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Monday, 9th September

Monday’s blog is as important to me as it is to everyone else. I always go on about the importance of starting Monday with a bang, and its vital for me to get that spirit going for myself too.

My Monday morning starts at 420am when I get up for breakfast and prepare for my first session. I know that if I show up for that first session a bit tired, a bit sleepy and in general “not up for it” then I know I am not serving that individual who is paying me to train them.

So my preparation has to be good and methodical and it all starts with an early night on Sunday and a good breakfast of porridge, water and one coffee to get me going.

Once I get into my first session, I know I am set up for the day and revved up to perform at my best.

I know once I get my first run of the day under my belt, I feel so much more energized and the energy and adrenalin soon starts to flow at a rate of knots!

This is why I tell people all the time, and the ones that are new to exercise especially, that you actually CREATE energy and future energy by exercising and eating well. It may seem that you are burning energy up by exercising, but once your body recovers, you will feel so much better after you have had a bath or shower.

It’s the constant regularity of your exercise programme that will literally make you feel better by the week. This is the addictive feeling that people enjoy so much from exercise, and this is why practically every single person I have spoken to feels so much better from exercise, and never wants to let that emotional uplift disappear!

So here we are at another Monday, so please try and make it happen today not only to get into shape and set the week up nicely, but to create an abundance of energy for yourself every day this week!

Twitt
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Friday, 6th September

Once you finish the marathon, you may think that’s it but its really not.

After the aching has subsided, and your toes, blisters and back has recovered, you still will likely stay in this very positive mood and state of mind for around 3-4 months afterwards.

The marathon often gives you a thought process where you start to think that anything is possible.

Six months later, you may develop an urge to do a marathon again the year after the last one you did. This is not uncommon.

The shorter runs you get back into after a marathon are both a relief and make you think that maybe you are cheating yourself.

The lack of injuries and minor niggles are great, but somehow you get to miss the aches and pains of the ultimate challenge.

All of these thoughts and deliberations are likely to go through your head for a year or two after the marathon, after all you have accomplished so much by going through the marathon in the first place, and you have overcome so many obstacles, then maybe it is true that nothing really is impossible!

Twitt
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Thursday, 5th September

So after I hit the 6 mile mark in the marathon, I knew I would be up against it carrying a 2 stone object for the next 20 miles. What made it worse was that I couldn’t put it on my back, and I had to carry it one handed.

The next 8 miles wasn’t too bad, but soon after I hit tower bridge I started to feel it much more. Believe it or not, you can run 14-15 miles in the London marathon and there are huge amounts of people right in front of you, to the side and right behind you, I found at the 16 mile stage things began to space out a bit and you tended to be in groups of 5-6 runners instead of about 200!!

What got me to mile 20 was the abundance of people still shouting at you to carry on, even speed up! You have your name written on your vest and number so everyone knows your name!

By 20 miles, my shoulders felt as bad as my legs because the pie was still in one hand at a time, my legs were feeling very bad because the extra weight was being transferred to my legs too.

From 20 miles onwards, I felt every single mile took A LOT longer somehow! Each mile was dreadfully painful and long, and nothing could get rid of the pain and tiredness, and even at the late stage 0f 24-25 miles, I saw the odd person collapse, or get injured, or simply couldn’t go any further, their dream ruined for the day and year.

What keeps you going from mile 20-26, known as the “wall”, was the much bigger again crowd support! I actually knew one or two people in the crowd and when the roads open up again, you know you aren’t far from the finishing line! This is a massive lift, let me tell you!

The 20-26 mile area is the hardest emotionally, as you really want to stop, you may lose a couple of toe nails, you may have very painful blisters, and everything will be aching like never before, but the crowd are the biggest part of the equation getting you through, anyone who has taken part will tell you all that!

This is also when your training plan comes into its own, this is when all the good preparation really counts and gets you home in one piece!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 4th September

Marathon day is a great experience for those who take part, for some the greatest experience of their lives in athletic terms, and sometimes emotionally.

Nothing beats that feeling at the start line, for me it was the London marathon, and the excitement, the nervousness because you do not really know what to expect, the scale of the challenge ahead, and you can sense all of these emotions in each of the competitors.

You may also be running with someone, and these nerves are very apparent just before the race and everything you have done over the last 9 months, indeed all your life in running terms comes down to one long race that will define who you are in around four hours time!

You find more about yourself in one marathon than you can usually do in a year’s running. Marathons have mythical status ranging from the ancient greek who first run that distance officially and then promptly dropped dead, to great Olympic athletes who have broken records in this distance for hundreds of years.

The first few miles are run usually on adrenalin and its amazing how light on your feet you feel after 6 miles even, knowing the hardships are yet to come and 20 miles left still feels like an awful long way.

I ended up carrying a 2 stone pie from lewis pies to promote obesity intervention, the string around my shoulders that was holding it on broke at the exact 6 mile point, I thought of leaving it behind with the st john ambulance, but they couldn’t promise that they would deliver it to the finishing line, and I didn’t want to let down lewis pies who sponsored me, so I will tell you tomorrow how I made I the extra 20 miles with a huge fake pie in my hand that was weighing me down, and was more than a little awkward!!!

Twitt
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Tuesday, 3rd September

I have mentioned the prospect of going through 18-20 miles as your final run before the marathon, perhaps I should re-phrase that as your final “long” run before the marathon, ideally done 2-3 weeks before the event takes place.

You need to be able to do this distance or you are unlikely to be able to complete your marathon. If you are still struggling on 12-14 miles for instance, then you are putting yourself at severe risk doing the marathon.

You are risking injury or even strain on your heart by trying to make such a big jump up, and it would be very unwise for you to attempt a marathon in such physical condition. This is why I give people plenty of time to get their training in for such a monumental run.

Things can and do wrong.

If you have a sore Achilles for instance, then you need to rest full stop until it gets better. This can take 3-6 weeks depending on the severity of the injury.

Indeed, if you pull an Achilles, you will certainly have to pull out of the race, and will probably never run long distance again, but I stress that this is pulled Achilles, and not a slight strain.

Its allowing for these minor mishaps and injuries that will dictate your training programme so please give it more time than you thought!

So once you have overcome all these obstacles along the way, then it should be around 2-3 weeks left that you attempt your biggest distance, after carefully working up to it over a period of weeks, and indeed months when you take your whole programme into account from start to finish.

If you can finish this distance, then you know you should be able to complete the marathon, but bear in mind it is still very likely to be a very hard day.

More on that day tomorrow!

Twitt