It's the final countdown!

With only two days to go until I run the marathon my feelings are a combination of nerves and excitement, though I think tomorrow it will be pure nerves!

I’ll be the first to admit that my training hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. I slightly underestimated how difficult it would be training for a marathon by myself alongside intensive studying. But hopefully I will have done enough to get me round, even if I don’t break four hours!

The month before Easter was fantastic training-wise. I replaced my running heavy plan with one that had more of a focus on cross training which suited me much better. Two of my easy runs per week were replaced with spinning classes and I also did 2/3 runs per week including a long one at weekends.

 My longest run so far has been 20 miles which felt pretty good. What is worrying is the knowledge that first 20 miles and the last 6 are like 2 different races. So how I will handle the last bit remain to be seen!  Hopefully my fueling strategy (lots of cliff shots) will help me avoid hitting the dreaded wall but I won’t really know until the day!

The last 3 weeks of training haven’t been great. The combination of a massive essay and immensely painful cramp in my calves made running virtually impossible in the first week of the Easter holidays. The second week of the holidays I managed a couple of runs, but a cold and extremely painful feet (for no apparent reason) meant that they were unpleasant to say the least! I started to get pretty stressed out at this point. The last thing you want just before a marathon are a series of bad runs. Thankfully my runs this week haven’t been too bad so hopefully come Sunday my legs will still work!

The last three weeks of marathon training are just supposed to be tapering. Theoretically I should have already built up all my fitness during my training, so hopefully the last few weeks won’t have too negative an impact!

This afternoon I’m off down to London so wish me look!

Rosie

xxx

Gymfood

During my training I have been averaging 5-6 workouts a week, 3 or 4 of which are runs, 2 spinning sessions which I have combined with some weight and resistance work. As you can imagine, this is pretty tiring! My brother who is a crazy cyclist has been using products by Bikefood for a while and has trying to get me to use recovery drinks for ages. I was never very keen, partially because I didn’t think I was really doing enough to warrant the use of recovery drinks but after the first few weeks of marathon training I was feeling constantly tired and in pain I thought that it might be time to give them ago!

 There are loads of protein products on the market but many of them are full of artificial flavours, chemicals and are can be very difficult for your body to digest. For me this was one of the main reasons I have been reluctant to use protein drinks before. If you’re already putting your body under a lot of strain whilst training, it seems rather counterproductive to then start using drinks which your body struggles to process.

 I started using Gymfood on the recommendation of my brother who like I said earlier has been raving about Gymfood’s sister product Bikefood for years. Gymfood’s main ingredient is Hemp Protein and unlike many other protein powders on the market it has a refreshingly short ingredients list, made up of five mainly natural products. Hemp is also a bit of a superfood, it has a complete amino acid profile and is full of minerals and antioxidents which is obviously a bonus!

I’ve tried both the chocolate and citrus flavor. My favorite was definitely the chocolate though both tasted were nice and had an easily drinkable texture. You can slightly taste the grassy hemp flavor but this isn’t unpleasant. I think with a product that is as good as this in both its nutritional profile and performance benefits, it’s not really an issue!

I definitely noticed a difference in my performance when I was using this shake on a regular basis. I found that my body seemed to recover a lot quicker after runs and that as a result I was able to push myself harder during all my workouts. I would definitely recommend Gymfood Protein recovery to anyone who is thinking about training for something like a marathon or even if you’re just interested in starting to use protein drinks as part of your workout routine

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - hopefully!

Once again I find myself apologizing for a ridiculously long gap between blogs! Truth be told, this last few weeks have been pretty difficult. I have still been averaging about 4 runs a week, which is nowhere near what I had planned and due to injury and various colds…the runs I have done haven't been as long or as intensive as they needed to be and as a result I feel pretty lousy about the whole thing and woefully under prepared.

I always knew that marathon training was going to be difficult. I have never been a natural runner and it has never been easy for me. I just tend to get by with pure bloody minded determination but recently I have been really struggling.

This is a fairly accurate representation of how I look/feel when I'm running at the moment.

I just feel so exhausted from both marathon training and the ridiculous amount of studying that I don’t think I remember the last run I actually felt good on or enjoyed. With under 8 weeks to go I am really hoping that I will get back my running mojo soon!

I have decided to try a new training plan, one that involves a lot more cross training. I am still going to aim for around 4 runs a week with a couple of spinning sessions thrown in. I am going to try and go to running club twice a week as this will encourage me to push myself more than when I run alone.

