Countdown to London: 6-ish weeks to go!

It's getting to the crunch time now- 6-ish weeks to go, perhaps the final steady uphill push at the 17 - 20 mile marker section of the course. You're (I'm) feeling tired, heavy-legged, but still excited enough to keep pushing and keep on track. The niggles are appearing and the colds are lingering, of course, not to be blamed for slacking on the foam-roller and stretching front... yes, that is a bit of a confession. Top Tip: Keep your eye on the prize and stay focused if you are really going to make it happen... for razor sharp performance, you need dedicated training in all complimentary areas.

What's keeping me motivated (other than a new green sweatband to match my Oxfam shirts)? Unsurprisingly, the challenge of the challenge is the main driver- to be attributed to my competitive and achiever traits. However, two other main motivators have been the commitment to the people I am doing the challenge with and a packed-full fundraising calendar. Islands of fun to tick-off along the way and having some group support- perhaps two of the most widely repeated tid-bits of wisdom when it comes to making a behaviour change or commitment to a goal, but entirely true to this cause.

So what have we been/ are we getting up to in order to "earn" our place with Oxfam? 

In taking the "why change a winning formula" approach, our running team hosted another successful Soup Sale in February to raise another 200£ towards Oxfam (the full team is now 22% of the way to our 22, 000£ total). On the menu again, and first to sell out was the (ingredients out) soup-er Sweet Potato and Chorizo option from our first sale. Additionally, a seemingly bottomless pot of Hearty Tomato, one Roast Garlic option, and one Cauliflower option accompanied by New Zealand inspired melted cheesy bread rolls AND a fresh baked-on-site German Bread contribution.

Coming up next we have a list of different events and challenges in the diary to look forward to. I'll keep this entry short and sweet to bring you up to date with our calendar of events and post short updates as we complete them. So, what's next, you ask?

Well, one full weekend of fun March 20 - 22nd, including:

1) Friday= Bournville Pancake Breakfast- because who doesn't love pancakes for breakfast?! I've totally pinched this idea from similar successful sales that our schools/ churches used to hold in Canada. And yes, these will be of the fluffy, maple syrup variety. Fingers crossed that this idea will be at least as successful as our Soup Sales to date and post-event pictures to come.

2) Saturday= Stationary Cycle Duel at Cadbury World. A colleague of ours gifted this idea to us where he set up a stationary bike in a public location and asked for donations from passers-by. Our intention is to cycle continuously against each other for most of the opening hours. We will take it as a bit of a relay (hopefully with some public goading at times) and whilst the other team members aren't cycling, they can be rallying up attention (and donations) from people coming to view the exhibition.

3) Sunday= Warwick Half Marathon. It's good training for a half marathon to cycle for hours on end the day before, right? Only if you have pancakes for breakfast the day before that, I heard- or at least, keep telling myself. This is the last training event before "the big day" and I'm in two minds if I try and blast it or try and keep to pace. Alluding to my aforementioned characteristics, I will probably end up blasting it- so hills permitting, I'd like to try and tempt my 1:42 Oxford PB.

After that, we have two more independent events in the calendar: an Easter Bake-off and some yet-to-be-decided pre-race stunt event. Ideas are very much welcome for the latter! Oh yes, and of course the last 6-weeks of training, and our proper jobs, and getting on with life, etc. But hey, the days are getting longer now, so that Tuesday night run is just about starting in the daylight again.

On that note, if you like the sound of the upcoming events, like to watch me work hard, and are feeling inspired, I'd ask that you please fuel the fire and donate to the cause to help the team reach their total target. And of course, I will keep you updated on our progress as we tick off another challenge from the list.

Here’s the link to my fundraising page:

https://www.justgiving.com/xtynsrunning/

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/the-impact-of-our-work

Progress: a PB, 10 weeks, and 10% of 2000£

I'm 10 weeks into my London Marathon training plan, and it's all very real now. It's really happening, and it's really happening the hard way, and my official countdown timer app tells me that it's happening in 171 days, some hours and some minutes as I start this entry. What do I mean by "the hard way", because aren't all marathons hard, you ask? 

The rejection letter.

