How I ran a sub-4 marathon

The first time I'd stood nervously at the start of a race since primary school sports day was in October 2008 for the Wimbledon 10K. I'd started running just six months earliers, first run/walk-ing on a treadmill and then building up to running a mile without stopping outside.

The furthest I'd run when I lined up for the start of that first 10K was 5 miles, and me and my friend Ros were both concerned about whether we'd make it up Wimbledon Hill in one piece. Two things stand out from that day: being elated at finishing in under an hour (57:17) and thinking 'there's no way I'll ever be able to run an extra 20 miles and do marathon'.

But in April 2010 I was doing exactly that when I completed the first of the four marathons I've done to date. At Brighton Marathon I had no goal other than to finish having enjoyed it and wanting to do another. If pressed for a time that I thought I'd finish in I'd say 'under 5 hours would be nice'. So when I finished in 4 hours 31 mins I was delighted.

It took 18 months for me to find my way to the start of another marathon. I headed to Nottingham for the Robin Hood Marathon in September 2011, but this time I knew what number I wanted to see on the clock. I was chasing a sub-4 time but it wasn't to be. Lack of hill training and the weather on the day conspired to see me struggling home in 4:17 - a PB by 14 minutes but not what I'd wanted.

The disappointment of Nottingham played on my mind this spring as I trained for my third and fourth marathons. I returned to Brighton Marathon in 2012 with my friend SportyGirl, agreeing that as I was running it as a training run I would pace her round for a sub4:30 time. Running with a friend at an easier pace allowed me to enjoy the marathon experience and push aside bad memories of Nottingham.

Six weeks later I was running the Edinburgh Marathon. My last long run had gone as good as I could have hoped (18 miles at 8:45) other than an Achilles strain in the last mile. I'd adopted an extreme taper to get me to the start line fixed and ready to go and with fellow blogger K's words 'SUB-4 OR BUST' ringing in my ears I was ready to go. This time the story finished with a happy ending: I got my sub-4. Now... what next?

Interview: Team GB's Hannah Macleod

Feeling bad because you don't want to train today? Don't worry because even Olympians feel that way too sometimes. The difference is that they train anyway. I met Hannah Macleod of the GB Hockey team at the launch of Yakult's Little Book of Fitness who told me how she motivates herself to train when she'd rather sit on the sofa, and why she enjoys an occasional run.


Do you run much in training?
I'm a rolling forward so I'm on the pitch for seven minutes of high intensity activity and then off again. My total time on the pitch during a match is about 30 minutes but very intensive. My training doesn't involve any long continuous runs, it's all interval sessions such as 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off - very dull. When I have any time off from training a good 30 minute plod is my chance to escape.

What do you do when you don't feel like training?

I never enjoyed going to the gym, I still don't but it's a necessity now.Sometimes I'm just not up for it and you just have to make the most of that session. It helps that there's 27 other athletes that my place at the Olympic games. Once you get going it's great, but it's starting that can be a problem. Routine works for me. If I know that every week Thursday at 7pm it's yoga it's in my routine. But if I sit down and think 'what shall I do tonight?' I don't usually think about going to yoga.

Do you find it difficult when you're out injured?

Yes. You go through a feeling sorry for yourself stage. I think it's maybe harder to be part of a team and be injured than being a solo athlete because it's hard watching people go out training and not being able to join them and see people that play in my position getting good. 

Is there anything you do to help avoid injury?

We spend hours on the pitch and in the gym but just as much time looking after our bodies and protecting them from those little niggles. We do yoga and pilates, looking at activating the core and using really small moves. Yoga is great because you can go to a class or you can get a DVD, you can do it first thing in the morning, whenever you want - but you do need to put some thought into it to make sure you're doing it correctly and getting the benefit out of it.

To get a copy of Yakult's Little Book of Fitness, go here.

Toeing the line

"Laura, have you painted your nails yet?" It was the night before the wedding of one of my oldest friends and I was due to be bridesmaid. The dress was very nice and so were the shoes the bride had picked for me, but unfortunately they were open toe and my feet were still battered and bruised from Brighton Marathon. "No but I will, I promise."

Running a marathon was a breeze compared to spending the day in four-inch heels and dancing until 2am. My feet had barely forgiven me when just a week after the wedding they were stood at the start line of the Edinburgh Marathon. So it's no surprise that by the finish line there was a whole lot of below nail swelling going on.

If our relationship wasn't on shaky enough ground already, on Monday night I did what any marathon runner serious about recovery does and took them to karaoke. In celebration of going sub-4 I sang Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' followed by 'Jump Around' during which, fuelled by three beers, I did exactly that. Then my friend stood on my right foot and I was in more than a House of Pain.

I've promised my feet that if they forgive me and heal quickly, I'll treat them to a new pair of shoes. They've requested something flat and 'not another bloody pair of running shoes'.

Race report: Edinburgh Marathon

Refresh the BBC weather page all you want in race week but it isn't going to change a thing. Trust me I've tried. It was a long train ride from London to Edinburgh for the marathon and I wasn't going to let a bit of sun and 24 degree heat stop me from making it worthwhile and getting a PB. Besides I'd uttered the immortal words "Sub 4 or bust" on twitter. 

