Earlier I was thinking about Sunday and what I personally would have / could have done Differently. I knew that I would never get a good time –> my hips / condition wouldn’t allow it but I do believe there were things I could have done differently which might have made the experience a little more enjoyable.

So if you’re thinking about doing a Marathon, these are my top tips. If I could turn the clock back 6 months ago, these are the things I would do differently.

I would have stuck to that training plan 100%. I wouldn’t have finished my sessions 5 minutes early, I wouldn’t have missed sessions because I was tired –> I would have made sure I did every single session and put my all into it. There were so many times where my tempo / interval / sprint runs ended up becoming a slow jog because I was tired and I struggled. There were even more times when I made an excuse and didn’t go for a run at all.

I would have pushed through the pain during training. During my Training there were times when I hurt and so I stopped. I would pause my fitbit and have a rest –> I look back now and realise that did nothing, that didn’t help me in anyway. During the marathon I couldn’t pause my fitbit and take 10 minutes out, I had to keep going and that is the mentality I should have had through all my training sessions.

I would have looked more into nutrition. I didn’t eat very well during training –> I didn’t drink much alcohol but I still ate food I shouldn’t have done. I trained for 5 months and I didn’t lose any weight –> when I went for a run I would eat more food to ‘replace’ the calories I had just lost. This is such a common mistake and one that I really need to work on. I would also have made sure I ate the right foods after each run –> I read some nutrition books but honestly, I didn’t take any of it in and that was a big mistake.

I would have done more continuous long runs. During my training, I found a really good way to get my long runs in –> I would do part in the morning and part in the evening. Looking back, although I was running on tired legs in the evening, I was having a good break in the middle to recover. Out of all the long runs I did, 80% of them were split runs –> I ran 19 miles continuous one weekend and that was the longest one I did. Split runs are a great idea when you can’t physically fit a long run in but in reality, they aren’t a true reflection of what you’re training for –> you don’t get a 8 hour break during the marathon!

I would have spent more time strength training and stretching. I had such a focus on running that strength and conditioning went out the window –> I used to love going to the gym but I wouldn’t ever train legs because they would always take a while to recover and that could mean missing out on a couple of runs. Looking back, I needed to strengthen my muscles –> running alone isn’t going to make your legs strong or work your core. Planks, squats, deadlifts etc are key to be a better runner.

I don’t think I will ever run another marathon but I would definitely like to keep running half marathons and 10K’s and although the training isn’t as intense, I know I can take on board these points to improve my running, my time and my fitness.

If you’ve ran a marathon / half marathon, would you have done anything differently? If so, what?

L x