How to prepare to prepare for your marathon?

Happy New Year and with these sentiments does it also me we are in to marathon training territory?? 

You may be thinking that it is months away and you have plenty of time to get training. This is very true but you might want to start thinking about how much time you can commit to your training plan.

We all start off with very good intentions; “I declare from this point forward I will commit to 4 or 5 runs a week” however, have we had this discussion with anyone else in the household, be that your partner, kids or even the dog! Then life happens and our precious training time gets eaten away; relatives visiting, kids need a lift somewhere, you always seem to be out, the washing machine/ iron/ hoover thinks there is a power cut and your partner starts to wonder if you will ever wear anything other than lycra again.

Marathon training can take up a lot of your time not only in the training but also the thinking about it, it can be all consuming!  

It is best that you prepare for this now; have the chat with your partner, family, dog and/or boss about what this means for you. Help them understand that this is important for you to run this marathon and why, let them know it will be around 13-16 weeks of your life were you may not be around so much and that they may need to fend for themselves (however, buying an automatic cat feeder for the kids might just result in a call from social services).

Negotiate with them about what are the important (can’t miss) things that will be taking place during your training plan and plan around them. Get the calendar out and be clear when are you going on holiday, celebrating a birthday or even moving house will any of this happen in your training schedule and if so start thinking now about your strategy so your training does not get derailed.

Don’t forget in this preparing phase you can score some brownie points now ready to use up during marathon training.

But it is not just all about the partner, family or dog making sacrifices you will too; you may need to get up for a run before work or the family gets up, it does sound tough but trust me nothing beats running as the sun rises, getting back as the morning has broken and knowing you have done your bit for the day!

If you can look to see if you can have a running commute in to the office on couple of days, it is functional and saves you money on petrol. These are just a couple of suggestions and no doubt there will be others.

One of the other ways to prepare could be about researching local running clubs if you are not already a member, nothing beats sharing the pain or joy of training and with fellow runners. The best way to find out about running clubs is either through the Run Britain website or typing in running clubs and your area.

So in essence

Speak to your nearest and dearest, let them know that running is marathon is important to you but in order for you to do it you will need their support and love.

Be realistic about your personal training budget – how many days can you commit to training before the family start posting missing poster

Finally be creative, think about running as a way to get home or to undertake a normal chore.

Be kind to yourself

Ok let's get it out of the way nice and early, I have been absent for some time and really there is no excuse. Ok maybe one excuse I haven't found anything interesting to write about, shock I know.

My running mojo had taken a nose dive(again), I've been going out but it wasn't as fun as it use to be,  my pace had dropped considerably and I was constantly comparing myself to be previous form and ability. Beating myself up for how unfit and and lazy I had become; which is madness and if any of my friends had said this to me I would have told them to stop being so my hard on themselves, so why one rule for them and one for me?

Reflecting back on my year it really hasn't been too bad, I ran a couple of new races, I ran the Virgin Money London Marathon, took part in Thunder Run, ran my first trail

half, coached and ran with friends in the potteries marathon relay  and ran another international half marathon in Lisbon.  All in all a good year and I should be proud of my achievements and be thankful that

a)I have the physical ability to run 
b) it is safe for me to run 
c) made some amazing running buddies.  

Wait I forgot,  I also became a UKA running for fitness coach!! A very good year really

So why do I still feel sad, perhaps it is because I have recently changed jobs, which although it was through choice, something I was looking forward to and I knew things would change. But perhaps I hadn't mentally prepared properly for how much I  miss my home life and running with my club mates and friends.  I now work in London 5 days a week and stop down there for the most of the week, which means I miss out on club night and my weekends get compressed to trying to spend some quality time with loved ones, washing, shopping, ironing and trying to get some relaxing in. This means my desire to go out to xc or weekend races this year has really waived this year and staying home closest to nearest and dearest has won out. 

I think because I now identify myself as a not only a runner but a member of a club  of runners that although I can still (and do) run in London I have lost a little of the joy of running. I also don't think it helps the time of year I have started this new job but hopefully after December the night will start getting lighter and I will be able to see a little more of the city. All is not lost I still have parkrun  and I get to see most of them at the start and finish and if I am lucky one or two take pity on me and slow down to run with me.

I know I need to pull up my big girl pants and get on with it and start thinking about

what I can do and not focus on what I can't!  I also need to be nicer to myself, become my own best friend and start acknowledging my achievements and the occasional pat in the back 

All good things

I had a lovely time on my holiday recently, it was nearly 6 months from booking it to getting on the plane and sampling my first margarita, well worth the wait! I had a lovely two weeks soaking up the sun in the Dominican Republic.  Quite often our favorite pastime is to plan the next holiday and this year was no different, looks like we are planning to run Vegas RR marathon in 2016, the waiting begins!

While we were on holiday I caved in and ordered my new Garmin Forerunner 225 with built in heart rate monitor in the wrist, I thought my body was worth a chaff free run :) it helped that I did quite well on the tables in the casino.  The only problem  would be the wait the watch was due to be released in June but Runners Need was keeping it very quiet about when.  Then last Friday I got the text message it had been dispatched and was on its way to me (GREAT NEWS) the only problem is that they wanted to deliver on Monday,  curse having to work for a living!! The next suitable delivery was Wednesday another 2 days wait, then I it was a full day of work (till 18:00)  until I could finally unpack, set up my watch and go for a run. But finally my watch is here and I have done my first run

You may have seen from my recent posts that my running has not being going too well, I have been getting out there and running, but nothing is really feeling comfortable, easy or fun.  There are no injuries to speak of, other than my body wishing it was back on a sun lounger in the Dom Rep, I seem to be suffering with a serious case of impatience with my performance. So the one thing I am going to wait have for a little longer is achieving some personal bests. 

But hopefully my couple of weeks rest from my holiday and my new watch will help me to achieve some personal bests this year.  As they say all good things come to those who wait 

Day 10 Running Streak miles covered 46.6 miles, number of blog posts 3