The road to Berlin

It's all about the journey

As I sit here, it's only 3 more days till I toe the starting line of the 2019 Berlin Marathon and it's probably the most excited I've ever been about a race (I probably said the same thing last year at some other race but hey, it adds to the story, right?).

It's also the most intense training programme I've done to-date without a doubt. I remember talking to my good friend and coach Daniel Trejo back in May about it (he wasn't my coach at the time) thinking I would ease myself into it by ramping up the mileage between May and July and be ready to start training properly after my holidays. Well, that didn't happen...
Instead, I was sent a high intensity programme that started like, the day after. In time, I must admit it got easier to manage despite of the high demands in terms of time and quality sessions plus peripheral conditioning needed to survive without injuries. Here we are talking about weights, core exercises, yoga, skipping (which I had never done and had to learn how to do it. Thanks Daniel! New skills added en-route).
Along the journey I also broke down a few times and had to deal with rest, painful physiotherapy sessions and re-habilitation while trying to stay on top of my training routine. I had moments of doubt. I think every athlete has them and that doesn't make us any less effective unless we let them stew inside us. That's where the next level of preparation for the challenge comes into play: you have to believe in your training, believe in the work you've done, believe you will deliver the results at the end of the day.
As I sit here writing, I know this is the fittest I've ever been. I believe 100% this is the best training programme I've ever done. And I seriously believe I've given myself the best chance to succeed. Now it's just a matter of executing.

Ich bin ein marathonlaufer!

Comments

How will races look like post COVID-19?

I think racing the way we're used to is gone forever. There! I've said it. No more long queues at the portaloos before the start. No more corrals with 1,000 runners touching, shaking hands, and wishing each other luck. No more post-race hugs and tears, not unless you're part of the same household. So let's reverse engineer a race and see if we can come up with a picture Social distancing So, there are 10,000 of us converging into one spot in the city. How can you make sure we all observe social distancing? That's a bit of an issue unless we're running in the desert or high in the mountains where there are acres to spare. The queueing system We start by creating an orderly queue. In fact, we create many orderly queues around the access area to prevent overcrowding. First of all, the zone must be cordoned off for the queue system to work. Otherwise, everybody does what everybody does when there's no system in place: we invade the zone. So, all ru...

The journey towards the Dublin City Marathon

When I started this blog I has the idea to use it as a way to keep me honest in my training by forcing me to log every (or almost every) session including mileage and how the session went, and a lot of things have happened since my last post back in April: - I did my first night run on the trails, head lamp and all. - Went on holidays and tried to run an "easy 10k" in 30 degree heat and nearly died - Started exercising for 10 minutes every morning before work - Ran the Born to Run 10k series around Dublin (none of the races were actually 10k) - Ran the South Dublin 10k race in July - Started training for the Dublin City Marathon in October Sadly, writing hasn't been one of them. I fell into the trap of wanting to be read people other than myself and my imaginary friends and I realised that the most popular blogs have content and knowledge. I just have stories... and excuses.

One week later

Last Sunday I ran the Great Ireland Run in Phoenix Park. It was the first time I've raced so close after a marathon so I wasn't too sure how the legs would be. The original plan was to run it as an easy race and enjoy the experience... yeah right! The closer it got to the day the more I started thinking maybe aim to run it under 55 minutes, maybe a bit faster but definitely not faster than 50. Anyway, race day arrived and once I was in Phoenix Park I decided sod it! Run it like a proper race and see what it feels like. Go hard or go home! I started relatively slow but by the time I was passing the 6km mark I was still feeling strong so sped up to full tilt. In the end I ran just 12 seconds outside my PB of 46:06 but I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it. I just need to find another 10km race to finish that business...

26.2 Ways to Run

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