The training begins!

...in which I talk about running and future plans for the blog.

Now that I have reached my Slimming World target and don't intend to lower it again (I have lost a total of 4 stone 1 lb and I feel pretty happy with how I look and feel now; still toning up a bit, but getting there), I have decided I need a new project to blog about and help keep me at my target.

So, as you might have read in the last blog entry, I have entered the Greater Manchester Marathon. to raise funds for the Isabelle Lottie Foundation. You can donate by clicking the button over on the right, or if you'd rather you can donate to Amy, who ran 53 marathons in 53 days, here. (It goes to the same cause and she deserves to get to her target)!

I've had the app that Asics provide generate a training plan for me; I'm not following it too closely though, mainly because the initial "pre-conditioning" runs would seem like a big step backwards, and I pay for the gym so I'm not skipping my resistance or core strengthening sessions. And anyway I enjoy them. I'm not quite sure what happened to the me that was horrified at the idea of going to a gym...

Having blogged about running when I was preparing for the Reading Half Marathon back in 2011 (was it really that long ago?!) I know that it can be a bit dull, so I won't be doing a huge number of posts about that - I will occasionally do a bit about the marathon preparation, but I'm going to keep blogging about food as it's much more varied (today's dinner: Slimming World friendly quiche with slimming world chips, baked beans and steamed sweetcorn).

I'm going to aim to do 2 blog posts a week now; one on a Monday after weigh in (yes, I will keep going to the Slimming World group - I really like them, and I will stay as often as I can) and one at the weekend to talk about whatever's happened in the week and occasionally my marathon preparation. 

Training this week has consisted of a 7.7 mile run on Tuesday morning, and a 6 mile run on the treadmill last night. On Sunday I'm aiming for my first run over 10 miles (abiding by the "10% increase per week" rule - I did 9.5 miles last week).

Apparently I need a thing called a "foam roller" to help prevent injuries. Having looked into it, it seems that these things hurt and some of the pictures look as if they'd be more likely to cause injuries than prevent them...

So there we go. As always, plans are subject to change.