I missed yesterday's first beautiful day of Spring as I spent the whole day in an auditorium in London listening to a whole wealth of specialist nutritionists , VLM directors (that's Virgin London Marathon to you and I!), sports scientists, Olympic marthonites (Liz Yelling) and celeb marathonites (Sophie Raworth) and much more. I know this is only going to compound my "running-bore" title but it was really interesting. So let me share some nuggets with you:
- £58.2mn was raised by VLM runners last year, that is a phenomenal £2.4K per golden ticket holder... and puts my current total £417.50 to shame!
- I really want to do the Silverstone half-marathon next year* - running around the track sounds fun and Tom would love it (although I think he would still prefer to watch Lewis Hamilton careering around the track in his go-cart!) Sadly this year it clashes with my hot date with the Bath half but a definite maybe for 2014
- This years celeb line-up includes Michel Roux Junior who's PB is 3 hours 19 - Harry Judd (he can be my pacer... I'll run just behind him!), Joey Essex (I hope he realises a marathon is not a chocolate bar?), Katherine Jenkins and Sophie Raworth (my new BFF... check out my first stalker pic)
- It can take 20 mins to cross the start line and up to 40mins to get through the finishing section... that is another hour before I can get my hands on a a Big Mac and fries!
- There are cold showers you can run through around course... must remember my shower cap!
- Despite being within view of Buck Palace you WON'T be arrest for acts of nudity so long as it is in context.... !
- It's all about cadence (!?!)
- There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in a human body and about a 1/4 are in the ankle or below (not sure why I like this fact but hey!)
- Pretzels are a must have snacking food in the week leading up to the marathon!
- It's imperative to understand your pre-run poo regime! TMI? It was a Liz Yelling comment and she knows!
- Last year's average race time was 4 hours 22mins... I have never been average and figure for £50 entrance fee I want to maximise the experience and so will be running at a below average pace!
So with January's training completed I am feeling pretty pleased with myself. I hadn't figured that marathon training was such a gruelling regime and I being someone who likes a short cut I struggled at first to realise there is NO short cut in marathon training. Maybe this is a life lesson?
February is about building the stamina and I have to admit that I felt really good running today. The high point (in more ways than one) was taking on a particularly gruelling hill just as the MP3 decided Eye of the Tiger would be appropriate listening (check it out here it's hilarious!). Before I knew it I was on top of a 295ft hill looking across the Cotswolds landscape around Lechlade, punching the air in true Rocky style and jumping around. Thank goodness it was a deserted road, except from a beautiful red kite soaring above my head. I acknowledge that I still have a long way to with 15 miles next weekend and then up to a staggering 17 miler two weekends later but.... apparently it is all in the head!?
March then becomes about practice and my "easy" week encompasses the Bath half so I can practice my race routine and suss out strategies to help me find my cheerleaders in the crowd.
Then we hit April and I begin to taper before the big day...so that all sounds easy and as though I have an age but the reality is that in exactly 11 weeks I hope I am lying somewhere on horseguards parade, with my cheerleaders, being fed Big Macs and with a helicopter ready to fly me home... a girl can dream!
* Seriously I am already planning my running diary for next year... I got it bad!
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