(Most recent update: July 2014)
Well hello there! I'm Nat.
A bit about me- I took to running when I first moved to my current job (as a teacher) in a new part of the country. I didn't know many people, TV was getting dull and my belly stretching out the waistbands of my favourite jeans. The weather was good. Far better than anywhere else I have lived in the UK, there was a gorgeous deer park just a tiny walk away behind where I was living and what could I lose? Running is free after all! So I gave it a go. First just running for a minute at a time, and walking for a minute. I had always been active and at that time was into mountain biking and kitesurfing so had reasonable fitness. I soon got hooked on Nike+. Friends form North Wales and eventually my sister would upload their runs too, I loved the stats side of things, nerding over how far/fast I'd run and motivating myself for the next workout. I ran on and off for a while until eventually getting over my gym nerves and going for induction at the school where I work. The treadmill saw more structure to my interval training and my training carried on through the winter for the first time ever.
In July 2013 I was quizzed by an athletic friend "so what are to you training for at the moment?"
I ummed and ahhed,
She said "but you have to have a goal to aim for."
I mumbled something about fitness for mountain biking and thought nothing more of it for a few weeks.
In August (summer holiday territory) I was reading articles on using running as fitness training for biking, read one particular blog of a girl in America training for a marathon while targeting a triathlon, and had been browsing Runners World endlessly seeking inspiration. The Paris Marathon thread on there had caught my eye on a few occasions. We (me and bf Phil) were in Paris for a romantic weekend in April earlier that year, and had stumbled across the marathon completely by accident somewhere along the Seine near Notre Dame. I had my first crazy ideas- could I run a marathon?
I spent a good week or so researching- I didn't know the first thing about running or training for a marathon. What training is required? How many weeks? How many miles? What's the time commitment? How many days/week? Could I fit this in with my 6-day-week teaching timetable? How? When would I start? What time could I target? When are marathons? Which one could I aim for? How much does it cost? Are entries available?
It seemed only natural that the Paris Marathon would be my target. And as I was running already, April 2014 should be achievable. I spent a few more days choosing a plan and setting this up in a spreadsheet so I could refer back to it/alter it as I went along. I'd opted for the Hal Higdon plans for the numbers, but read an awful lot about speedwork, hill sprints, tempo work, fast finish long runs, etc etc so just used the numbers from Hal, and jazzed up some of the workouts so alternate sessions were 'hard' but also with 'easy' weeks every third week. My final plan was in two halves. A 5k & 10k plan, then a half & mara plan. I printed out the two separate plans onto A3 paper with each day the right size for my "good work" teacher stamper to mark each session as complete. I blue-tacked the first plan above the sofa, and hid the second part on the wall behind the sofa so the numbers didn't scare me. I then went away to South Africa with a school trip and the notion that after two weeks away from home with some thinking time, I would know whether or not I wanted to commit to it. Well, I arrived back home, started running, booked my place at Paris and haven't looked back since!
Well hello there! I'm Nat.
A bit about me- I took to running when I first moved to my current job (as a teacher) in a new part of the country. I didn't know many people, TV was getting dull and my belly stretching out the waistbands of my favourite jeans. The weather was good. Far better than anywhere else I have lived in the UK, there was a gorgeous deer park just a tiny walk away behind where I was living and what could I lose? Running is free after all! So I gave it a go. First just running for a minute at a time, and walking for a minute. I had always been active and at that time was into mountain biking and kitesurfing so had reasonable fitness. I soon got hooked on Nike+. Friends form North Wales and eventually my sister would upload their runs too, I loved the stats side of things, nerding over how far/fast I'd run and motivating myself for the next workout. I ran on and off for a while until eventually getting over my gym nerves and going for induction at the school where I work. The treadmill saw more structure to my interval training and my training carried on through the winter for the first time ever.
In July 2013 I was quizzed by an athletic friend "so what are to you training for at the moment?"
I ummed and ahhed,
She said "but you have to have a goal to aim for."
I mumbled something about fitness for mountain biking and thought nothing more of it for a few weeks.
In August (summer holiday territory) I was reading articles on using running as fitness training for biking, read one particular blog of a girl in America training for a marathon while targeting a triathlon, and had been browsing Runners World endlessly seeking inspiration. The Paris Marathon thread on there had caught my eye on a few occasions. We (me and bf Phil) were in Paris for a romantic weekend in April earlier that year, and had stumbled across the marathon completely by accident somewhere along the Seine near Notre Dame. I had my first crazy ideas- could I run a marathon?
I spent a good week or so researching- I didn't know the first thing about running or training for a marathon. What training is required? How many weeks? How many miles? What's the time commitment? How many days/week? Could I fit this in with my 6-day-week teaching timetable? How? When would I start? What time could I target? When are marathons? Which one could I aim for? How much does it cost? Are entries available?
It seemed only natural that the Paris Marathon would be my target. And as I was running already, April 2014 should be achievable. I spent a few more days choosing a plan and setting this up in a spreadsheet so I could refer back to it/alter it as I went along. I'd opted for the Hal Higdon plans for the numbers, but read an awful lot about speedwork, hill sprints, tempo work, fast finish long runs, etc etc so just used the numbers from Hal, and jazzed up some of the workouts so alternate sessions were 'hard' but also with 'easy' weeks every third week. My final plan was in two halves. A 5k & 10k plan, then a half & mara plan. I printed out the two separate plans onto A3 paper with each day the right size for my "good work" teacher stamper to mark each session as complete. I blue-tacked the first plan above the sofa, and hid the second part on the wall behind the sofa so the numbers didn't scare me. I then went away to South Africa with a school trip and the notion that after two weeks away from home with some thinking time, I would know whether or not I wanted to commit to it. Well, I arrived back home, started running, booked my place at Paris and haven't looked back since!
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