This day I love.......: training

I've decided that January is officially a bonus month. A month that doesn't really count. Last year I ended on tired legs, proud I managed to completed 9 marathons and 3 ultras but ever so tired. The build up of miles had really took it out of me and so I had decided after my last marathon in mid December to have a rest over Christmas.

The problem was the rest kind of continued into the new year. The first week of January the girls were on school holiday so I also decided to take that week as a rest week. I struggled to get motivated and with my first race at the end of March I felt I had nothing to work for. My eldest daughter wanted to continue parkrun and decided that this year she wanted to complete the alphabet challenge. A parkrun for every letter of the alphabet. Those runs with her on a Saturday and a little challenge to focus on kick started my training.

For some reason I have struggled with running in January. Perhaps it is the aftermath of last year still, or maybe its a mental battle but for whatever reason I am finding it hard work.

My eldest and I spent the day together at the National running show. I think it came at the right time and after it I put a plan in place for some proper training for Brighton.

The problem is when you put plans in place in January the weather tends to screw them up. Not to be deterred and with some new found fire I have still been out in the ice and snow.

I have also stopped stressing over certain runs on given days. I move my training around my kids and it seems to work a lot better. It is also great having friends as crazy as you who come on long runs with you in the week. It has meant I have not had to give up all my weekends to long running and can spend more time with the children. Finding that balance was hard work last year but I feel that slowly it has started to come together.

In addition to running I have also tried to step up the cross training. Fitting this is is tricky and so I try to do two sessions a week, in addition to hoop and stretch class. I have also signed up to an online Pilates class and will be starting this in February, so hope to share more in next months update.

At the end of January I had a lactate test done which gave me a new training plan working with heart rate zones. I am keen to see where this goes and will be putting this into place in February.

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Running in August is always very tricky when you have small children. I tried to keep the children as busy as possible which meant lots of trips out to places and so often running during the day was not an option. I had a few times where I ran alongside the bikes or even rode my bike with them but most runs were confined to evenings and parkrun.

August had to be flexible in order to accommodate the school holidays and plans with the children. It meant I ran when I could and did not stick to a training plan. Possibly a bad idea given I have several marathons coming up, but really I had no choice. What was nice however was making the most of the early mornings with running friends and soaking in the warm weather.

In addition to birthdays and day trips we also took a family holiday to Canada. Whilst there we made the most of the outdoors with plenty of walks and bike rides. I even managed to squeeze in a few runs. One early morning run with my eldest daughter. She was worried about bears but we never saw any.

We found a local parkrun for our Saturday morning fix. A lovely flat course. My youngest stopped at 4km as she had had enough but my eldest ran the whole thing with me. Richmond Olympic parkrun is one worth visiting if you are in Canada.

There was an interesting off road experience in the mountains of Whistler. The group I was with basically left me and I got lost, I had brushed up on bear survival though so all was good in the end!

Canada was simply beautiful to run around. I always feel at home there and it really was my style of running too. I loved running through the trails and off road. More so when I had my daughter with me, it was just beautiful.

Returning to England though was a bit of a shock to the system. The cold weather had returned and it made a change running in the rain instead of the glorious sunshine. Full waterproofs were even required.

I can't say I covered the miles I needed to, or for that matter feel particularly prepared for the next marathon but I do feel I achieved a happy medium. No races in August either so no bling or race reports, just training runs. A total mileage just short of 80 miles run in August, and given it was the school holidays I am pleased with that.

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March started as February left off, snow. Then more snow. Just for good measure more snow. Races were cancelled and it was simply cold. The thought of long runs made even less appealing but training continued. A 21.5 miles run on ice and snow, took longer than expected but was lots of fun too.

The majority of races in March were cancelled. One of the few that did go ahead was Retford Half. It was freezing cold, then at random points on course boiling hot. It made for difficult running. A rather undulating route, is perhaps the most polite way to put it, I wasn't a fan. I am not sure I was geared up to enjoy the race before it started and perhaps this contributed to the fact I didn't enjoy it. Who knows, either way I won't be entering again. On the positive side I did meet a rather lovely lady and we spent our last few miles together.

Training also meant I had to some times fit a run into an already busy day. Often this meant taking Little Man out in his pushchair. Incredibly hard work as he wants to stop to look at everything, but at the end of the day it is better than nothing.

I have also been trying to do more cross training in March. Spin classes and swimming. I really enjoy the spin class at my local gym, but it is often booked up so I haven't been as much as I wanted to.

You may also notice on the bike an orange bottle. March was an amazing month for me in that I became an ambassador for Active Root. The orange bottle is an active root bottle. I have been using active root on all my long distance training and will be also using on my marathon. You can read more in my review here

As March continued training got harder. Having to reshuffle days around snow days. Re organising cancelled races, and trying whenever and wherever possible to fit runs in. I struggled with my long runs and began to doubt the marathon.

My eldest daughter decided she wanted to start running adult parkrun again. She is such a strong girl and also very determined. Her running is fantastic, and when she wants to sprint I cannot keep up with her. It provides great speed training for me when she does. She has run 2 parkruns this month and on both has got herself a PB. I could not be more proud of her.

