Marathon is on Sunday October 16th. It will be my first marathon. The flight will be over night no matter what day I leave on. 12hr flight including layovers from my regional airport.
how many days should I arrive in advance to avoid time zone issues?
would a Thursday departure and Friday morning arrival be good enough?
I flew from US (Eastern time zone) to Amsterdam, arriving the day before the race. It did not go particularly well, but on the bright side it was quite easy to wake up plenty early after I conked out around 4pm! I didn't sleep well on the flight, and tried to stay up as late as possible Saturday so I was pretty tired at the start.
A Friday arrival should be fine - you don't necessarily need to be adjusted to the time change, but give yourself Fri to fall asleep early and get a decent night's sleep, even if you wake up very early on Saturday.
It's a good race - flat, fast, cool. Amsterdam is a great city as well with lots to see. I used to live in The Hague so it was a nice homecoming for me to be back in The Netherlands.
In the past I have done the Thursday flight, race Sunday approach with success from Denver to Central Europe. Flight Leaves Thursday, Arrive in Europe Friday mid morning. Early night Friday night. Easy run and relax Saturday. Race Sunday morning.
Mazza-downie wrote:
Marathon is on Sunday October 16th. It will be my first marathon. The flight will be over night no matter what day I leave on. 12hr flight including layovers from my regional airport.
how many days should I arrive in advance to avoid time zone issues?
would a Thursday departure and Friday morning arrival be good enough?
At least 5 days before or it will not go well due to jet lag.
Whichever day you decide to arrive, don't eat the food until after the race. If you can, bring your usual food and drinks that you body is accustom. Also, try to stay off your legs and get a good night sleep the night before the race.
Mazza-downie wrote:
Marathon is on Sunday October 16th. It will be my first marathon. The flight will be over night no matter what day I leave on. 12hr flight including layovers from my regional airport.
how many days should I arrive in advance to avoid time zone issues?
would a Thursday departure and Friday morning arrival be good enough?
Seth Demoor put his poor performance down to lactic acid build-up due to the long flight.
Give yourself two weeks to acclimatise and get over the lactic acid.
The acclimatisation really kicks in only after a few days. It may or may not have noticeable adverse effects, but you can avoid the risks by racing really soon after you arrive (unless you can afford spending 2+ weeks before the race at the race location). This way it's also easier to resist the temptation to try unfamiliar foods and walk a lot. Leave that for after the race.
Of course you don't want to race right off the plane so arriving on Thursday-Friday, picking up your bib and having 1-2 nights of decent sleep before the race should be the best. From anecdotal evidence, I've run massive marathon PRs in the US twice flying from Europe on Thursday. I got up at 3 am on race day basically 'for free'. Not sure how will this work with the reverse direction of jet lag though.