Saturday 23 August 2014

Perfect day before a long run in training for 2014 Berlin Marathon

For what feels like the first time in my training, I have a perfectly free day the day before a scheduled long run.

Hurray!

William is off with his Dad, there are no family parties to attend, no friends visiting, no errands to run.

Bliss!

Tomorrow I'm going to run walk run a la Jeff Galloway 17 miles at a very very slow pace. So today, I've given myself permission to relax. Well, physically at least.

My half marathon race fuelling experiment seemed to work out last week, so I'm just going to tweak that for a longer distance. I'm also going to try out the PowerBar gels because those are the ones that will be available on the route in Berlin.

That doesn't really leave a lot to do today except read, write, listen, eat, drink and nap.

Although I actually lived in Munich in Southern Germany as a child from 1976 to 1980, I know remarkably little about the country's history. The little I do know was learned studying for a history 'O' Level that was completed before the Berlin wall came down! In any case, our syllabus covered from Bismarck until the conclusion of World War II ... so basically, I know a little bit about 80 years out of thousands of years. I'm hoping that if I know a bit more, some of the landmarks, road names, buildings, squares and monuments, will mean something when I spot them and add some much-needed color and life along the 42km route.

This morning, I've had a little look at the 300 years or so up until Bismarck. And it really is a little look! I'm no historian, but it's given me a bit of context. While I'm writing this, I'm listening to the audio of Anna Funder's book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, which tells the first hand stories of East Germans living behind the wall at the mercy of the Stasi. There's a good summary and review in The Guardian.

While I'm indulging this new interest in all things Berlin historical, I'm stocking up on plenty of water and doing a few yoga poses to stretch out my legs, back, and whatever else I can. I'm eating a small comlex carb based snack every 90 mins or so and am looking forward to an uninterrupted afternoon nap at 2pm.

What a fabulous day!

Oh, and I haven't even changed out of my pyjamas!!

No comments:

Post a Comment