 Feels good, everyone. All right, I just hit publish on the last blog about the INEOS 159 Challenge with Kipchoge. I know that was a lot. I think it was five or six videos in a row all about the event. It was a big deal. That's why I focused on it so much over the past really four or five days. So, I just hit publish. That's it. We're not gonna talk about it for a little while, but anyway, so this trip to Europe was really two trips in one, meaning Kipchoge first, and now Amsterdam Marathon second. So, I must say it's mentally nice to know I can hone in now, focus on Amsterdam completely, and that is what we're talking about today, the Amsterdam Marathon final preparations leading into the race in, let me think, today is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So, five days away, definitely less than a week. It feels really, really, really good after a big training block, and yes, we are in full taper mode, but I don't want my legs to fall asleep during the taper, meaning become a little lethargic, lose the turnover that, yeah, the leg turnover, a snappy feeling in the legs. Therefore, and I have talked about, I made a blog all about tapering and how to avoid sleepy legs on the starting line. I did it about two months ago before the Pikes Peak Ascent. It's upper right-hand corner if you wanna check it out. So therefore, today, today's Tuesday, when you're watching this, it's Wednesday, but I'm gonna take out the next percents just for a little baby fart lick. So, two minutes on, two minutes off, probably by four times, no more than six, depending on how the legs are feeling as far as repetitions, four to six, and then some strides at the end, some 120, 130-meter strides, probably four of them in this park, a new park I'm gonna go explore in the next 90%. So that is that, and yes, this is it. This is the final, this is the final preparations, and then after the run, we are gonna go try and hunt down some items here in Vienna. So, and hard to believe, actually, when you're watching this, there's a good chance I'll be in on an airplane to Amsterdam, so it's getting real, as they say. Okay, let's lace it up here. And as I roll out here before the run, I figure now is as good a time as any to update you on how I am feeling since we've been chatting about Kipchoge so much, I haven't had a chance to update you on the legs, and yeah, just how the body's reacting to the taper. I will just say that I was a pretty, so I did the threshold six days ago. Remember the last threshold run where I ran about 515, 518 pace for 13 miles in Denver, so at elevation? Well, that was the last hard effort of the training block, and I was a little sore and tight on the airplane because of the airplane ride over, which was, was it the next day? It was the next day. So it wasn't, you know, this is life, like timing is never gonna be always perfect. I needed to get over here to film Kipchoge on Saturday, so anyway, I was, I was, I honestly, I knew I trusted that my legs would react well to the lower mileage this week in the taper, but on the plane ride over and then even just here, walking around on Saturday filming Kipchoge, I was just a little stiff and a few little niggles. I was tight in my right hip. I was, I had a little soreness in my lower left hamstring. Anyway, just these things that happen when you're sitting on an airplane for eight hours, not straight, but a long time. So anyway, I'm feeling really good at this point, and I know in two days from now I'm gonna feel really, really good, which will be, I guess, Thursday. So again, don't want the legs to fall asleep. That is why I'm gonna go a little faster today, and that is the update on how I'm feeling. I'm not fresh yet, remember, at the starting line, it's I wanna arrive on the starting line in Amsterdam as fit as possible, as fresh as possible, and as healthy as possible. So we're working on all three of those right now. I would say that as healthy as possible, the last one made a nice jump forward in the last 20, 24 to 36 hours, just kind of getting rid of any last little niggles from the airplane ride and from the threshold run last week. So anyway, oh, it's nice out, feeling peppy. The legs feel peppy, a little pep in the step. Even the park, that was amazing. Legs feel so much better after that. So I did five reps, I should say, of three minutes. I decided to do three minutes on, two minutes off. The legs were just feeling good, so I bumped it up a little bit, three minutes on, two minutes off, just, wow, taper. I love the taper, and we're not done yet. Still gonna freshen up a little bit, so feeling real positive about that. Close, close. Just went up. I feel so much better after doing that, just to get the legs moving after just kind of some tired days with filming, with editing, the airplane ride. I feel so much better. That was amazing. Good sign, good sign. And we're back. All right, no time to rest, everyone. Time to go hunt down a few more items for the race and also dinner, so break. Let's go, come on, come on. Here we go, folks. I'm in pursuit of some water bottles. Basically, some water bottles that I ordered before leaving Colorado did not arrive in time via post, so I need to, I brought water bottles, but I just want a couple more just to be safe that I have enough to cover all the aid stations in Amsterdam, so that's what we're headed to. We have flasks, but I'm looking for the, you know, like a plastic water bottle to set on the table, so the gentleman's looking for me. Very nice. Big deal, big deal. Look at this, I got a little coffee shop in the running shoe store. That's what I'm talking about. Oh, look at that, wow. Two euros, a piece, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do you have a major shout out to Run Inc. in Vienna, Austria. If you are a local and you've never been there, you've got, it's a beautiful store, nice and big. But the gentleman was so nice, went to the back and found me a