So i haven't done too much posting as of late on the training but it has (for the most part at least) been going well. Today I ran 11 miles which then gave me an excuse to go to afternoon tea and eat all of the cake - totally worth it.
Generally speaking the thing i'm finding hardest is the hydration element. Today I got around it by taking a route that went past newsagents at least every mile so that when I got thirsty I could just go in and buy a bottle of water or powerade. As it is I was only moderately thirsty by the time I got to the 9th mile - I realised that i should be drinking so I went in and got myself a powerade on the way through but only really took a few swigs. There's a few ways I could choose to interpret this - 1. I drank a pint and a half of water before I left the house as well as two pints over the course of last night -my body was sufficiently hydrated so as not to need the extra whilst running. 2. my body is worryingly getting used to being dehydrated (this is obviously less good). I suppose this is why they say you have to practice the hydration. I gather that in the marathon they're going to have water/sports drink stands every few miles along the course and this should with any luck make it easier as I won't have to carry the things around with me. I'm not really sure what else I can do while i'm training as carrying it around is frankly just annoying. I might try to find one of those dinky evian bottles (the 250ish ml ones) that could fit into my bumbag when I run without adding too much weight. The fuel belt bottles are around the right size but it's so difficult to actually get the liquid out of them that I just end up leaving it - so yes - searching for different options at the moment - might require a bit of a google.
The other thing i've started to do is go off into my daydreams after mile 3-4 - I'm trying to avoid doing this too much because I'm likely to miss the turning I need(!) and according to book of doom you need to pay attention to know when you need your body to kick itself up a gear as it's easy to slow down, but I don't really care about slowing down as long as I can make it through. In my head i've basically abandoned this 4.5 hour target now. It's faster than i'm currently running and I would rather complete this comfortably than quickly. Also it'll mean that I have something to aim for if I ever decide to put myself through this nonsense again! Still I have good daydreams, and I ran past some really pretty stuff that I didn't know was there in the areas around where I live. Who would have thought it in Walthamstow??
I've ran some pretty serious hills now - they're difficult and I read about a technique today which was basically to look at your feet when you run up a hill rather than looking to the hill - it's mostly a psychological thing apparently and helps you not to slow down - i'll be giving that a bit of a go in the next few weeks when I try out some different routes.
The final thing that i've been trying to do is switch up my diet so that i'm consuming more carbs. This is more difficult than i'd thought it would be. It's pretty obvious from what I eat that I don't get the carbos that I need - that's because over the last few years i've been trying to keep a bit of a limit on those - they're the thing that I crave the most when I eat them so they tend to get replaced with lots of vegetables and fish and things that aren't pasta. But now my body needs them and tends to get very full very quickly when I eat them. I'm going to stick with it and make sure that my dinner is rice or pasta based the day before running days and try to get a bit more into my body that way and also it really is time to give up the crap now so i'm going to stop eating so much cake, chocolate, crisps etc. They aren't doing me any favours in either the long or short run and certainly aren't going to do my waistline any favours so we'll see how that goes this week.
Upwards and onwards.
The biggest change i've started to notice though - is that this is starting to feel normal, everyday, and most of all properly achievable - 26.2 miles is just that, 26.2 miles, it's a little over double what I ran today, the same distance that I will be running over the course of next week, and I wasn't destroyed after today so there is no reason whatsoever why I can't/won't do it.
