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