London Marathon Race Review!

So I ran the London Marathon last weekend! And managed a sub-4 hour finish in my first-ever marathon.

Proudly displaying first ever marathon finisher’s medal!

It’s been a while since I wrote anything on here, but writing a London Marathon review seemed like the perfect way to get back into it… I mentioned back in MONTH last year that I had applied for a London Marathon place, well I was fortunate enough to get a charity place through MS Society, which I was over the moon about, especially given the added something about the race after COVID.

All my stars seemed to align on race day, as I managed to (somewhat) comfortably achieve my ambitious goal of a sub-4 marathon, as well as avoiding the dreaded Wall.

The Race Itself

I couldn’t have been happier about how well the race went. I started slowly, around 8:50 pace (a struggle for me as I always go too fast in training…), knowing I’d need the energy later and that keeping below 9 minutes would see me finish in just under 4 hours, and kept a pretty constant pace throughout, with my splits varying by no more than 12 seconds a mile. My fuelling strategy was on point too; a trusty Lucho Dillitos at the start, then one at 5, 10 and 15 miles to keep my energy levels up, maybe could’ve done with another towards the end, although my pockets didn’t have enough space unfortunately… It wasn’t all good news though; my headphones threw a hissy fit at mile 7 and just refused to connect to my watch, so I had no music for the majority of the race, but as I’ll mention later the atmosphere provided by the crowds meant that that wasn’t an issue.

I passed the halfway point at 1:55, a slow half by normal standards, but this was a marathon not a sprint after all, but felt good knowing that I was under the 2-hour split for a sub-4 finish. This definitely helped mentally, if I knew I had to make up time in the second half it could’ve easily made me doubt myself.

Finally a good action shot! I made into a few official photos, but this is by far the best. Props to the photographer for getting my good angles…

The Atmosphere/Occasion

I know it’s the only marathon I’ve ran (so far), but I feel pretty confident in saying that London is the best marathon in the world. Nothing else comes close in terms of the occasion; the build-up and media coverage beforehand; the iconic landmarks you pass on the way; and of course, the crowds. All of this amplified by the fact that this was the first London Marathon to be held fully since COVID.

The number of spectators was smaller than it usually would be thanks to COVID, but those that came out more than made up for it. The streets are lined with cheering crowds for the majority of the course, especially around the landmarks and towards the end, where the random people cheering your name is the only thing keeping you moving forward. As I was running for a charity, I had a brightly-coloured vest with my name ironed on to the front (which I would wholly recommend even if you’re not running for charity…), which meant that every now and then I would hear an emphatic ‘Go on Adam!’ ‘You can do it Adam!’ from a complete stranger, which really does pull you through, especially in the last 3 miles, which were by far the hardest 3 miles I’ve ever ran in my life.

But would I do it again? Definitely. The buzz was incredible, so worth it and such a proud moment to  finally cross the finish line after all the months of training. The London Marathon is absolutely a bucket list experience, and I would love to do it again, but first I think I’ll enter some marathons in different locations for a bit of variety, so watch this space…

The Charity Aspect

Finally, a word on the charity fundraising side to the London Marathon: The marathon is known for being the world’s largest fundraising event, and it’s incredible to see so many worth causes represented on the day. I got my place through MS Society, a charity close to my heart through my Grandad’s struggle with the disease. The fundraising campaign leading up to the race was an amazing experience, I thoroughly enjoyed running all the events we held, such as a plant sale and fundraising dinner, alongside multiple raffles. Altogether we managed to raise over £4000, an incredible amount and more than double the £2000 needed to secure the place. Every penny goes towards fighting MS, and brings us closer to a world without it.

My Vegan Instagram Food Blog!

In addition to this blog, I’ve made an Instagram account, @adameatsvegan, to share what I eat. It’s a mix of my own cooking (with recipes), meals out (when restaurants open again) and the best vegan takeaways. Hope you enjoy it!

This account started as a place where I could post all my food separately to my main account, as lockdown has resulted in a lot of extra time for cooking (and baking sourdough/banana bread of course!). I’ve really enjoyed interacting with the whole vegan food blogger community, getting involved in challenges and learning how to improve my content. I’ve also enjoyed getting an insight into growing an Instagram account; I made a pro account so I can track all the relevant metrics and data, such as reach and engagement, which the scientist part of me loves.

As well as creating this post to showcase the account (and allow it to be seen by people who don’t have Instagram), I wanted to learn another useful WordPress skill in embedding the feed into a post, which is a lot easier than I expected!

Running and Sustainable Fashion: Buying Second-hand Kit

Being a researcher in renewable energy as well as being vegan in part for environmental reasons, I would certainly consider myself to be an environmentalist. But one part of environmentalism I had neglected for a while was sustainable fashion and buying second-hand. I don’t buy a huge amount of clothes as it is, but I’ve definitely been guilty of turning my nose up at the thought of buying second-hand in the past. Buying second-hand means you’re diverting items from potentially going to landfill, as well as avoiding the environmental cost of making new items, with all the raw materials and manufacturing that comes with it.

