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 :)

Recovering nicely

And we're at Thursday morning...
My calves are still abit sore and the top of my left foot is abit painful and my ankles are a tad tender, but that pretty much it :)

I reckon the top of my foot is sore because my trainers were too tightly tied. Aaah well.

I swam for thirty mins Monday at tri club but stopped when my right foot started to cramp.

I managed about 45mins of leg work at Runcamp before I felt a slight twinge at the back of my left knee.

Bike guy returned my bike Tuesday evening so I've done lovely fast commuter cycling.

I am though really really hungry and still quite tired. I'm also totally still buzzing from the London marathon,  wearing my medal whenever I can, decked out in my new London marathon jacket bought at the expo :)

Wahoooooooo xxxxx

I've run the London Marathon!

I'm writing this Monday evening, I can walk, I'm tired and a bit sore and managed 30mins of tri club swimming. Not bad for the day after my first ever marathon :)

6:41.05 - and I blinking loved pretty much every minute even when my feet really hurt and my calves were on fire and the sides of my knees hurt. The crowds, the atmosphere,  the history of the event, support teams Liz x2, friends running it as well, the amazing support of family, friends and colleagues following my race and sending good luck messages = the most awesome day out ever!!!

My plan of a 26.2mile sightseeing jaunt round London with 37,000 other tourists while 700,000+ people cheered absolutely happened to perfection.

Even when I hurt I was whooping and cheering and smiling and yelling out at each mile.marker from about five miles that I'd done it :) By the end I was yelling out 800m to go then 600m then screamed 26miles done and then I pretty much had my arms aloft from the top of the Mall right through the finish line. Awesome fun.

Travelled up with my running club Lordshill Road Runners and then found chums from the Solent Running Sisters and Eastleigh Running Club. Enroute I had my amazing support team of Karyn, Sharon (mile 8, 18 & 25) and Vik plus sister Debs, brother in law Mark and the girls Katie and Emily (miles 18 & 25) plus tri club buddy Suzanne and her chums at mile 15 and Pam from tri club at the finish handing out medals.

I felt extremely loved and supported by not only those that I knew but also by everyone in the crowds and it made such a huge difference.

Then pizza on the South Bank and a bottle.of red on the train back to Southampton. Such a fab day.

Food and drink - got through 6 gels, 2 jaffa cakes, half a dozen mini cheddars, a cocktail sausage, maybe half a dozen jelly beans, a biscuit, a handful of trail mix, water at about 10stops, lucazade sports drink at three stops. I may have drunk a tad too much as I must have used the portaloos at least six times!

What do I need to do for the Twin Cities Marathon on the 4th October??

1. Lose 20lbs - that should shave off 17mins from my finish time without having to do any extra training  just because I'd be lugging around nearly a  stone and a half less of me.

2. Get quicker - the cutoff time for the Twin Cities Marathon is six and a quarter hours so I need to get about 90mins faster. I reckon I'll prob spend at least 15mins chatting to mates while.on the.course.

3. Be stronger - my tummy muscles hurt so I.need to really strengthen my core and work on my overall strength and conditioning.  Luckily I've signed up.for the next Runcamp Level 2 course that starts tomorrow eve.

4. Keep running.

5. Work on my nutrition and hydration as I must have spent about 15mins of the 6:41.05 in a queue for the loo :)

Would I do London again?
Well probably not as I've done it now and there are loads of perfect city break / marathon running combination destinations out there not only in the UK but in Europe and further afield... However, let's see how I do in the Minneapolis / St Paul Marathon in October before I start thinking about any future membership of the one hundred club x

I think it's starting to fully sink in just what I've done. I've run the London Marathon. I'm a London Marathon finisher of which there are less than one million of us on the entire planet. I'm just so blinking proud of myself :)

Such an awesome day. Absolutely loved it. Brilliant brilliant fun. Honestly if you ever get the chance / opportunity to do London then grab it with both hands and don't let go till you cross the finish line.

www.everyclick.com/marathonliz