Monday, July 06, 2015

The training plan beckons + a mad challenge

It is t-minus one week until the training plan for the Berlin marathon starts and I start running longer and longer again. My mission is to keep focused on injury prevention and staying run healthy going into the race - times once again are on the back burner and will be what it will be. A training plan sounds like an onerous thing but actually I enjoy the structure and I am sticking with one I have followed successfully before.

This all sounds sensible and not at all 'mad'... well no, it isn't... but what is mad is signing up for a second marathon four weekends after Berlin! I think I had a reason for doing this though having just completed the simple sign-up process I am already questioning my sanity (perhaps I've truly gone running mad). All being well I am going to tie the two together as a charity challenge and fund raising vehicle for one of two charities. Plans,aside from the training plan, are still up in the air a little which is adding to the sense of madness. As proper logistical planning swings into full force I hope it won't feel quite so crazy, and I am going to try and blog a weekly update of how it all goes.

The second marathon will be a new experience in more than race timing as it is a point-to-point city to city race across urban landscapes and English countryside - the Bristol + Bath marathon. It is the organisers first year, a brand new event, and it was something of the locations involved combined with the novelty of not running around in a big circle. Pacing is something that I will have to think hard about before the race as the course starts out fairly smooth and gets lumpy in the second half as it gets in towards Bath. There will be parts of the course I will recognise and others that will be totally new to me so it will be a full on adventure of a run.
The route - borrowed from the event website
I have the feeling my wife agreed to this because of the location, there is no getting away from the fact I might just be mad... am I?