I’ve made a considerable effort over the past year to buy clothes in a more sustainable way, either by buying from more ethical brands when I do buy new, or buying second hand from sites such as eBay or Depop, and recently I’ve started to apply this to running gear too.

I’m trying to focus on some solutions in this post, rather than just talking about the problem of clothing waste, and there are plenty of great sources for information on the scale of the issue, such as WRAP, clothesaid, and ReRun (for a more running-focussed take).

Some key statistics on UK clothing waste (from ReRun)

When it comes to running kit, not everything is well-suited for the second-hand market; for example, I’m still not that keen on buying used base layers or running tights for hygiene reasons. Socks are another essential item that you’re obviously not buying anything other than brand new. Pretty much everything else is, though, especially jackets, shorts, and tops. I tend not to buy t-shirts (second-hand or otherwise), as (like most runners), I’m slowly building a collection of souvenir race t-shirts, so there’s just not the need to buy any more. There is an ever-growing conversation about the sustainability of souvenir race packs, and many races are now offering opt-outs as a result. The sustainability of races in general is a huge talking point, but that’s beyond the scope of this post (maybe for a later one…).

With summer drawing to a close and the cold, dark winter months creeping in, I needed some new running gear that was either warm, reflective or both. I decided to put my money where my mouth is, resist the urge to buy fancy new kit and look for some second-hand steals.

Running Kit

I went looking for jackets and a pair of shorts, and ended up pretty happy with what I found:

I got this great Nike dri-fit jacket on Depop, for only £24 from red cactus vintage. I’m not sure on the exact style, so couldn’t find it online, but the current Nike Windrunner series look very similar, and they’re going for £70 new, so £24 is a pretty good deal. It’s warm enough for cold mornings whilst still being lightweight, it’s also practical with a hood and large pockets. Plus it looks good, so I’m very happy with this buy.

Adidas running jacket

eBay is another good site for used running kit, and there’s an abundance of jackets, shorts and tops to be found. I got this adidas response jacket for £10, it’s extremely lightweight and packable, as well as being wind/shower-proof. It has great reflective detail for those twilight runs, and the colour scheme gives it a great retro look. No complaints from me for £10 here.

Nike running shorts

I also got these Nike dri-fit shorts for £2. Two. That’s about as much as a cup of coffee, and you’d expect to pay upwards of £20 for a brand-new pair. There are loads of similar bargains to be found on shorts, making them a great piece of kit to buy second-hand.

Hopefully these buys have convinced you (if you’re not already) that there are some great second-hand running finds to be had on sites like eBay and Depop, and that we can all do more to make running a more sustainable sport.

Running Shoes

We’re constantly being told to replace our shoes around every 300-500 miles, which for even the casual runner, isn’t actually that many. I bought my current pair at the end of March, and they’re already at 500, without the two races and subsequent training I had planned since then. Assuming we all follow that advice, that means a lot of old pairs of shoes, so the question is; how do we get rid of them? I often relegate an old pair of running shoes to either gym shoes or trainers to prolong their life, but at some point you have to make room in the cupboard. I haven’t been a serious runner for long enough yet to have gone through a lot of shoes, but I’m already thinking about what to do with them when the time comes. I haven’t looked at the second-hand shoe market much, but there does seem to be a reasonable amount on eBay, mostly pairs that have been worn once or twice before being sold.

I did find a couple of good initiatives for disposing of well-worn pairs though, those from Runners Need and ReRun, below:

Sustainable Initiatives

Runners Need and SOEX are currently running (no pun intended) a great scheme called Recycle My Run, where you can recycle your old pair of shoes at one of their stores in return for £20 off a new pair. Your old shoes are then sent off to second-hand markets around the world or broken down into raw materials, depending on the condition they’re in. This is a win-win really, as you’re getting a discount off a brand-new pair of shoes whilst diverting your old ones away from landfill, and possibly providing a good used pair for someone else.

When doing some research for this post, I came across ReRun, an organisation whose aim is to prolong the life of running clothes and equipment. They get involved in a whole host of sustainable and ethical initiatives, from taking donations and reselling used clothes/equipment, to upcycling pieces of kit that would otherwise be unsellable, and they even have a shoe bank that offers free shoes and equipment to those in need. They’ve got a great collection of second-hand and upcycled clothes in their online store, and I’ll definitely be checking them out next time I need some new kit.

With so many great initiatives for recycling old pieces of kit, the days of just throwing your old shoes in the bin are long gone. And with the second-hand market booming, there’s really no need to buy a brand new piece of kit every time you need one, and also piece of mind that you can find a good home for your old gear when the time comes.

