It's that time of year again- September: and 17 (-ish) years of educational conditioning prompt me to feel like it's the beginning of the year, rather than the end creeping closely to Christmas. Feeling fresh, and not only from the crispness of autumn air lurking in the morning, I have decided to get serious about the newest challenge I've signed up for- running a marathon. And not any marathon (as you probably suspect as I tend to turn my cheek ordinary), the London Marathon!
Of course a challenge like this would always be on the horizon. The only question was: when? With a couple of colleagues in a similar frame of mind, one put his initiative out there to rally up a team of us to band together and make this marathon challenge more than just the running. We've pulled together a team of 14 runners (from novices to veteran marathoners) with the challenge of running 10,000 miles and raising over £20,000 for Oxfam leading up to the London Marathon on April 26th, 2015.
I probably (definitely) needed some sort of commitment like this to get me to the next stage of running. I've lamented before about my wandering mojo, and since April this year, I've been getting suckier and suckier at running! At first I thought I was just tired, so I scaled my mileage down; however, my minutes-per-mile time was still creeping up. Feeling lethargic during most of my Sunday runs during the early summer, I thought- maybe it's the wine? But it has antioxidant properties- so how can that be?! I scaled it back (the Saturday night wine this time), with no improvement to my running, nor waistline! Could it be the fact that I'm now on the wrong side of thirty and the side effects are settling in; are some of my mitochondria are going on a permanent vacation?
Whatever it might be, this poor performance is not acceptable (don't people get faster at their marathon times as they get older?), and feeling raring to go for the start of the new year (September), I decided to get prepared and make a plan. I should know better... I always feel better with a plan!
Preparation steps:
1) Buy some new shoes. I did actually need new shoes, anyways. I was tired of my toenails falling off! Don't worry, I will not spare the details over the upcoming months.
2) Buy some new clothes- always makes me feel more prepared; and I'm sure it's a fact that the more neon or patterned or reflective you are, the faster you run. Right?!
3) Find out how much training time I actually have... made much easier with a handy countdown app.
4) Tell people! I learned this in school, in Uni, and in life- if you tell people (a lot of people) you are going to do something big, there is more pressure for your to actually go through with it. It's proven to be one of the best exercise strategies for those embarking on a big goal.
5) Train! The last big prep step.
To date my running has been consistent, but unmonitored. I've just kind of done it. I've had big gains with relatively little input (making me think I am kind of okay at it). I was improving with each race, motivating me to keep doing it. I've hit a plateau now= mojo decline= frustration= FIX IT! So that's what I'm doing now. I am going to take this seriously, and hopefully I will do it well.
So what's the plan? Broadly, I have two marathon training routines to plod against, no wait, no more plodding- work towards before April 26th... with time off over Christmas (naturally). You'll be frightened to know that there are officially 17 weeks (or less, depending on when you are reading this) before Christmas. Session 1 will focus on getting used to the distance for 16 weeks. Session 2 (starting in January) will focus on speed for 17 weeks.
I've got a lot to learn to do this, mostly because just doing it won't be good enough (for me). The most challenging will be running five out of seven days a week. I currently only run twice - maybe three times a week, so finding time (away from the kitchen most likely) will be step 1. And actually because of the fundraising challenge (I think more scary than the running), I will need to be baking constantly- and charging! I suppose the carrot will be the carrot cake that I can eat because of the extra calories I will be burning off!
The second hardest challenge will be to push myself when nobody is looking; hopefully with the help of my GPS tracker + web upload. And lastly, to learn to go out when it's dark and raining: the reality of living in England and training for this over the winter means that if I wait until the rain stops, I might never get out for a run... and as mentioned, the early nights are a good excuse to buy some neon reflective clothes!
Now that I've shared my plan, the inevitable call for support is extended outwards to you-
- Please keep following my blog: of course I will be sharing my pain (and successes) virtually with you, I might even treat you to some pictures of bruised toe-nails!
- Send me abuse to get out and run, or run faster! And feel free to join in.
- Please donate- our team will raise £20,000 for a global charity called Oxfam: (read more about it). You can donate on my personal fundraising page: https://www.justgiving.com/xtynsrunning/
Thank you in advance and get inspired to get active for yourself or a good cause :)
