Crazy Person!

I had a bit of free time on my hands and I decided to look up running back-to-back half marathons. Turns out I'm not the only crazy person who has this seemingly insane idea of running two half marathons in 2 consecutive weeks. Here is one such discussion on a running forum with some good advise. The general consensus is that it is entirely doable and not much of a risk provided you pace both the runs such that one is easier & slower than the other. (This was the plan anyway). Many of the comments warn you to be prepared not to PB on the 2nd one (This was so not the plan). Anyway considering that this will only be my 2nd & 3rd HMs, I shouldn't really be concerned with my PB. 

I also found this blog post  which outlines a proper recovery & training plan for running back-to-back half marathons. The writer had just 2 weeks in between the races and still made PB in both the races (with finishing times a good hour faster than my PB - I must add) 

It just struck me that my scenario is quite different - I actually have 3 back-to-back HMs with just 1 week between the first two and 2 weeks between the 2nd & the 3rd. Thats right! Three Half Marathons in 4 weeks. I almost forgot that I have signed up for the Auroville Marathon as well. While I can definitely take notes from the above blog post, I will be listening intently to my body and what it needs. I have no intention of killing myself.

So am I crazy? The only reason I think this is doable is because I know I will be running at an easy pace. I might push myself a little for TWCM - or maybe I wont - but I'll definitely be running way below my "all-out" effort. I have been consistently running 2+ hours in the weekends and my body has bounced back fine after every long run. There will of course be no more running in a sleep deprived state - I'll just have to make damned sure of that. Minimum 7 hours of sleep required. Non-negotiable. I will also have to keep a close check on my hydration and nutrition during these days leading up to the races. And I will probably also have to tweak my schedule a bit and add in more active recovery days in between the races.

Finally, there was this one article from a runner's world coach & contributor which put me completely at ease and gave me a sense of you-might-not-be-so-crazy-after-all. The article gives training advice & tips to a reader who had inquired whether it was okay to do 4 half marathons in 4 consecutive weeks.

Well... so here goes!