The refreshment stop nobody wants

But dainty cherry blossoms are probably the last thing on the minds of those who undergo training at the Yuandadu Marathon Club that, says Wu Ping, a spokeswoman, is endowed with paramilitary rigor that includes efficiency and practicality.

"The year's program is split into winter training, summer training and competition season training, so as to ensure continuity and that everything is arranged systematically over the year.

"The training plan is centered on Wednesday's intensity class and Sunday's long-distance class, and a weekday secondary class focuses on recovery adjustment and quality cross-training."

During the competition season training, the training level is switched to competitive mode, as an impetus to improving runners' performance. The runners are put into six groups based on their fitness and running abilities, each group having a captain, a deputy captain and an instructor.

Wu says this inverted pyramid management model is efficient in setting up a group evaluation system that brings runners with similar capabilities together to maximize the training benefits.

"Long-distance running is more than physical exercise," says Shan Wenlu, a club member whose best marathon time is 03:14:58.