BLOCKHEAD founder Danny Lowe gives his tips to prepare ahead of the London Marathon
It feels like just yesterday that I was stepping out for my very first London Marathon training ‘run’, a very chill 30 minutes round the block. Since then 14 weeks (and who knows how many miles) have flown by and it’s nearly time to pack my bag and head to the start line. I won’t lie, I am nervous, but thankfully I’ve been able to catch up with BLOCKHEAD founder Danny Lowe who’s got a background in Sports Science and knows a thing or two about boosting your performance. Here are Danny’s tips for how to prepare ahead of the London Marathon 2022:
Test out your nutrition:
Knowing what to eat before, during and after your race will make a big difference in how comfortable you are throughout the race. Danny’s top tip is to always test out your nutrition while you train. Try to look at your nutrition holistically and figure out what pre-race carbohydrates fuel your long run best, and which quick calorie sources work well while you’re clocking up the miles.
Danny always recommends including caffeine in your nutrition plan. Caffeine has been shown to improve muscle contractile strength and endurance, which will help you not only run faster but also mean you can maintain good form for longer because it reduces muscle fatigue. What’s more, caffeine can help improve muscle recovery, and who doesn’t love the idea of less muscle soreness?
The bottom line? Try incorporating BLOCKHEAD caffeine gum into your nutrition strategy and you might find that you can run faster with less effort.
2. Get to know the route:
One of the things that’s got me through marathons in the past is knowing when I’ll see my friends and family supporting me on the route, it’s a real boost! Danny agrees, ‘it’s worth checking out the marathon route, getting to know what landmarks you’ll be passing and the areas where the crowds are’ so that you can plan your race and have things to look forward to. It’s also worth making sure you know whether the route is flat or hilly so there are no nasty surprises, when you’ll be able to pick up some water and where the loos are just in case!
3. Mental Approach:
According to Danny ‘a positive attitude and frame of mind can go a long way on your race day’. It’s so easy to get caught up in the enormity of a marathon and become overwhelmed, but luckily Danny has shared a few helpful tools to get you through the challenge:
- Visualisation is a powerful technique in sport, rehearsing by imaging things actually primes your brain and body to be able to achieve them.
- Be process driven, not outcome driven, focus on the moment and what you can control in the present. If you set yourself small goals along the way, for example for each mile, km or water stop these become much more manageable targets.
- Running a marathon is a shared experience (for most people), so look around, smile and chat to your fellow runners. I guarantee it’ll make things easier, there’s nothing like a bit of encouragement and comradery to help you remain positive and get to the finish line.
4 . Be proud of what you’ve achieved:
Training for a marathon is, well, a marathon! Months of hard work and sacrifice have paved the way for marathon day and then you give your everything for 26.2 miles. It’s an amazing and rewarding experience, and it can all be pretty emotional and overwhelming. Danny’s advice is to ‘remember what a huge achievement finishing a marathon is and be proud of what you’ve achieved – you deserve it!’.
BLOCKHEAD makes products to boost performance and aid recovery, check out the full range at https://blockhead.store/
Leave a Reply