The 2017 Giro d’Italia winner Tom Dumoulin has just completed his first marathon with a time that will be the envy of many seasoned runners.
Two years ago, the 34-year-old ran Amsterdam’s Mizuno Half Marathon with an impressive time of 1:10:04. This Sunday, he completed the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:29:21.
“I wanted to run under two and a half hours, and I succeeded. But it was painful and difficult,” Dumoulin told Het Laaste Nieuws.
“Of course, I started way too fast. I was running so well that I thought, ‘I’ll see’. I don’t do that on the bike. I know what I can do and how to pace myself. With running, I secretly know that too, but I just enjoy it,” he added.
Dumoulin’s time meant he was the 116th fastest runner at the marathon out of 23,000 participants.
He ran in a group with Ethiopian Aynalem Desta, who won the women’s race in a time of 2:17:38, but halfway through, he said he felt everything “tense up”, fearing he might have to pull out. He stopped twice with cramps.
“After stopping three times because of cramps and thinking I could not finish anymore, I managed to hold on to a pace just fast enough to still finish in a sub-2.30 time,” Dumoulin wrote in an Instagram post.
In terms of training, the former professional cyclist said he did what he could and balanced training enough with avoiding injury.
After completing the 26.2-mile course, he told Het Laaste Nieuws: “I trained up to 34 kilometers at an easy pace. Then I really came crashing down. Today I finished the first half in 1 hour and 9 minutes and the second half in 1 hour and 20 minutes. My decline is enormous. You can tell I’m not getting the kilometres in.”
Dumoulin isn’t the only cyclist to take up running. Lance Armstrong has completed many marathons. He ran the 2006 New York Marathon in 2:59:36 and bettered his time by 13 minutes the following year.
Last week, Geraint Thomas revealed he had completed his first Parkrun.