Everywhere I look people are marathon training. My Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feeds are absolutely full of it. Post long run selfies, tales of furthest ever runs and pictures of recovery brunches. It’s everywhere.
Part of me is a bit jealous. I’m not part of marathon training club this year, and am unlikely to be for a while, perhaps ever. Most of the time I’m fine with that, I know it’s the right decision for me and my body. And I also know that marathon training wouldn’t be conducive to achieving my current fat loss goals. But still, every now and again I kind of wish that I too was in marathon training.
There’s something special about working towards a really big goal, and 26.2 miles is a pretty big goal in my book. But there’s also something amazing about training towards that goal with hundreds of other people, most of who you’ll never meet, on social media – cheering each other along one training run after another. Something about ticking off the mileage on your training plan getting one run closer to the big day. Yep, that’s the magic of marathon training and I kind of miss it.
But then I think about all the plus sides of not training for a marathon. First up is all the time that I have to do other things. Marathon training takes up a lot of time, especially when you run as slow as me, and not doing it has freed up loads of time in my diary. Time to really commit to my fat loss and strength training rather than trying to fit it around all the running. Time to learn how to Olympic Lift (more on that in another post). Time to relax.
I’m also a lot less tired and hungry than I am when I’m marathon training – both of which are a good thing!
Plus since I won’t be running a marathon I get to do the next best thing – support. I’m already getting excited about London Marathon day and my opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ for all the amazing support that I’ve had from the crowds on the two occasions that I’ve taken part. I know exactly how important those cheers and encouragement are and I intend to be out on the streets shouting and clapping until my hands hurt and I’ve lost my voice.
I may not be running a marathon but I can still be involved in the magic that is London Marathon day and I fully intend to be. And to be honest, all things considered I’m not really missing the training overall.
From Strength to Strength 
I completely understand what you are going through. Last year I badly broke my leg and I have only just been able to begin running again. Those months of recovery, watching all my training partners race, have been so hard!
This is a very interesting and timely post. I have a VLM place this year, but I am not feeling the love. Not because I don’t think VLM is one of the greatest events to do, but because I have other priorities and it is “in the way”. I don’t need to be running that kind of volume and the event itself cuts a 3-4 week hole in my tri training and as a result I look at VLM as a nuisance. That is not how I want to think about it given my awesome experience in 2012. I am thinking seriously about deferring and making it a priority next year.
I totally understand this Peter. It would be such a shame not to enjoy VLM – a ballot place is really something special, and you know exactly how amazing the day will be. It’s so hard to fit marathon training around other commitments for sure – personally I think it demands full and exclusive attention if you want to do your best, I certainly had to put other things on the back burner last year while I did it.
Sounds like you know what you want to do…..