Flood, Sweat and Fears – London Marathon Blog #2

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Seventy-seven days to go until the London Marathon – scary!

I am 5 weeks into my 16-week training plan, and I am pleased I am on track.

I have stopped thinking of it as a 26.2-mile monstrosity of a challenge, and I am dealing with it one week at a time with my training plan.

I am putting all my faith into my plan and my Personal Trainer to get me as fit and strong as possible for this experience.

Keeping a diary of my training to date has really helped, especially when I look back to my pre-Christmas sessions and realise how much I have progressed.

On a scale of 1-10 on how scared was I when I received confirmation of my place, I would say it was 10+; these fears were soon alleviated.

My fears

-Won’t be fit enough, training will be difficult on my own (someone from my running group is always around to run with)

-My core won’t be strong enough, and the pelvic floor won’t cope (good strength sessions and Pilates have changed this)

-Worried about injury (my weekly strength and flexibility exercises are helping with this)

-My nerves will spoil the experience on the day (not if I stay calm and have a word with myself!)

I have run in all sorts of weather now, no more fair-weather running! My new waterproof jacket had a real test last week – it was so wet with lots of muddy puddles to navigate – I really felt hardcore finishing that particular run.

I have had some great runners’ highs after my runs but also faced some challenges and fears.

I learned a hard lesson early into this year on not fuelling properly for a long run, and it left me feeling rough for about 3 hours afterwards.

I am learning so much about what I should and shouldn’t do with my training sessions to help me prepare well.

I signed up to some 10k runs and a half marathon with some of my running group, and that has been really positive for attending formal races and getting used to the format while I am doing my training plan.

Our 10k Winter Run in London was cancelled due to Storm Ciara, and that was really disappointing, however as a group we will run a recorded 10k this week so we can still claim our lovely medals!

I had a wobble last week about the Marathon fast approaching as we are into a new month now.

I attended the London Marathon Meet the Experts event yesterday to learn about nutrition, how to avoid injury, what to expect on race day and hints and tips on training plans. I came away from the event feeling calmer and more focused on nutrition and training for the week ahead.

After this event, I would say I am down to a scaredness level of 7 out of 10!

Benefits

I am already feeling the enormous benefits of my training:

-Blood pressure is back to normal levels (hope to come off medication soon!).

-Weight has gone down (hurray!)

-Inches lost all over (shape is changing)

-I have muscles in places I never knew existed

-I sleep so well and rest well between training sessions

-Running regularly really clears my head

-Nutrition is much improved

-I am really enjoying my training (did I ever think I would say that?)

Until my next update, fingers crossed I continue to stay focused to be fitter, stronger, healthier and a few steps closer to that start line of the London Marathon 2020!

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