Keep On Running...

With the London Marathon nearing two weeks ago now it is coming to the point where it is time to officially move on... Most people have listened to you recount the race in various levels of detail, friends have asked you how you got on before subtly asking what time you did it in, walking has resumed to normal, and you have inevitably begun to contemplate the next marathon challenge (and if your like me entered the 2016 London Marathon ballot!) But as the cliché goes, all good things come to an end, and whilst the memories and experience of the 26th April 2015 and all the weeks of training beforehand will stay with me for a long, long time I cannot hang onto that day forever - as much as I would like to!

So this week has marked the start of my next training focus - the Liverpool Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in June. Looking at the plan, 'long runs' seem positively short in comparison to marathon training and the reintroduction of  faster runs and workouts comes gives me hope I may be able to regain some of the pace I lost somewhere in the miles of marathon training. I have never completed a half marathon before, only on training runs whilst marathon training, so am not really sure where I am aiming time wise. In London I comfortably ran the half in just over 2hours, so would like to think I could get under that milestone quite easily. 

One of my main aims over the next few weeks is however to remain injury free. The stress running a marathon puts on your body should not be ignored, and I must be careful not to go into things too quickly. In certain ways, I want to remain as strict on myself during the rest of 2015 as I have during marathon training; keep up my massage sessions, foam rolling routines, improved diet and actually having rest days! In other ways I really looking forward to being able to relax a little more and enjoy the social events the summer will bring without the thought of a 20 mile run the next day looming over me!

I have also really enjoyed blogging about my experiences training for the London Marathon, it makes me reflect, learn from and often see a bit more sense in what I am doing! I have therefore decided to keep my blog going. So its a case of both 'keep on running' and 'keep on blogging' really!