London Marathon Training: Month 2

As you guys may or may not be aware by now I am running the London Marathon on the 24th of April 2016. When I tell people this, they look at me with that ‘are you crazy look’, I may be crazy but the London Marathon has been high on my ‘things to do in life’ list for a few years now. Back in 2014 I ran the 10km Race for Life in Glasgow and actually really enjoyed it but then I have always been a runner. I just find life gets in the way of actually running frequently. With the marathon looming in 60 or so days time, I am trying to continue to build on my training this month.

Month 2 of London Marathon Training

Month one of marathon training felt like a solid start to my four month training program. However, as I sit here typing this I have a hot water bottle placed on my knee and the strong smell of deep heat in the air. That’s right, I have every runners worst nightmare, an injury. I am so disappointed and frustrated by not being able to run comfortably for the past week. And to make matters worse I was due to run the Kingston half marathon this week which I am unfortunately going to have to pull out of. I am gutted to say the least. So how did this all happen? Well, actually I don’t know. I was running perfectly fine one minute then my knee began to twinge and then not long after I was in agony. Like a true idiot I continued to run until I made it home and once I stopped I realised just how much pain I was in. How I did it I don’t know… It could have been because I did my trainers up differently or maybe because I was running carefully on the icy patches of the road. Either way I’m not sure but I am beginning to understand true frustration from it. Despite resting up there seems to be little improvement and I could barely run a mile on the treadmill today. If anyone has tips on how to over come injury then I’d love to hear them. Still, the month was not all gloom. I ran some good long distances at the start of this month (am nearly at half marathon distance now) and am managing to keep each km under six minutes despite the hills around Richmond Park. I have also been making time to do a gym work out twice a week and of course plenty of yoga.

Stats this month

The furthest I ran was 19.5km in 1 hour 51 minutes.

In total I ran 112.5km over 13 runs – which is a further distance than last month and over less runs.

Top running songs this month

Life young die free – Fletcher

Break a sweat – Becky G

Protein Shakes

This month I have also began using protein shakes, a friend recommended doing so to help repair the injury to my knee. My body needs all of the protein it can get to rebuild any damaged muscles. I was really unsure about what shake I would want and knew I would find it difficult to find one as I have a gluten and dairy free diet because of stomach issues. Luckily I popped into the health food shop in town and they found me the perfect shake which I can use morning, noon or night at either a half portion or full portion. The calorie intake isn’t too high and the shake is completely plant based which seems to be gentle on the stomach. Initially I struggled with the texture of the drink but am slowly getting use to it – mixing it with coconut water instead of tap water seems to be helping too.

Charity Talk

Although I secured a ballot place in the London Marathon I decided I wanted to support a charity as well. After much indecisiveness I have chosen to run for Cancer Research, they are a charity close to my heart and I have generally always ran for them so why change a habit? I have set up a Just Giving page if anyone would be so kind as to sponsor me.