couple bottles that are gold, so nice and bright colors, just amazing. These were not really for sale in the front of the store. So I'm not quite done. Still gonna go hunt down some more, but this is what he had, so in combination. So now I have four bottles. I'd like probably, I think I need three more. I'll double check that, but anyway, thank you, Run Inc. in Vienna, Austria. Gotta go check them out. All right, so I've changed my game plan. Going with different bottles, I'll explain back to the studio, I mean, the hotel. And we're back. All right, I tell you what, I am, I'm pretty much adjusted to the local time here, but almost every single night at like 6.30 p.m., I just get hit with a wall of tiredness. And so I'm pretty tired right now, so we're gonna try and keep this concise because I gotta edit and then hit the sack because it's time to just continue to rest up. And a couple, I guess, admin items that people have been asking about. So it starts, the Amsterdam Marathon starts at 9.30 a.m. local time. So it's actually, you know, it's not too early, which is nice for the fact that I'm not having to rush around in the morning and I was looking at the temperatures. There's a good chance there's gonna be rain and or drizzling happening during the race. Just putting that out there according to the weather app that I'm looking at right now, which is fine. I actually, I love running in the rain. As long as it's not like a torrential downpour, I don't mind running in the rain. So anyway, 9.30 a.m. local time in Amsterdam. I was able to get into the first corral. So that's for runners under two hours and 40 minutes. So I feel good about that. I'll have a white bib. I'll be wearing a white bib. And according to, hold on. So I guess according to, I don't, it's not live yet, but supposedly the TCS Amsterdam app is going to allow you to track runners. It's not live yet. I keep checking, but it's not, if you hit tracking on the app. So basically, I think it'll be coordinated through the little strip of whatever it is on the back of the bib number. And then when I cross over something that's tracking my number, it'll show up in the app automatically. So there's a chance if you download the TCS Amsterdam marathon app that you might be able to get updates live. But at the same time, you'll probably be sleeping as well, at least in the United States. And that's cool too. I will of course be updating all of you as soon as I get, I guess, my phone back after the race in, it will be live streamed. And according, it's gonna be all over. I think it's gonna be streamed too. Hold on here. Many, many countries, countries around the world. So you can either watch it on Facebook, on the Amsterdam website, TCSamsterdammarathon.nl for the Netherlands. Or it's also gonna be on live TV all across Europe. So that is cool. They are taking care of us absolutely as far as letting family and friends and the YouTube family know how it's going out there. Okay, moving on. Lastly, there are 10 aid stations and my tip of the day, just keep it simple. I think because the bottles that I ordered didn't arrive quite in time before I left from Colorado, I brought these, but I realized today after walking around for a little bit in Vienna, tracking down these bottles, which again, shout out to Run Inc. Thank you for these. But guess what? I am gonna say tip of the day, keep it simple. When you get tired, you don't wanna have to overthink it. You don't wanna have to remember what color, if you're in this position and even in ultra running as well, you don't wanna have to remember what color water bottle you have to pick up. So this is, I realized after buying this today, I will keep it, but I'm not gonna use the gold bottle because keep it simple. Too many colors happening here. So instead, I found another shop. You saw me walking into it. I didn't film inside, but instead, I'm just keeping it simple. And you know how I love the color green? And these are just a little smaller, a little easier to handle. So these will be my bottles. I bought 10 of them for the 10 aid stations. And of course, I have green tape. I will mark it up to make sure they really stick out. And I'll just know, oh, I love the color green. My bottles will be green. And I'll mark them up with green tape as well, just like I did with these. So that is the game plan. I've got 10 bottles here, and hopefully they let me take them through security tomorrow when I head to Amsterdam through the Vienna airport. Okay, now that is all. And I'm gonna call it there, question of the day. Leading into your peak races, the last week of a race, or sorry, the last week of your taper. So seven days out from your peak race. What is one tip you have, one thing that you do, one action item that you take to make sure your legs are as fit, fresh, and healthy as possible on the starting line? A lot of new runners watch this YouTube channel. Runners who have frankly never raced before. And so if you're a new runner, head down to the comments. I bet you'll learn something from the veterans out there. And even if you're not a veteran and you've just been running for a couple of years, I bet you have some tips as well to share for how you keep your legs happy and healthy and ready to rock and roll on the starting line the last week of your taper. All right, that's it. Signing off another day, another day closer. And I feel real good about keeping it simple. One color of bottles, this is good. I feel good. And we'll get these ready once we arrive in Amsterdam. All right, that is all for today. We're gonna toss it back to, we're gonna toss it back to a packing vlog actually, how to pack for a race as a runner. That's it, that'll be on the right. And then on the left, we'll toss it back to a random running vlog from 2018. Kind of throw it back, a little throwback vlog for you to check out. All right, there you have it. See beauty, work hard, and love each other. See you tomorrow.