Welcome to my Melbourne Marathon training journey. It’s going to be a big one with a 36 week training program leading up to the marathon. However before I get started on that I thought I would briefly cover some of my training background.

I first started running in 2013 and it was December 2013 that I joined Western Athletics. I never knew back then but I would end up doing all of the Athletics Victoria track and field, cross country and road racing seasons with the club.

My main reason for joining the club was for marathon training and it was Gold Coast Marathon 2015 that I was finally ready for my first marathon. With Gold Coast I was on track for a sub 4 hour marathon up until about the 30km mark where I started to hit the wall. There were a few reasons why:

• I went out a little bit fast compared to my training,
• it ended up being warmer than expected towards the end and I was dehydrated,
• also I abandoned my gels because they were making me feel sick in the stomach.

So a few issues… I ended up walking sections late in the race, and finished in 4:16:47. I was happy to have finished my first marathon, but also a little disappointed because I know I can do better.

After Gold Coast I stagnated a bit. I’d say I had at least 6 months of pretty average racing throughout 2016 which I would put down to not training optimally. But around July 2016 I started working with Chelsea from ExHealth Rehab as my coach. With Chelsea’s expertise I’ve been on the improve with a half marathon PB in September, 10km PB December, 3km PB and another 10km PB in January.

My current PBs are:

1500 – 5:27 (January 2016)
3000 – 12:04 (January 2017)
5km – 21:31 (December 2015)
10km – 44:13 (January 2017)
Half marathon – 1:41:44 (September 2016)
Marathon – 4:16:47 (July 2015)

For Melbourne Marathon my main goal is to go under 4 hours. In theory I don’t think it should be too difficult and I might be able to go well under that, but the marathon is still a long way away so we will see how training comes along!