Winter running

It's getting rather chilly outside these days. Meaning that running can become less enjoyable, especially if it's also windy... But I got lots of lovely new warm running gear for Christmas which should see me through. As an asthmatic, cold air can be very difficult to breathe and rather irritates my airways. The key is to wrap up very warm, especially making sure the chest area is warm. And if it's really cold I put a buff round my neck which I can move up to cover my mouth; this warms the air before its breathed in and makes running a lot easier in the cold. Gloves are another must, I have some lovely ones which I can use my phone and ipod with. So really, cold weather is no excuse to not go running. And I'm now into the no nonsense, no excuses time of training. Unless I'm literally dying, I cannot miss training sessions. Or I will actually die attempting a marathon!

Time to Marathon: 3 months and 2 weeks

Training Begins

Today is officially the start of my training plan. I have five months to get myself in decent enough shape to attempt to run 26.2 miles. So when I saw this on Pinterest I thought it was rather appropriate. Because during training I'll be accruing hundreds of miles of running as well as hours of strength and flexibility training. So the race itself really is only the last 26.2 miles of this journey.

Over the next couple of months I'll be training for around 5 hours a week, and this will increase steadily after Christmas to around 8 hours a week. As well as the hours of training, I'll be following a nutritional diet (though as training increases I get to eat more :D). There are many things I will not be able to do over this period, the things I am giving up are significant. A few things I am going to have to give up are:

• Late night chips after an evening in the pub
• Cheeky takeaways when I'm too lazy to cook. Especially pizza. No pizza allowed.
• Alcohol on week days (except for very special occasions e.g. Christmas)
• Binge drinking on weekends (not that I ever do this anyway...;))
• Late nights out in the pub or bars
• Sunday morning lie-ins
• Junk food. If it doesn't have nutritional purpose, it cannot go in my stomach.

It may take me a few weeks to fully abide by these rules, but I'll get there. And it will make all the difference come race day, and I'll be very thankful that I trained hard and ate right. So when I start bugging you for sponsorship in a couple of months, please bear in mind the sacrifices I'm making ;)

Time to Marathon: 5 months, 3 days

Training Plan

So today I wrote my training plan for the marathon. Which in all honestly makes the whole thing seem a lot more manageable, as I can see the gradual progression. Though it still seems totally overwhelming, and I can't believe that I'll actually do it. For the next 5 months I'll be training 6 days a week to attempt to get myself into decent enough shape to at least manage to drag myself round the 26.2 miles and stumble across the finish line. I'll be doing daily yoga and stretches, as well as swimming, hill running, interval training, long runs and strength exercises throughout the week. Let the training commence...

Time to Marathon: 5 months, 1 week, 1 day

A New Chapter

It's been a long time since I last wrote on here. But a few days ago I was offered a charity place on the Brighton Marathon on 12th April 2015, which I accepted. Which really marks a whole new chapter in my running journey. It's strange to read back over blog posts from when I very first started running, when I've now completed several long races and running is very much a central part to my life. A marathon is a huge undertaking, but I'll be running for a charity that's very close to my heart, and hopefully help raise lots of money and awareness.

I have no idea if 6 months is enough time to get myself shape. It's the Birmingham half marathon next weekend again, which I'm running for the 2nd time (although I'm seriously under-prepared). So  have 6 months to step it up from that to a full marathon. Right now, April seems so far away that I don't think the enormity of the task I have set myself has fully set in. I haven't even written a training programme yet.,

So we shall see how things go I guess. Just got to hope I don't injure myself in next weeks half marathon like I did last year!

Time to Marathon: 6 months and 3 days