{"id":1572,"date":"2019-11-14T21:59:11","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esicygh.cluster028.hosting.ovh.net\/?p=1572"},"modified":"2019-11-15T09:13:04","modified_gmt":"2019-11-15T09:13:04","slug":"london-marathon-april-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/?p=1572","title":{"rendered":"London Marathon, April 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"576\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/esicygh.cluster028.hosting.ovh.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190427_120919-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1573\" data-link=\"http:\/\/esicygh.cluster028.hosting.ovh.net\/?attachment_id=1573#main\" class=\"wp-image-1573\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190427_120919-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190427_120919-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/IMG_20190427_120919-768x1365.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" src=\"http:\/\/esicygh.cluster028.hosting.ovh.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Finish.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1575\" data-link=\"http:\/\/esicygh.cluster028.hosting.ovh.net\/?attachment_id=1575#main\" class=\"wp-image-1575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Finish.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Finish-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I said to my husband \u2018just 1 marathon\u2019 as it has been on the\nbucket for some time. After completing the Rome marathon and getting a good for\nage place for London maybe I\u2019d do 1 more! I\u2019d also been trying and failing to\nget in though the ballot for over 6 years. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After receiving entry confirmation, I searched for marathon\nplans based on an ambitious 3hr 15 min finish time. This time I would be\nrunning on home soil, wouldn\u2019t be breastfeeding and was in a better place\nphysically. Unless you challenge yourself you never know what you are truly\ncapable of achieving. The bigger the risk the bigger the achievement, if it\ngoes to plan! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is not, and never will be a one size fits all approach\nwhen it comes to a marathon planning. It\u2019s down to you to do the research and\nadapt\/write a realistic training plan that fits around your commitments. Finding\na suitable online plan and making it work for you takes time but is essential.\nCareful planning will do doubt increase your changes of a successful race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I start structured training in October, but it wasn\u2019t until\nJanuary that I really knuckled down and focused. I followed the plan as best I\ncould, 80% of my running was done on the treadmill whilst my littlest was in\nthe Creche. Often gazing out the window wishing I was outside but taking full advantage\nof being able to pre-set my distance and pace and just focus on my running. I developed\na love, hate relationship with tempo runs. Hating them during but feeling immensely\nproud after achieving each once, especially as they gradually got longer and\nfaster. I was seeing improvement; the hard work was paying off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I find it useful to race a half marathon a few months before\na marathon to see where I am in terms of fitness. Unfortunately, I picked up a\nvirus a week before the Bath half and had to make that tough decision to cancel.\nMy first DNS. Looking at the bigger picture it was the right thing to do. London\nwas my main goal, my A race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With registration out the way along with last-minute panics\nI was feeling full of carbs and ready to race. My 2-week taper had been boring\nas hell. I find these weeks the hardest. I turn into a constant whinger but\nstill swim, do core work and a few very short runs with quick strides thrown in\nto keep those fast twitch fibres sharp. This time I got it right, my legs felt\nlight as feathers and I was mentally and physically rested. It made me realise\njust how often I train with heavy\/over trained legs. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Race day. Full of nerves but still able to get a carb\nbreakfast down me, I was keen to get to the start line and pleased I had made it\nthere injury free and in good shape. I had to stick to 4.38 per km to achieve\nmy goal of 3.15. Once in the Blue Zone with my luggage handed over, this was\nit. As always, before a race my bladder seemed incapable of holding even an ounce\nof water. I opted for the female urinals. A New experience for me and certainly\none I\u2019d repeat. Quick and easy and no queuing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I got into Wave1 nice and early still wearing my oversized\nbin bag, Just as well as I had one last wee minutes before the start. A bin bag\ncovers everything, good tip! I eventually found the 3.15 pacer, a short guy with\na large flag attached to his back. Totally oblivious this man was going to make\nor break me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are off\u2026. but not as you might imagine, just a slow plod\nto begin. It takes a good 5k to get into your stride and even then, there was\nvery little room to move. Loose the pacer now and there would have been little\nchance of catching up. for that matter. Runners were packed in like sardines,\nthe Monday morning London tube commute springs to mind. I thought other runners\nwould drop off soon and I would have the luxury of space again soon but to my\namazement this didn\u2019t happen until mile 17. I then realised I was slowing my\npace to stick with pacer, craziness! I had nothing to lose, felt relaxed so\npushed on. The crowds were as motivating and noisy as everyone tells you. I\nhave no doubt their energy and enthusiasm kept me strong during the later stages\nof the race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Km after km I kept checking my watch, altering my pace\naccordingly. If I kept this up, I would come in under 3.15. This was a real\nconfidence boost and my legs still felt strong. I was able to pick up my pace over\nthe last 5k and had energy in the tank for a sprint finish (marathon sprint\nfinish that is!). That was it, I\u2019d done it in 3 hours.11 minutes. That was 4minutes\nquicker than my goal and 13 minutes off last year\u2019s PB. I was elevated and pleased\nto have finished strong. It was then time to find my family, guzzle 2 x pints\nof milk and eat a banana. Rest and recovery were the next steps and I was ready\nfor it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Would I do it again, who knows. I succeeded this time, and everything\ncame together on the day. Pretty thankful really as I had given everyone my\nrace number so they could track me live. Nothing like a little added pressure to\nperform well! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I said to my husband \u2018just 1 marathon\u2019 as it has been on the bucket for some time. After completing the Rome marathon and getting a good for age place for London maybe I\u2019d do 1 more! I\u2019d also been trying and failing to get in though the ballot for over 6 years. &nbsp; After [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99bnz-pm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1572"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1584,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1572\/revisions\/1584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coreprogress.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}