This week is a blog with a difference. Rather than spending every blog talking about my preparations for the upcoming Frankfurt Marathon and going on about how many miles I’m doing in training (which incidentally is still going exactly to plan) I thought I’d do something a little bit different. I’m regularly asked questions about running - what I think about this race or that race, what training methods work best, would I recommend a certain type of trainer etc. That got me thinking about writing a blog based around common running-related queries. To assist me I first of all asked a running friend of mine to send me a list of 20 quick-fire questions that he would like to know my answers to. Here’s how it worked out:
Anyone who has read Charlie Spedding’s book will be familiar with the phrase “marathon madness” for it is this notion which Charlie uses to explain a number of below-par race performances during his build up to marathons. One quote in particular stands out following poor performances (by his standards) during his preparations for the Houston Marathon in 1984: “I began to realise that they were symptoms of marathon madness. My mind was fixed on preparing to run 26 miles and I had been unable to push myself because subconciously I was holding something back. I told myself this was an excellent sign and it meant that my mind was saving everything for a huge effort in Houston.” |
Mark KetleyMark is a former Elswick Harrier who now competes for Sedgefield Harriers. Archives
March 2013
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