I didn’t know whether to start my marathon training diaries yet since I’ve been struggling a little over the past few two weeks while I’ve been away however I thought it was a good way to recap some of my trips, and to document the process (no matter how rough/smooth) to Big Cottonwood.

So here goes nothing…

Monday – Rest Day

Tuesday Ran 3.5 easy miles with Emma around Henley before my flight.

Wednesday – 6 x 400m at 7 min mile pace at the Sheraton, Panama City Beach

I started running outside, got so hot that I swapped the workout to the treadmill after my 1 mile warm up. The view from the hotel gym was amazing, they’ve done a huge regeneration on the hotel and the gym is now in prime position opposite the coffee shop.

Thursday – No weight circuit workout. You can follow the full workout here. 

15 Squats
15 Commandos
30 Curtesy squats
15 Press UPS
30 Walking Lunges
30 Second Plank

Go through the whole circuit with no rest. Complete 4 x with 60 seconds rest between circuits!

Friday – 10 miles around Panama City Beach Conservation and Wetland Park.

I had 10 miles as my first ‘long’ run of marathon training. We’d been recommended Conservation Park by someone at our hotel, and although it was about a 30 minute drive, it was so worth it.

We bumped into a lovely lady in the car park who offered to let us use her bug spray and said she was headed out for 5 more miles and would love some company. I’d planned on doing one large 10 mile loop, but decided that some company would be lovely and so we ran the inside 5 mile loop. And wow, that heat, even at 7am. I drank my full water bottle within that five miles and was incredibly glad to refill it and go to the bathroom!

The last loop solo was a struggle after my headphones ran out of battery! I struggled to keep my pace under 10 min miles, finished my water and literally kept hallucinating that I could see water fountains!

Literally dead by the end…Florida humidity is no joke!

Saturday – I’d signed up for a 5K race near Orlando with two Instagram friends. Ashley and Kindal, who I’d met in Boston last year. Unfortunately, Kindal got the flu and Ashley managed to sleep through her alarms, but I was still raring to go.

The 5K was a local race in Clermont, about 25 mins from Disney, with a sprint triathlon taking place in the lake. It was a gorgeous suburb, would be the perfect place to stay with a family on an extended Disney trip.

I started way too near the back, having no idea how much body would do in the heat, but decided I wanted to see what I could run.

5Ks are not my forte, and I had no idea what my PB was, so I just ran hard….and ended up matching my PB of 23.59! So annoying, I wish I’d known, I bet I’d have found 1 more second!!

I came second in my age group and earned an awesome medal! Maybe I can should do more 5Ks!

Sunday – Disney Dumbbell workout Full day walking around Disney, we covered 16 miles around three of the parks!

Monday – Serious anxiety grumpiness so Anna sent me out for 3 miles around the park before we joined the free yoga at our hotel. I didn’t know that Disney did that but such a cool addition.

Tuesday –  7 Mile running tour of Tampa with Go Running Tours. I met up with running tour guide Laura for an extended tour of the city’s hot spots.

Followed by paddle boarding along the river through Tampa, which against the current was actually pretty tricky. We did spot a couple of dolphins swimming alongside us through which was incredible!

Wednesday – Went to the gym, ran for a mile warm up then tried to do my first 800m repeat and just couldn’t. My body said no…so I ended up using our gym time to stretch instead.

Thursday – After a red eye into London, I had hoped to go to F45 Paddington before our dinner plans with friends, however traffic meant that we missed out on our class – I think Tom was secretly pretty happy about it!

Friday – 5 Miles around London with Wiggle Sports testing the new Adidas Solar lunar boost? I always love a group run, and was fun catching up with Tashi, Rich, Claudia and Lucy – all instagram running buddies!

Saturday – We all woke up slightly hungover on the Isle of Wight, but having decided to do a short run, we stuck to the plan. Anna, Simon and I ran from our Air B&B into Yarmouth, bumping into another group of our friends also out running. We called it good after 3 miles, conveniently outside a coffee shop, grabbed an iced coffee then had one of the others collect us!

However, the real workout for the day, was our two hours sea kayaking. It was far more intense than we were imagining! After telling us we would ‘only get wet if we wanted’, three of our boats ended up capsized in the water, as we were pushed towards the rocks. Not what we were expecting from a gentle morning paddle.

Sunday – After a heavy session on Saturday, I did not get up early to do a long run! I spent about 5 hours driving back from the Isle of Wight to London, before attending a Tom’s Godson’s christening and lunch.

I think part of the reason I struggled so much with the second week was because I was dealing with some serious anxiety and burnout. I struggled with my self worth and worried about my lack of fitness. I found it crippling, so much so that I didn’t want to run.

BUT this week is a new week….