Nought To Marathon: Over Christmas
Lucy and Sam will be going all the way from nought to marathon, culminating in them running Paris Marathon on 8th April 2018.
Here's how their training went over Christmas...
Sam:
It seems like no matter how much you wish it wouldn't be the case, the Christmas period just really slows your productivity. You start spending money, seeing family, eating unhealthy foods, and never making the time to get out and run!
While I did run a few times over the Christmas break, it wasn't as much as I should have, nor as much as my training plan had devised. In addition, like I'm sure many of you guys, I drank a lot, and I ate a lot. However, while I only got in a few runs over Christmas (totalling around 10km covered), the New Year brings new beginnings - and with them, opportunities to knuckle down again.
I've got a 10K lined up for this weekend, and I've got two runs down under my belt in 2018 already. Though it's hard to find the motivation to get out and run in the dark and the cold after work, I've found that a fantastic compromise can be to make use of my lunch breaks to go for a run - instead of just sitting around! With that in mind, I have a couple of resolutions:
Cut alcohol for the foreseeable future.
Run on my lunch breaks.
We'll see how the 10K goes this weekend, and although I'm not feeling super confident, I will get over the line.
Lucy:
In short, my #NoughtToMarathon journey took a slight detour over the Christmas period.
My mum got married, my brother came home after being away for nearly 4 years and to top it all off I got food poisoning too. I know that’s just a whole lot of excuses rolled into one, but in summary this is why I had about 2 weeks off running during the Christmas period. It’s not something I’m proud of, but instead of dwelling on my regrets I decided to kick off the New Year to a better start.
I’m now 3 days in and already have a 3 mile run and a circuits class under my belt. Although running isn’t as easy as I’d hoped it would be, it’s not terrible and each run is getting me closer and closer to my goal so for now I’m feeling motivated.
I’ve found across the course of my training so far that reflecting on what I’ve found difficult week on week has helped to improve. First I found that recording everything on my Asics marathon training plan app helped to keep me motivated. Then, I found that eating at a certain time during the day helped fuel me better for a run home from work in the evening. Now, I’m noticing that whilst upping my mileage, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to actually find the time on a week day to fit the run in. So this week I’ve decided I’m going to try and split up my runs into a couple of shorter runs in the day to fit it all in. I’ll be doing a 3 mile run to work, and then a 2-3 mile run during my lunch break to start things off this week. After that, I’ll look to run to and from work, and run at lunchtimes too. It’s a new step, so I will reflect at the end of the month to see whether the change has been helpful or not. If you’re interested in finding out more about splitting up long runs you can read this article:
https://www.runnersworld.com/ask-coach-jenny/can-i-split-up-my-long-run
