Marathon week

Marathon week; where to start?

We landed from Sydney on Monday, and Tuesday I went back to work followed by going to Watford v Southampton that evening. On Wednesday, I started to come down with a cold and started to feel extremely rough…

Having got through marathon training without any injuries, to come down with a cold at the last minute was really frustrating. It started as a sniffle and sore throat, but then got progressively worse. I left work an hour on Thursday, and then the stress really started to hit.

On Friday, I made the decision to ask Matt to go to the Expo for me to collect my number. Numbers must be collected in person, but I simply didn’t have the energy to finish work and then travel to and from the Excel Centre. This definitely started to increase my stress levels, and I cried for the first time that week. I felt collecting my number was a big part of the marathon experience, and I was concerned.

I didn’t want to eat but was trying to hydrate lots. I was due to go to Southampton v Bournemouth on the Saturday and really didn’t want to, but was persuaded doing something and taking my mind off things might do me good and I went (with a lift from friends which was appreciated!). I also squeezed in a last minute sports massage before heading to central London where I had a hotel room booked for Saturday and Sunday nights.

The week hadn’t gone to plan, but that was it; marathon time!

If you’d like to sponsor me for the London Landmarks Half Marathon and the London Marathon 2019 for Dementia Revolution, you can do so here.

Holiday Training

Many years ago, Matt and I said that one day we’d visit Australia. A combination of factors meant that 2019 would finally be our year to visit – friends in Canberra encouraging us to go over, us both celebrating special birthdays etc and our trip was booked.

After booking our holiday, I then found out I’d got a place in the London Marathon for Dementia Revolution and with the flights we’d already booked, we’d be landing home only six days before the marathon. I became slightly concerned over training, before I realised I would be on taper time, and then about jet lag, of which there wasn’t much I could do.

My plan was to use hotel gyms whilst in Australia, but the reality was we were doing lots of walking each day and I decided not to. A couple of training highlights however were my first time in a saltwater pool in Sydney, and Four Mile Beach in Port Douglas.

I’m not sure I’ve swam in a 50m pool before let alone a saltwater one, and it was on Mrs Macquarie’s Point, overlooking one of Sydney’s bays. The gym pool I’ve used for training is only 20m so it felt very different swimming 2.5 times the distance before it was time to turn around and head back for each length!

From Sydney we headed to Queensland for several days, and one of the places we stayed was Port Douglas. Port Douglas is famous for many things including Four Mile Beach, and I decided to use it for a training run. I set an early alarm to try and avoid some of the heat but the reality was I was out before 9 (I hit snooze a few times…) and it was still 27 degrees. I decided just to do 5km, as it was too warm for me.

We then spent time in Melbourne (no training!) before staying with friends in Canberra. Whilst there, we drove out to Mount Kosciuszko National Park. We got the chairlift in Thredbo, and then did the 13km return walk to the top of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s tallest mountain at 2,228m. It was a good walk (although I was slightly surprised that you could feel the altitude) and some more miles in my legs before the marathon.

If you’d like to sponsor me for the London Landmarks Half Marathon and the London Marathon 2019 for Dementia Revolution, you can do so here.