PROJEKT LONDON & STOCKHOLM

PROJECKT LONDON and STOCKHOLM

Only the second post in and the blog has had a name change. It has gone from ProjektStockholm to Projekt London and Stockholm. The addition of the London Marathon came when I was super lucky enough to win a ballot spot from a Facebook Live giveaway my running club did. I only recently became a member of the Lonely Goat Running Club but feel so privileged to be running on their behalf. Hence the blog’s name change!

Lonely Goat RC

Lonely Goat RC are the first ever running club I have been a member of. They are an online running community who are open to any age and ability. The club was designed for those who struggle to find time to join traditional running clubs due to work, family or other commitments. This suited me perfectly. I also love the ethos of the group and its fellow members (known as ‘the herd’) and since joining only have great words to say about it. Members give their support to other runners and encouragement with their goals, no matter what they may be! I’m very happy I joined this club and can’t wait to represent them in the London Marathon, followed by Stockholm Marathon only 4 weeks later. (Ouch!)

Training So Far

I am currently in a tough block of training for The Brass Monkey Half Marathon at the beginning of January, so all efforts are currently focused towards that. I am running 6 times a week, alongside a couple of S&C sessions whenever my diary and time allow. Most of my runs have been focusing on increasing aerobic capacity, as I want to be as efficient as possible over the longer runs. This is an aspect of fitness I really need to work on, and struggle with. For the half marathon I have also been doing some speed work, tempo and threshold work. Tough fun!

My specific London Marathon block of training will start on the 4th February, right after Dewsbury 10k the day before. I will have banked lots of long, steady runs and recovered enough from the previous block of training, that I feel 12 weeks is a decent amount of time to get race ready, without being over-trained or becoming injured. It’s a unique situation I’ve found myself in as I never intended to race two marathons so close to each other. By allocating 12 weeks to London it means it will be 16 weeks until Stockholm. A 16 week window of training is very long, and the 4 weeks between the two races will be really important in regards to how well the body and legs can recover.

As mentioned above in training for the half marathon, my marathon training will be focused on working on my aerobic capacity. The sessions will just be a lot longer in nature. Especially if I want to empty the tank properly at London and Stockholm. This also makes sense seeing as 99% of the marathon is aerobic. The plan is to give full effort for London then whatever I have left for Stockholm.

I hope to cover more specific sessions in future blogs but let’s just say I’m excited and ready for the tough challenge ahead!