I also became an ambassador for Just Strong Clothing. I love the ethos of Just Strong clothing, as they want to empower women from all walks of life to be strong. I aim to do this for my daughters, to motivate them to be strong and so I am really pleased to be an ambassador for Just Strong Clothing. You can use my code LEYLABRO10 for a discount on any orders placed on their store.

March drew to an end with good social training runs with great friends and of course Easter. It also brings with it the realisation that in April I run two marathons. Nerves are now starting to kick in. Training has not gone according to plan that is for sure. Let's just hope I have done enough.

March Training Videos

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January has been the month for challenges. A challenge to get back into training after Christmas. A challenge of 100, 10k or great runs in one year, a challenge of 10,000 steps per day and the challenge of my first Ultra. January has been very busy indeed.

At the start of the year I began recording a few minutes each day of my training and how it has been going. It has been interesting to look back upon them and I want to continue doing for the rest of the year. I am finding some nights more time consuming than others, particularly when Little Man won't go to sleep before 1am so struggle to upload the videos. I am trying to upload as regularly as possible, if you want to subscribe to my YouTube channel you will get a notification when I do upload so you can watch the latest training instalments!

Training has been going well for the most part. I love having a plan to follow as it helps to keep me focused but I will admit to missing the bling. I think I have had withdrawal symptoms this month! The only race I have done is the Ultra, but then you could say the month has been building up to that.

Mid way through the month I went to the National Running show and had a fantastic day out with my eldest daughter. We won a t shirt, a pair of trainers and even had my 3D gait analysis done which was really interesting.

I had gone to the show with no expectations and simply wanted to have a day out with my daughter. As such I think we really enjoyed it. Had we gone specifically to purchase running items I think we would have left a little disappointed. There seemed to be a lot of stands for races and virtual races but not many other stands around. There were the odd few but it seemed to be missing big brands particularly in technology like Garmin, TomTom and Fitbit. Given it was the first year though my daughter and I still had a really good time walking round and chatting to various people. We would certainly go again.

I have joined a challenge to complete 100 runs of a 10km or greater distance in 2018. So far I have completed 15 runs which have been 10km or greater. This nicely tied in with my 10,000 steps a day challenge. I had originally wanted to run 10km every day in January but this would have been too time consuming, so instead wanted to aim for every other day. Given I achieved 15 I think I was pretty close. In addition to running I also completed 10,000 steps a day in January for Teenage Cancer trust and their party hard, train harder campaign.

January was also the month which saw me complete my first time as Run Director at parkrun. It was made even better by the support of my running club who attended in full force. I then had the amazing surprise of reaching target for Meningitis Research Foundation and my Virgin London Marathon place. January started awesome and finished with an ultra. A pretty amazing month

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Vibration plate training has been around for some time now, the Ultim8 vibration plate for example was launched 10 years ago. It is one of those fitness regimes that I have longed to try. After all it sounds amazing, 350 calories burned in 10 minutes and equivalent to an hour in the gym most of us would want to give this a go.

For the past 3 weeks I have been using the vibration plate twice a week to see if I notice a difference, and to see what it actually feels like. I had heard of two different vibration plates, the Ultim8 vibration plateand FLABéLOS. The two brands differ in that FLABéLOS oscillates meaning the plates go from side to side like a see saw and Ultim8 vibration plate vibrates. After much research I chose the Ultim8 vibration plate as these seem to be the most effective.

The Ultim8 vibration plate utilises acceleration training and stimulates muscle response up to 50 times a second. Muscles contract multiple times throughout the whole body to deliver a full body workout. You do need to do different poses and workouts on the plates, but each one is for a maximum of 60 seconds and you can make them progressively more difficult should you choose to.

As someone who dislikes the gym, they make me feel very uncomfortable and do not help with my self consciousness, vibration plate training suited me. I was actually able to do the workouts in my normal clothes although you probably should wear gym clothes. Vibration plate training can also be done in the comfort of your own home, as you can hire the machines and therefore can hop on for 10 minutes in around your normal day.

The workouts themselves last 60 seconds and you can mix up your routine to suit your needs, tone, reduce cellulite, massage etc. The workouts vary in their complexity but the majority I have been able to manage. The way you stand on the plate makes a difference to your workout. Standing too upright means the vibrations go through your bones instead of your muscles and you feel a rattle of your teeth, bending legs and adjusting your stance and you soon feel the vibration through your muscles again.

I do feel my muscles contracting when standing on the plate, and it does feel like they have had a work out. Dependant on the amount of effort you put into the 60 seconds depends on the results you see. I have noticed that I do feel out of breath and my heart rate does increase in the 60 second workouts but I do have to put the effort in.

Vibration plate training is like anything else, the more you put in the more you will get out of it. Performing the 60 second workouts instead of just standing on the machine will see greater results. I have noticed an improvement in my overall balance and I really feel it helped me to overcome an injury. I think it might be a little too early to tell if there is any significant improvement in terms of cellulite reduction but I do feel much better in myself and I guess that improvement in body confidence is a step in the right direction.

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