How (not) to run a marathon in 5 weeks

A few months ago I signed up to run the Copenhagen marathon with minimal training.

After that I rather fell off the running wagon, though I continued my sessions with Victoria, and this summer I concentrated on rediscovering some outdoor sports that I had immensely enjoyed as a student but then more or less neglected, mostly an early love of mine, sea kayaking, as well as starting to introduce my kids to rock climbing – not so easy in a country as flat as Denmark.

Anyway, displaying my usual impulsiveness and critical thinking skills, I managed on Friday to “accidentally” sign up to a mini-triathlon. A friend of mine found herself with a starting position she couldn’t use and I put my hand up (metaphorically on facebook)  and suddenly found myself with a week to train for a mini-tri.

This is the KMD 4:18:4 series in Denmark, so it is “only” a 400m swim, 18km cycle and 4km run. I should be able to manage it but it’s been a loooooong time since my last swim.

In fact I have done this same distance before, about 3 years ago, though I was riding my standard danish commuters bike and had done (and this is a common theme in my life) almost no training. I survived it, barely, in I think about 2 hours. I am stronger and fitter now and even have a super new bike, a beautiful white Boardman road bike.