Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Water, water, everywhere...

For some reason I cannot run without water. 


In my day to day life I am also quite wedded to staying hydrated at all times and always carry around a bottle or frequently refill from the office fountain. Being thirsty is something I actually get anxious about. 


Even if I'm running for a piddly half hour I still wear a Camelbak. I know some perceive running with a Camelbak as slightly excessive, but for me they are the perfect invention. I HATE running whilst carrying a water bottle, the backpack bit gives me somewhere to put my keys, and because I'm asthmatic I can also take my ventolin with me and not have to hold it or place it in that frankly stupid bum pocket Nike so helpfully provides as a 'feature' of running tights. 


And, the larger Camelbak with combined rucksack is great for running home from work with all your clothes. 


Can you tell I'm a loyal brand consumer? 

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Marathon Training Begins

Well, the New Year is upon us and I have to start really running if I'm going to get round a marathon course without any tantrums. 


The London Marathon is on Sunday 17th of April, so I have 14 weeks to train from tomorrow. I can run 10 miles pretty comfortably with my current standard of fitness and run 5 - 8 miles home from work once a week at least. 


I have written out my marathon training on a calendar - I always find it easier to assess what is in front of me if I have to physically write it down. On the whole it doesn't look too bad. The long runs on a Sunday will be a bit of a bugger just with regards to the number of hours they'll eat of my weekend, but hopefully I can get in the groove of a 2 or 3 hour run and use that time to think and reflect, activities I currently do in bed. I'm hoping the time shouldn't be too hard, after all I do run for about 90 minutes on my longer runs at present without any real difficulty. 


The other thing I'm slightly nervous about is the speed training portion - in particular how I determine I've covered 800 metres and now have 400 metres to cool down before I start again? I've lost my Garmin forerunner 50, so I'm using a Nike GPS app for my iPhone, but I can't see the distance as I run. I could go to a running track, but I don't fancy running 10 miles in a circle, or indoors on a running machine. Anyone have any tips?