After the crazy whirlwind ride that was 'The Project 26.2 Experience' I find myself thinking about what I might change and what I'll do the same the second time around as I approach Bournemouth Marathon (October 6th).
The Plan
For starters, I would already have been training since the beginning of May had I stuck to the training plan I had written especially for me last time, but this time I'll begin in mid July. I've selected a 12 week plan from Zest Magazine's Running Made Easy book as I used the 10K and Half Marathon plans last year and really enjoyed them. At the moment I'm on 'tick-over', running around 10 miles per week over 2 sessions and avoiding anything serious (intervals, tempo and hill sessions, for example). I've run two 10K races un-trained since the marathon (Bupa London 10,000 and Bedgebury Trailblazer) and came in just a minute or two below PB for each one, very encouraging when I consider how little running I've been doing! Training for my last marathon sapped a lot of my running enthusiasm so I'm just using this lull to let my mind and body recover before I start again. I've been running the 7 mile route home from work every now and then - it's incredibly rural and super-technical, but I take my time and just enjoy it. From now on I'll add 1-2 miles per week until I start the plan.
The long build-up of last marathon's training was mentally tough for me so I'm really looking forward to the 12 week plan. I have the full plan in front of me in advance this time, rather than receiving sessions in fortnightly instalments - I feel I'll be able to approach things with a lot more enthusiasm as I know it won't be such a long slog and I can visualise exactly what's to come. I've programmed my Garmin with all of my interval and tempo sessions already, giving myself a zen-like state of readiness before I've even started!
Running Made Easy - an excellent beginner read, but full of tips and training plans for everything up to marathon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zest-Running-Made-Easy-Magazine/dp/1843404346
Flexibility
Last time I learned the value of sports massage and its role in injury prevention, so I'm booking in for a monthly session during training and will also be doing the preventative stretches we were shown during Project 26.2, although I'll be limiting those to 2-3 times per week as daily sessions/half sessions were quite hard to fit in and I found myself rushing them instead of doing the stretches to their full benefit. I'm looking into yoga classes too - I dodged the Project 26.2 core exercises completely, so committing to a local class means I'll have to work on my core!
Learning from Others
I've been putting my marathon reward (a Kindle Paperwhite I treated myself to) to good use and started reading Keep on Running - The Highs & Lows of a Marathon Addict by Phil Hewitt, upon many a recommendation from other runners on Twitter. I'm a quarter of the way through and already empathising with Phil - he ran his first marathon under pressure in the media spotlight (I can identify with that!) and completed his second un-trained in a local, rural race. I'm looking forward to finishing the book over the next few days and hopefully learning from Phil's experiences so that I can apply his knowledge to my second round of marathon training.
Keep on Running: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keep-Running-Highs-Marathon-Addict/dp/1849532362/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371671584&sr=1-1&keywords=keep+on+running
Addressing my 'Issues'
The only real problem I encountered at MK Marathon was my digestive system's catastrophic (and rather impressive) failure from mile 17.5 onwards, reducing me to a fast walk and an unavoidable portaloo pit stop. I've combated my main suspect, the heat, by choosing an Autumn marathon, but I'm also opting to change back to my old nutrition products, rather than continuing with the High5 items we were generously provided with during Project 26.2. I'll be reverting to my old GU caffeine gels and Nuun hydration tablets as those have always worked for me and I like the taste of them too. I seem to get on much better with very thick gels than runny, liquid ones as I'm that slightly awkward runner you'll see opening gels at races, only to end up using it more as a face product or shoe detergent than the nutritional purposes it was intended for! I tested some really yummy strawberry jelly-like energy cubes recently, but found them difficult to chew 'on the run'.
So, here goes nothing - the next time I post on this blog I'll probably be in training, but first I've got a couple of weeks of un-structured running fun to look forward to, plus a well-earned rest in Rome! (my trainers will be in my suitcase, they may even get used!)
P.S. for those who were wondering, I'm still missing four toenails - no sandals for me on holiday!
P.P.S. If you have a marathon tattoo please do share - I'm looking for inspiration. 'XXVI.II' was my favourite, until I learned that decimal points weren't around in those days. I really can't face the risk of people smugly telling me that my tattoo is incorrect!
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