You can be prepared for hot weather though so I had procured a very uncool cap and doused myself in P20 sunscreen. Oh and I went away for four months and ran around in 30+ degree heat (I totally planned that).

Edinburgh Marathon had an interesting duel start situation going on which meant that as I was in the front pen of the second start I could see the start line as we stood waiting. The announcer told us that a 78-year-old woman would be running her first marathon with us at which the crowd of runners applauded. 

9:07 miles were the order of the day to get round in under 4 hours. The first couple of miles felt good. The Achilles trouble I'd been having seemed to be gone thanks to an extreme taper of just four short runs in the past three weeks and my legs were feeling pretty fresh. 

The route took us pretty much directly out of Edinburgh and towards the sea which wasn't great for sightseeing but essential for avoiding hills. The route was undulating but overall a net downhill according to the elevation diagram on the race website. I must have been asleep during the massive downhill bit. It didn't feel very 'net downhill'.

As we hit the coast for the first time around 5 miles the sun was getting hot and the sea was looking inviting. 

The support though was excellent from kids with water pistols giving runners a soaking to those flouting the hosepipe ban to hose us down.

Around mile 15 a runner in front of me stopped running suddenly and I lurched to the left to avoid going into the back of him. A twinge of pain went through my Achilles and my stomach dropped - not now! But 100 meters down the road it seemed fine. 

The route hugged the coast for about 12 miles before we turned around at around 19 miles and headed back towards the finish. I'd stuck pretty rigidly to my 9:07 mile plan but around 20 miles a run of 9:20, 9:23 and 9:25 put me behind and in danger of getting 4:01. 

At 23.5 miles I saw my friend Kristy cheering and I put my feet down. The last three miles 8:55, 8:56 and 8:50 brought me onto the finishing straight with a sprint finish between me and sub-4 glory. The final chip time? 3:59:31. Ecstatic I celebrated with a pizza and a pint of the special marathon beer from the Stewart Brewery beer tent while chatting to two runners from Reading, one of whom is doing 20 marathons this year - Edinburgh was his 8th.

Natural sports nutrition

Stomachs don't come more cast iron than mine. At Brighton Marathon 2012, SportyGirl marvelled at my ability to ingest every sugary drink, energy gel and jelly bean handed to me (including those that were being given out by grubby-handed kids) without feeling any ill effects other than hyperactivity. But this isn't the case for everyone and recently there's been a trend towards more natural forms of sports nutrition.

Those who've read the seminal running book 'Born to Run' will no doubt have pondered whether Chia seeds are the elixir of speedy running and ultra endurance that they're described as. Until recently Chia seeds haven't been available to buy in the UK but you can now get them and make up your own Tarahumara-style energy source. The sprinkle I've been adding to my porridge every morning for the past month may be behind the recent burst of speed in my legs - but it could equally be down to running a bit more. The jury is still out on that one.

Scott Jurek, ultra running extraordinaire and the man who holds the world record for the furthest distance run in 24 hours, says his vegan diet is key to his success. He uses only natural, non-animal foods and runs like a demon. His forthcoming book 'Eat and Run' will share his story, his thoughts on running and eating, and his own recipes. It's already on my wishlist.

Coconut water, not just something that's bottled purely so that celebs can be papped holding it coming out of the gym, is another natural product on the running nutrition market. If you drink an electrolyte replacement drink such as Powerade Zero or Nuun after your run, coconut water is the natural alternative. I've been testing ZICO coconut water for a while now and it's pretty comparable. One running friend who had been getting headaches after her long runs now swears by this as part of her rehydration routine.

As I had a case of it I handed a few bottles around and got a few "urgh, tastes like coconuts" responses. So if you don't like coconuts and are slightly smarter than my colleagues you should probably not buy it. But if you do like coconut this could be what you need. To me it tasted like it should have a shot of rum in it - but then I'm a big fan of one particular natural drink after my runs: beer.

When it comes to injury, rest is best

A peculiar thing happens to runners when injured: the urge to run becomes stronger than ever. Runners who put off their long run until the last minute on a Sunday, procrastinating like a teenager avoiding their weekend homework, in the face of the word 'rest' suddenly have an itch that needs scratching and that itch is running.

I'm not immune to this impulse. Last summer when faced with shin splints during marathon training and all traditional sports medicine telling me to rest, I decided the best thing for me to do was keep on running regardless. The shin splints didn't get better until a prolonged rest period otherwise known as the four months I went on holiday for.

This marathon training cycle, injury has raised its ugly head once again. Jubilant that I'd nailed my last long run by doing 18 miles at 8:45 min per mile and therefore looked set to take a sub-4 marathon in Edinburgh, I was flying through my last mile when my Achilles started to hurt. Not a sudden pain but pain. The next day a bit of hobbling and a lot of Googling led to a self-diagnosis of Achilles tendonitis. The prescription: a week of rest and some ibuprofen.

Instead of carrying on regardless or trying to run as soon as my leg felt OK again I've taken a full week of rest seriously. I've swapped running for cycling and swapped the stairs for the lift. The only thing happy witht his situation is my bike that got a nice ride in the sunshine on Sunday. I've also come out all guns blazing to attack this injury and make it go away: ibuprofen, compression and a sports massage. Fingers crossed that all will be healed and that I'll be ready to take on Edinburgh!