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!