My Running Goals for the Next Year

Thankfully my shoulder is feeling good enough to get back to running sling-less (seems like a plant-based diet is great for injury recovery after all!), and I managed to get a few nice runs in this week.

The elite-only London Marathon was last week, and with Shura Kitata winning in 2:05:41, it appears that Eliud Kipchoge is human after all, finishing eighth and bringing his superhuman streak of 10 consecutive marathon wins to an end. The end of the belated 2020 race means that the ballot for 2021 entry opened, and after years of telling myself I’d enter, only to back out at the last minute, I finally took the plunge. 2021 will be the year I do a marathon, London or elsewhere (I’m writing it on the internet, so I have no excuses now).

A year is a long time, and the thought of potentially training for an event a full year from now got me thinking about what I’d like to achieve between now and then. My current times can be found on my About page. Having a physical record of my targets should act as an extra motivator too, and it’ll be fun to look back at this post this time next year to see how well (or not…) I’ve done! All race entries come with an asterisk these days of course, but I’m hopeful that races will return towards the summer.

So here are my targets for the next 12 months:

5K: a sub-20 5k would be the dream, but I have 39 seconds to shave off for that achievement. Hopefully, the return of Parkruns will provide the extra motivation, whenever the time comes. In an ideal world of regular Parkruns every Saturday (and a solid training routine) for a good stretch of next year, I think I can push closer to the 19:30 mark by the end of the year, but maybe I’m getting ahead of myself…

10K: I haven’t actually ran a 10k race yet, so my current best time isn’t really an ‘official’ one. I plan to enter one as soon as I can though, and I think the 45-minute mark is a realistic target for my first real go.

Half marathon: In the event that I’m lucky enough to get a place at the iconic London Marathon, getting at least a couple more half marathons under my belt is a necessity. I need to up my training runs to HM distance regardless of the return of races, but nothing beats having a crowd to cheer you to the finish, so for the next time I race a half, 1:45 is my aim, taking a full 4 minutes and 23 seconds off my current PB. This would also put me at 8-minute mile pace the entire way, which is nice and simple for pacing.

Marathon: Finish! I will do my first 26.2 in 2021, whether its London or somewhere else, and just crossing the finish line in one piece will be enough for me. Having a target time is important, though, and whilst going for a sub-4 debut time is an appealing (albeit highly ambitious) target, somewhere between 4hrs and 4:30 seems like a much more realistic goal.

Hopefully next year I’ll be among the throng of runners crossing the iconic Tower Bridge

If I don’t get a ballot place for the London Marathon (which, lets be honest, is the most probable outcome here), I will try and get a charity place through the MS Society, a charity dedicated to fighting multiple sclerosis, a degenerative neurological condition that my Grandad has suffered from for many years. And if I am lucky enough to get a ballot place, then I will use that to raise funds for the MS Society as well.

The ballot results are announced in early January, so fingers crossed! As soon as I hear back, I’ll make a post about the outcome and next steps. I’ll revisit these targets in a years time as well, should be interesting…

How Does a Vegan Diet Affect Injury Recovery?

I haven’t been able to do much running this week, as I’m recovering from a dislocated shoulder suffered whilst playing football. I managed a couple of tentative jogs, but running with a sling isn’t ideal… Sitting around unable to run got me thinking ‘how does my vegan diet impact my injury recovery?’ Does it help? Does it hinder it, when compared to a typical meat diet? So (after re-watching The Game Changers) I decided to do some research of my own into injury recovery and how a vegan/plant-based diet can affect it, to see if there was anything I should be doing differently.

Nate Diaz with some words of wisdom in The Game Changers (Netflix)

I struggled to find much work on the direct impact of vegan diets, so I decided to look at a few of the key nutritional considerations for injury recovery, and then see how compatible they are with a plant-based diet. This is a pretty broad topic (and outside my area of expertise) so I decided to keep it simple and focus on a few specific areas. I looked at two well-known factors in inflammation and protein, and came across a seemingly less well-known one in leucine.

Inflammation

Plant-based diets are well-known to reduce levels of inflammation in the body1, whereas diets high in animal products can lead to increased inflammation, and the reduction of inflammation is one of the main considerations for injury recovery.

Following injury, there is an initial (acute) inflammatory response from the body which is crucial for healing, but further, long-term (chronic) inflammation would be detrimental2. Going the other way, excessive anti-inflammatory measures could actually impair the initial recovery process, so it’s important to have balance whilst avoiding necessary inflammation. This is where a plant-based diet could be more effective than an animal-based one for recovery; avoiding unnecessary inflammation through diet but not providing an excessive anti-inflammatory response.

