I thought it was about time I put pen to paper…or keyboard in this instance about how marathon training is going.  I’m absolutely loving the video making process at the moment and the marathon training series that i’m producing has to be the most exciting one yet….for me anyway!  However there are always things you can’t quite convey via video that are easier to jot down in a written format, therefore I want to give you a quick overview as to how i’m feeling heading into week 8/17 of marathon training.

Read more “The high’s and low’s of marathon training…mid plan update”

You’ve probably heard a coach chuckle after saying “it depends” to one of your running questions. It’s the classic coaches answer because exercise science and training theory are complex. Definitive answers to complex issues are rare.

Read more “Do You Think Linearly About Running?”

Running remains one of the best and fastest ways to burn calories—you can get a lot of fat-burning rewards as well as cardiovascular, muscular, tendon and bone-building benefits from running consistently.

Read more “When Does Running Get Easier for Beginners?”

Whether you’re planning to run a 5000, 10000, half marathon, or marathon, these expert-backed rules will keep you fit and injury-free.

Read more “7 Rules for Figuring Out How Many Miles to Run a Week”

by Kelsey Plefka Some runners are born to run like gazelles. Others look like wounded ostriches and we struggle through our miles. The good news is that there are easy ways to improve our running form and become an altogether more efficient runner.

Read more “RUNNING WITH GOOD FORM”

Are you new runner? Have you decided to start running to improve your fitness? Before lacing up your shoes, check out these 8 extremely useful running tips for beginners from running expert Sascha Wingenfeld.

Read more “8 EXTREMELY USEFUL RUNNING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS”

Maybe you’ve seen them striding past your office window in the morning, or congregating in packs at the park in the evening. Maybe your co-worker likes to dash out for a quick jog at lunchtime, or maybe you saw a flyer for a local race and it left you wondering.

Read more “How to start running”

Finding a perfect balance between running and weightlifting is hard. Oftentimes it confuses runners because they assume both sports don’t work together. But how can you work on your endurance and build lean muscle mass at the same time without being sore all day?

Read more “HOW TO BALANCE RUNNING AND WEIGHTLIFTING”

I was scared that I wasn’t gonna run at all this week. But I managed 7.6 miles earlier at a 9:56 min/mile pace.

This week has been dreadful for training.  I’ve felt low in physical energy and my morale has suffered as a consequence.

And because of that I’ve been freaking out about the Paris Marathon a lot with it being less than 3 months away.

But last night I had a breakthrough.

I dreamt that the Paris Marathon went perfectly and I ran it in 4 hours 39 minutes and I had an amazing time during it.

Most of my race ‘dreams’ involve my pants falling off my ass at the start line and me later being arrested for indecent exposure.

So a truly positive dream for me is unprecedented.

Tomorrow isn’t looking great for a long run here in Northern Ireland. The snow is coming down and I keep going outside to shake my fist at the sky but it doesn’t seem to be helping.

I hate feeling at the mercy of the weather. I’m already at the mercy of my own laziness.

But the bad weather won’t last forever and neither will the Winter, or even my laziness.

Motivation ebbs and flows like the seasons themselves and you’ve got to strike when you’re feeling strong and do what you can when there’s no inspiration left to avoid falling into a rut.

I’m falling short now

But I know I won’t always be this way.

I’ve been accused in the past of harbouring a completely negative mindset, and that a positive mental attitude is the only way to progress in life.

But feeling positive isn’t something that you can switch on and off. You react in the best way that you can to any situation you’re faced with.

The ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ crowd are shilling an ideology that bears no resemblance to real life. There’s nothing wrong with feeling great during a run. At the same time there’s nothing wrong with feeling like shit either.

I’d rather remain neutral/indifferent to my emotions and let my legs do the talking rather than my mind when I’m jogging.

If you try to force a positive mindset upon yourself when you’re not ready for it, then you’ll only feel worse for being negative and fundamentally broken.

I love daylight. It’s a time for doing, not for planning. For living, not for thinking.

Night time is when I’m alone with my thoughts and they aren’t always comfortable. When I’m not comfortable I reach out for comfort food. And that’s where the problem lies.

Therapy is expensive, Ben and Jerry’s isn’t.

All of these years I’ve been eating ‘comfort’ food but it hasn’t been adding to my peace of mind.

It’s just a temporary means of distracting myself from the boredom, sadness, anger or discomfort that I might be feeling at that time.

The sad truth is that I’ve no real reason to feel uncomfortable, unhappy or uneasy as I have a good standard of living.

Yet those feelings prevail and I still give into them a lot……

With comfort eating!

It’s not that everything will be better after a fucking Twix, but it seems that way before you start.

Then 1 Twix becomes 2 and you’re in a sugary daze Googling ‘how many miles do I have to run to burn off two fucking Twix’s?’

5 miles? I’m going to fucking bed! But not before another Twix! That will help!

You get the idea.

Night time is lonely for most people, even if they aren’t alone.

Here are 5 points to consider if you’re like me and tend to overeat or otherwise overindulge in the early hours.

1. There’s nothing wrong with having a snack or a drink at night – Just don’t get to the point where you’re having to majorly adjust your diet tomorrow to compensate for all of the shit you ate today.
2. Know your routine – If you’re like me and susceptible to eating more in the early hours, then plan for it and eat less when you aren’t that hungry at breakfast/lunch.
3. Keep track of what you eat – You might get to the point where you’ve been logging your food and thinking ‘I’ve eaten 3,000 calories already and I’m going for another Mars Bar!?!”. Log it. And enjoy the Mars Bar as much as you can. Often the guilt of exceeding your ‘limits’ urges you on to eat more as you’re left feeling broken or empty.
4. Don’t feel shame, but try to understand yourself and your weirdness – There have been mornings where I’ve woken up with empty wrappers on my bedside table and I can’t remember when or how the fuck I consumed that shit “Could it be that I was force-fed a Mars Ice Cream by a Poltergeist? Yes. That sounds plausible!”. Sometimes it’s easier to call the parapsychologist than the psychologist.
5. Make tiny positive steps to getting better – I’ve been a crazy fucking fiend for Cheese for years now and it has probably offset the 700,000 calories I’ve burned through running quite substantially. Does this mean I should give up running? No. Does this mean I should give up cheese? No. But I can cut my intake and monitor it.

Do you comfort eat a lot at night? How do you deal with it?