Marathon crunch time

It's getting towards the business end of marathon training. I have about four weeks to go to marathon number eight, this is it now, a few weeks of the hardest training left then taper time.

Rather than giving you my unqualified advise as to what I think you should do to successfully train for a marathon, I'm going to tell you about my training in the hope that it will interest/educate/enlighten/guide/confuse/amuse you (delete as appropriate). 

First off this is my first spring marathon, the big negative associated with a spring marathon is the rain, the cold, the wind and the dark, training during the summer months for an Autumn marathon is much more fun!

The big advantage for me though had been that my marathon, Halstead on the 8 May, comes a few weeks after several big events, Paris, London, Brighton etc. This means my training has been a few weeks behind the masses of people running these events and sharing their training on social media so I have been quietly lurking in the background watching and learning from other people's experiences. 

Six weeks out from a marathon seems like a perfect time to get new trainers, that and the fact my current pair have done well in excess of 500km. 

So these are the pair that are (notice there is now hopefully added in here, I am trying to engage in more positive thinking) going to take me to sub 4 hour glory. 

In the last few weeks I have been racking up the miles and on top of the three half marathons I have done this year I have completed two 15 milers and a 17 miler. I am planning two more long runs in the region of 20 miles so that should take care of getting enough mileage in.

The long runs have been paired with a decent amount of speed work as well with regular early morning track sessions over at Regents Park.

I reckon my training has been better than previous marathons with a definite case of my training having been smarter if not necessarily having been harder or longer. 

So what do I have to do now to get me to the marathon start line in tip top condition:

Sleep - Plenty of rest to maximise the benefits of training.

Protein - Increassing the amount of protein I am including in my diet so plenty of hummus, natural yogurt, protein shakes, nuts, peanut butter, milk and the old faithful chicken for me. Its also lucky that USN recently sent me a free goody box of products to try out and review.

So far I have tried out, pure GF1 a tasty, rich, creamy protein shake packing a whole 40g of protein, pretty perfect to help recovery after a long grueling run. 

Trying out new carb loading options - I recently read an account from a runner who reflected that while training for an event so many runners will priotitise eating well, cutting out refined sugar and processed food only to get to race day and then start consuming sickly energy gels down their throats to help power their run. This really hit home with me so I decided to try out some more 'real food' options. I stumbled across whitworths shots (other dried fruit snacks are available) as a great way to get some carbs on board while out running. So far they are working really well, the main difference being that they take a bit of time to chew and swallow as opposed to gels which just slip straight down your throat. 

Not eating any puddings - Cutting out sweets, cakes and other sugary snacks is usually on most runners pre race preparation list and I am no different as I have a particularly sweet tooth and the problem is heightened by the fact that I get free lunch and work. Not just free lunch, but free lunch with a great range of puddings, cheesecakes, fruit crumbles, sponge cakes all the good things you can imagine! Cutting these out is fast becoming a major challenge! 

So here we go 4 ish weeks to go, lots of hard work to go but only 2 weeks before things tail off and its taper time! 

If you are running any of the great range of marathons in the coming weeks I hope your training has gone well and you have a great run! 

The final curtain - the third of three marathons in three months

Tomorrow is the third of my three marathons in three months? The marathon in question is the Brentwood South Weald Marathon in Essex. 

How am I feeling about it?

In a way glad it is going to be over but at the same time sad that I will lose that long term goal and the short term focus from every day life.

My preparation since my last marathon just 4 weeks ago has gone well. I very much stuck to the less is more training mantra and only completed one long run of note a 18 mile run commute home.

My challenge for tomorrows marathon will be the course as the route is 12 laps of a 3.5km course. I have thought quite a bit about how to deal with this and have tried to play it down and just think of it as a normal run. My coping strategy if I need one will be to follow the 'run in the moment' advice of Scott Jurek, the idea of breaking runs down into the current situation and not thinking about what has gone before or what lies ahead. There is a great video interview that I watched this week that you can see here. 

I have been looking forward to this marathon as it really my local event as it takes place a few miles a way and will only take 15 minutes to drive. I must say it is nice not to have to travel away to race and to not have to plan and arrange travel and accommodation etc.

So the stage is set for this third marathon, I have a few niggles to my calves (a constant issue with me) and to my right ankle but other than that I feel strong.

My marathon supplies for before, during and after.

My preparation this last week has been good and my legs feel pretty fresh and eager to run. I have done a few slow, gentle sessions on the stationary bike and have found these to be really beneficial.

The only negative in my preparation is that tonight, the ever so important pre-race night is the night of a family occasion so I will be out for Dinner and a night at the local greyhound races. Any other night I would be really keen for such an evening as I enjoy a night at the dogs but just not tonight! 

So fingers crossed for tomorrow! Thank you to everyone for your support and well wishes. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and a massive well done to anyone who has taken on the grueling Beachy Head Marathon today! 

Post marathon eating binge

After a marathon you are meant to eat loads right?

Firstly to replace all the calories you have burned and to refuel your body with all the nutrients it needs to recover from its exertions.

Secondly to reward yourself for all the hard work during the actual marathon and all the efforts of training. 

