We're just a little more than three weeks out from the marathon, so hopefully the heavy lifting is nearly done for most people.
Regardless of the level of preparation, it’s only natural to doubt yourself. I’m the same as anyone else, you wonder could I have done more?
The thing I try to tell people – and myself – is to cut yourself some slack. Of the 22,500 entries for the race, only a very small group are professional. The rest of us mere mortals are recreational runners and life will always throw up obstacles for marathon training.
Given where Dublin falls on the calendar, much of the training is done through the summer months.
That’s great in so far as the days are longer, but the flipside to that, is that if you have kids, they are off school and there never seems to be a shortage of sports and activities.
With work I travel quite a bit during the summer and you are trying to factor all of that in as the marathon is approaching.
One major lesson I have learned from last year is a more relaxed approach works better.
No week, or even day, is the same for me work-wise, so I need to be flexible. If I’m working on a Saturday, I’m thinking can I get my run in on Friday instead?
Last year I was probably too rigid with the training plan.
There were Saturday mornings where I took the kids to training or a match when I was coaching their football team. I would get up at the crack of dawn, get the long run in, I might not have had time to change or rest post-run, hopped straight into the car to wherever we needed to be.
I’d be standing on the side of the pitch, wrecked, not able to give my best for the kids and also not recovering properly. As a result, it took a lot longer to recover and I was compromised for the following day’s training. That couldn’t really continue.
I have found some simple things that have worked for me.
I like knowing my plan ahead of time, working off a couple of weeks in advance. Once I know what is coming up, I can then try and structure that around my professional and personal life.
For most people, the long runs are undertaken at the weekend given the time commitment required at this stage of the plan.
We have three young kids who are stuck in a range of sports and activities, with most of these falling on the weekend. Factoring in some of these busiest weekends, I often look, where possible, to move the long run to the Friday or during the week, if I can manage it around my work schedule.
Another thing that works for me is getting a run in early in the morning so I’m done for when the kids are surfacing. It can be a challenge in itself, but if I get it boxed off early, it’s not something that is niggling away during the day.
Working out what works best can take a bit of time.
It’s something I have struggled with because when I was competing, I was very regimented. I loved my routine and I was priority number one. It was all about me and I don’t mind admitting that because it was my career.
Whereas now, I’ve had to learn that, if I don’t get my run in the morning or at lunch, I can do it later on.
Life can throw things at you and you have to factor that stress in as well, particularly at this point
You can always try to fit it in somewhere. I've often had to do it on a Saturday evening...oh how things have changed! You need to be flexible and not give yourself a hard time.
You get it done when it suits you, and the hardest thing can often be shutting down that niggly voice in your head pilling the pressure on.
You might think to yourself, 'I'll take today as rest day’ or ‘I’ll push it harder or longer later in the week’, but I’ve found that just doesn’t work.
Life can throw things at you and you have to factor that stress in as well, particularly at this point. The training load is high, and work or life can be busy. That’s all stress and it can very easily take a toll on the body and the mind.
There’s no harm in sometimes saying, ‘I’m meant to go for a two and a half hour run, but I’ve had a lot on this week, if I can get out for an 90 minutes even, that’s okay’.
Don’t get obsessed with the numbers or chasing extra miles, killing yourself to do an extra mile or two might do more harm than good.
You can’t be too hard on yourself because the danger is you are adding load upon load and could easily break down, more often than not with colds or niggles.
Be kind to yourself.
It really is a marathon, not a sprint.
