How to run a marathon part 1
The purpose of my blog over the next 4 months is to give you a week by week diary of my marathon training program.
Which marathon are you running?: Edinburgh marathon on May 27th
Why are you running a marathon?: I've done one before and I loved the challenge, I wanted that challenge to focus on again and as well as the sense of achievement at the finish line.
Why Edinburgh?: Familiarity mostly, two years ago I entered the ballot for the London marathon and I did not get a place. Edinburgh guaranteed an entry to anyone who didn't get into London so I went for it, it was a well run event plus the course itself is a fast one
which makes it ideal for a first marathon or anyone looking for a personal best. Lets also not forget that Edinburgh is a lovely city and Scotland is a wonderful country too.
Do you have a target time?: Yes, last time my target was 3 hours 30 minutes and I managed 3 hours 27, so keeping it line with constantly setting goals and trying to improve I am aiming to beat 3 hours 25 minutes.
Officially my training plan started last Monday 29th January, although I have been running regularly since January 1st to try and ease myself into it. I'm not going to lie I've found it hard, my lower back has been aching and my calf muscles have been tight so that has concerned me.
This week my training consisted of:
Monday 30 minutes... I did not manage
Wednesday 35 minutes... I did not manage
Saturday 40 minutes... I did not manage
Sunday 1 hour... I did manage :-)
I know I know, not a great start, I haven't managed to adjust to the weekly runs on top of TFW and martial art training just yet. In my opinion though the long runs on Sundays are the most important ones and this mornings run (I am writing this on Sunday 4th February) was a good one.
I managed 6.8 miles in an hour and averaged at a pace of 8 minutes 46 seconds per mile, which is an improvement on the week before of 9 minutes 5 seconds per mile, also my aches and pains have been at their lowest yet which is a relief. I've also started using an App called Strava, if you're a runner or cyclist Strava great for tracking your routes and stats.
Here is my run from Sunday, feel free to follow me if you're already a Strava user.
I'll be posting Strava updates of all my long Sunday morning runs on this blog up to the day of the race.
So that's all for this blog, if you have any comments leave them below and I'll update you on my progress in one weeks time.
Bye for now
Scott