Ten things I learned training for a marathon
887 days ago, I watched the 2019 London marathon on TV and decided to sign up; the coronavirus made every effort to disrupt many best-laid plans to run the 26.2 miles around our iconic capital city.
Last year I walked the distance along the Icknield trail and am now looking forward to joining 45,000 other souls at the start line at Blackheath with a mix of excitement, anticipation and fear.
I've had plenty of time to think about the big day and have been pondering what I've learned over nearly 900 days of planning.
- You find yourself only capable of talking about running - I remain eternally grateful to my long-suffering coworkers. They have endured hours of conversations about weekend runs, nutrition plans and marathon nerves. Likewise, friends and family have cheered in encouragement as dates grow near and offered consolation when plans move. The long and short of it is this - humans are awesome.
- Trail running is very different to running on a road - this was an early and unfortunate lesson. It turns out that running on trails requires ankle and core strength that I simply didn't have in the early days of my training, and I quickly ended up with a very painful fractured pelvis which scuppered training (and my ability to wear heels) for a while.
- There are far more footpaths near your home than you realise - I'm still finding them! The Ordnance Survey App is probably one of the best apps you can download. It shows you all of your local footpaths, byways and bridlepaths. Perfect for when the same old loop gets boring.
- Dogs make brilliant training buddies - as soon as Milo was old enough, we started running together. We built his distance up over time to avoid damaging his joints and haven't looked back. I love running with him; he's such brilliant company.
- Dogs don't make you go faster - I've lost count of the number of people Milo and I run past who shout, "that's cheating". Milo may be great company, but he's not a proper canicross dog. He gets distracted by squirrels, cats, lampposts, bins and people outside pubs (especially if they have crisps). That said, he is pretty handy with hills.
- Rigid training plans are a thing of the past - Training plans powered by AI are here; are they effective? I'll tell you on Monday!
- Toenails are over-rated - the less said about that, the better. Unfortunately, I've lost them all; it's not pretty.
- Sleep is over-rated - peeling yourself out of a warm bed at 4.30am to do a 15 mile run before work isn't anyone's idea of fun. Showing your colleagues the incredible sunrise photos as you recount your adventure while they rub a hangover out of their eyes feels pretty damn smug.
- No, you can't eat whatever you like - a 15-mile run = 1,697 calories. Five Guys burger, fries and milkshake = 1.800 calories.
- Stay away from sugar-free jelly beans - the less I tell you about that, the better.
As Sunday draws near, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me through all of this. For your sponsorship, encouragement and for enduring my tales of endurance, I am eternally grateful.
There's still time to sponsor me and help to raise funds to stop breast cancer in its tracks. Click here
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