A few weeks ago I got some great news! With thanks to my running club, and the ballot it holds for those unsuccessful in the public ballot, I have a place in this year’s London Marathon.
I’ve been fortunate. This is my third London Marathon, and when I haven’t been running it, I’ve been a marshal.
Because of getting a place, I have taken the decision to defer the Guernsey Ultra, a 36 mile mixed terrain race around the island of Guernsey. It’s only three weeks after London. It looks to be a truly superb race in a unique environment and I can’t wait to do it in 2020.
There’s a long way to go between now and then. My fitness in the second half of last year took a bit of a battering as life got in the way. I didn’t stop running but I was certainly running a lot less.
Between Christmas and New Year’s, I took a bit of time to reflect on what had gone well and what hadn’t, and what I’m spending my time on – with running, and in life.
New Year, New Me….NOT
I don’t go in for New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I’ve got a couple of goals covering running, and building my business.
On the running front, my focus is on building strength and stamina and some speed. This includes:
- doing the miles
- speed work
- regular core exercises
- rucking, a somewhat rude sounding word referring to walking around with a weighted backpack
- being mindful about what I eat and how much, to lose the added podge of 2018 and
- doing more incidental activity given much of my work is done from the comfort of my sofa!
On work, I’m an independent policy consultant, with a focus on artificial intelligence, health and care, and property. My focus this year is building my business. I’m working on some really exciting projects and am really looking forward to what 2019 brings. As part of this, I also regularly write and you can read some of this here.
Week 1 of London Marathon training
The training plan
Here goes…
My training week starts on a Saturday. A little trick I picked up from a coach at my club. It means by Monday the bulk of the miles are done, and it all feels a lot less pressured to get the shorter runs done.
I’ve got a plan that I’ve adapted from my previous marathons and 50k races. It’s what works for me.
In addition to doing the miles, the cornerstone for my training is core work. The core work not only supports my running, equally importantly it reduces the risk of my back giving out on me again. I’ve written about this previously.
And the ‘rucking’, walking around with a weighted backpack, is to build overall strength. I have my running backpack which I load with magazines and a 2kg weight!
Losing the podge of the second half of last year…I’m tweaking my diet a little. What I won’t be doing is going on a ‘diet’. The problem with diets is as soon as I think to myself, ‘I can’t have that’, I want it.
Week 1 training
If you’re in the midst of training for a race, let me know how you’re getting on! Happy running!
Exciting! I failed in our club ballot but I will be doing Liverpool, which fits my ultra a lot better (end of May / mid-July) and I will be down cheering at London again, which I love doing. Best of luck with your training.
Thanks so much Liz and great that you’ll be there to cheer everyone on! Yep, I’ve been really fortunate with the club place. Let me know how Liverpool goes. Which ultra are you doing?
I’m doing the second day of Race to the Stones which is the least terrifying one we could come up with to try! I’m blogging once a week about running on my personal blog so will include race reports when it’s time. Gulp!
Have a fabulous fabulous time! I’ve heard very good things and I’m sure you’ll love it! Looking forward to hearing how you get on.
Now this is really exciting news :o) I’m impressed you managed to keep the news quiet for a few weeks; I’m not sure I would have managed! I hope your training goes really well and I’m looking forward to reading your training updates and London Marathon review.
Thanks so much Emma! And yep, it was a little tough to keep quiet 🙂 Bring on the training!