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Running shoes Marathon diary Follow our medical director as he prepares for the London race

Dr Sneh Khemka, Bupa International's medical director, is running the London Marathon on 25 April. In this diary you can follow his training leading up to the race and get health advice.

 

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Beautiful sights and sore thighs

Auckland

Dr Sneh has arrived in New Zealand and is feeling the effects of jet lag when he goes for a run along the coast of Auckland.

One of the charms about running and training is that it’s a great way to get out and explore. My last training run was 15kms, and allowed me to have a look around the sights of Auckland.

I must say that of beautiful coastal cities, Auckland really does stand out. The route I took wound me round the path running alongside the sea and revealed an affluent culture of boats and stunning hillside villas. Warm, verdant and fresh, this city provides the perfect environment for outdoor pursuits. The running path was jammed with runners of all ages, from families to the wrinkled sexagenarians who rather embarrassingly overtook me. The roads were peppered with cyclists (the racing kind) and the sea awash with amateur sailors, including youngsters battling with their own individual dinghies.

It seems that the New Zealanders have got it right. Sundays are created for activity of the sporting kind, and they get their children into it early. I found this quite inspiring, and was hoping that this general atmosphere of exercise was going to spurn me on to an even better run.

Unfortunately not. Despite feeling invincible, the jet lag got the better of me and I quickly realised that running on a body that is not properly rested is a really tough ask. Then there was the weather. For the last few months I have been running in the British winter and now, suddenly exposed to mid-20s heat, it was a very different matter. And lastly was the terrain. I never really appreciated how flat London is. Here, the long uphills and knee-jarringly sharp downhills were a new test for the body.

I managed to complete the 15kms I’d set myself as a target, but without much panache. Frequent breaks and intermittent periods of walking were the only ways I could sustain myself through the course, and I was very happy to see the hotel at the end.

London feels like a long way away from here, but the marathon seems ever too close. I think I need some harder preparations…..

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