Tapering a Week to go until the Marathon

Sunday the last long run before the Marathon

With one week to go until the Virtual London Marathon I needed to do an 8 mile long run. The Sunday runners said they were going out further than I needed. I could stop off at 8.5 miles but then I would need to get home. I felt I really needed to try and do it by myself to get the pacing right. I also wanted to jeff as I would be on the day – and I tend to run and walk randomly with them.

As it happens I went out and found a new route and was back home before most of the house had even got up. In fact I had had a shower and a second breakfast before the teen even got up! I managed to keep my pace just under 11 minute miles (well quite a bit but not too much) which ideally I would have loved to be able to do throughout the marathon – but realistically I wasn’t going to be disheartened if I didn’t.

Running in the Cold

Most of the runs lately have been about adapting to the heat. So the cold weather was a bit of a shock. Usually even when it is cold I am really hot by half a mile in. But on this run I remember still being cold at a mile and a half. Then at 4 miles I suddenly thought about how I hadn’t realised when it was that I stopped feeling cold.

Still with a complete lack of route or any plan for the actual day one of the ladies I run with at club and on Sundays sent me over one on Strava. So I had a vague idea of where I was going. It meant being brave and running a long way away from home. I knew if things got desperate my husband would drive over.

After the Long Sunday Run

I still spent most of the day being particularly drained. I think I should have still had a proper nap. As it was I tried a 15 minute meditation sleep. I didn’t really achieve much in the day. Did a food shop and in the evening took the youngest for a walk and got the ironing done.

By dinner time I started to feel a bit unwell. Just a sore throat but generally a bit ugh. It was at dinner that the youngest also said he had a sore throat.

The Week Building up to the Marathon

Monday all the kids went to school okay. I was meant to just do a gentle jog for 3 miles, but after I had done the school run but I wasn’t feeling well at all so came straight home. Tuesday I was meant to do an easy 4 miles jogging and a bit faster for the middle 2. But my head was really hurting, I felt so lethargic and ended up having a 3 hour nap whilst the boys were at school. I was drinking lots of hot Ribenas and Lemsip Maxs. Wednesday I felt hopeful as I was better than I was the day before but still not well. I had lots to do though as we had a very important birthday to celebrate. Needless to say the 2 mile jogs on Thursday and Saturday did not occur.

My diet was really bad. I had soup, fish finger sandwiches and generally had loads of things filled with what I assume is carbs (white bread, pancakes, croissants, etc) and there was the day we all had party food. We also had a Chinese takeaway and a McDonalds the night before the marathon.

Getting Ready for the Marathon

Then the night before I got all my stuff ready and had an early night. I did forget my trainers in the flatlay. You may recall my quest for new running shoes – well I ended up with some cheap black Nike trainers – as the pink ones got punctured when I stood on something. They were run in quite a bit but never needed breaking in.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me to raise funds for Winston’s Wish.