Should I gain weight in marathon training ?

I weigh more now than before I started my marathon training about ten weeks ago. Considering I now run 4 times a week and do yoga twice a week, and once a week I even cycle to yoga - how is it then that the scales are 3 to 4 pounds heavier ??

Well, it could be that my diet consists of chocolate brownies, preceded by pizza all washed down with a couple of glasses of white.. (I ran out of red ..) Really, I'm not that bad diet-wise but yes, I do have a fondness for wine and pizza and chocolate, but I also eat cereal, bananas, fruit - ah, yes I quite like the odd bit of cheese too.

All that said though, it is certainly true that I am less of a wobble than ten weeks ago and my arms are nicely toned, I am building thighs of steel and my tum seems more toned too.

Just three minutes until I leave for yoga, when BB gets home. He and CC are swimming tonight for South London Harriers triathlon club, so it's a late night all round.

I can only hope that when the training is finished I will trim down weight-wise, although oddly I look better than before...

Explain that one !!

An update:

It's now November, the marathon was last month. I think the weight gain I mentioned above was something of a tipping point, because just before the marathon, literally the week before, my body became a lot leaner than ever before. It is still quite lean now. I had taken my measurements (arms, tum, thighs, waist, hips, calves) etc in May this year, and I re-measured just before the marathon. I had lost centimetres in all areas, just 1 or 2 in every area, except for, wait for it, yes, you guessed it, my calves, which I think grew by one centimeter.

So, if you do find yourself putting on  a little weight, stick with your nutrition and training plan and reassess later. Don't suddenly start changing your plan, because if you start eating too little, then you could find that you start to lack the energy to train, just as you are increasing your mileage.

Although I watch what I eat to a certain extent, as my training stepped up, I quite literally started to see my food as fuel, and I really needed to make sure the tank stayed full, even if it meant eating more than usual. If you're in the middle of a training plan, I would recommend ignoring the numbers on the scales for now (to a certain degree, of course), keep with the training, and listen to your body.

Happy St. Patrick's Day !

Today I did a training run ready for the half marathon in Hastings (http://www.hastings-half.co.uk/) this Sunday.

The course I take follows a 2-mile loop around a local park. The route is off-road, a bridle path too I think, as well as popular with dog walkers, so very undulating and rough underfoot. This is good because all those lumps and bumps strenghten the bones in the ankle and make for stronger calf muscles. However, this can also be dangerous ! A few weeks ago I managed to run into a tree branch that was hidden by other undergrowth. OWCH ! A(nother) nice bruise on my leg...

I did 2 loops of the 2-mile loop, so 4 miles in total. After this, I collected Cupcake from schoool and took her to her swimming lesson. I swam too which was nice after the warm run, the water was nice and cool.