My Weblog

Alex Wellman - week one

WHAT is more frightening than competing in the Flora London Marathon? Sitting on your behind eating a packet of crisps realising there is little more than 10 weeks until you have to run it. This was the reality that dawned on me as I watched the England rugby team capitulate in a manner not seen since I attempted a five-mile run two years ago.

It did make me think though. If a lot can happen in 40 minutes then a great deal more can happen in 10 weeks. Cannons Health Club of Brondesbury Park came to my rescue offering to show me the errors of my ways. The club, in Sidmouth Road, had been reading the Times’ marathon coverage with interest and in a push to help us finish in as good a time as possible offered their professional assistance. To say it was a welcome offer was an understatement having spent the winter pounding the freezing streets of North London.

A sterling session with personal trainer Jayson soon had me up and running, pumping leg presses and lunging to the floor. A complete training programme was soon formulated for my colleagues and I and the benefits of professional training have been immeasurable Hardcore training has not been forgotten either.

Boxing gloves have been strapped tighter and punchbags hit harder in the challenge to complete the Flora London Marathon. The road is getting swifter under my feet and the lungs expanding further. In 10 weeks time the Flora London Marathon will be dust.

Will Davies - week one

A month ago, the prospect of running 26.2 miles looked bleak. I hadn’t trained for over six weeks due to a torn hamstring, and had just returned from

South Africa

boasting a bloated belly full of beer and steak. Having run in the race before, I knew by mid-January I should be pushing 10 miles – but the reality was a three-mile hobble at best.

Then along came an olive branch in the form of a Cannons gym membership, complete with one-on-one sessions with a personal instructor. The timing couldn’t have been better.

Out trainer, Jayson, has been full of the best advice: stretches, diet (cut out beer completely), and easing me into an area I have always thought mind-numbingly boring: weights. Weights are, and always will be dire, but Jayson diligently explained to me their virtue and I have found myself following his advice and enjoying the effects. My hamstring already feels stronger and I am now running a decent 12kmph on the treadmill.

As necessary as it is, gym work is by nature boring, and I can only stomach the hamster-wheel monotony of the treadmill thanks to the line up of flat screens offering various televisual treats. Boxing, on the other hand, is brilliant fitness, bloody good fun, and there’s no better way to vent your anger. Half an hour on the pads with Jayson and I had revived muscles I never knew I had. And although I nearly knocked his block off several times thanks to my appalling technique, we are scheduled in once a week to compliment the long-distance runs now pushing double figures. There is only one area where Jayson has failed miserably. Sorry mate, but I’m not giving up the ale.