Monday Morning LSR

The cornerstone of marathon training is the Long Slow Run, or LSR.  "Long" is a relative term - it means significantly longer than the other runs you are doing at that time, and ideally needs to build to being 20 miles, or even more, before your marathon.

Most runners do their long runs on Sunday mornings - but that's really not an option for me!  As long as I don't have any meetings or appointments, I do my long runs on Monday mornings.  This morning I did my long run along the Southwell trail, parking my car at Farnsfield.  This has the advantage of being relatively flat, although there is actually a small incline (downwards) from Farnsfield towards Southwell, and obviously uphill on the way back.  I used my GPS watch to tell me when I had done four miles, then turned round and came back.  This way - there is no chance of wimping out and cutting the distance short, and also no way I could get lost!!  I actually did an extra couple of hundred yards up the road before I went back to the car, to make sure I would do the full 8 miles.  I did 8.1 miles in 1 hour 44 minutes - this matches the longest run I had done at the start of August, before I sprained my ankle.

In the event, although I did feel a bit tired around 5-6 miles, I actually did the second half slightly faster than the first.  This is a good sign, and also an indicator that I am ready to up the distance further.  At the point when I started to feel tired, I imagined myself in the last couple of miles of the marathon, with the crowds cheering and encouraging me on - and that made me speed up without really trying to.

And I want to thank you, my supporters for the encouragement I've already received.  There have been a number of donations already, and including the fee I have paid to register, I am already 7% of the way to my target of raising £2,500 for Cancer Research.  A good start - and I'll continue to build from here.  Thank you again.

And so it begins

A couple of weeks ago, I heard that Cancer Research UK have offered me a Golden Bond place to run the London Marathon in 2014.  This is something I have wanted to do for nearly 30 years - but for most of that time, that ambition was laughable.  I was severely obese - 22 stone at my heaviest.  Well, that's all changed.  I'm not skinny, by any means - but I am considerably lighter, fitter, and I'm running!!

So, today I heard that I had not got a place in the ballot for the London Marathon 2014 - so that means, I do need to take up the Golden Bond place I have been offered.  And that means I have to raise the £2,500 I said I could.  That's where you come in!

This blog is going to be a record of my training, and of my fundraising.  Cancer Research was my choice of charity, for several reasons:  the fact that both my Mum and one of my sisters are currently undergoing treatment for cancer;  and all the funerals I've taken for people who didn't make it.  With every mile I run in training - and there will be a lot of them - and with every step of the 26.2 miles on 13th April 2014, I will be thinking about the people we've lost, and the people we hope to save.

I started running regularly on 1st April this year!!  Last week I ran 20 miles, spread over 4 sessions, with a longest run of 6.7 miles.  I had previously done an 8 mile run at the start of August  but then I went and sprained my ankle, so had to rest and work my way up again.

So, here's the plan:  Run 4 times a week, 2 sessions in the gym for strength and core training, with a bit of plyometrics and high intensity intervals mixed in.  Build up my longest run to 14 miles, and my total weekly mileage to about 30 by the end of the year.  Just about all of the running will be done at a very gentle pace - I'm using a heart rate monitor to ensure I'm going slow enough.  This will train the muscles in my legs to be more efficient at working aerobically, which is what you need for an endurance event like a marathon.  I will build my mileage each week for 3 weeks, then take a week (or maybe 2) easier, to give my body time to rest and adapt.  Then in January, I'll assess where I'm up to.  I'll still need to build up my longer runs, but depending on how it's going, I may start doing some speed work as well.

I have a shedload of books about running... and I'll probably chop and change my training plan, because that's what I'm like.  But I'll keep you updated with that - I'll blog at least once a week and tell you how the training is going.  Oh, and the fundraising too...  if you'd like to help with that, you could text BGLM50 £5 to 70070 or donate online here

Thanks for reading.  This is going to be quite a journey - thanks for sharing it with me.