Week 1, Session 1 : Training Report

It has begun!

I made it to the training grounds at albert park right on 6:30 feeling quite anxious and nervous, but also very curious to see what was to come. I was excited about seeing the training program and meeting the other participants. Annie Crawford who started Can Too foundation had flown down from Sydney to meet everyone and train with the marathon group. There were about 12 of us, and two other groups were there at the beginning (training for 10k and half marathon).

We were given showbags with fund raising info, the training program, and a Can Too singlet and shoelaces. The shoelaces are bright orange - I can't wait to put them in!

We took a couple of minutes to fill out health and emergency contact forms, and then got straight into it.

We started with a 2k warm up jog. This was already faster than my usual slow shuffle and I was a bit worried at this time that they'd want the whole group to train at the same pace as each other.

After that did some running drills (high knees, kicking our own asses and the like) and some agility training. - sidestepping, skipping, and some moves that required additional coordination but felt good for stretching out the hips a bit, getting outside the usual running range of motion.

After all the long slow running I have been doing it was a big shock to the system to get some more anaerobic stuff happening. My heart rate got super high during this - 196 beats per minute - and I was really feeling it! I also started to feel the self doubt, big time. I felt glad I'd let people know what I was doing and was financially committed, so wussing out was not an option. I reminded myself that though it was hard, that was the point.. that was my objective in doing this in the first place, and training for a marathon is not just about the difficulty of the marathon - it's the difficulty of the journey!

After this we did some intervals, we were supposed to do three 1k hard runs with a 400m of slow jog in between. My heart rate was super high again and I was struggling.. I knew it was the last training we had to do that night.. I decided to stick with it and push myself as hard as possible - not my initial intention but this way I'd know my limits and could assess how I felt afterwards, ease up next time if necessary. I tried to do a negative split each time - go out a little leasier and push myself the second 500m. I see the import of getting a sports watch to record laps and I will sort that out before the next session. I did two hard 1ks with the slow jog in between and chose to opt out of the third, doing some slow jogging and stretching instead.

I thought we were finished, but not quite. We went on to do some more agility work, long bounding strides, and then chatted a little about the session (Coach Brian advised we should be pretty exhausted, which I was happy to agree with).

We discussed the importance of going away and reviewing the program to see what we should be doing outside of our training sessions, and confirmed our meeting time for Saturday morning.

I was a bit disappointed we didn't do any stretches or core work together. I did a little stretching on my own but I know it wasn't enough. I was really keen to get home and everyone else had already headed off. I would like to make a commitment to myselfto spend a third of the running time in yoga and stretching afterwards - even if it's cold, raining, and everyone else has already left!

After the session was over I felt exhilarated and positive. I realised I may not have been in control of my intentions 100% during the session but that's part of the learning experience. The important thing was I walked away totally aware of how my body was feeling and what I needed. I feel even more inspired to focus on my yoga, nutrition & positive self talk to support being able to push myself to achieve the best possible outcome from my training.

The session was like 90 minutes of personal training - it was REALLY hard work - and the positive to that is I think i'll be able to achieve bigger improvements to my health & fitness from this pursuit than I had dreamed of. And certainly to my mental toughness.

I knew I needed a big long sleep, unfortunately I was still too exhilarated to listen to my body and get an early night! Something I can work on in the future..

Tonight I plan to review the materials we were given and post some information on our training plan. I have also completed my first fitness assesment at the gym so I'll aim to get those statistics and a Week 1 photo up with the Saturday training update.

Ciao for now peeps :)