This is something that came out of a quiet drink in a pub one summer evening about six weeks ago with my friend Thom Bunting. In the run-up to the Bath Tri, Thom told me about a book he'd got that outlined a plan to train for a marathon in sixteen weeks. I said that I'd be interested to read it. Later that night he sent me a text message. It's dated 12/07/08 and the message reads "Hi Ian, Found marathon training book. Wonder if you are interested in Florence marathon 30th November? Thom." And that was the beginning of that.
Here's a picture of my friend Gordon Plant. When I announced back in March that, having run the Bath Half Marathon, I was now going to attempt the Bath Olympic triathlon, Gordon's response was typically muscular. He wrote that "You must be f**king insane. But we all knew that, anyway."
I suppose the jury's out on that one. What's indisputable is the fact that, the day after my registration has been accepted, I'm already two weeks behind schedule. According to the sixteen week plan, I was supposed to start running a fortnight ago. I'm not too worried about that. A month ago I ran six miles after cycling more than twenty. But I can't leave it too long. Which is why I stuck on my running shoes this evening and ran another 2.3 miles. Each week, I'm supposed to do three runs of four or five miles plus one long run which builds up from eight to eighteen miles. So today's run - and yesterday's - are getting me ready for a long run that I'll put in on Sunday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment