All posts tagged: marathon

Ten top tips – marathon training for beginners

Published by

Alright, alright, I guess I can’t exactly call myself a beginner. The upcoming marathon that I’ll be running on 28th April in London will actually be my third. But despite you all thinking that this doesn’t class me as a beginner, you may be surprised to hear that I actually don’t like running and never do it unless I’m training for a mammoth jog around a big city. I ran my first marathon (London 2017) in 03:59:57, my second (New York 2017) in 04:06:34 and soon to be third, well I can only imagine a lot slower than the last two, as the training hasn’t exactly gone to plan. I have suffered injury (hamstring tendinopathy) and am currently one week into the flu, so in total I have only done a total of two outdoor runs. And with the marathon 7 and a half weeks away, I could panic, or I could hold my head high, carry on and follow my own tips.  1. Get good sleep Sounds easy, right? Well if you’re anything like …

It has been a while…

Published by

It has been a while. Quite a long while, actually. The last time I posted I told the world how I wasn’t going to be so hard on myself for pulling out of the Berlin Marathon last September. Pulling out wasn’t fun, especially as we had booked flights and accommodation – but rather than face limping around the course, my boyfriend and I decided to go and spend a few days splayed around the pool at the incredible Soho House Berlin instead. So, why haven’t I written for a while? I’ve had this blog for almost a decade – yes, 10 years! When I started tapping away on my now vintage white Macbook all those years ago, the new age bloggers and what have more recently become termed influencers, were probably still getting grazes on their knees in the playground and eating lumpy custard and vanilla sponge in the school canteen. It makes me feel old, but not in a bad way as you might expect. Truth be told, when Instagram took off I was …

Pulling out of the Berlin Marathon – why I’m not being hard on myself

Published by

It’s a phrase you hear often, but yet a lot of people, me included, never seem to listen. Why is it resonating now? Well, as I sit on my poolside hotel bed that we booked as a post marathon treat watching four Englishmen stalk slowly past me to the exit, legs tense, walks resembling John Wayne, I can’t help but feel like an idiot. Yesterday was the Berlin Marathon, one of the six world major championships. I am in Berlin because last year I set myself a challenge to run all six world majors and I was meant to run it. But a couple of months ago I did something I never really thought I’d do. I… dun dun duuuuun, pulled out! I even sighed as I just wrote that sentence. I’m not a quitter, but recently I have come to realise that I set very high standards for myself. Standards that don’t mean a single thing to anyone else in the world. So why do I keep them? If anyone has the answer, please …

Training for a Marathon is Hard

Published by

A few weeks ago, I promised that I would update you with stories of my running progress while training for the London Marathon. I seem to have failed miserably so far, despite having every intention to sit down and do it each week. Instead, I reverted back to the good old pen and paper tactic, using a David Shrigley notebook, whose bright white empty sheets had been staring out at me for a while. It started as a log of time, distance and pace, and over the last couple of weeks increasingly become more of a diary than a page of stats, which makes me realise that I am perhaps ready to write again. So. My progress. That’s what you want to know, right? The good news is that I had two weeks of following the plan, almost to the letter. Then I quickly realised that if I wanted to ensure I did stick to a rigid training plan, I would need to fit it in around my lifestyle. It hasn’t been an easy process so …