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Mark Martin 10K Training Blog (28th May 2010)

Eeeek, how close is the MHF10K now!?

Firstly I have to apologise for the lack of blog over the past few weeks but I have had an eventful few weeks!

At the start of May, I was presenting an educational concert for Primary 7’s at both the SECC in Glasgow and at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.

Choices for Life took up a lot of rehearsal and show time and Steve McKenna and I were seen by over 40,000 screaming kids as well as hanging out with some hot new bands.

As you can imagine a two week run of shows were like daily sessions in the gym because the amount of energy you put into these events is phenomenal!

If you combine this with doing a nightshift radio show it was rather crazy when it came to eating regular meals and training for the run.

As well as the Choices shows, I was involved on the coaching staff for Team East in the Real Radio East vs. West cup. The build up to the game was so tense and unfortunately the Easties lost 3-0 to Roughie’s West stars! I have never seen Ewen Cameron so quiet and I have to say, in front of 8,000 fans at the Airdrie stadium, it was a tough one to take.

The day after the East vs. West cup I flew out to Sharmel Sheik in Egypt with the mrs for a well earned holiday.

All things were going well until day 3 of the trip. The sun was shining; the banter with some new friends was flowing, what could possibly go wrong!?

 I have been very weight conscience ahead of the 10K (I’ve lost 6lbs over the past few weeks) so I decided to have a nice salad for lunch as I had been in the pool all morning.

Not only was I goalkeeping god at water polo, my team had also won the volleyball match of the day so I was in good spirits!

The lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and humus went down nicely and on I toddled for an afternoon sesh on the flumes.

Some hours later, knackered from working my leg muscles in the pool, my tummy started to rumble. The noise started out quite faint but suddenly got louder, louder, louder, LOUDER and LOUDER! That my friends was the start of a nightmare, for the next two days the toilets and I  got to know each other very well both sitting down and standing up. I won’t go into details but it wasn’t pretty!

I had made the FATAL mistake of eating the salad which I believe isn’t prepared in Egypt as we do here in the UK. My friend had warned me on Facebook just days earlier to watch what I ate and I was now realising what he meant! DON’T EAT THE SALAD!

Two days out of the sun, two days off food were not the ideal way to be spending a holiday where drinks and food were all inclusive but the porcelain of the loos and marble on the floor was beautiful (until I let rip ha-ha!)

When I managed to get back into the pool I had to make up for lost time.

I’m just a big kid when I’m in the water so I was playing with any pool volley ball’s I could find to get back into the swing of being active again.

To be honest, I’m still not back to 100% with food but my energy has returned which is why I went a cycle earlier today. (Thursday 27th May)

I’ve been told I have to re-build my fitness slowly after my bout of food poisoning so I plan in the next week to get back on my bike for gentle cycles around my area as my general fitness has gotten so much better since training for the 10K.

As I type this it’s just over 3 weeks to the big day and I’m wondering how’s your training going? Do you have an inspirational songs playlist for the MP3 while training? Are you sticking to your plan?

If I’m being honest my plans have been all over the place recently and I need to knuckle down once I’ve flushed any gunk left in my stomach.

I’ve not been slacking, just been getting fitness in various doses doing other things than running.

It will be head down over the next few weeks though; my idea is if I put in the effort I can slouch a bit watching the World Cup (mon’ the USA!)

For the record, I will be supporting England until they get to the semi finals and get pumped by Spain or Brazil that will sweet ha-ha!

I’m also planning to use the forthcoming footballing fiesta as a spur for that final push ahead of the 10K.

Although I’m more Ronald-o than Ronaldo, I’m thinking seeing the cream of World football (and Honduras) can take me back to my younger days where I dreamed of being just like my heroes on the telly!

Maybe you can do the same if you’re a football fan like myself, take yourself back to when you dreamed of pulling on the shirt of your team and running (10K) out onto your pitch with your own legends!

Try and use that kind of attitude for your final couple of weeks pre-run and you won’t go far wrong!

CMON LADS, LET’S DO THIS TOGETHER! This is our run; let’s make it a special day!

FREEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM! (Sorry, got slightly carried away there ha-ha!)

I better go now before I shout anymore ha-ha!

Catch up with you again soon, Mark M.

Mark Martin 10k Training Blog (9th April 2010)

Mark Martin 10K Training Blog (26th March 2010)

Mark Martin 10K Training Blog (19th March 2010)