London Marathon 2012

So the ballot results were announced recently. People were opening magazines with either congratulations or commiserations. I decided a few months back to enter again for a second year in a row and found myself very surprised, I got a place! After all I have read and heard, I’ve yet to hear of a similar story. First two attempts of entering the ballot, I’ve secured a place in one of the best marathons in the world once again. This was unbelievable and an incredible achievement already. I'm two for two.

Armed with my first experience, I believe I will be more equipped to achieve better results in 2012. My first goal however is to remain 100% fit. This wasn’t the case last year. With four weeks to go I injured my hamstring and knew I wouldn’t be able to run the whole course. Despite this, every mile was completed and my London 2011 medal proudly hangs off my bed post.

Running the London marathon was a childhood dream come true. Needless to say I got emotional crossing that finish line. Now I have the opportunity to run around London again and I’m very excited at this prospect. To race around London the same year that the summer Olympics are being held sends shivers down my spine. This is going to be one great race. Hope to see you there!

Royal Park Half Marathon

The time quickly came for me to undergo a run through a few parks and down the what seemed never ending Embankment. Yes I’m referring to the Royal Park half marathon.

This was my first attempt at the distance even though I completed a full marathon earlier this year. This race was very well organised and the support was fantastic. I highly recommend this race to anyone. And I truly mean anyone. I saw so many competitors from all types of backgrounds, shapes, sizes and abilities. Best of all it didn’t rain and the sun truly shined at the very end. It made laying down post race much enjoyable despite the throbbing of complete body ache.

Runners were supportive of each other, crowds gave endless encouragement, wonderful sights (all the arches, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the glorious royal parks). Oh and how could a girl forget... hot buff army men encouraging you to warm down after the race!

Overall I’d say go pick a half marathon that is near you and sign up. They are highly achievable, great fun and you get a medal to show off your hard work!

Posture

Posture affects all of us. From the small things like sitting in a chair to standing at the bus stop.

The essence of this blog entry is to stress the importance of strengthening our cores. If you’re one of those people who work out and don’t know what I’m referring to, shame on you! To others who don’t work out or even those who do the odd exercise every now and again, this is a fundamental part of your health.

Training your core isn’t mind boggling, you don’t have to use equipment or attend a Pilates class. The core is mostly referred to as our abs and lower back muscles but as a whole it encompasses lower and upper body. When worked together they help to stabilise and support the spine. For anyone serious about their fitness/performance or just wanting to live healthy, building a strong core will get you there.

Our backs are fundamental to everything we do. Think how many times you slouch on a chair at work, how you sit on the sofa, over time these bad habits creep up on us and we end up at the doctors or whinging to our friends about back pain. Building strong back muscles will help reduce lower back pain and prevent any further damage.

Our core helps us stand upright, improve our balance and increase strength to our workouts. I recently attended a gig and was standing up the whole time with a bag on my back. Half way in I was reminded (by my back) that I wasn’t standing properly. I promptly took my bag off, rolled my shoulders back and stood strong. Being 26 years old and having back pain ages me too quickly! The same applies to the rest of us. A weak core means that other muscles will pick up the slack created and imbalance can occur. This in turn will most certainly mean injuries. *sighs* no injuries I hear you cry. It’s time to pay attention to our cores and getting them strong.

Trust

Trust is inevitable in fitness. A lesson I have only just discovered.

Whilst I am still undergoing physio for my knee, I have had a change of physiotherapist. This has unsettled me more than I would like. My physio before, Zoe, was nice, funny, she gave me great advice, put me through my paces and the most important part was I trusted her. But her placement finished and so the need for someone else to take over. Now I have Louise who appears nice but her advice somewhat contridicted what Zoe had told me and I feel at a loss. Have I just taken a few steps back? How can two physiotherapists have a different opinion treating the same injury?

I left my physio session feeling very unhappy. I didn't feel as though I had been worked over with the new physio. The fact of the matter is, I don't trust Louise yet. I'm sure we'll build a rapore and the trust will come but at the moment it's not there. Plus with three weeks to go till I next her, the trust isn't going to come as quick as first time round with Zoe.

