The idea began where most good ideas do: in a bar. Jason Easy, an industry colleague from the BBC, and I were enjoying a beer back in June 2016 whilst discussing how we had both recently began running. An idea quickly formed that we should run the London Marathon and raise money for the Light Fund (our industry’s fundraising body). Let’s just say somehow this idea escalated at a rate quicker than the beer consumption, and soon we had shook hands on completing 6 marathon distances in 6 days. We then quickly managed to sign up Katie Ball, who works with Jason, to form our team “Easy Lowe Balls”.
The plan is to run the first 5 marathon distances from Birmingham to London along the Grand Union Canal, with the final day being the London Marathon. We thought it was a great opportunity to challenge ourselves, get fit, and most importantly raise money for some fantastic causes.
The plan was set, the places for VLM secured. But how on earth do you train for 6 marathons in 6 consecutive days?
Lowe, Ball and Easy on their first run together. A steady 12 miles along the Thames.
First things first, I needed to get my fitness up. This was the objective of October to December, with a gentle plan of a couple of short runs a week, totalling around 8 to 10 miles. This plan partially fell apart in December, where a trip to India and Christmas got in the way. However, the new year hit me with a sudden realisation of what needed to be done, and I stepped my game up.
My training plan roughly consists of building up miles in two areas of the week. Mid-week consecutive day runs, and a long run at the weekend. The midweek consecutive runs I think are the crucial part to my training, as it hopefully will build my ability to recover quickly after a long run.
At present, I am running 7-9 miles on my consecutive mid-week runs, and up to 13 miles on my long weekend run. (Totalling around 40 miles last week, 36.6 the previous week.)
Going forward, I aim to build this total up to a maximum of around 50 miles per week, but concentrate the distances more on the main 3 runs.
I will be wearing SockMine GripLock™ socks throughout my training and the challenge. I can tell you that so far, so good!
If you would like to sponsor me, follow the link to head to our official just giving page: www.justgiving.com/6marathons6days