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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