The rollercoaster of marathon emotions.

 So, I thought I would share where my head has been at with the LM.

After the shock of getting the ballot place subsided, fear set in.  Twenty Six Miles, that’s a long way. I’ve hiked it a few times (even led a 26 mile hike once) but that was in my peak fitness pre-long-covid.

Could I do it, my mindset was if I get round in 8 hours and don’t die I’ll be satisfied.

Weirdly “the fear” was short-lived, and replaced by excitement which has stuck around for a while.

I joined a FB LM group, as well as a few other FB groups (including Girls that Jeff). I also binge listened to various pod casts, in addition to this were chats with run group friends and reading a few books on marathons.

What all these agreed was, the LM is FUN, and probably one of the most welcoming to non-runners/walkers/Jeffrers. 

This actually surprised me. Having been around in 2019 with the whole 8hour pacer-gate saga when there were huge complaints about them packing up the course ahead of the 8-hour pacer coming through (my friend was the pacer and spokesperson for that saga).  I was surprised to hear that there are jeffer pacers, walking pacers etc. This is huge relief, it seems things have improved hugely.

I will take my training seriously but I also feel that if it all goes wrong on the day, I don’t have to panic, as always (in the words of my Backpacker heroes) I’ll be aiming for a PB in fun!

Also because it’s my first marathon, I don’t have to aim for anything crazy, just to get around it. Once I’ve done it once I can think well maybe next time I can do this, or that. But that first time is just to cover the distance.

So ya, looking forward to the London party of the year.

Training for a marathon - beginners thoughts

 Thought I would put in a note about my training, which so far is going ok.

When I first got the place in the ballot in June, I was not running, this was my first concern. I needed to get back out there running. I wanted to, I just didn’t have the motivation, and also I’d been avoiding it due to backpain.

So I set my first goal as a 5km by end of August.

If you’ve been around my running journey for a while, you’ll know I prefer to put my own plans together. I know my body, I know my capabilities so I know what works for me.

So with that in mind, I set about putting together a simple plan, suited to me. My goal was a goal of 5km by end of August (starting beginning of July) then slowly increasing to a half in December. So I would start the new year with a good base of long runs.

I started with only two runs a week not to push myself too much. Two years ago I forgot that I wasn’t where I was a few years ago and ramped my milage up too quickly and suffered from the not so fun shin splints.

Slowly slowly does it is my motto.

Thankfully I was able to get to the 5km by mid august. Helped hugely by the lack of back pain. Earlier in the year when I really wanted to run but physically couldn’t cause of the back pain I promised myself that if I could ever run without that pain I would throw myself into it diligently without complaint out of gratitude. Which I feel that I have done.

As well as slowly building milage in my plans, it was about getting back into consistency with running , slowly going from two days to three days and also getting into the habit of running without thinking. A few months down the line I have semi met that goal, I’m getting better at it. Some weeks it’s a well crafted art of balancing busyness/tiredness at work, keeping to weekly milage.

I also wanted to get to a point where a 5km was an easy standard run. In those early days even running a mile stressed me out and seemed difficult, but I know that if I’m to run 26  miles I need to have a base line that seems easy.  I’m pleased to say on the most part my body has got used to running a standard 5km (not always easy, but easier).

My other goal, which I admit I haven’t quite met, is getting consistent with strength training and stretching. I promised myself after my Own Your Run coaching last year that I would never again not include strength training with my running. But I haven’t quite got into a consistent habit so far. Going to keep aiming for it and will insist on it by the time January comes around.

I found it super helpful to commit to/sign up for a half marathon in December, it’s really spurred on my running, because there’s a big part of my mindset that keeps thinking I don’t need to start properly training until January (which is true) but it also means sometimes I’m lapse in my training. So having a half marathon booked is really helping.