We place trust in ourselves to recognise when something is wrong. We trust that the physio will do what is best for us to get us where we need to be. We trust that when we push our bodies we won't injure ourselves. We trust that our bodies will do what we're training it to do. That last part isn't specific to fitness. We trust our bodies to fight off viruses. We trust our bodies to expel the fatty foods we have consumed and so on. If along the way that trust has decreased then sound the alarm cause this needs fixing.

I need to have faith that this new physio knows what she is banging on about. With that faith, trust will soon follow. Or so I'm hoping. I have a photo of myself from last year that constantly reminds me how my body was in tip top shape. My aim is to surpass that. Injuries can be frustrating and demoralising. I'm in a slump at the moment with physio and not being able to do what I would like with my body. The fact remains, if I don't trust the exercises that my new physio has given me I can't move forward. This is a fate that is much worse.

Injuries - yes you can!

So I've been ill recently and it is preventing me from running in prep for my half marathon that is less than 5 weeks away. But it got me thinking about injuries and how people use these injuries to hide behind to prevent them from exercising.

Injuries can make people stay rooted to their sofas and we before they know it... here comes the weight gain! But if you take exercise out of the equation and your nutrition is spot on then weight gain shouldn't happen. If you are putting enough calories in your body that you can burn off without exercise (Base Metabolic Rate) then weight gain will be harder. A great way to keep track of your calories is to download a calorie app. I've recently got one and my life is made so much easier. No more counting! There are other benefits too to having one. My app keeps track of what exercise I do, calculates counts how many calories I lose, a food diary, a diet calendar, weight tracker, recipes, how much of my RDI I have left and even has popular supermarkets and restaurants foods too. I'm sitting here wondering how have I coped without one! Number one rule for weight loss, count your calories. Even more important when you're injured.

Exercise is a great asset for better sleep, helps fights off depression and other health scares. There are so many benefits to exercise. General rule of thumb is, if you are injured lower half of body then work out the upper body and vice versa. If you are suffering an impact issue then do weights, yoga to improve your core or even swim.

The fact of the matter is, there is an alternative when you are injured. Don't hide behind not working out when injured and then have the nerve to complain about weight gain during your injury.

But if you are injured, you can still exercise. The Internet is a world of opportunity to grab a recovery programme for your injury or even see a specialist to put together a programme for you. The fact of the matter is, don't drift from your goals. Like any sports star who is hampered, learn to adapt to change and set yourself with the mindset that you will improve and not step back during the injury process. Injuries can be frustrating, especially long term ones like a broken foot. I know all about that one! But hang in there, do your homework and continue on the path.


As for me, well I've got a head cold that has now spread to my ear and so I am at a no go with any form of exercise. Any head illness generally does prevent you from working out.

13.1 miles isn't too far.... is it?

Ok so in less than 6 weeks I shall be panting, sweating and dragging my sorry arse at any means possible to run through the Royal Gardens in London, running a grand total of 13.1 miles. Yes this is the Royal Park Half Marathon.

This is going to be my first race since the London marathon last April. What have I done in between?

Well after taking 6 weeks out after the marathon to lick my wounds, I returned to some gentle exercise then I went on holiday and dum dum duuuum I returned injured. But putting pieces together I evaluated my situation. I injured my hamstring 4 weeks before London marathon, I ran half of the marathon before the hamstring kicked in and wouldn't let me run anymore and so walked the rest, then trekking down the 3 miles in Yosemite National Park with a dodgey hammy, add that to uneven surface and I'm surprised all I damaged was my patella tendon.

So seeing as I've got off lightly, after resting, icing, ibuprofen, it was time to get some physio as 3 weeks passed and progress was slow. So I'm currently in physio and progress is coming along great. However RPHM isn't going to wait for me to be fully fit. But I will be on that start line, raving to go to complete the 13.1 miles. I know in my heart of hearts that I won't be able to run the full amount. I know I am capable of completing that distance at a running pace, but with my condition I'm going to follow my instinct to do a run/walk combo.