From the amount of pain I’ve been in this last month, I am guessing that running 6 days a week does not suit my body. My calves in particular have been causing me a lot of problems and in the last week I have pulled a muscle in the arch of my foot which is very uncomfortable.

That being said, I’ve not done too badly this week.

Monday was a decent 5 mile run, though this was the first day that my foot started causing me problems.

Tuesday I had planned to go to running club but in the end didn’t go because my foot was hurting too much. I then planned to go to the gym to do some cycling, but my bike light wasn’t working (it really was one of those days when life just isn’t on your side!) In the end I did level 2 of Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred DVD. This is actually a  pretty good workout, short but intense. I recommend it if you want to get a sweat on in a short space of time!

Wednesday I finally had a good workout! In the morning I did my first bit of intentional cross training with 7am spinning class followed by another trip to the gym in the evening for an interval threshold training session which had me dripping with sweat after about 10 minutes! Overall I felt pretty good, though the pain in my foot was making itself known throughout.

Thursday I had a day off the cardio and did some resistance work instead (I am much better at this than running!) and yesterday I tested out the foot with a 2 mile jog. Conclusion – still painfull!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to report back with a successful run!

xxx

Rosie

New shoes and cold feet.

I’ve had a rather eventful past weekend. I headed down to London early Saturday morning to attend the ‘Meet the Experts’ weekend hosted by the organisers of the London Marathon. This was basically a day of presentations from various marathon organisers, experts and former 10,000m world record holder David Beford, and the Olympic marathon runner, Liz Yelling.

The day had a rather bizarre ‘Harry Jogger’ theme and were given advice from a variety of ‘Jogwarts’ (get it!?) professors dressed in wizarding robes and wigs! Despite the somewhat dubious jokes, the day was both entertaining and informative. I'll fill you in on the most interesting bits on my next post.

There was also an Adidas stall where you could get your gait scanned to see what kind of running shoe you should be wearing. I knew from previous fittings that I over pronate slightly, meaning that my feet roll inwards as I run. If you don’t wear the correct kind of shoes this can result in pain and injury. For the scan I was required to run up and down a hall occasionally landing on a sensor which measured the angle and impact my foot hit the ground at. It was difficult to replicate my normal running style as I had to run barefoot and the floor was extremely slippery, but after a few attempts we got a usable reading.

The scan thankfully confirmed that I have been wearing the correct shoes for the past year, though my gait is completely different on each foot. Whilst my right heavily pronates, my left foot has a perfect, efficient neutral stride. There was 30% off running shoes that day, and as I will need to replace my current shoes towards the end of March, I brought myself some new ones! 

By far the most attractive running shoes I have owned so far!

After the presentations had finished I headed over to Shepherds Bush to watch a play with one of my oldest friends, Yasamin. The play was called 'Our New Girl', I would definitely recommend watching it if you are in the area. The play finished at 10pm and we began to make our way home. However the snow had other ideas...What should have been a simple journey ended up with us being stranded outside in the freezing cold until 4am as the entire London transport system had shut down! Not a good end to the night. By the time we finally made it back to Greenwich our feet were soaked through with the freezing cold snow and we were beginning to lose all feeling. Not the greatest end to the night!

I'm now off to the gym to do some hill training on the treadmill (it's bloody freezing outside), see you on Thursday for some tips from the weekends presentations and more tales from my training!

xxx

First Week of Training!

Well hello there! It’s been a while hasn’t it?

Since I last wrote, my marathon training has properly begun. The first week of my plan has included a couple of interval sessions, short runs and a 12 miler. It’s been a pretty good week aside from the fact I have chillblanes (a rash caused by exposure to the cold) on both my shins which are really quite painful!

Last Sunday’s 12 miles was the longest run I have done since Christmas Eve, which is a long time ago! I covered the distance in 1 hour 57 minutes, it was a slow and hard run, made worse by the fact that I took a wrong turn about 3 miles in that resulted in me running 1 and half miles up an extremely steep hill. Not fun, I felt like I was about to keel over! Once I finally got back on track the run improved. The last 6 miles took me through the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey and along the canal back to Leeds and despite getting freezing cold feet from all the icy puddles on the path, was actually quite nice.

