London 2018, here I come!

[C3PO]

Instead of droning on in other people's posts, I thought I'd start my own London post, which I'll update leading up to the event.

The official registration came through this week, so I am definitely on. Donations are also starting to come in. I hope it's OK if I put in a link to my fundraising page here - I won't mention it again. uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fu...

As many of you know, I'm doing a marathon at Christmas to test my running form, and have been training towards it diligently. But doing a PB at the Royal Parks Marathon and keeping up the mileage without a rest wasn't a good idea, and my knees and hip flexor starting complaining, so I scaled back last week. I want to keep my legs healthy for the main event!

I stopped my ongoing training plan, and have started a new one in my usual training app, leading up to London. I figure I'll walk/run the Christmas marathon instead. My new plan seems to be very similar to the old one, just that the long runs will be slightly shorter for the time being. I've also set up a plan in MyAsics, so I have double coverage!

I have also devised a cunning plan. My 11-year-old daughter has joined an athletics club. She came home on Thursday, raving about a new technique she learned, so I've got her to agree to do some training with me whenever she learns a new technique. So maybe I can benefit too!

The photo is from a mini photo shoot I had with my daughter after my Friday run. I usually hate photos of myself, but thought it wasn't too bad.

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

This is great, you sound really strong and positive! I look forward to hearing more of this story.

And I love the photo, you've really got the bright colours going ON!!!

[C3PO Marathon in reply to roseabi]

I consider the bright colors to be all about survival. When you spend a lot of the year running in low lighting conditions, you're safer if you wear bright colors. Not to mention boosting my mood!

[Tomas Marathon]

Great to hear the official registration came through and you're definitely in. Yay!

Sounds good with the updated plan, and wise to scale back and save yourself for the main event. The last thing you want is injury over the next few months.

I look forward to follow your London journey over the coming months. This is exciting!!

[ju-ju- Marathon]

That photo is fabulous, you look the part and so confidant Your plan sounds really sensible, youve got this

[ancientrunner Half Marathon]

That's a great photo. All the best with the training, it sounds good.

[poppypug Marathon]

Exciting times ahead for you .

I love the photo too . Would be really interested in updates of your Marathon training , please keep us informed xxx

[AnnieW55]

Great photo. Great way of involving your daughter too. Best wishes for your training.

[misswobble Marathon]

Best wishes with the training. That will keep you busy and focussed over winter.

I love coral and orange, with purple. Yummy! Looking good there C3PO!

Good luck and bon voyage x

[aliboo70 Half Marathon]

Lovely photo! Ooh it's exciting with your 1st marathon coming up and then London in the spring! 😆

[C3PO Marathon]

Last week was good in terms of number of runs. I managed four, but I'm still at a slightly lower mileage than I was a few weeks ago. I'm sure it's good for my recovery!

Yesterday, I went on a 14.3K run with studded shoes. I'm getting really good at fitting in my running with everyday life, so I went to my dentist's first in my running gear, then set off from there. Since I want to manage the winter marathon without too much damage, I'm going to focus on running/walking for all my long runs until the New Year. I need to find the right ratio, though. I looked online, and Jeff Galloway seems to recommend 2 minutes running, 30 seconds walking. That sounds really odd to me.

I need to do something that works with my phone app. Right now I get notifications every 2K, so yesterday I went for 2K, then 1 minute walking. It worked OK, but it was demoralizing to hear how much my pace kept dropping. I'm considering upping it to 19 minutes running, then 1 minute walking - I can switch the app to 20 minute notifications. On the bright side, despite running with studded shoes, my legs felt really good afterwards.

I have two questions: (1) If I keep up the run/walk thing, can I increase my long run mileage more than 2K per week until Christmas safely? It would still be less than 10% of my weekly mileage. (2) Is it necessary? Since I'm going to run/walk at Christmas, I imagine the impact of the Christmas marathon won't be as tough on my legs.

It's probably worth mentioning that I'm mainly following the Mapmyrun plan, which has me on a much higher mileage right now than MyAsics, which interestingly predicts a faster finish time than Mapmyrun. Both plans have London as their goal. I don't see any way to factor in this Christmas marathon.

[roseabi Ultramarathon in reply to C3PO]

Increase sounds fine. I think that even though you will be walking part of the way at Christmas, it's still a good idea to train for a long time spent moving on your feet. I may have misunderstood your question though

[C3PO Marathon]

I see I haven't updated for a while. For the last few weeks, I've been focusing on getting to know the second half of the route I'll be running at Christmas. The conclusion is: I don't like it. It's uninspiring and hillier than I expected. The race ends 17 K from my house, so I've been trying to finish this distance for weeks, but 2 weeks ago conditions were too treacherous. Last week was fine, but then I ran out of sidewalk, and no way am I going to run on Norwegian country roads on a weekday. Somebody on the race's Facebook page has given me detailed instructions about the detour I need to take to find the sidewalk, so I guess I'm going to try one last time tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I experimented with running 20 minutes and walking 1 last week, and that worked well. No niggles at all afterwards. But I did walk up more hills than I would normally. I think hills seem harder in the winter.

I had a bit of trouble mentally last week, and seriously wondered how I'd manage to whole distance. Or any marathon for that matter. But I'm sure I will. It's just a bit disheartening when I've read race reports from the upcoming event by people who say "I wasn't in any shape to run today, so I walked most of the way, and finished in a miserable 4:30." How do you finish in that time if you've walked? I'd be thrilled if I got a time like that. Bizarre Norwegians!