On Sunday I ran London Marathon. The Sunday before that I ran Manchester marathon. In case you’re thinking of doubling up, here are the answers to a few questions that I’ve been asked a few times.

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Why did I do it?

There wasn’t a grand plan to do two marathons in eight days, it just sort of happened that way.

I had a Good For Age entry for London this year but, after last year’s experience, I didn’t want to try to run fast there.

My race plan was the same as Paula Radcliffe’s – soak up the atmosphere, enjoy the day and don’t think too much about the time. Coming out of the  80k ultra marathon in March, my legs felt pretty good. So, as I was going up to Manchester to support Phil anyway, I decided to support him round the 26.2 miles by running right next to him.

Weren’t your legs ruined?

No, not really. I ran both races at a sensible speed that would allow me to enjoy both. If you’re doing two marathons this close together, you’re not going to be getting a PB in either, so don’t even try. Just relax and enjoy having lots of support on your training run. My legs are in better shape than they were after/during SnowDublin last year.

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What did you do the week between them?

Ate a lot. Slept a lot. Went to work and then ate and slept some more. I ran once: three miles on the Wednesday to get a sense of how my legs were feeling more than anything. I cycled slowly to and from work a couple of days and went swimming twice.  Take your recovery sensibly. Don’t go out and run lots of miles – there’s no point. Eat well and sleep well.

What’s next?

I’m off to Copenhagen in May to run the marathon there. I’m hoping to run it a bit faster than I did at these two and be close to my marathon PB. So, you could say that I’m now on my taper. Hooray for that!

If you have any other questions, pop them in the box below. There’s a podcast of London marathon coming soon.