Firstly, don’t worry. This isn’t going to be one of those blogs telling you how long you need to run for to ‘burn off’ all those mince pies you plan on eating. Nor am I going to be telling you that you need to make sure you stick to your plan 100% to ensure you continue to make progress.

Instead, what I want to do is share some helpful tips and advice around how not only to manage your training over the next week, but also remind you that it is okay to take a bit of a step back and enjoy the festive period - with zero guilt!

PLAN LIKE A PRO

This is something I have mentioned numerous times over the past few weeks, but thats because it really is one of the most important parts of marathon training.

If you know that the next few days are going to be super busy - whether thats work, family, travelling or social events, planning ahead is a great way to ensure you can still fit in those key runs you want to do.

For example, if you have a run scheduled for Christmas Day which you know will be impossible for you to do, get ahead of it and move it to another day in the week you know you can carve some time to get out. And then that way you won’t be stressing about missing run, or losing your Coopah streak 🔥

GO WITH THE FLOW

But whilst planning ahead can be a massive help, another really important factor in this process is just accepting that you might not be able to do everything this week, and that’s okay.

For example, it might be impossible for you to fit in a long run this week, but rather than beating yourself up about it, just accept what you can do, even if that means you just get out for a 30 minute run instead.

Taking an extra day off, or missing one long run isn’t going to undo all of your progress you’ve made over the last couple of months, and it certainly won’t have an impact on an event that is 4 months away (hint hint TCS London marathon runners 😉)

LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

This time of year can look different for everyone - for some it will be a chance to really switch off and recharge ahead of the new year, for others it may end up being one of the busiest periods depending on what you do for work, so there is no one size fits all answer when it comes to managing your training over Christmas.

So my biggest piece of advice is just to make sure you look after yourself and do what is best for you;

Perhaps you are working back to back 12 hour shifts for 4 days on the trot, it’s probably not wise to also try and cram in a long run as well.

Maybe you are driving up and down the country visiting friends and family over Christmas and doing lots of travelling; you may need to accept that you might have to miss a few runs.

Or if you are stuck for childcare whilst the kids are off school; you might need to skip that gym session you had planned.

And one final reminder from me; that finding the right balance when marathon training in general (not just for Christmas) is key to making long term progress and ultimately enjoying the journey along the way, so why not start putting that into practice now.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, however you choose to celebrate, and I can’t wait to help you achieve all of your running goals in 2025 (and beyond).

Coach Jordan 🧡