It’s 15 weeks until the Brighton Marathon and I’m starting to wonder what I’ve talked myself into. You see although I’ve run four half marathons in the last two years I suspect that moving up to 26 and a bit miles is going to push me to my limits. In fact, it would probably be more sensible to stick with 10K races. But what the heck, a marathon is on my lifetime to do list, so I need to at least try and tick it off!
To be honest, I’m also currently struggling to find my motivation – lack of training through the ice and snow followed by rich Christmas food and alcohol hasn’t helped.
So if like me you are feeling a bit low on the MoJo how can you kick start yourself into action? Well, here’s my plan, it might work for you too:
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Healthy eating. I find I run better when I am lighter and it also helps to reduce the strain on my joints. Like me you may want to lose a few pounds (I want to lose about 10lbs) but running means that we have to eat healthily too – no faddy diets. My twitter friend Julia Revitt has provided me with both inspiration and practical help via her website/blog. She advocates making a few small changes each week for 3 weeks and eating 5 or 6 small meals a day. She has even provided a 14 day menu plan which I am definitely going to follow to get me back into good habits.
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Alcohol. I love a glass of wine but one leads to two leads to ..you know where I’m going. All those empty calories won’t help weight loss and a fuzzy head the next day is not good for an early morning run, so alcohol is strictly for special occasions during January.
- Training Schedule. I’ve found a Runner’s World 15 week training program which combines four easy runs, with one hill work session, one tempo and a weekly long run. It’s probably similar to lots of other marathon programs but I like this one because it fits in with my working week and because it gives some guidance on workout paces based on recent 10K times.
I am slightly concerned that the long run launches me straight into 2+ hours but to begin with I’ll treat this as “time on my feet” rather than getting too hung up about running the whole time (I recall Liz Yelling saying it was okay to do that). Anyway I’m starting the program tomorrow (Monday) so my first long run won’t be until next weekend – hopefully I can psych myself up by then!
And finally, what time am I aiming for? Well, if I can finish and in less than 5 hours that will do me nicely! Hold that thought..
Hilary
PS If you’d like to read Julia’s blog and get a copy of her 14 day menu plan you can find it here