Marathon training
cc licensed flickr photo by KaiChanVong:
I’m training for the London Marathon this year. After a bit of a wobbly start – and no, not due to the Christmas excess – I’ve just started my training programme today. I’ve decided to blog about my training, because it combines two of my obsessions – writing and running.
The posts on this pages will have absolutely nothing to do with magic bullets (although some of the running/ weight-loss gimmicks might get a bit of roasting), nothing to do with climate change (although I hope that I’ll be saving some GHGs by getting around on my own steam more) and nothing to do with energy policy (apart from making sure my body is energy secure – which it is)
I’m also running for my brother-in-law’s charity Street Child of Sierra Leone. I’m part of their club of 500. Their challenge for 2011 is that 500 people will raise at least £1000. That’s a lot of money and a lot of capacity to help the charity reunite street children with their families.
I won’t be wearing any silly outfits (such a spoil sport, I know), but I will be wearing branded kit, and probably have my name written in waterproof eyeliner somewhere on my body. That’s as far as it goes.
The London Marathon will be my third Marathon. My first was Edinburgh in 2005 (4.12) and second, Copenhagen in 2006 (4.08). I desperately wanted run one every year, but I got a little unhealthily obsessed with running, over trained and put myself out for about 3 years with a pretty nasty back injury. After lots of acupuncture, rolling around on a massage ball, and pilates I’m on the road to recovery. Sadly before Christmas I had two colds one after the other, the last of which caused my asthma to flare up. So my dream of a sub-4 Marathon this April is pretty unlikely. Next time (sigh)
My training programme is a bit of a hybrid of what I’ve done before and what works for me. It is basically 5 runs a week with one cross-training session (swimming for me). This includes:
- at least one long run which builds by 2 miles per week, which is usually on a Sunday morning at the time of the marathon start (it’s good to train the body to be active at the time of the race);
- one interval session which varies between hills and speed sessions;
- one medium length run (reaching to a maximum of 10 miles mid-week); and
- two gentle runs of 3-5 miles.
Happy running…
July, 2011 update
Well I did it. My training went haywire after a terrible start to the year (projects, asthma flaring up, groin injury). Nevertheless, three panic attacks and a good stretch by the fantastic medic team, I hobbled in at just over 5 hours. Deeply disappointed at the time, but raised over £1000 for Street Child. And, I’ll start training for the first Sierra Leone Marathon later in the year
Here’s the proof…running past my adorable nephews Arthur, Fred and Hal (Fred was chanting go on “Auntie Viki” all day, even as they traveled up to see me!)
