Hannah’s London Marathon 2023

For me the day was perfect ‘apart from managing an injury the whole time’ but I knew I would be doing that so it was all in the preparation.

My training was in two halves first half classic riding high running long miles, second half more yoga and cycling and physio to manage tight legs and hips, so i had to choose to sacrifice the cardio training I had built up to recover and protect legs for the day.That was tough mentally more than the race itself to be honest as I like plans and I don’t like change being high functioning autistic. In hindsight If I was to change anything I think adjust training plan from start.

Start of race day morning I did yoga as I had all this nervous energy in me and it loosened my muscles too. Got to start (only just in time though , the trains were very slow), it was soggy wet but my spirits were high. I had all my nutrition lined up all my energy gel blocks ready, I felt mentally ready During race I didn’t hit the so called wall, I did use all my muscle rubs and paracetamol . How I avoided the mental block wall that usually occurs at mile 18/20 was simple, the right energy nutrition definitely helps as that can really derail mentally if you get physically Ill and I didn’t.

I also mentally broke the race down into smaller mini races, so Mile 5 first energy gel block, mile 9 meet sister and start my music play list, mile 13 tower bridge enjoy, mile 15 meet sister lucozade stop, next few miles listening to fav tunes, more gel blocks, mile 20 meet sis , mile 23 open up my special sweet treat, crowd cheering on, mile 24 got emotional as I new I would finish and my family was at mile 25, last straight riding on the crowd cheers and crossed the line euphoric.

Post race I had my recovery drinks and leg strap ready, read all the fantastic support messages on my Facebook. So biggest take homes which work in other areas of life too, plans change in training and you have to just pick yourself up and adjust to make the most of what you can, prep plan the day so it’s not a big panic, break big things into little steps and give yourself treats along to way to boost, have a strategy for after to recover and then reflect on all the wonderful positives of the day.

It was the toughest thing I have ever physically done, was not as quick as I might have been uninjured but I did it in 6 hours 10 minutes and to be honest it was an amazing day and I raised over £550 for YPI Counselling . Which is enough to fund 2-3 young persons counselling sessions. To top it off my daughter is totally inspired now and I hope others found the day inspiring too, perfect I’m leaving my page open to Wednesday, the support from YPI has been awesome and I’m so thankful I chose you as my charity for London Marathon 2023. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Hannah-Carver3