Sixteen weeks to go

Yesterday my sixteen week Twin Cities marathon plan started with a rest day. I was working till 9:30pm so figured I'd have Mondays as my rest day. Also I had just done the Polesdon Lacey 10k on Sunday 14/6 so probs a good idea to have a rest.

Polesdon Lacey was brilliant fun. I'd forgotten just how horribly relentless the hills are on this 10k :(

Aaah well...
Plus it was quite muggy.
1:16.03 = about 6 mins slower than last year. I am though consciously trying to start slowly so I can finish strong. I finished strong so Hoorah, just got to work on my fitness so.my slow start is actually quicker than my current slow start.

Didn't go to Runcamp as eating Chinese at Pandas instead for A's bday. Yum. Then Lidls as haven't managed to shop for yonks and was down to my last square of toiled paper (eeeek)

So my Twin Cities training plan is off to an astounding slow start! One can but hope that it really does "only get better".

Oh and in case anyone's wondering... It's now:-
20lbs / 4months.

Gently easing into marathonliz part two

Such a lovely weekend in Hove.

Ran 7k in 50mins with Sarah. We chatted non stop as we ran up and down the sea front. With a fab afternoon of looking at flowers with Clare and Elizabeth (attached pic taken from a bench at the Garden House in Brighton while drinking tea and eating chocolate cake).

Sunday when I got home, instead of immediately having a cup of tea I got changed into my running gear then went for a gentle run. 5k 39mins then 15mins on the stationary bike 8.6k

I've still got a week before my training plan starts so feel great that I'm already laying down good foundations around consistency of running. My goal for the Twin Cities is to stick to the training plan  regardless. Until you actually run, running is all mental and I'm extremely adept at convincing myself to reset the alarm clock, roll over and get 30mins more snoozing in :)

My plan for this week...
Runcamp this eve
Hilsea lido before work, RR10 after work
Tri club swimming at Oaklands Thursday
Not sure about Friday
Maybe parkrun Saturday or tri club
Polsdon Lacey 10k Sunday

Then it's 16 weeks to until my second marathon!!!!!!! Wahoooooooo - soooooo excited.

Decided to give myself a rest.

Okay, I'm easing into marathonliz part 2 and realising that I'm going to have to be pretty disciplined once I start to properly follow my training plan.

With this in mind I've decided to give myself a rest and start marathonliz on Monday 1st June. Hopefully I'll be all focused and raring to go as opposed to faffing about with a run here and a swim there. The only way I'm going to knock at least 75mins off my marathon time is consistency. It took me too long to get into my training for London. I don't want to make that mistake with the Twin Cities. I want to be loving my training not feeling all grumpy about having to run.

Let's see what happens.

And now it's nearly June!

What an amazing month. This time four weeks ago I'd just run my first marathon, then I did the Winchester MayDay sprint triathlon and went on holiday to Holland with Katherine and Suzanne where we cycled approx 350km in four days. I then ran the 5k run for Suzanne at the Shaftsbury sprint triathlon last Sunday and then got ill.  Boo.

Today I was support crew /head cheerleader at Eton Dorney for Stu's 5k wetsuit and Katherine's 5k non wetsuit swim and Tamsyn's 3k wetsuit swim. Amazing fun. And this evening I've watched tv and eaten a bar of Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate.

I've finally done my Twin Cities marathon plan for the 4th October, so  I guess it's nearly time to start actioning it.

With my mantra of 20lbs 5months and armed with my six A4 sheets of paper that contain my marathon plan, Operation Fit and Healthy is about to re-swing into action.

Wahoooooooo!!!!!

And now it's bedtime.
Absolutely cream crackered. Been up since 5:30am and now it's nearly 10pm.

Runcamp tomorrow,  maybe Lordshill Road Runners training Wednesday and perhaps checking out the 8:30pm tri club swim at Oaklands Pool Thursday evening.

And so gentle blog readers of mine... Lizzie Lou Carter gently eases into *drum roll please*

MARATHONLIZ - part two :)

Resting after Holland...

Well, it's now Friday and I'm slowly easing back into operation fit and healthy.

Arrived back in blighty Monday early afternoon, spent rest of the day catching up on my TiVo recording. Had a wonderful Miche massage Tuesday and then runcamp in the evening.

And that's about it for this week so far :)

However I have started planning my twin cities marathon training plan so that's good.

Attached is Sunday's cycle.

350km of cycling, 9mins of open water swimming and no running. Great cycling holiday.

So far - 300km of cycling in three days.

Loving my Holland cycling holiday.  It's the morning of day four - our last day of the holiday. My legs are tired. But then I have done nearly 300km of peddling :)

Still recovering. So tired!

Apparently running a marathon uses up about 2500 calories so it's hardly surprising I am so hungry. Plus my body has been through a major trauma so is having to do alot of healing hence suddenly feeling so tired, especially these last few days.

I'm still on cloud nine about my achieverment.

My medal is pride of place (alongside my other medal for this year - the Winchester duathlon) and I'm loving my marathon adidas trackie (remember I got a tad carried away at the Expo last Friday)

Left foot still sore due to laces being too tight but didn't get any blisters so I can't really complain too much. And that's about it really for any residual soreness. Hoorah and phew.

Winchester Mayday tri on Monday then we're off to the Netherlands on Wednesday evening for our cycling holiday. Should be brilliant fun. Must go to Decathlon and get some more inner tubes and the Library for a selection of  guide books. Ooh and Marks for some Euros and must get insurance sorted. Eeeeeeeeeeep, still got quite a few bits and bobs to sort out.

It's also the NFL Draft so plenty to watch over the weekend. 2015 is shaping up to being one toptastic year :)