Sunday was also my first time using energy gel on a run. One problem I have found on many of my long runs is that I get about an hour in and my legs begin to feel heavy and my energy levels drop dramatically. This something that I am keen to address. The marathon will involve roughly 4 hours of running so being properly fueled is extremely important. On Sunday’s run I took an SIS tropical flavored Gel. It was odd, I wouldn’t say I liked the flavor (or texture for that matter) but it did feel like it gave me a bit of a boost after the massive hill. From now on I am going to try and use Lucozade products as these will be supplied for free on marathon day!

The rest of the week went as follows:

Monday: 5miles – 47.04 minutes

Tuesday: 7.3 miles – 1 hour 7 minutes

Wednesday: Interval session 3 minutes hard followed by 1 minutes rest, 6 times (this was pretty killer!)

Thursday: 6 miles – 57 minutes

I have a (hopefully fast) 6 miles planned for this afternoon, and then I’m off to London for the weekend to see a friend and attend a session called ‘Meet the Experts’ presented by some former Olympians including Liz Yelling to learn about training and fueling for endurance events, so that should be interesting.

My blogs will become much more regular now that my training has properly started (I'll be running more often for one!)

See you Monday!

xxx

Festive Running and Loud Lycra

Hello!  Long time no speak! Hope you've all had a good Christmas and New Year.
Yet again I’ve had rather a long break between blogs…I will get better I promise! In my defense it has been Christmas and we all know that Christmas is not a productive time. I haven’t completely neglected my running though. I’ve been trying to make the most of being back home and being able to go on long runs without getting hopelessly lost. On 23^rd December I did a nice 8 miles. Just an easy pace to loosen my legs up a bit after too much sitting around stuffing my face with cake.

There are some days when I love running. On these days I become one of those irritating running fanatics who insist that a good run is the cure to anything life throws at you. I think it was on one of those days that I decided running the marathon would be a great idea. Christmas Eve was not one of those days. Christmas Eve was the kind of day where running is synonymous with pure pain. I did 11.5 miles and every step hurt. It was one of those runs where nothing is working for you. The much sought after runners high never arrived. In its place were legs that felt like lead and the inability to breath. Thankfully it was dark for most of the run so no one could see my bright red face complete with pained expression.

Christmas days run was far more successful.  I know, I know…running on Christmas day is wrong in so many ways. However I got some funky new running tights which made it oh so right.

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 Pretty awesome right?

The problem with running in tights that make your legs resemble those of a zebra is that you can’t stop to walk because you look like a bit of a fool if your not moving at high speeds...they are however surprising flattering!

Even without my funky trousers Christmas days run was pretty nice. I felt like I was doing a reasonable pace (I didn't take my beloved Garmin so I don't know exact stats), my legs felt light and the run seemed to fly by.

My most recent run was Boxing day. This was a complete (2 mile long) failure. Thanks to my lovely brother I had a cold so ran a mile, realised that I couldn't really breath and then staggered home. Not so good. Sadly the cold put me out for most of last week so no more runs to report yet. I'll be back on the wagon/road tomorrow after a week of therapeutic Yoga and Pilates (and a Box Fit session during which I almost collapsed, but we won't speak of that...)

See you tomorrow!

xxx

Rosie v Winter

I would like to have strong words with whoever decided to hold the London Marathon in April. Sure, it’s a good time of year to run…not too hot, not too cold, but it means training throughout the winter when the nights are cold and wet and the winds are howling. It’s not exactly the kind of weather that makes you want to enjoy the great outdoors!

In my last few runs I have battled winds of 60mph, traversed treacherous fields of ice and been soaked by sleet. I like to think this is character building. Others may just take it as a sign that I have finally lost the plot.

There are of course advantages  to winter running. You don’t feel like you’re constantly on the brink of collapsing through heat exhaustion for one (a feeling I became very familiar with whilst training for the Robin Hood Half Marathon). I find long distances much easier in the cooler weather and the promise of a hot cup of tea when I get home almost certainly means that I run faster, if only to prevent the onset of frostbite!

I don’t feel I’ve made a huge amount of progress in the last couple of weeks due to general laziness, but this isn’t anything to worry about as my training plan doesn’t start until mid January. This gives me a few weeks over Christmas where I just need to increase the regularity of my training so that my body becomes accustomed to the fact that it is going to run a marathon whether it likes it or not. This and the amount of Christmas food that will be consumed in the coming week will hopefully give me the incentive to brave the wind and rain and to become a super speedy racing snake!

Yesterday’s run: 7.6 miles

Today: 4 miles