Lets live to one thousand

Marathon preparations…

The hours until my first marathon of the year are whisking away rapidly. I am still busy with prepping the final arrangements for the big day, so I definitely do not feel ready but I wonder if you will ever feel ready until you have actually completed the entire race.

I will have to wait and see…

Last night I visited a physio therapist for some pain in my neck, it is definitely better today but not a 100%. I will see him again tomorrow, I really hope that he can help me to sort it out then!

I am also loading up on beetroot juice, apparently it oxygenates the blood or something, well whatever it does, I am sure it won’t hurt except for the anxiousness when my pee is red and it takes a few seconds to remember the beetroot juice.

I also ordered some goodies today, a bluetooth headset and a running belt. Apparently a really good running belt, or so I would hope as it cost me 30 Euros! I have never ran with a running belt but I will need something for this race as I will be taking a few gels with.

I won’t make the mistake of running without them again… It was really tough the last marathon that I did, I could feel my body needing some nourishment, some sugar and just some pure energy…

Well this time I will provide it.

Sleep is also another preparation and I must make sure to get enough of it, so cheers for now!

Thirty days of stretching

One of my year goals is to be able to do a split, actually two as I would like to be able to split both side ways and down the middle.

The current state that I am in, I can get down pretty low whilst doing a side split but my hamstrings are still a while to go before I will hit the ground.

Part of my thirty day challenge which is a challenge where one does one thing everyday for thirty days is to stretch for the splits each day.

So far I am on day two and as I am writing this, it is almost ten at night, I am in bed and I have yet to do the splits but a challenge won’t be a challenge if it is not a challenge, so I shall will myself out of my bed and do my split exercises, each and every single one.

It might be a good idea to take some before and after photos too, this way I can track my journey and see the progress that I can achieve in three months but because I am already in bed and already in my pyjamas, that will have to wait till next time but I will share my split routine:

First marathon of the year coming up

About nine months ago, I ran my first gruelling marathon in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, one could not ask for a more relaxed marathon as the Netherlands is notoriously flat.

It is so flat that after 150 kilometres of running in Amsterdam the elevation gain was a mere 150 meters where a lesser distance of 125 kilometres in Cape Town amounted to almost 30o0 meters in elevation gain.

Regardless of the marathon taking place in such a flat country, it was still a very tough race.

After the race, I actually told myself that I will never run another marathon in my life and lo and behold, the next one is less than a week away. It is another marathon in the Netherlands, so luckily I have no hills to worry about but I still cannot help feeling slightly tensed at the prospect of taking on 42.2 kilometres again.

I do feel fit and ready for it, as I think that my condition may be the best that I have ever been as I have now been consistently running for the better part of three months.

I am totally ready? Well I am not sure if one can ever be totally ready for a marathon, to a certain degree, one needs to take it as it comes and be mentally ready for those last couple of kilometres.

It is the mind that will get you over the finish line.

Regardless, I have still spent a good time training and for the week leading up to the marathon, I plan on completing a few brisk runs just to stay warm.

To stretch or not to stretch?

I want to start by saying that I love stretching, I love working my way from my neck right down to my feat. I like it how I can challenge myself a little bit more, every time that I stretch.

That being said, I do not have a strict stretching schedule but rather try and dedicate at least two sessions a week in the gym exclusively to stretching. I usually follow this up with a sweaty sauna session.

The combination of the above, leaves my body feeling light and loose and it really helps with muscle aches and pains.

This morning my dad shared an article stating that there has been many claims dismissing static stretching and even going as far as saying that stretching can be detrimental to running performance a sit could remove elasticity from the leg muscles reducing ones spring.

I dug a little deeper and one of the biggest criticisms against stretching, makes a case against static stretching as there is not much evidence that static stretching has any health or fitness benefits.

On the other hand, dynamic stretching is highly recommended and a quick google search displays loads of articles supporting this.

I have been following a dynamic stretching routine involving many muscle groups and I would advise everyone to consider tailoring a routine to their own personal agenda.

Below is a video that I made a year ago for my brother, my routine has since been updated with a few movements and poses.

Stretching routine