Edinburgh Marathon

Two weeks ago I successfully ran the Edinburgh Marathon in a fairly respectable time of 3:22:22.  I have sat down a couple of times and tried documenting my thoughts and experiences from the day, but each time I drew a blank.  I think I needed some time to get some perspective on the experience and mentally digest the challenge as a whole.

Running past Arthur's Seat early in the race

Running Vegan
Since I set up this blog to talk about going vegan and how it has affected my build up to marathoning, it seems appropriate to start with diet.  I've written a couple of times before about the various good and bad aspects of eating a plant based diet, so I'll try to avoid covering old ground here.  In relation to the marathon I can say that I went in feeling strong (having just recovered from a cold), was able to stay strong throughout the race (mostly, the end part was a bit of a push) and my recovery was surprisingly quick. 

I put much of this down to my diet allowing me to stay healthy, fuelling me for the day and giving my body all the goodies it needs to put me back together again after the race.  While I obviously could achieve this with any moderately healthy diet, I think the no-meat approach significantly heightened the degree at which I was able to prepare, perform and recover. 

Has vegan eating been the principle driver behind feeling great and performing well? Or was it just the extra exercise making the difference?  Since I still feel really good even when I have taken a break from running (such as when I had my calf issue) I'm going to go with the diet being the root of all my mental and physical improvements. Of course nothing works in isolation, but I consider it a solid foundation for all my other endeavours.

Home stretch, sprint finish

About the Race
Finally, just a few words about the race itself.  If you are considering a marathon, I can highly recommend Edinburgh's event. It is well organised, has great scenery, is relatively flat and had good support for much of the route.  I'm really glad I picked a good first marathon race, since I'm now all psyched for my next one. Bring on Wales in July!

Ready... Set...

So, as I sit here writing up this post I'm dressed in my running kit, ready to go out for my final pre-marathon run.  Sunday is the big day, looming large in my thoughts. Did I train enough? Will I perform on the day? What if it rains? What sort of maniac goes vegan and trains for his first marathon at the same time?

It is at this important juncture I need to stop and just ask myself the most important question... What would a real Aussie think when presented with a proper challenge?

She'll be 'right mate.

Damn right it will.  Don't you think so too Paul?

Pretty sure Paul is with me on this one

So, time to just suck it up and see how I go.  People do these things in their 70s or in absurd costumes, I should be fine with my normal run gear and oh-so-masculine pink race vest from Breast Cancer Care. 

Rockin' the vest!

Did I mention I'm running for charity?  I did?  Well I better mention it again anyway! Head along to my Just Giving website - every pound given is matched by Barclays, so every little bit helps!

I did have a bit of a wrinkle in the preparation when I got a cold a couple of weeks back. But that seems to have passed and I'm back to fighting fit.  It may have proven that a vegan diet doesn't make you cold-proof, but at least my recovery has been swift!

Now, I better get out for that run...

Racing and Food

Okie dokie.  So training is going well, just 16 weeks out from the Edinburgh Marathon now.  My long run is back up at 22km and increasing each week.  I plan to be at 32km within 8 weeks or so.  I'm also working on my speed and I've currently set myself three tiers of goals:

• Tier 3 - Worst Case - Complete the damn thing.  No matter if I have to walk, I don't want a DNF (Did Not Finish) on my first marathon.  Or worse yet, a DNS (Did Not Start) due to injury.  Must get this tier at a minimum!
• Tier 2 - Reality Check - 3 hours 30 minutes.  Based on my existing times and proper preparation, I should be able to clock this time.  Not easily, but should be doable.
• Tier 1 - Platinum Standard Awesomeness - Sub 3 hours 10 minutes.  This is my primary goal, as it will get me a good for age place at the London Marathon. It is a stretch, but if I train well, I feel I have this in me.

So there you have it, I've outed my expectations.  Let's review again after I've done my warm up races.

Next up, I thought I'd do a walk through of a recent stir-fry extravaganza!

Step 1: Get lots of stir fry ingredients.  Here I have carrots, broccoli, mushroom, baby corn, Chinese lettuce marinated tofu, and sweet pepper.

Step 2: Cook in a wok until, you know, all cooked and stuff

Step 3: Add some sauce and put in a plate. People like plates, they tend to add a touch of refinement over eating directly from the wok.  Fancy chopsticks are totally optional.

Why I don't have a cooking show on TV is a mystery.  Clearly I'm a genius.

Or not.  You know, since it didn't actually taste that good.  Word to the wise: don't use a BBQ stir fry sauce with tofu that has a completely different flavour.  They compete.  And not in a good way. 

Back to the drawing board...

Marathon Sponsorship!

Hiya everyone :)

Not content with doing a half marathon last year and raising over £1,000 for Royal Parks thanks to everyone’s generous support, I’ve decided to go the whole hog and run the Edinburgh Marathon in May this year!  None of that half marathon business, this time it will be the full 26.2 mile shebang.

…with the following likely outcome:

Anyway…  this time I’ll be supporting Breast Cancer Care, a fab charity that provides information and support for people (and their loved ones) that are afflicted by breast cancer cross the UK. The aim is to raise £750 for the charity directly, and have Barclays chip in another matching £750.  Lofty aspirations, but totally worth it!

You can donate using the this link: http://www.justgiving.com/MatthewToy

As a special reward for getting this far into the blog post, here I am in my oh-my-goodness-so-very-hot-pink race singlet.  I think I can carry it off…

I’m going to assume that has convinced you to donate now!