Not sure if the achy legs are to do with the number of runs, the heat today (it’s beautiful for sitting in the garden, not so much for running but more of that later)…

Back to running in the heat. I am terrible at it. I hate running when it is anything above 17 C. I don’t know why I’m so bad at it. The bit I am really not looking forward to with this whole marathon training malarky is long runs over the summer months. Ah well, something I’ll just have to get used to, but if there are any handy hint and tips about running in even slightly warm weather, I’d love to hear them!

As for now, it’s time to enjoy the sunshine on the bank holiday weekend with a margarita and a barbecue later with my three boys – and a few early morning runs in store to avoid the heat!

So, no hot water or heating for two days now. Brrrrrrrrrr is the word! Delayed yesterday’s run as the prospect of a stone cold shower did not appeal! The local swimming pool came good today though after a good run. Lovely to swim with my little boy too who was off like a fish! 🐠

The best bit was the hot shower after. OMG it was AMAZING! Anyway, back to the run…

Today’s run was a ‘build up’ run on my runkeeper app and I really enjoyed it! The aim was to start slow and build up the pace as you go. It felt good finishing strong – All followed up by the afore mentioned evening swim and hot shower at the pool. (Did I mention no hot water or heating for two days now? 🥶🥶🥶🥶)

I’ve been looking at the marathon plans too and think I might pick up the London marathon plan with 17 weeks to go. In the meantime, I’ll stick with my runkeeper app and see how it goes.

Fingers crossed for hot water back tomorrow! 🤞😃

Check out the new page with different marathon training plans I’ve found! http://www.dodgykneesandblisters.blog/training-plans

Let me know which plan you’re using/have used and how it’s going!

Great run yesterday with my friend along the river after a hard day budget setting, and it was fab! We covered just under 9.5km, chatting all the way and admiring the gorgeous houses along the route! I’ll definitely be using that run more often now I know about it! There’s something really lovely about running near to water – just as long as you don’t hear a big splosh! I love new routes as the distance seems to go by much quicker if you don’t quite know what to expect.

Slightly embarrassed by how stinky my running jacket has become over the years after it has found its way to the bottom of the washing basket a few times but I have been reliably informed that soaking overnight in washing soda before popping in the machine will banish the BO! Here’s hoping – I’ll let you know how it goes as all running gear is about to be tipped into the bath!

I’ve also been given the advice to look for a running club to join. My sister-in-law (who got me into signing up for the marathon in the first place – thanks Jo!) recommended it and clearly isn’t going to let me off the hook as she has also sent through loads of links to running clubs near me! If anyone can recommend one I’d love to hear about it! In the meantime, I’ll do a bit more research and add a page of local links if anyone fancies joining one too!

Result of my first run today in my training plan for the marathon 😕Thought a nice slow 7km would be good this evening. Really enjoyed the run but then my knee decided to go later. Walking downstairs is a bit tricky but not running again until Monday so 🤞 it’ll sort itself out!(Already 2 days behind plan though and only just started! 😆)

Oh my goodness! I just ran 5k in 28:55! After struggling to get into the 30 minutes for ages, where the hell did I pull that from?!

If that’s a side effect of training for a half marathon, I wonder what I could do after a marathon 🤔

(More likely it’s the after effects of a bloody good lamb dhansak last night but who cares?!)

So I know I can run 13.1 miles. Phew – that’s a relief! Half way there! I have to say, the LLHM was such a great race to do. I loved it last year and it really didn’t disappoint this year either! I must admit however, as I got to Mile 12, the thought did hit me that I would need to run twice that distance in October. Its OK though as I quickly told myself that I would have trained for it…

And on that note:

The Training Plan (da da daaaaaaa!)

Ok. I love a good plan. Don’t necessarily stick to it but its there. I have gone to my old friend my Runkeeper app for a marathon training plan but will also have to do a bit of research on some others. For now, it is asking me to do 7km runs which I’m good with! (I’ve put a target finish time as 4 hrs 45 mins. Don’t know why, it just sounded like a nice round number!) Hoping to get out tomorrow and join in a 5km run in the park to get my legs working again before the plan officially starts next week. Quite looking forward to it too!

Interestingly, the Runkeeper plan has the longest run at 30km, which I wasn’t expecting. If there are any seasoned marathon runners out there, perhaps you could direct me towards other tried and tested plans? I’ll try and share some alternative plans I’ve found in my next post.

Works a treat though and thank goodness for Youtube videos about taping various parts of your body. 8 km run felt great this morning. Not too cold and bright sunshine all the way round. I’m feeling so much more confident I can do 13.1 miles, even with a slightly dodgy ankle. (Perhaps I should have included that in the title of my blog too?) Still not convinced about 26 miles though. Not sure they make enough tape for that…

Thank you for your messages and likes that I’ve had already on FB too. It’ll really help me to keep going when the training gets tough.

I found a pretty cool article from Runner’s World last night that I think will help when I get into my proper long runs – ‘4 Ways to Stop Negative Thinking on Runs.’ https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/motivation/a775746/4-ways-to-stop-negative-thinking-on-runs/?utm_content=buffer0cb7e&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR2xwhVbrSULSK724I6S2Fqq4M-gQ1OVQzTfmuoWmUo63-Mnum37Iqv1w6Q

(Whenever I get passed by someone going faster than me, I just tell myself they have just started and I must have run much further than them! 🙂 I find maths helps too if I’m tired and want to take my mind off running – not because I’m good at maths, but it takes me so much brain power to work out times based on lots of difference paces, I completely forget about various achy bits!)

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton