So now what?

So a week on from the London Marathon and I feel like I am pretty much recovered. On Monday and Tuesday my legs were very sore, a sports massage on Monday helped a lot but I was still hobbling a bit on Tuesday. From Wednesday they started to feel better but I was then overwhelmed by feelings of exhaustion. I just wanted to sleep all day. And eat. But by Friday I had started to feel human again and went out for a little 5K run which I enjoyed. I was a bit creaky but held a steady pace. And now on Monday I feel pretty much back to normal again.

But what is normal now? I’ve trained for 4 months for the marathon and I don’t want to lose the fitness levels that I’ve built up. OK, so maybe I don’t want to be out running 15-18 milers every weekend but I do love running and I need a new goal to focus on. So here’s my plan….

During my marathon training I started run/walking – a good strategy to see me through my training and to my first marathon. However, it’s trained my body to expect a walking break every 10mins in my runs and I want to train it back away from that. I want to be a ‘proper’ runner, ultimately I want to be able to run a whole marathon. I also want to get faster which means dropping down to shorter distances to begin with.

I have the following races lined up so far this year and have set myself a goal for each of them

23rd May – British Heart Foundation Canary Wharf jog – aim to get a new 5K PB

27th May BUPA 10K –  aim to run the whole way without stopping and set a baseline 10K time

8th July – British 10K – aim to beat the time I set in the BUPA 10K

15th Sept – Pride 10K in Victoria Park (not yet entered) – aim to beat the time I set in British 10K

14th October – Kingston run (16 miles not yet entered) – aim to run the whole way and beat my time from April of 3hrs 15 mins

28th October  – Great South Run (10miles) – aim to run the whole way and beat last year’s time of 2hrs and 2 mins

I have also just entered the online ballot for the London Marathon 2013. There’s a 1 in 8 chance that I’ll get a place so it’s far from definite that I’ll get in but I just had to try!

I’m also going to continue blogging as I’ve enjoyed keeping a record of my progress and sharing it with other people so I hope you’ll continue to stop by and check on how I’m doing. Better still come and join me at one of the races!