I laughed when people tried to tell me marathon training was going to be different. Surely 3 years of running fairly long distances would set me up quite well for these 12 weeks. I knew the high teens and low 20 miler runs were going to be tough, but didn’t think much else would change.

I’ve just finished my first official week of marathon training and can tell you the marathon gods have already taught me their first lesson.

Chafe.

I set out on my seemingly short 8 mile long run (I’m still building back up from injury) in the midday heat. This week I put more importance on sleeping in and getting some good recovery rather than setting out early. I grabbed a different-than-usual pair of short shorts to mix things up a bit, and set off.  I was going along my favourite trail and at about 3 miles that familiar feeling. *rub rub rub rub rub rub ow!*

I’ve never experienced chafe before, but the shorter than normal shorts conspired with the heat, my sweat, and larger than normal QUADS due to the aforementioned injury time for the perfect chafe zone.  I will not step out on a long run anymore without a layer of vaseline and will probably put the (so cute) pink lululemon yoga short shorts back in the drawer for yoga only.

Other than the chafe, the run went really well. The blackberries are almost ready along my running trail so that’s my nutrition sorted for August long runs. I also did a few laps around Finsbury Park where the Routemaster 60th anniversary festival was taking place and there were a lot of buses doing laps of the park with me. I raced a few up the hills for my tempo segments and felt pretty good for beating a 60 year old.

I jumped in an ice bath as soon as I got home (more for bringing down my body temperature than anything else) and enjoyed a little treat to celebrate my first week of marathon training (and to numb the chafe pain)