BACK TO THE CLASSROOM

The ladies have been brushing upon their nutrition know-how this month courtesy of HIGH5 and Solgar

Photos: Eddie Macdonald

It’s been another month of learnings for the Big Marathon Challenge team – particularly on the nutrition front. The four runners took a trip to Women’s Running HQ for a seminar on nutrition, fuelling, health and joint care, courtesy of team partners HIGH5 and Solgar. And they’ve been busy absorbing – and experimenting with – all of this new information ever since.

As the team begin to up their mileage, Raph Deinhart from HIGH5 gave the ladies a rundown of how to use sports nutrition products properly in training – the products to take, when to take them and the volume needed. He then spoke to the ladies about pre-run and post-run nutrition which, for some the team, was a big eye opener. Katie, for example, discovered just how important it is to take on protein after a run and Leah learned the benefits of planning her meals around her runs to get the most of out of training.

The team then heard from Paul Chamberlain from Solgar, and they learned about the importance of getting the right micronutrients into their diet to benefit no only their joints but their overall health. One-to-one chats with Paul afterwards helped to identify individual needs so Solgar can give the women the right support.

As we all know, it isn’t always as simple as absorbing the new information and implementing it straight away and the team has been busy trialing new tweaks to their diets. Of course, drinking delicious recovery shakes and whipping up carb-heavy meals is just a small part of the team’s work this month and, in terms of their physical training, they haven’t taken their feet off the gas. The mileage is gradually stepping up and, with it, the natural physical and emotional hurdles that are part and parcel of marathon training. We caught up with them, and coach Richard, to see how it’s going.

Twitter: @LeanMcdaniel18

LEAH McDANIEL

Age 28

From Wrexham, north Wales

Big Marathon Challenge To rediscover her sense of self, following the sudden death of her husband in 2014, and to raise money for Save the Children

Day job Mum to Bowen, two-and-a-half years old

How is your training going?

I feel like such a broken record saying this, but it’s been hit and miss! I have a couple of old stress fractures in my spine and they flared up a couple of weeks ago, it was awful. I could barely move for a few days. Luckily, with Richard’s advice and the help of a good chiropractor, it’s much better now.