I cannot think of anything worse than training for the marathon today.

I did not sleep that well last night and this morning I just did not want to run, everything in my mind and body was telling me it was not a good idea but I was sticking to my training schedule no matter what!

The result is a run that I hated, I also ran faster than I intended because I just wanted to get it over with and then I felt totally exhausted all day. Then it dawned on me, this is not to way to train.

My aim is to run a marathon and enjoy it as much as possible. I am not an elite athlete and I do not have the time or the energy to punish my body. I did a little bit of reading running blogs today and decided that I need to run more within myself more often.

I came across an interesting idea about not running to a pace but more to what is happening in your body and so thought I would start to give this go. Up until this point I have been using my watch to monitor my pace and trying to stick to a certain level regardless of how my body was feeling and the weather conditions.

So now I will tell you about the other things that are really getting on my nerves, firstly the wind. It is so windy at the moment and at points it is like being push backwards and having to fight constantly. I am seriously not enjoying this!

The second thing is people who use their mobile phones while walking. Can you not leave it alone for 5 minutes! These people never look where they are going and zigzag from side to side and I end up running in the road hoping I can avoid the buses. Seriously there are some things about London I love but this is definitely not one of them.

Due to the fact I had over pushed my body during my run I found my yoga exhausting and generally lacked energy throughout the day. This just led me to wonder exactly why am doing all of this.

So with all the exhaustion I was feeling I needed to make sure I kept my energy levels up with the food I was eating. This is what my diet was like today.

Pre-Breakfast Snack - Rice Cake & Peanut Butter

Just the one of these and a date to help get me charged after my run

Breakfast - Raw Oats

Today I had this with peanut butter, Provable summer fruits soya yogurt, pumpkin seeds, ground flaxseed, slivered almonds, cinnamon, baobab and barberries (if you have never seen them they are quite sour and a tasty superfood).

Lunch - Salad, bread and dips

I just had a really simple salad today, including some grated beetroot to bulk it up a bit. I had this with a slice of sourdough bread and some hummus.

Dinner - Veggie Quinoa and Marrow

The marrow (summer squash) that I had today came from my uncle’s allotment and as it was getting older was more like peeling a butternut squash but it was amazing. The flavour of marrow is so delicate and all I did was add a tiny bit of water (that I added to my quinoa) and cook until soft. I then melted some coconut oil with a dash of sea salt and black pepper and coated the marrow in it. Trust me this was delicious.

The quinoa was a bit of a mix up of things I had, including the left over roast and a vegan haggis that I had plus onion and garlic. Just as a tip to make the best quinoa you need the following

Add everything to a saucepan and put the lid on, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 12 minutes, turn the heat off and leave for 15 minutes. Leave the lid on the whole time and at the end remove the lid and fluff with a fork, you can even add a dash of olive oil or coconut oil like when making couscous. You need to be brave to just leave it or be like me and get saucepans with glass lids so you can keep an eye on it!

I got a lovely early night tonight, doing my yoga and meditation before crawling into bed and drifting of immediately.

Marathon Countdown