Does Autumn make you go crazy......?

And no I don't mean anger and frustration at the horrible cold and rainy weather that seems to have appeared nearly overnight, I mean actually clinically insane? If that was the case, it might explain why, for reasons best known to others, I decided today that doing a Double Ironman would be a sensible idea. After an Ironman. A fortnight after.

Not really sure what possessed me to sign up. I had been considering it after seeing that all the other women who are trying to complete the A2A already have this in the back and I did speak with Steve Haywood, Enduroman's Director, who told me it would be a 'good warm up'. However, since the event was full I could put that level of madness to the back of my mind. Unfortunately it appears that some other competitors have recovered full use of their mental faculties and have withdrawn which early yesterday morning left a big gaping hole with my name on it. Maybe it was the pressure of knowing the place would be snapped up within minutes and I didn't want to get left wondering 'what if' that encouraged me to whip out the credit card and get signed up!

I have justified it thus: There is a 52mile run involved - this will let me know what it feels like to go long in the run. Said run will also be in the dark for some of the way thus I will get used to running in the dark. I can also practice my feeding strategy. I may also have to cycle in the dark which gives me practice for this aspect of the A2A. Training for a longer event such as this as opposed to 'just' an Ironman will give me less work to do to build up to the required distances after the IM next summer. I'll be almost there on the run distance front anyway thus I can throw all my resources into the swim and just keep the run ticking over as opposed to having to tackle them both. Plus, after racing the IM only a fortnight before I'll be knackered and thus will learn if I have what it takes to race tired.

See, I knew it made sense really! :)