New Years Resolutions Start Now!

Another solid training week gone by and only a few more sleeps until the jolly fat man and his team of well conditioned reindeer fill our stockings, this by any means is not the time to slacken off, no we must work harder to maintain the good work thats been put in over the year!

New Years resolutions need to start now, don't put off your goals start with putting the steps into place now and hit the ground running in the new year, especially if you're going on ski holidays, you need fitness, strength and core stability to ensure you don't come home with nasty injuries and make the most of the trip!

Marathon training wise I put in a personal best effort on my 10km of 42.53min, I added another hill sprint (5times up Primrose Hill with 12km total) to my training and I've ran my furtherest to date of 24km.

It was an awesome 24km run up the canal in the rain, the pace was great and it was a good little stepping stone for me!

The combination of the hill sprints, interval training,10km pace running and the longer endurance runs seems to be exactly what my body requires. I find they all compliment each other and my recovery is getting a lot quicker!

On the longer run I tried using a isotonic energy gel. I took one at 10km mark and another at 15km, I have to admit it gave me a real boost!

Along with the running training I joined in on the last Spartan circuit of the year!

Todays spartan workout was enough to burn off all the extra Christmas treats and Mulled wine from winter wonderland!

I wish everyone a very merry Christmas, 

Also if you haven't yet donated towards my London Marathon Charity, St Johns Ambulance- Please visit my Just Giving page, any contribution will be appreciated!

http://www.justgiving.com/Luke-Marshall2012Run

Run through to Christmas

Ok back to a track session on Wednesday, my Nike Plus program required me to warm up for 3km constant pace and then do 3mins fast pace and 2mins recovery x 4 intervals.This was a killer session, each 3minute interval was extremely tough maintaining the pace I'd set myself, I managed to get out a solid 10km distance during the session. This session was actually close to my fastest 10km time...

Now todays gym session is the Spartan training circuit, just during the flaming warm up, I could feel the hard work I'd put in during the track session yesterday.

Circuits like this are highly metabolic and great for getting to your ideal body composition. Probably not the most ideal for marathon training but I'm always up for a challenge!

I knew Claud from "Move Three Sixty", wasn't going to go easy on us as I saw him preparing the equipment.

Today he changed from 15reps of each exercise to using the clock meaning we went hard for 45seconds for four rounds (that is round one-then we do a second round) each and we used Kettle-bells, Cables, BOSU, TRX and medicine balls in dynamic style to hit every muscle in your body... Was the hardest one so far and I know I going to appreciate my rest day tomorrow!

Heres a little snippet of todays workout!

MY LONDON MARATHON TRAINING

I have made a decision to take on some challenges that have been sitting on my mind for a while, so after accomplishing the Mens Health "Survival of the Fittest" I decided to apply for the London Marathon 2012. I'm running for Charity with the St Johns Ambulance Team. Please check out my Just Giving Page, any donations would be truly appreciated!

http://www.justgiving.com/Luke-Marshall2012Run

Survival of the Fittest was an amazing event which challenges every aspect of ones fitness. The obstacles range from climbing over hay bails, over walls, crawling through tunnels, mud, water, sandbags not to mention a 10km run! 

This is great fitness event for my type of body- I'm a rugby players build, I've been playing rugby from aged 5yrs to 31years and just recently decided to hang up my boots. I spend my life in gyms pumping weights and I do fitness, speed, stability and power regimes specific to my other passions i.e Tennis, snowboarding, rock-climbing, hiking etc

The real question is can this body of mine handle a marathon?

I love running, I have been told all the pro's and cons to running- some industry experts don't believe in running because it raises cortisol levels (which can cause fat levels to increase), it also causes muscle atrophy(losing metabolically active tissue can cause fat levels to rise), not to mention injuries that can develop through extensive running....

I believe on the other hand that if you still do your strength work, core work, flexibility, stability, look after your diet and develop the milage over time that your body can handle you wreak all the benefits running has to offer. One thing is the endorphins (its like a drug-I think I'm addicted)!

Over the next few weeks/months I'm going to be blogging my day to day progress in the lead up to the London Marathon, this will include topics such as diet, tips, training, gadgets, phone apps, gear, injury prevention basically leaving no stone unturned!

Here is a brief overview so far!

I am running in Nike Lunar glides which have Nike Plus features, on the Nike Plus website I typed in my goal of running the marathon and it gave me an ideal 24 week program for my level. After researching other programs this seemed to be on par with the experts so went with it! The Nike Plus chip and sports band gives details of your splits, duration, and pace and the Nike Plus application has GPS if you fancy mapping out your runs. I also use a basic Polar heart rate monitor. Obviously some watches these days can do everything in the one unit but I decided to roll with what I had on hand!

So the training,

WEEK 1

Started lightly with a 6km run and a build up to a 12km by the end of the week. I squeezed 3 runs and 2 strength sessions in.

One of my commitments is a Spartan Training Circuit in which I do at Move Three Sixty (www.movethreesixty.com) in which I work as a Personal Trainer. This is an intense progressive workout involving a combination of power, strength and core (a specific blog will follow)... I also did a TRX circuit which is great for runners as it builds functional strength, stability and core...

WEEK 2

This was 2x7km and a 16km run on the Sunday. 16km is actually the furtherest I've ever ran, I've never been involved with a sport that requires long distance running. Actually it felt really great to chew up the kms and I felt amazing afterwards! Did the Spartan and TRX workout during the week also.

WEEK 3

2x8km fast and a slow 16km. Spartan and TRX circuits.

WEEK 4

1x8km, Intervals on Track; 5km of easy running- 4 x 1mins pick ups/3mins recovery (8km), 1x 16km.

Strength and core circuit, Spartan workout.

WEEK 5

1x10km, Intervals on track; 5x2mins pick ups 2-3mins recovery, 16.5km; warm up 5km, 10km race pace for 10km- 1.5km cool down.

Strength and core circuit and Spartan workout.

That brings the program to WEEK 6, the current week.

Monday I completed a 4km warm up jog to Primrose Hill, 5xHill sprints and ran home at speedy pace equalling 12km all up.

Here is my view from the top!

One way to stay motivated is to follow a program and mix things up, the program didn't include the hill sprints but it added a great challenge to the runs and gives you great strength for the inclines you may face on race day!