And now for the hard work

So we are now 16 weeks from what I like to call M-day which now means I am on what they recommend as the minimum amount of time to sufficiently train for a marathon. So what does this mean? Well firstly no more slacking off, we are now into the intense programme so I need to bin all those excuses and just do my thing.

I think I have had a pretty strong pre-programme plan which I kept fairly flexible and still got in a lot of mileage. I'm now able to do 8 miles (13km) without stopping (and prob more if the roads were clear of ice and snow) which is where I wanted to be at this stage. All the running in the ice and snow has done wonders for my core muscles (but my knees are less grateful :)) and I'm still clocking in decent times which I am hoping that by the time the snow subsides I will be a lot stronger and faster.

So now the real training starts, I am hoping to do a bare minimum of 2 'short' runs (between 4 and 8 miles) a week but a preferred 3. On top of that I have an 'other training' day which could be cross training (cycling, hiking or god forbid....swimming) or specific workouts like Fartlek (tee hee, I said fart), hill training or any other random sport. I then have one long run each weekend which will start at 8 miles and will go up around a mile a week until I reach 20 miles, then I will taper back down. On top of that I have a weights programme at the gym which I will be doing at least 3 times a week

Just typing that out makes me feel tired but I am determined to finish the marathon with pride, I want to be sprinting(ish) to the finish line and I want to get a good time to show the world how hard I worked. This is something I wanted to do most my life so I'm going to do it to the best of my ability and I always know I can do better.... so I will :)

Not only has the training intensified but I'm starting to have to watch what I eat. At this stage it's minor tweaks like replacing fast releasing carbs (think white pasta, white bread etc) with wholemeal which release energy slower. I've also been experimenting with healthy post run snacks like muffins and ditched the frying pan for the grill . Over time my diet will no doubt change especially when I have to start experimenting with energy gels (yuk). To be honest I cant wait for the pre marathon binge which is basically 3 weeks of healthy carb overloads!

I have my first race on the 7th March which will be the Newtons Fraction Half Marathon in Grantham. Next up will be the Lincoln 10k which will be the 21st March which I will use as a race to get a fast time and then it will be M-Day!!!