So, here we are. The start of 2019 and the start of another London Marathon training block, I honestly cannot believe how quickly this has come around! I have set myself a huge goal for the marathon this year, which means my training is going to ramp up a notch! I am going to be using my blog as my training diary, I will share the good, the bad and everything in between, and I hope you enjoy sharing the journey with me.

Also, I am not going to be posting every single stat/detail about my runs or sessions. If you would like to follow me on Strava then please click here. 

Week 1 – WC 7th January 2019 

Monday

AM – Easy/Recovery 4 Miles

Gym – Strength Training 

 PM – Steady 6 Miles 

For this block of training, my mileage is increasing which means a couple of days a week I run twice a day. I introduced this into my training back in December to get my body used to the build up, and I actually find it really beneficial, especially when I have had a hard day before! The aim of the morning run is to just shake the legs off, no pressure on pace or speed (which is good as my legs were feeling it from Sundays efforts!) and then pick up the pace a little for the evening run. Which so far, has been working really well!

If you have been following me for a while then you know I am a huge advocate for Strength Training so I always make sure I add at least two sessions a week to my schedule. I have previously done two Strength & Conditioning posts for and Upper & Lower Body workout, and I will be adding more in the near future.

Here is a little video of what I got up to this week

10 miles & day one, done!

Tuesday

AM – Cardio Circuit Class (Fiit) 

Before I moved, I used to regularly attend a Bootcamp/Circuit style class on a Tuesday morning. I have really missed it, and although my gym does do classes, I havent managed to get along to one yet. I have started using the Fiit app which has hundreds of workouts that are led by qualified instructors, all of which you can do from the comfort of your own home! I picked a cardio circuit class which was only 25 minutes long, but definitely hard work and was a good way to get a sweat on before lunch time!

Full disclosure – I was gifted premium membership from FIIT which includes unlimited free classes, a Heart Rate Monitor and exclusive offers. Thank you.

PM – Track 

Ah good old #TrackTuesdays – love it or hate it, speed work is key when marathon training, and it is something I always include (no matter how much I moan about it!) Tonight was my first official track night with my new club, and I can honestly say it was the toughest track session I have ever done! I have never trained with such a large (or fast!) group before and it really pushed me to run faster, and more consistently then I have ever ran before! The session was 8 x 500m/60s rest/300m/60s rest and it was not pretty! But it was just what I needed and gave me a huge confidence boost going into my first week of training.

Wednesday 

AM – Easy/Recovery 3 Miles

PM – Steady 7 

Ah another #doubleday – these sure do come around quickly! I won’t lie, my legs were sore on Wednesday morning! They were so heavy, it felt like I was trying to run through treacle! I forgot how much a tough track session destroys your legs.

For my evening run I was doing something a little different, I was heading to the Olympic Park to the Run Through Chase The Moon Event. I was really excited as I was asked to lead the warm ups at the start of the race (although not sure if you could call it that, it was FREEZING) and then I had the chance to run the 10k afterwards. I am usually guilty of ‘racing’ every single race I do, I cant even trust myself at parkrun! But I had a plan, and I am pleased to say I stuck to it! I ran a nice steady pace the whole way round, and tagged an extra mile on the end to hit my mileage. Result!

Thursday

AM – Gym – Strength Training

PM – Long Run/Hill Session

This is fast becoming a day I love to hate. Mainly because I know its going to be hard work! Thursday is a club night and we train hills – a necessary evil! As I now live in London, I no longer have my car, so to get to my sessions most of the time I run there rather then relying on the tube. It’s a really good way to get those extra miles in, but also makes this tough session that little bit harder! On average these nights end up being around 10-11 miles and means I don’t get home till around 9pm. Its tough, but I just keep telling myself it will all be worth it (hopefully!) on the 28th April! The session tonight was 10 x 60 second hill efforts. Why is it that 60 seconds seems so much longer when you are running up hill?!

Friday 

REST DAY

The most important day in any training plan! I was so looking forward to today. My legs are definitely feeling the increase in mileage & harder sessions this week. I had a good old roll & stretch session and also did a relaxing Yoga class through the FIIT app.

Saturday

AM – Jaybird Sport Meet Up (Easy 5km)

Gym – Strength Training

Thanks to my rubbish body clock, for some reason I was wide awake at 5.30am on Saturday morning, I couldn’t get back to sleep so I took myself to the gym and did one of my allocated strength sessions. I wouldn’t usually train at the gym on the weekend but as I was having an easy run day I decided to get an extra gym session in.

I then headed into Central London to meet up with the rest of the Jaybird Runners team! My legs were feeling a lot better after my rest day, but we kept it pretty easy with an easy paced 5km around Hyde Park! In a way I was quite glad I didn’t make it to Parkrun as I probably would have pushed it and tried to run fast!

Sunday

AM – 17 Miles 

I had been looking forward to this all week! I know I might sound like a weirdo, but if you hadn’t guessed already… I love marathon training, and especially the Sunday long run! I made plans to go with a friend, I reaaaaally wanted to go to Richmond Park, so thats what we did! No pressure on pace, just some nice chatty miles, and we only got lost a handful of times (my speciality!)

Ending the week on 58 miles, my highest ever mileage week! Roll on Week 2!

Jordan xx