Marathon training week 7 - stuff I’m learning

So here we are, 7 weeks of training done! I feel like I should apologise to week 6 of the plan for not giving it enough love as I’m now recalling week 6’s 10 mile long run with a lot more fondness now that I’m feeling shattered after todays 12 miler. 

12 miles - that is now my newest and shiniest long run so far. I think now the miles are really starting to build there are definitely a lot of things I’m learning along the way, a handful of which are :

• I need to plan in advance when will be the best time to do the weekend long run. It’s not easy fitting in a couple of hours+ for running with all the stuff going on with my four little uns at the weekend. The weekends are also important family time for us, as Mr F works away during the week quite a bit. At the moment Sunday mornings work well for the long run as hubby takes the girls along to watch their big brothers play rugby so I can prep food for when they get back, then run out for a couple of hours usually arriving home at a similar time to the rest of my tribe returning. 

• I do need to start being a bit better when it comes to eating and drinking. Wednesday’s run after valentines eve wine and curry-fest was a real slog. Friday night I had a mums night out with reception class mums - drank a bucket of cocktails - Saturday was a running rest day - but I still think even 2 days later running today was harder than it would have been minus the gallon of cocktails drunk on Friday eve. I think biiiiiiiiig nights out need to be put on hold now till post-marathon. Going to try (again) to reduce the amount of crap I eat during the week as well, try to meal plan a bit better. I make sure the kids have a healthy meal - but when it comes to my own diet I seem to live on cheese toasties and the kids left-overs!

• I would really benefit from losing at least half a stone before the marathon. My BMI is still in the ‘overweight’ category and I know that to lose even half a stone would make a real difference to my running. Half term next week - but I have a plan to embark on a 9 day cleansing diet when the kids go back to school. 

• I need to keep my toenails short! Feeling the toenail pain after todays 12 miles!

• I need to start thinking about the actual marathon and what I’ll need on the day in more detail. Today I was very aware of feeling my energy levels tailing off from the 8 mile point. I have never carried snacks/water - but now the big miles are happening I definitely need something along the way. Need to figure out what snacks to take with me on marathon day and how best to carry them (guess nipping into McDonalds along the route isn’t an option).

Sorry if you started reading this expecting some more technical running related lessons learnt! I see words like cadence, splits, tempo, hydration strategy being chucked around when I read stuff by people who actually know what they are doing. Who knows, maybe over the next few weeks I will get my head round this running stuff properly too! So get me, this sh*t really is getting serious now !!