Hi everyone and welcome to Catherine Lorimers Guide to Life Podcast.
I am going to be running the London Marathon this April, so I thought that it would be a good opportunity to do a weekly podcast on how I am getting on with my training, with the intention of inspiring others to start running.
Last year I started running in February and ran my first marathon at the beginning of September, in just 7 months. So this podcast is also here to give you some inspiration if you have just started running and to give you some hints and tips and advise if you are running your first marathon.
Firstly a big hello to everyone who I went on the marathon ready retreat with, we have a whatsapp group and there are a few of us doing the London Marathan this year and they are a really supportive group with loads of advice. So if you have any questions about running a marathon that I don’t cover, send a message to me on Instagram and I will ask the experts.
I will also be trailing some different recipes and apps.
Now there are always highs and lows in training so I will be going through what these were in each week and how I worked through them.
So its London Marathon Training Week One
I am really excited,
If you are new to running marathons and are not sure how you are going to ever be able to run 26 miles when 6 is a struggle, I asked my Marathon retreat buddies the same question last year and the answer I got back from the lovely Gaynor was “You just keep going” and she was right, on the day, the other runners and the crowds calling out your name are what keep you going and you do get to the end and when you cross that finish line it is a feeling like nothing else, you are now part of an elite you are part of the 0.01 % of the world’s population and that is a really awesome feeling.
But to the new runners amongst us it doesn’t matter if you are running a marathon or looking to take part in your first 5k run, you are doing it, you have got off the sofa on a cold wet January day and to run (applause) that’s for you, you are already a winner, all you have to do is keep going.
Tips for beginner runners
Don’t do too much too soon.
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To start off I wanted to introduce myself properly, my name is Catherine Lorimer, I am 50 years old and in January 2023 I couldn’t run and have never been able to run before. I always did a lot of walking but my running journey began after I was invited to go on a Marathan Ready retreat, I was newly divorced, I had moved back to Cheshire after ten years and didn’t have many friends, I had lost a lot of my confidence and I thought why not give it a go, I have no intention of ever running a marathon but it sounded like it would be a good experience.
I started my journey by signing up for the London Half Marathon walk which I did at the end of January and then I entered a 5k race and a couple of week later a 10k race and gave myself 2 months to train for them, before going on the marathon ready retreat where I learnt a lot about how to run from Chris and Alex at the Bristol Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic. They filmed me running and made suggestions on what I should do to change my running to try and avoid injuries. A few of the team had signed up for the Marathon Du Medoc and it seemed like a great experience to go on, so I entered, signed up for a couple of half marathons, I did a marathon walk and trained really hard for the marathon and I did it in September 2023. Last year I raised over £800 for a few different charities taking part in walks or runs and I had some really great experiences taking part in them which all helped to build my confidence. I have a done a variety of different podcasts on them which are available to listen to.
Now I want to introduce you to our guest host Alan, who is going to be interviewing me today as part of this podcast.
Hello everyone.
Why would you recommend running to someone who doesn’t run?
One thing that I have learnt about running especially long distances is that it is more about mental strength than physical strength. When you have worked through the initial six months or struggling to breathe or run which is difficult then you really start to enjoy it, It helps focus your mind. You can think when you run and when I come back from a run I find I perform better at work and I have more energy.
How would you recommend starting to run?
I would start with run walk. Try running between landmarks, I used lamp posts first of all. Then I would get a garmin and try and run for 2 mins and then walk and get your breath back and then run again.
What is one piece of advice that you would give to someone just starting out on their running journey?
You don’t have to run, its ok to walk, I still walk, I walked the last seven miles of my marathon because my hamstring really started to hurt, but I still finished it, I still did the marathon I still have the medal.
Can you give a training tip for someone just starting to run?
I often see people struggling to run. Chris from Bristol Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic taught me that I should aim to run 0.90 miles and walk the last 0.10 and it won’t make that much difference to your time. I have tested Chris’s theory, and he is right it doesn’t make that much difference. For the longer distances, I run 0.40, walk 0.10 then run to 0.90 and walk 0.10 and its a good rhythm to get into as you eat up the miles.
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone running their first Marathon?
Don’t do anything different in the Marathon than you did in the training. Also for the first few miles, in an actual marathon everyone runs and it is difficult to walk, so build this into your training, you will need to run the first 6 miles at least.
What was the best advice you got from a fellow marathon runner?
Aim to run a half marathon, then walk up the hills and run down and on the flat for the second half of the marathon and make sure you go at the right speed for you, don’t run too fast at the beginning.
How many toe nails have you lost?
Just one so far on my big toe, but it has nearly grown back now.
Training issues this week
Ok so training issues this week for me have been the weather, its been really cold an wet for a few of my runs, but as I am training around work, looking after my Black Labrador Pippa and my Fell Pony Merlin I have had to go out and run in the rain so I can get the run done.
