Trail Running Diaries #1 (Week 34)
Weekly distance covered: 16.60km
Time spent running: 1h23m
Number of runs: 3
Today marks the beginning of my journey to document my running adventures, so introductions are in order.
I am Niels Louwes, 35 years old, living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with my girlfriend, Nina. I love to run, mostly on trails, in the mountains, and through forests. Trail running gives me the freedom and joy I crave in my daily life. Over the next few years, I’ll be journaling my journey from a hopeful amateur to reaching the Golden Trail Pro Series. It’s a lofty goal, but we must set goals that scare us. Otherwise, what’s the point?
You might be wondering: Why start now? Why not at the beginning of the year or in one of the previous months? My answer:
An Achilles injury.
I’ve spent the last five months rehabbing my Achilles to get back to some form of running. Now that I can train again and hopefully compete, writing about it feels right.
What is the Golden Trail Series?
The Golden Trail Series is an international trail running series with races in Europe, Asia, and the US. It is known for having interesting courses and high-quality broadcasting, reaching a wide audience worldwide through YouTube, regional TV channels, and Eurosport. It’s also the best-paid series among those offering races to elite runners, which attracts the best trail runners in the world.
How to Qualify
To qualify for the final event, where you can join the pro elite series, you must perform well in races in your region. For me, this means competing in at least three races in the Netherlands and the UK to score enough points to be in the top two men. Most European countries have a similar setup, with national series involving several countries as part of a region. Qualifying as a top-two male is a serious feat, which is why I’ve chosen this as my goal.
This Past Week
I managed to run three times this week. As I am still rehabbing, my focus is on running easy and testing my Achilles a bit with some speed work. The goal is to increase this to four runs next week and maintain that for a few weeks before progressing to five and then six days. The key is to be careful and not overdo it. I need to balance running with heavy calf and soleus exercises, along with plyometrics. The trick is to avoid aggravating the Achilles again by loading it with too much stimulus.
On Saturday, I joined a local race in Amerongen. My mom came along to support me, which was a really nostalgic feeling. She used to drive all over Michigan to watch my various cross-country and track-and-field races. Now, 20 years later, we’re back at it again. Amerongen is part of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug nature area in the Netherlands, where you can find some of the only “hills” in the country. The race offered three different loops of about 7–8 km each. I ran the first 7.8 km loop. My goal was simply to enjoy being out in nature and to test my Achilles. The good news is that I was able to complete the run without any pain.
We start building now towards my next race in the Lake District, UK, on September 28, a 22km trail race with 500+ meters of elevation.
I hope you enjoyed this article! Leave a comment and tell me about your training and upcoming races!