Protein

It seems intuitive that you should increase your protein intake during recovery to help build and maintain muscle, and most (but not all) of the studies I looked at recommended increasing protein intake during rehabilitation3. There were mixed views on increasing protein intake during the early stages of immobilisation4, with the emphasis is on maintaining an adequate intake, at least to pre-injury levels. Timing seems to be important though, and protein intake before sleep is recommended, to increase overnight amino acid availability and muscle protein synthesis5, 6.

There wasn’t a lot of discussion about the importance of protein source in the studies that I found, but plant-based protein sources provide more anti-inflammatory properties than animal-based sources7 so would seem preferable for recovery.

Leucine

One thing that was heavily mentioned in the articles I looked at was the importance of leucine2, 3, 6, an essential branched-chain amino acid (BCAA), in injury recovery. Leucine is known to improve protein synthesis and can ameliorate muscle loss2, which can prove helpful in combating muscular atrophy (weakening) caused by lack of movement during the recovery process. Being an essential amino acid, the body cannot synthesise leucine, so it must be obtained through diet. Fortunately, a plant-based diet contains plenty of leucine sources, such as soy products, beans, and legumes. Protein powders also contain significant amounts of leucine, and whilst whey protein contains slightly more leucine than plant-based sources, the plant-based protein I have after a run or workout (Pulsin pea protein, chocolate flavour of course) contains around 60% of my recommended daily of leucine per serving, so I’m pretty confident that I’m getting enough.

Summary

The main emphasis for nutrition during injury recovery, unsurprisingly, is on the importance of a balanced diet and maintaining sufficient nutrient intake, avoiding any deficiencies. Protein intake should be maintained at the very least, and possibly increased, and leucine is important for combating muscle loss.

From what I’ve found (and this wasn’t an exhaustive search by any means), it seems clear that there are no key aspects of nutrition for injury recovery that are not available in plant-based diets, and the reductions in unnecessary inflammation given by plant-based diets could be beneficial to the recovery process, making them effective for injury recovery.

So I won’t be making any significant changes, maybe a bit more protein before bed, and hopefully get back to running next week! It goes without saying that this blog post shouldn’t be a substitute for professional medical advice concerning injuries.

Running in Lockdown & the Birth of This Blog

Running in Lockdown

Running has been somewhat of a saviour for me during lockdown, and I’m certain it has been for many others as well. Going for a daily jog has wonderful for combating the stress and monotony of working from home, not to mention the challenges and anxieties of just living through such a global crisis. For me, transitioning to working from home brought its own challenges, and a morning run was a great way to set myself up the day and clear my head before working, and is definitely something I’ll keep doing.

The importance of running during lockdown was reflected in the numbers, with apps such as Asics Runkeeper and Couch to 5K reporting around a doubling of usage over various parts of the lockdown in comparison to last year1,2, despite the cancellation of races as well as the ever-popular Parkrun. It’s great to see such a boom in running, hopefully it will continue long after we’re through the worst of the pandemic, and form lifelong habits to improve peoples physical and mental health.

The cancellation of races, especially big ones such as the London Marathon, has been hugely disappointing, not to mention a massive hit for charities in the way of loss of income. I’ve experienced this myself with the cancellation of two planned races: the Robin Hood Half (which would have been tomorrow!) and the Leicester Half, both of which I would’ve been running for Born Free Foundation. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope for the return of races in recent weeks, but the latest reinstatement of lockdown measures has put an end to that. I hope races can return safely soon, after completing my first half marathon a month before lockdown started I was looking forward to getting a few more under my belt this Autumn.

Birth of the Blog

This blog is definitely a product of the lockdown, with the increase in running alongside the need for a project and desire to gain some new skills; writing in a less formal way than scientific writing, as well as running a website, which I’m really enjoying so far (I was way too excited to learn how to add my Strava feed to the side bar).

Reading is one of my favourite hobbies, and lockdown gave me a lot of time to read. Many of the books I’ve read recently are about running, by authors such as Adharanand Finn as well as athletes like Scott Jurek, and I plan to do a brief review of my favourite running books in a future post (in time for Christmas, to get your gift ideas sorted!). Reading about other people’s experiences of running, as well as veganism in the case of Scott Jurek, is another big part of what inspired me to start writing about my own.

My plan for this is to have regular posts every Saturday, maybe a midweek one every now and then, so check back again next week!

First Post! A Quick Introduction

Hi! I’m Adam, welcome to my blog, Adam runs on plants.

I’m a runner, vegan, and PhD student based in Loughborough (UK), and I’ve started this blog to talk about all three of those things, as I push towards marathon running (and beyond..?). I also plan to use this space for charity fundraisers through running, so please check out my Charity page!

I’ll mostly be posting about running and veganism, with a bit of science thrown in here and there, so if you’re interested in any of that then I hope you enjoy my posts, and please feel free to get in touch! You can find out more on my About page.

In my next post I’ll be writing about my experiences of running during lockdown and the benefits that it gave, as well as how this blog came about. See you then!