ADDED NUTRITION - DAY 8

The first complete week of Janathon has come around and I have to say I am enjoying it. My run today was my first long run on my marathon schedule, a 9 miles was in order. I felt prepared, I felt confident and I was looking forward to it.
Rob Herron from Muscle Finesse had kindly sent me some free samples of High 5 Advanced Sports Nutrition to try and review. As this was a run that would enable me to take added nutrition, I popped a Berry Zero High 5 tablet into a bottle with some water as well as taking another bottle of water in the other pouch. I was planning to meet the family at the swimming pool so knew I would need some extra for after the run.
I started taking the drink with the High 5 in by around mile 3 and took it throughout the run. Felt fine and really enjoyed the berry taste, I have Cherry-Orange and Citrus to try also. Was a welcome relief from the stickiness of some gels I have taken in the past!!!! I do also take Jelly Babies with me as they have helped me on many occasions, especially when going for a PB in half marathons last year! I drank about half of the High 5 drink throughout the run and then drank the rest upon finishing.

The run took me along country roads, small tracks, villages and into town. Didn't fully get into my stride until mile 5 as I was wanting to keep within the region of 9 min miles, which I am finding harder at the moment as I have been working on my speed for the last half of 2011. I know that I wouldn't want to go out too fast on a long run, I do like to have something left in the tank for the finish. My average min per mile looks like I was working quite well when it comes to that, so happy with the way it went. 8.55 average overall :))

Saw very few runners out and about, in fact I passed just 2. Very unusual for a Sunday morning but maybe they were all in Exeter for the First Chance 10K. I know many of my twitter pals were there and doing very well by the looks of my timeline!!! Well done especially to @supermu62 @KariAnnWebb and @Lisa_run, there were also quite a few from Bude RATS going so hoping they all did themselves proud. I'm sure they did. So a fairly quiet run this morning, thanks also to my Sennheiser earphones finally giving up the ghost :(( The podcasts (The Moth) will have to wait I'm afraid!!
 
Mr T and the boys were at the local swimming pool for our usual family swimming session - literally our whole family turns up!! I planned to finish my run there and wait for them to finish, instead I got my cossie on and went in, really wanted to give my legs a bit of a stretch and the water was fairly cold so knew I should get in. Twas bliss!!!

This afternoon looks set to be a DVD filled one, with the N Cornish mizzle having descended only minutes after I finished my run (perfect timing). Hoping everyone is having an equally lovely Sunday, looking forward to what the new week brings.

JANATHON DAY 7 - FOOD FOR THOUGHT

After a lovely excruciating sports massage yesterday, my quads were feeling slightly tender to put it particularly mildly. Today was going to be a "bare minimum, just for Janathon"run as I wanted to keep the legs as fresh as I could for my long run tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the first long run of my marathon training, have done a few longish ones in the last few months, but am so excited about having started my marathon plan that I don't want to jeopardise my first one with fatigued legs.

Today was a short one around a very familiar route for me, The one I always use if I want a short, slightly challenging one. As I live in N Cornwall, you are hard pushed to find a 4 mile route with anything other than at least one hill in. This route has the killer West Street in - a mile of ever increasing elevation- which in days gone by I would walk up and feel that it would have been impossible.

This morning I went half way up and then walked the rest of the route, so a 3.5 mile run was followed by a 0.5 mile walk back home. I was feeling slightly tired as I hadn't had breakfast before leaving, also those quivering quads were going to be saved for tomorrow. The run did however give me a chance to run of some of the aches and pains a sports massage can bring out. My quads feel refreshed now and after a good night's sleep I will be energised to take on my run tomorrow.

I have also been looking at me nutrition in the last couple of days, I'm happy with my gels, etc that I take whilst running the distances but it is my day to day intake of balanced nutrition that I am working on. I find I do not eat enough protein once I ramp my training up a gear, so this is being looked at before it becomes an issue.
I absolutely LOVE eggs so they are a great source and my lunch of choice is a bagel with mayonnaise, avocado and sardines on top, sardines being a great protein provider as well as giving me some much needed omega 3.

I will see what tomorrow brings but am very much looking forward to getting my iPod on (downloaded the podcasts of The Moth - recommended by Mrs D, of course!) and getting some lovely miles in.

The protein pack ready for action!