Marathon blog: part 3

There’s less than three months to go until my marathon debut and I’ve really upped the ante when it comes to training. I’m running longer miles, mixing up my sessions with intervals and threshold runs and crucially getting stronger. Want to know more? Here’s my marathon blog: part 3.

Whenever I speak to running coaches they always stress the importance of strength training when it comes to both injury prevention and strong performance. You need to be strong to cope with the impact a marathon (and all the training that goes with it) puts on your body. It makes a lot of sense, but I have to admit, strength training hasn’t always been a priority for me. You see, I’m a total weakling. I can hold of plank for all of about 15 seconds, press-ups leave me in a heap and when I do burpees it’s a case of throwing myself at the ground and hoping for the best. There’s a lot of room for improvement, and that makes hitting the gym a terrifying prospect.

Running feels like something I can do, strength training feels like a whole different proposition. For a long time I found the idea of strength training scary; I was worried I’d be no good at it, that I’d embarrass myself. When you’re learning to run it’s easy to hide away so no one sees you. When you’re strength training in a gym, surrounded by people you fear will judge you, or who you’ll judge yourself against, you can’t hide. It’s frightening, and because I was scared I convinced myself that strength training wasn’t that important. However, with a marathon approaching I’ve decided it’s time to face my fears, take a deep breath and get strong. If I happen to get toned to boot, well that’ll be an awesome bonus!

Walking in to the gym and asking to see a trainer was terrifying, but luckily I was in good hands and the team created a 30-minute workout that’s just perfect for me. It’s tough and pushes me, but it’s within my limits and I know I can do it – even if I am left sprawled on the floor of the gym in a puddle of sweat by the end! It’s only been a couple of weeks but already I feel like I’m getting stronger – it’s really satisfying to know that my hard work is paying off.

I’m not just working on my strength in the gym – a couple of weeks ago I had an amazing opportunity to work out with PT of the moment Kayla Itsines and try out her totally equipment-free workout. I could feel every inch of my body working as Kayla led us through high-intensity sets that you could do anywhere (seriously, you need hardly any space!). It was a tough workout, and definitely highlighted some areas to work on, but I’d do it all again for the endorphin rush! Plus it’s great to have a workout in my back pocket for the days I can’t make it to the gym. You can check out the workout here.

Something that’s helped a lot as I’ve been getting into strength training has been having my friends join me in the gym. When you’re taking on a challenge that scares you it’s always good to have a couple of allies at your side, and having my colleagues Becky and Cara join me at the gym has been awesome. Everything is more fun when you’re with your friends, right? My friends haven’t just been supporting me in the gym, either. Over the last few weeks my long runs have increased, and they’re starting to become the focal point of my weekend. I love spending the week before planning out my route and finding friends to run with. I’m lucky because some of my closest friends are also training for marathons; we all work long hours so our Sunday long runs are a great time to catch up, have a chat and spend some quality time together. I can’t emphasise enough the difference having training buddies makes – you have ready-made cheerleaders for the difficult moments, people who know exactly what you’re going through and fun distractions when the long miles bite.

As well as getting stronger, I’ve been getting more out of my runs by introducing intervals and threshold runs. Mixing things up keeps things interesting and I’m hoping these sessions will improve my fitness and my performance. So I can control the pace I’ve been doing these sessions on a treadmill, usually before a strength training session. While I’ll always prefer running outside, training on a treadmill has proved to be a great way to fit a training session in around other commitments!

Things are getting tougher, it’s exciting and I can’t wait to see what comes next.