Also running with a dog has its challenges and she has nearly pulled me over a couple of times and also nearly tripped me up, but she is a great help with the Temp runs, she pulls me along at trot and I know I am going a fair pace when she actually breaks out into a run.
For those of you who have not heard of a tempo run, this is a run when you push yourself to run faster than you normally would. This helps you to improve your normal running speed and it really does work. I find on a long run I try to run the downhill sections as a tempo run as the downhill really helps.
I also wanted to say a little bit about planning, I have a diary in which I write what length runs I want to do, this also helps with planning and scheduling meals and other activities, for example I have to walk Pippa anyway, so instead of walking I run 2 miles with her, then I do a Dumbbell session and a warm down Pilates session and when I have done a long run I do a special 20 min stretching session designed for runners. There is loads of stuff on youtube, but I have joined a 20 minute club run by Jo Bridges and there is access to loads of classes on this and its great value for £14.99 a month.
Add in a bit from Jo from Instagram dumbbells and if you want to listen to this again you can go to joebridgefitness on Instagram.
Day one of my training session was a 5 mile run, followed by a after run stretch session for twenty minutes by Jo Bridge, there are lots of other stretching sessions on youtube.
Day two of my training session was a 2 mile tempo warm up run followed by a 20 minute session with dumbbells and a 20 minute Pilates session.
Day three was a day off.
Day four was a 5 mile run 20 minute ABS session and the same run stretch session to finish it off.
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Food
I have just signed up to the Nu You app which is a training app, where they have workouts and you upload a photo of what you look like now. The do a calorie plan, I am on a 1,900 calorie plan and after recording my first meals, one thing is clear, the reason I have not lost as much weight as I wanted to last year, was because I am eating toom much and I am not eating enough protein.
Why is protein important for weight loss, well here is Alan to tell you.
Protein takes longer to digest, and you burn calories digesting it, so its a win win really. Protein boots your metabolism, and it reduces hunger hormones.
Thanks Alan, now since I have been trying to keep to 1,900 calories a day I have been starving for most of the time and have been waking up at 3am each morning really hungry. I was recording my calories on an app called My Fitness Pal but I don’t think that it is as accurate as The Nu You app. Also like everyone else, I have been eating lots of cake and biscuits over Christmas and these contain refined carbohydrates. Alan can you tell us why refined carbohydrates are bad for us.
Refined carbohydrates can cause blood sugar spikes, they have addictive sugar additives which can be addictive, our bodies digest them quickly and they don’t have any nutrients or energy. Consequently when we have digested them and had had a high blood sugar spike, we want something else. It is worth remembering that when looking at a bowl of cereal, a bowl of porridge will keep you fuller for longer that a bowl of rice crispies, although the calorie content is very similar.
Thanks Alan. because I have been eating a lot of refined carbs and chocolate which will also spike my blood sugar, I am now feeling hungry all of the time and it is probably going to take a few days for my body to acclimatise itself to this.
I also reviewed my diet and realised that I had drifted into the practice of not eating proper meals, so I sat down and did a menu plan, I decided what I would have for breakfast lunch and dinner each day for the next week, pulled together some recipes and went off to the shops to get everything. I have put a couple of recipes that I have made for this week on my you tube channel Cook with Catherine, these are Cauliflower and Broccoli soup, which I made with a soup maker and chicken curry I took a basic recipe from The Nu You app and changed it a bit to suit me.
Now I know that a few people just want to be told what they should eat, if you are not looking to lose weight you should be eating 2,500 calories a day, if you do want to lose weight then you are looking to eat 1,900 calories a day.
Here is an example of what I have eating this week.
Day one fruit bowl with 0% fat Greek Yoghurt, homemade cauliflower and broccoli soup. Chicken Fajitas, home made marinade, with 0% Greek Yoghurt, I had a spoonful of peanut butter and an apple as a snack.
Day two I had porridge with some fruit, poached egg on toast for lunch and chicken curry for dinner and for a snack I had peanut butter and an apple and some 0% Greek yoghurt
The Nu You app
I just wanted to chat a bit about the app, first of all I really love it, this week I will cover the food part of it. you have access to healthy balanced meals and they have the calorie content along with the protein, fat and Carbohydrate split, My target is to eat 30% Protein 40% Carbs and 30% Fat a day. You can get protein powder but I prefer to get nutarian form the food that I eat as part of a balanced diet. There are lots of recipe ideas for you to choose and you can just click the I ate that today button and it logs it for you. If you want to do some of your own recipes though you can, you can add all the ingredients in separately. I have been using my Fitness pay to log what I have been eating and I would say that the Nu You app is much better and you can see you the targets really clearly and it tells you how many calories you have left to eat and whether you have reached your carb or protein goal.
Beginners running
If you are a beginner listening to this then hopefully it will give you some inspiration,