The start of my journey

On May 12th this year I am hopefully going to run my first and probably only marathon! So I wanted to document my journey which officially started this week. Each week I will share the type of runs I have done, the food I have eaten, how I have felt and also who has helped me along the way.

This is not intended as any kind of recommendation, it’s purely my thoughts to help me look back in years to come and remember the joy and the pain (mainly the pain I expect). So please read it from that point of view but if you agree or disagree with my thoughts that’s absolutely fine.

To get a frame of reference, I thought it may be worth sharing some stats about me so you know where I am starting from. Some data is displayed in a range (you never can be too careful with naughty people out there)

My starting stats

So, you can see the starting bar is very low, lets see how we get on.

What to expect

So I will usually post once a week and I will share,

• Training runs – I will share the Strava runs but also explain what I did and why and who joined me.
• Nutrition – Generally the food I have eaten through the week but also fuel I have taken on my runs, mainly so I remember what was good and what was bad!
• Progress to plan – believe it or not I am following a plan and the main focus of that is using the app Runna, recommended by one of my running heroes (you will be hearing a lot about them during this journey too). I won’t add her name here, just incase it’s rubbish ha ha, but you know who you are and thanks.
• Key Learning – what’s the main thing I have learned from the week.
• Images – I am not great with photo’s sometimes but I am going to try and take as many as I can and share them, as well as images from apps etc.
• Fave of the week – well I had to add this didn’t I? For anyone who knows me I have the odd fave and I will share the fave of the week! Maybe who has helped me the most, said the funniest thing, been the most supportive, given the best advice, stuff like that.
• The rest I will make up as I go, maybe adding some other stuff if I remember.

Week 1 – 22nd Jan 2024 to 28th Jan 2024

Training runs

Monday 22nd January

This is my first official training run. A very windy Monday night saw a 4 mile run starting from Vane Tempest car park in Seaham, heading along the seafront to Dawdon and following what is commonly known in our running group as Del’s Tours in reverse. It’s basically a little tour of my childhood haunts and I have been known to bore my friends with tales of said haunts!

We ran along to the train station and down Denehouse Road back to the seafront and completed the loop at Vane Tempest carpark.

This was my “Easy run” for the week, nice steady pace with the intention of being able to hold a conversation comfortably. Whilst that is not always comfortable for me and running at the same time, I think I managed it.

Wednesday 24th January

A more technical run tonight with sprints (intervals) introduced. We did a mile warm up at an easy pace then 30 second sprint followed by 90 second recovery in the form of a walk/jog. We did this 11 times before a gentle jog back to the car park to cool down.

Saturday 27th January

Long runs are important each week to build up the distance gradually. Most Saturdays we are out early to get a Fox and Hounds run in and then we do our regular Saturday group run. This week, I kept the watch running and combined the two.

The Fox and Hounds run is a fun event we have been doing since last summer. The intention is the faster Hounds do a longer, faster run to catch the slightly slower foxes. As the slowest fox, I tend to be the back marker. Over the winter, with the darker mornings we have been doing separate runs with the focus on distance rather than speed. Whatever format it takes, it is very casual and a load of fun.

I would say the Fox and Hounds run is the main reason why I have the confidence to even consider doing a marathon. My pace and general running strength and therefore confidence has improved dramatically doing the Fox and Hounds run, not to mention the company of the amazing foxes team.

This run started at Vane Tempest again and then a 2 mile climb up to Seaton crossroads, then down the old railway line to Ryhope and back along the coast to VT.

The group run took us back up Byrons Walk (hate Byrons Walk and we did it twice today). Past the grounds of my old school, Northlea up to Station Road and turn left to the Station. Down another old railway line back to the seafront and along the seafront to VT.

Sunday 28th January

As I said earlier I have a load of running heroes and many of them talk about running on tired legs, doing back to back longer runs with the intention of improving endurance and helping you become faster and stronger. I wanted to try this out today and what a surprise I got.

The route was devised by the lovely Laura Doyle, one of the funniest members of our running group with a gently sadistic side as I found out this morning. Her route can only be compared with the ascent to Everest base camp! Up, what we call Hell Hill, a two mile slog to Dalton Park and then back down yet another old railway line past the golf course to Dawdon. Delighted to say that not only did my tired legs perform reasonably well but I managed to run all the way up Hell Hill (thanks to Holly for chatting all the way up). There were many times on the way back down I was sending telepathic messages to the front runners to stop and give me a breather but I kept going, this time thanks to Claire B, who chatted all the way down. My 6th mile was in the 9 minute bracket (not bad for this old guy, OK it was downhill but who cares).

Nutrition

This week I have been mostly eating carrots! No not really, this isn’t Jesses Diets (doffs cap to the Fast Show).

I have tried to eat a lot more fruit and vegetables than I normally do this week. Also concentrated on drinking more water too to keep hydration levels up. After 6 miles on the Saturday 27th run, I had a Hi5 Energy gel. Before the Sunday run (about 90 mins before) I had a small bowl of porridge. Not everyones cup of tea so to speak but I love it, made on the hob with just water!

Progress to plan

I have actually exceeded the plan this week, for example the long run was supposed to be 4.9 miles but as you can see I did quite a bit more than that. Now that’s not big or clever but I was (and still am) feeling good so I wanted to see what I could do. I have steadily been building up mileage each week for 2 months now so why not. Obviously if I don’t feel so good this week I will step it back a little.

The result is my mileage this week was 24.5 miles an increase of around 20%, probably a little too much but I will listen to my body this week and see how it goes.

Key Learning

So this week I learned that I can do some stuff that I didn’t know I could do:

• I can run on tired legs and it does feel good. Obviously listen to your own body and know your limits but also push those limits, they will stretch!
• What’s in the head is far more important than what’s in the legs. It is so true that your head will give up before your legs (remember you telling me this at the start of my running journey Lee Bromham).
• Friends are so important to keep you going and some of the chats, way too many to mention have kept me going this week. A few special mentions though to Miss Blue Sky on Monday, the ever present, ever supportive KMac on Wednesday, Sally D and Kathryn on Saturday. Finally Holly and Claire B on Sunday

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right!

Thanks to Henry Ford for that quote, but it’s absolutely true.

Fave of the week

This is going to be so hard to pick someone each week, as everyone knows I don’t really have favourites so how will I pick someone.

As I mentioned earlier the key change I have had in the last 6 months has been the Fox and Hounds runs on a Saturday morning. They have definitely made me stronger and more confident in my running and what is possible. Without this I wouldn’t have dreamt of trying to do a marathon. So I have to give my Fave of the week to the co-founders with me of the Fox and Hounds group Chris W and Derek D. Thanks lads.

Already looking forward to week 2. Have a great week everyone.