I mean that I was unsurprisingly unsuccessful as a ballot entrant= if you want to run, you pay! Well, get others to pay- but ultimately in the end, you pay. So as mentioned before, the team of colleagues that I am running with have decided to join the Oxfam charity: we pay Oxfam and admin fee, Oxfam gets us a London Marathon ballot entry, we raise 2000£ for Oxfam per person, Oxfam has funding to continue to support fighting global poverty, and as of late, the Ebola crisis: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ 

And... cue fundraising website plug here: you can donate to Oxfam via my fundraising website: https://www.justgiving.com/xtynsrunning

Pleading over for this blog... here's an update on what I've been up to:

In short- I've been running, and running a fair bit. You might remember this picture from the previous entry; however, with far fewer check-marks:

I'm super pleased to report that I have been very diligent in working my way through this sheet- even with the challenge of being away from home for three weeks of the last ten. I'm also super pleased that the only run I've been skimping on is my Saturday "easy" run. It's not so much for a lack of motivation on a Saturday, rather for a pure lack of time. Excuses, excuses, I know- but domestic goddessry takes time! I do justify though, by using my Monday "rest" day for Spin class, so all-in-all, I'm still exercising five days a week, which has definitely been the biggest shock to the system. 

How have I been feeling about all of this?

Generally, quite fantastic. I've noticed a change in my energy levels, and mainly on days off. My body knows my running routine now, so if I take a Wednesday off for whatever reason and catch up on Thursday (typical off day), my legs are an antsy mess. It's still painful to go out on Tuesdays (former sit-on-my-ass days), especially now with the winter nights settling in... but the enticement of throwing on some funky leggings helps motivate me. I have certainly always loved the contained feel of wearing spandex!

All of this training has had a positive impact so far on my half-marathon time (disaster run in July 1:56:11), with a new PB (1:42:56) achieved at the Oxford Half Marathon October 12th! I consistently ran 7:51 minute miles (4:50 min/km), was able to dash the finish, and was not aching the next day (all toenails intact). 

So what have I learned in the past ten weeks of training? I've captured some secrets to my progress so far- these tips are for people who are familiar with exercise, but maybe not with the distance of half and full marathon running. 

Base Training: non-negotiable.

-Do a long run each week (>10km)

-For small improvements, add an extra mile (no more than two) to your long run per week.

-For slightly better improvements, you can get away with two running sessions per week: one long run and one interval session (~30 - 45 min).

To Kick Ass!!

-For noticeably feel-good improvements, run 3-5 times per week. To your base training (your long run + interval session), add tempo running and easy running.

Tempo running: you push yourself for an increasing amount of time. Start with a 10 min warm up, then 20 min at a "comfortably hard" pace, then 10 min cool down. Build the hard part by 5-min every week or two. This was a new term and concept for me. I've don a lot of Google searching on this topic over the past two months, and all of the information is saying the same thing.

Easy running: you should be able to talk and run. This acts as a clearing out of the leftover damage in your muscles from an interval/ tempo session the day before. Even as little as 30 minutes does the trick... and don't be afraid to take it easy. This might be the hardest run you do, or the hardest run in the week to get used to.

Don't over train: if you still want to do other classes/ cross training, add them to the appropriate days. For instance, on an "easy" day, do an aerobics or spin class instead of an easy run. Or, add your cross training to the end of a Tempo run. Really take the two days a week to rest.

To make it less boring on your long runs- listen to an audio book! This will help you with pacing rather than racing- so when you do race, you can pump the jam with the tunes and feel totally speedy! This works at the moment for 2 hours or so... I will let you know what my strategy is when I start upping the marathon miles- because let's face it, running gets super boring!

And finally, and some of you know that this kills me mentally- eat carbs; you'll need them. My total diet is probably only 30% carbs, but recovery sucks if I've abstained or dropped below that for the day. But you know what goes well with fresh bread after a long, cold run? Soup!

I say soup because before I sign off, the last tid-bit I have to share is the 10% of the 2000£ that I've managed to raise so far. So what does this have to do with soup? Well, part of that 10% came from a Soup Sale that I organised at work. 

 

Move over bake sale (although some home baked bread, cookies, and loaves did make it as accompaniments), Soup Sales are the new event to hold in the office! A very successful afternoon was had- we raised over 200£ with five different winter warmers on offer... you can see the queue of colleagues waiting to get a piece of this Masterchef!

Menu of the Day for the Soup Sale included:

Parsnip and Ginger

Squash and Chorizo

Spinach and Stilton

Tomato and Oregano

Spiced Lentil

And on that delicious sound note, I am going for one more fundraising plug- where if you want to get your hands on one or more of the uber flavoursome fares, please make a donation on my Just Giving page and I will send you across a recipe of your choice! 

 https://www.justgiving.com/xtynsrunning