The best piece of advice that applies to everyone doing fitness (and in life too) is to follow your instinct. If you think your pain threshold is about to crash through, stop. If you feel light headed whilst running and you don't have the fluids to keep you going, stop. We all have these mental battles but the one voice we have to listen to is our inner voice. Stemming from our gut instinct. It will save you from further injury.

I'm back in the gym and my cardio is fast increasing but I've yet to get back out on the road and run. This will be more hard as my body has not been subjected to the impact. I will attempt to brave the field across my home as my first run. Running on a softer ground, like grass, will ease the impact on your body. This is perfect for those who don't like road running or those like myself coming back from an injury.

So the countdown is on. London, get ready.

AWOL

OK so I've been AWOL for a few months but relax, I'm read up, up to speed, back in training and here we go...

London Marathon 2011

Last month I took part in my first marathon. I grew up in London and it has always been a childhood dream of mine to run this marathon, so imagine my ecstasy when I opened up my acceptance letter! As anyone knows who applies, results of the ballot come out in October after the registration from a few months earlier (April). I had completely forgot that the result was due out as I was recovering from a broken foot. Breaking my foot had meant that I had to build up my calf muscle again and gain flexibility back into my foot. Having one leg look smaller than the other one was tough to stare at each day. But now having the marathon to focus on, all systems were go to get me to that start line !!

Broken foot getting a new cast put on:

Getting into the marathon was the catalyst to stop feeling sorry for myself and finally get back into shape. Christmas came and I had a general good level of fitness but no where near my best. Then New Years Eve came and I was struck down by flu!! Everything I had worked from October through to the end of December had been wiped out. This was a huge blow. It took 3 weeks to recover from flu. I can honestly say having flu is the most horrendous illness I have been through. So I had to build up my fitness yet again towards the end of January. I knew cardio is easier to get back than strength so that gave me some hope.

One of my many running magazines were gearing up to the marathon too so I had plenty of training programmes to choose from. After carefully picking one that was right for me, I set about with my training. It did not occur to me how training for a marathon takes over your life. I didn't socialise with friends as much as I normally did or wanted, I detoxed from everything fatty (not that I eat lots of junk food anyway). I gave up caffeine as it strips the blood of iron, a really important vitamin for running. I gave up alcohol too. My body was to be pure all throughout the training.

Training went well. Who knew there are so many early bird runners?! and late ones too. Most of my runs were done in the evenings and my longest runs on Sundays. One thing always occurred to me during my runs. The majority of runners wouldn't smile back at me. I find this strangely bizarre as we'll all in the same boat but I guess that is just the British culture. Four weeks before the big day and two weeks before tapering, I went too hard in a training session and buggered my hamstring. I undertook several sports massages to get the muscle as much repaired as possible but knew I wouldn't be fully fit when it came to the big day. Carb loading was deffo fun at first, then it got sickly !! But needs were a must !!

The marathon itself was beyond my expectations and indescribable. I got emotional shuffling up to the start line. Then once again when I reached the Embankment and at Big Ben. I knew I was on the verge on achieving a dream. Something that I never thought was possible. My body was in a different world to my mind yet still connected through the pain. My recent hamstring injury had flared up at the halfway point and in a flash my body stopped running and I was now limping very badly. I knew my leg was hurting but training my mind to push through pain had meant I didn't stop when I felt something. I was determined to continue, there was no way I was pulling to one side and quitting. Crossing that finish line and then being processed by the amazing staff were parts that I won't forget. The medal weighed heavier than I thought but equally as nice !! The time wasn't what I wanted due to my injury but upon reflection, I really didn't care. I did it !!

After the race, I have never felt more proud to be a Londoner. I know London can be a scary place for some people but on race day, so many people turned out. One thing I would recommend to any runner doing this or other marathons, get your name printed on your top. Having strangers shout out your name and encouragement really does keep you going. The crowds cheered for everyone, one guy even offered me a pint!! I kindly declined.

A great day !!