I know using food, especially bad junk type food as a reward is not a healthy mindset but hey we all do it, right?! 

To be honest following this latest marathon I haven't had a massive appetite. Directly after running I felt empty and quickly consumed some water, a lucozade and a mars bar from my race goodie bag along with a tortilla wrap. But other than that I didn't feel hungry and writing this article three days on I still haven't had a huge hunger. 

Come an hour or two later I still didn't feel that hungry. Not really knowing what I wanted to eat only knowing I should eat we headed to wetherspoons as I knew they at least provided a wide range of food options, my selection was a Mexican chicken burger and two pints of cool refreshing cider.

To be honest I struggled to finish! It wasn't the greatest burger but was perfectly edible and wetherspoon chips are a personal favourite but I just couldn't really manage it all.

I know your body including your stomach takes an absolute hammering during a marathon and its not easy for your stomach to recover from all the sickly sugary energy gels and lucozades.

Later on in the evening I tucked into a few sweet treats, again not through a sense of need or hunger but from a sense of reward and entitlement.

What the old marketing phrase? A finger of fudge is just enough to give the kids a treat? Or in my case a whole pack is just enough to give the marathon runner his chocolate fix!

My post marathon sugary eating binges are nothing new, after the Beachy Head Marathon last year I consumed pretty much an entire packet of a Marks & Spencer chocolate biscuit selection pack at around 4am in the morning after the run as I couldn't sleep and felt bored in my hotel room with only the biscuits to keep me entertained! 

Monday morning the day after the race I was sure I would feel ravenous after not eating that much on the day of the race so I eagerly looked forward to taking advantage of our hotels buffet breakfast.

I didn't really feel that hungry and to be honest didn't eat a crazy amount, my metabolism is definitely working overtime though as I didn't feel stuffed or bloated at all and my stomach soon felt emptish again.

Tuesday and back at work I treated myself to a Japanese curry as a nice break from my training staple of brown rice or potatoes. 

I then carried on the chocolate eating with a pack of 'family sized' twirl bites. 

I blame supermarkets for providing these snacks at such a cheap price and the advertising them as soon as you walk into the store!

After an intense training programme I think its important to let yourself go for a few days and just eat whatever as its hard to sustain complete healthy eating for longer periods. In my case its necessary to have a few 'cheat' days with another event coming up so quickly so I can get eating bad foods out of my system before I refocus on a healthy diet again.

Thanks for reading, what do you like to eat after a long run? Any favourite cheat foods or weird urges you love to eat after running?

48 hour marathon countdown

With around 48 hours to go until the Robin Hood Marathon on Sunday, my 4th ever marathon and the 2nd of my 3 in 3 months challenge how am I feeling?

The answer in short is not that great!

I suppose the thing is I always think I feel amazingly super fit and well pre marathon so when I don't feel all energised bouncing around like the Duracell bunny I feel a bit disappointed. Although there is no doubt that I am fit enough, strong enough and ready to run and hopefully even able to run faster than I have before there is always that disappointment when the transformation into a Mo Farah replica doesn't take place during your training programme.

Then there is the doubt, the crippling doubt. 

Have I done enough training, have I done the right training?

Have I ran often enough? Or ran too often?

Have I done enough speed work and ha my speed been fast enough?

What about my long runs? Have they been long enough?

So many questions with no real answers and I always have the voice in the back of my head trying to convince me my whole training plan has been an utter shambles!

This last week I have taken it very easy, 13K on Sunday, gym on Monday, 7K Tuesday, circuits Wednesday and then 3.5K last night. I fear I over did the squats and lunges on Wednesday though as I have felt a bit achy and stiff since.

My run last night was not great as my calves felt so tight and stiff and I struggled for energy despite massively increasingly my carb intake. 

I have been foam rolling twice daily in an effort to get my calve into good shape but they aren't great and I think this will really hamper my time as they will prevent me from running a good pace for the opening few miles while they warm themselves up.

My marathon preparation has been blighted by a feeling of disorganisation

The problems have been should I run with my hydration pack? If I do will it slow me down? Do I really need to carry water when there are regular drink stations? Do I nees to carry energy gels or should I just rely on the energy drinks provided? If I choose energy gels should I carry this in my hydration bag or in my running bum bag? Then what about my phone? Its easier to carry in my bag as I don't get on that well with arm straps, or should I carry it at all? 

Too many questions that I haven't given enough thought to and made definitive decisions to, I have just kind of muddled along with an answer. My plan is to carry a few energy gels, ditch the hydration pack (on account of not wanting to look like a prick!), take advantage of the energy drinks on route if I need to and carry my phone in my arm strap and hope it doesn't cut of circulation to my arm over the course of the marathon!

Realistically I know a sub 4 marathon is out of the equation so my aim is to turn up, run well, enjoy the run, enjoy one of my favourite cities and hopefully be able to look back on the marathon as a positive experience.

The weekend is a big marathon weekend with Berlin and The Loch Ness marathons also taking place. Good luck to everyone running a marathon or racing another event this weekend. Thanks for reading!