Running Team (JRT).
Training#
Within half a year, I was running with a schedule, 6 days a week, coached by Koos Kiers. To get an idea of what it looked like, a typical week is included below. Competitive and ambitious as I am, I wanted to run well. Additionally, during my years at JRT, we went to two training camps.
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rest |
Track. Technique. 1200-1000-800-600-400 P 7-5-3-1 at 5 = 3K |
Endurance run 1-2 8-12 km (recovery) |
Endurance run 1-2 10-12 km + 8 x 100 sprints |
Track: technique 3200 (400+200”/200+55”) after rest. 1000+800+600+400 -200 at 3K /1500 P. 2 x LT |
Endurance run 2, 12 km |
Endurance run max 15 km 5x5’ at threshold/10K pace 5’ rest |
Racing#
I trained to be competitive at races. I initially started with local road races of 5 km. I also ran at track meets and bigger road races in The Netherlands to improve my personal bests, such as the Singelloop and NN Zevenheuvelenloop. I also competed at the junior nationals in the 10k road race and cross. I won some local races as demonstrated in the pictures below.
Personal records#
Distance |
Time |
Date |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|
1500 m |
4:35,64 |
15/04/2018 |
Track, Haarlem, The Netherlands |
3000 m |
9:48,96 |
13/07/2018 |
Track, Utrecht, The Netherlands |
5000 m |
17:23,55 |
07/07/2017 |
Track, Wageningen, The Netherlands |
10 km |
36:43 |
01/10/2017 |
Singelloop, Utrecht, The Netherlands |
15 km |
56:34 |
19/11/2017 |
NN Zevenheuvelenloop, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
10 EM |
1:01:59 |
17/09/2017 |
Dam tot Damloop, Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
HM |
1:21:45 |
03/10/2024 |
NN CPC Loop, The Hague, The Netherlands |