Looking ahead to life after the marathon

With only 6 days(!) until I tackle 26.2 miles for the first time, I’m starting to look ahead to life after the marathon. I’m sure I’m not the only runner whose focus has been so much on one race that it’s been hard to think of anything else, but taper time has reminded me that I won’t always be too exhausted to contemplate anything other than work, run and sleep!

The initial plan is just to chill out – I don’t intend to run again until parkrun the following Saturday and even then I might switch to volunteering if my legs aren’t up to it. I need to catch up with my friends and family, including celebrating my birthday (same day as the marathon so not been given any attention so far!) and if I make it as far as the gym it will be to sit in the Jacuzzi and steam room.  However, I have really enjoyed feeling fitter as a result of all of the training and I don’t want that to slip. Once my legs have recovered, assuming that they do at some point, I’m going to start cycle-commuting again. The realities of sweaty hair, flies in eyes and other road users have been replaced by my rose-tinted memories of rides like this:

I also want to get my 5K time down. It currently stands at 24 minutes exactly and it was one of my goals for the year to get it under 24 – I think that some focused track work, on fresher legs, should make that possible, hopefully in late spring, early summer.  I think that part of my problem is that I don’t like feeling sick/seeing black spots etc so I let myself ease off, but if I keep doing that then I’m never going to get faster. Plus the quicker I go round parkrun the less time I have to feel like that…

 Other things on my radar are some swimming lessons, to remind me how to front crawl without drowning, and to try a spinning class. I’ve shied away from spinning during marathon training as I think I put my legs through enough, but I reckon it would be good cross-training and should improve my fitness.  I’ll continue with Pilates and Yoga too so at this rate I won’t notice any respite from marathon training…good job I’ve pretty much loved it! Having said that I am reclaiming my Sunday mornings; I’m looking forward to welcoming back pain au chocolats (abandoned in favour of porridge), orange juice (rejected because acidic reflux burps when running are horrendous) and lie-ins (pointless when you’ve got training guilt). Bliss.