"London Marathon 2025: Getting in Shape Again for the Ultimate Running Challenge!"

As I suspected yesterday, the vague tickle in my throat and the slight fog in my head have not graciously departed. No, they’ve unpacked their bags, settled in and brought friends. The cold has officially arrived and my head currently feels like it's filled with wet cement, while my throat seems to have been sandpapered by an enthusiastic DIYer. So, I am on full rest—well, as full as possible when you spend your day teaching teenagers who emit both energy and chaos in equal measure. That said, this is hardly catastrophic. With five and a half weeks to go until the London Marathon, I’m grateful that this bug has chosen now to make its grand entrance rather than waiting for marathon week. In the grand scheme of 16 weeks of training, a cold was always a likely visitor. Like an unexpected relative at Christmas, it’s not if they turn up, but when . Rest: Doing Nothing Properly I’ll be taking the tried-and-tested approach of plenty of fluids, multivitamins, and Lemsip (the triad of m...

I'm writing today's post under the shadow of the great arch of Wembley Stadium, where history has been made, dreams have been shattered, and—more importantly—where I am currently nursing a coffee in a rather cramped Pret a Manger. The girls are off enjoying Disney on Ice at Wembley Arena and I am making the most of my waiting time, valiantly trying to make this coffee last long enough to justify my table occupancy. There’s a Five Guys just around the corner, which is whispering sweet promises of burgers and fries for dinner and I am beginning to think resistance is futile. The Case of the Unravelling Trainer This morning’s long run was always going to be a squeeze thanks to today’s trip to Wembley, but I managed to get out early, following a route that could soon become my usual—down into the Highsted Valley and up towards Milstead. The air was crisp, the roads were quiet, and everything was going smoothly until I noticed a strange sensation underfoot. It felt as though my tra...

An Early Start for a Big Challenge Day 4 of my London Marathon 2025 training, and here I am, braving the unholy hour of 6:30 am on New Year's Eve for a session of anaerobic intervals. It’s a bit like starting a diet at a buffet—ambitious and faintly ridiculous, but you press on anyway. The Workout: Intervals That Test Your Limits After a 15-minute warm-up that mostly involved trying to convince my legs they weren’t still in bed, I launched into the main workout: 5 intervals of 40 seconds running hard at a 4:10 min/km pace. Between these sprints, I took 3-minute recovery periods, walking until my heart rate settled down to something vaguely human before easing into a gentle jog. The Science of Anaerobic Training For those unfamiliar, anaerobic exercise is essentially the art of asking your body to produce energy without enough oxygen, relying on the lactic acid system instead. This works by burning carbohydrates in a way that, while efficient, leaves your muscles with that delightfu...