London Marathon 2016: Training Update #1

I recently realised that it's been nearly three months since my blog post outlining my plan to run the 2016 London Marathon on behalf of the mental health charity, Mind. Well, I thought that with just under three months to go until the big day, I'd outline the progress I've made.

I can basically boil my thoughts on this into three things. Firstly, a change in diet. Towards the back end of last year, I bemused my work colleagues with a consistent high protein diet, in order to prove to myself that I had the motivation to do it. I won't bore you with the details, but some personal highlights of my weird and wonderful 8 week programme were a daily sweet potato fondant, which is essentially a poncy way of saying yoghurt, sweet potato and cinnamon layered, and a bland lunch of turkey mince, brown rice and broccoli. However, the favourite from my office has to be the piece of fish I would have at 4 o'clock every day, which would need to be microwaved and often left a distinct smell!

It certainly worked, as coupled with the gym, I lost weight and got more fit. I quickly decided that for the benefit of my office, I'd adapt the diet for the run, focusing more on a blend of protein and carbs to supplement the increased energy I was going to be using. Though it's meant giving up days of my weekends to cook (which I actually don't mind), and continued willpower, I've kept up a more healthy and balanced diet than I've ever had, and it definitely makes you feel better about everything!

Coupled with this, I've had a dramatic change in my mindset over the last few months. Those who know me will know I'm not exactly a glass half-full kind of guy - I tend to plan (and all too often expect) the worst to happen. I'd argue that in general, I'm not wrong to do so, but as I've found to my cost, getting too focused on the negative affects more than just yourself. However, when you're looking to push your body beyond the point it can comfortably function, or even when you're forcing yourself to go for an hour-long run in the rain (remember, this is Manchester), you can't allow yourself to fall into this habit.

So, I've tried to be more positive, particularly in relation to my training. So when either my mind (or my body) is screaming out at me to stop, stay in bed, or just go home, I've forced myself into the gym or to keep running. I've also used the running as a stress relief after a busy week at work, or time for reflection whenever I'm feeling down, alone or frustrated, so it's been beneficial for me on a number of levels. In particular, the running has been therapeutic in a number of ways, and the dedication that I've had to show to it has kept my mind occupied and taken a large amount of time.

Applying these things has had considerable results in terms of the distances I've been able to achieve. For each of the last four weeks, I've run over the 26 mile distance that I'll face on 24th April, including a couple of half-marathon distances. In total, I've far surpassed 200 miles in the last three months, and that's making allowances for the time I took off to enjoy Christmas!

However, while I'm more than on track in terms of training, the focus I've put into that has left me a little behind in terms of the fundraising. A huge target of mine is to raise £2,000 for the mental health charity, Mind, who help people suffering from any number of mental health problems. Over one in three individuals in the UK will be directly affected by mental health issues, and with many of these conditions still considered taboos in the modern (certainly working) world, changing the mindset of the population is still a critical issue. Mind is a fantastic charity, which I know helps millions of people across the UK either suffering with mental health problems, or have family members that are, and though less visibly than providing food to Africa, they do save lives by saving people from themselves.

In order to help me in this, I've set up a Virgin JustGiving page, which can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/ANDREW-HAYWOOD3/. Any donations you can make would be greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

London Marathon 2016: My Personal Challenge

Though this is a sporting post, and therefore in-keeping with the theme of my blog, it is significantly different from anything I've ever written about before. I found out this week that I will be part of the Mind team running the 2016 London Marathon on 24 April.

To provide you with a bit of background - I've never been one to take on outlandish challenges, preferring instead to make my life as consistent as possible. However, over the last 12 months, I have been presented with many challenging changes that were beyond my control, a number of which I am still struggling with. With this in mind, I felt like I needed to provide myself with a challenge of my choice, that I could manage and control.

Having always been sporty, playing a combination of football and tennis as a child, I know I am fairly good when it comes to running. However, I have never entered any formal running event, with the furthest I had run until recently a 10k at my local park. This therefore provides me with a decent base, while giving me the potential to challenge myself in a more controlled environment.

I do, however, have a tendency to get carried away, which perhaps explains my decision to skip a few steps and go straight for the most gruelling, exhausting type of race in the world. Most people would probably build up with some 10k's and then a few halves - would certainly have made the prospect easier!

Other than my own tendencies, there was another reason to jump straight into the marathon. Having found out that Mind, the mental health charity, had places to run and raise money, I wanted to get involved. Mental health remains one of the largest social taboos, despite the best attempts of both the government and charities. I have had family members and friends who have suffered from mental conditions, and have seen the difficulties that come from being unable to talk about it. Raising money to attempt to research and cure any conditions would obviously be the ideal, but my objective is simply to raise awareness of these conditions.

My target to raise is £2,000, so I've started a JustGiving page - see link below. If you've had any experience with mental illness, or understand how painful it is to run a marathon, or even if you've just enjoyed my blog posts, please give what you can.

https://www.justgiving.com/ANDREW-HAYWOOD3/

Thanks,
Andy