Marathon training stops for nothing. Even though I am away at a festival, which means I am eating too much crap whilst not getting enough sleep or drinking enough water, I still had a marathon paced effort to do. The weather was not my friend. I have a highly efficient cooling system (aka I sweat a lot) so hot and sunny weather is pretty much my worst nightmare and why I spent the last three miles of my first marathon feeling like I was going to throw up every step I took.

I usually make sure I take on water every 10 minutes on my long run, but today under a cloudless blue sky I drank every time my brain thought ‘water’ which was closer to every 5 minutes. Having plotted my route on google maps there were a couple of wrong turns as I made my way to and then round Wollaton Park, but I managed to maintain my marathon pace for the full 90 minutes and was grateful for the many trees along the route offering shade. I can only hope it’s not as hot in London.

Today was the final long long run before starting the taper for London, and was another 2 hours 45 split into 65 minutes easy (heart rate zone 2), 90 minutes at marathon pace (7:55 min/mile or 4:55 min/km), with a 10 minute cool down at the end.

I started fine, and the first hour or so of the marathon pace felt good, but the final 30 minutes was a struggle to keep anywhere close to that marathon pace (though I didn’t slip out far enough to get the dreaded ‘slow’ warnings). I even walked the majority of my cooldown as my body just didn’t see the point of battering itself with a slow jog. Hopefully the session was designed to replicate the final 90 minutes of the marathon rather than the first 90 minutes, otherwise I’m in trouble. With a good taper (which starts now) and the crowd on my side I should be OK, I certainly feel in much better shape (those final 30 minute notwithstanding) than I did when I ran my first marathon 18 months ago (though not right now, right now I feel pretty much like I did when I finished that first marathon).

Back to the long run again after a couple of weeks off for the Bath Half. I wanted to watch the finals of the ski slopestyle which meant getting up early in order to be out and back before they started. I get up a lot earlier at the weekend to go running than I do the rest of the week.

I was a little bit worried I’d forgotten how to run slowly and how to cope mentally with being out on my feet for so long and my heart rate monitor was playing up for the first ten minutes or so, it seems to take a while to catch up to my actual heart rate at which point I am pushing too hard and have to slow down again.

I passed one of my club mates on my way out, and managed to come back through a race on my return journey. I was a little worried about hitting marathon pace (and for so long) since it had been a while since I’d last run it, but it started off feeling pretty easy (particularly compared to half marathon pace), but last week’s half came back to bite me a little towards the end. I didn’t drop out of my desired pace zone, but the quads were making their presence known, along with my feet. I’m looking forward to having a day’s rest tomorrow (with stretching).

This week’s long run session was an exact replica of the previous week’s, 90 minutes easy followed by 45 minutes of marathon pace, finishing off with 15 minutes of easy cooldown pace.

Last week this session was the toughest I had done and I wasn’t looking forward to it again this week. I was underslept, a little dehydrated, and had spent the previous day mostly on my feet and had been eating at weird times. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hit marathon pace when the time came to it, especially after the struggle I had had the previous week. But I laced up my trainers and zipped up my woman suit and went out and did it.

It felt good, surprisingly good. I was able to hit marathon pace without a problem and instead of getting ‘slow’ warnings for my pace I was getting ‘fast’ warnings instead. I held the pace (a little bit faster than target pace) without it feeling like a constant struggle unlike the previous week. I could see how I would be able to hold the pace for longer (but still not three and a half hours). When I dropped back down to the slower pace for cooldown, my body didn’t feel like it was falling apart. Hopefully this is a sign that all of the training is working, with 8 weeks to go now.

Looking at the data compared to the previous week I was able to go faster (and therefore further) in the easy section, but with a lower average heart rate; I went faster (and further) in the marathon pace section, again with a lower average heart rate; and went faster (and further) in the cooldown, also with a lower average heart rate. Part of it may be that I was mentally prepared for the effort, part of it may be that my body was more prepared for it having had a go the previous week. Either way, I’ll take it.

Up until now the training sessions have all been pretty manageable. I won’t say easy or particularly comfortable, but I’ve got them done and it’s been OK. We’re now 63 days away from London and things are getting serious. My schedule has been brought forward slightly (my own fault for saying that last week’s two and a half hour run wasn’t too bad) and that meant marathon pace in a long run, after tiring my legs out a bit.

The session was 90 minutes of easy pace (which at my heart rate zones comes out to be around 6:00 min/km aka 10:00 min/mile pace), then picking it up to 45 minutes of marathon pace (4:55 min/km aka 7:55 min/mile pace), before cooling down with 15 minutes back at easy pace.

The first 90 minutes was fine, it’s still tricky running that slowly and I was getting lots of alerts of my heart rate going over the zone limit and having to slow it down again. The initial pick-up to marathon pace also went surprisingly well, actually going faster than scheduled to start with, but then the warnings started coming in that I was going too slowly and I had to keep pushing to get back on pace. From then on it was a constant battle to stay on pace. I just about managed to get on board a couple of gels and some water whilst maintaining the pace (and crossed a couple of roads), but it was tough and there was a lot of clock watching and counting down. As soon as the 45 minutes was over and I dropped the pace everything that had been hinting about hurting started to say hello. Even running slower than I had at the start, my heart rate refused to drop back into the required zone (and any slower I would have been walking). How I’m going to manage 3 hours 30 of that pace I can’t see right now, but I’m focusing on the fact that I did manage to complete the session as set. I hit the pace I wanted and managed to maintain it for the full duration, even if I was hanging on there towards the end.

Feet up for the rest of the day now (after a bath that the kittens were very curious about). The watch gave up on recording my recovery time in hours and advised me I needed 3 and a half days off, but it’s 45 minutes recovery run tomorrow, let’s hope the epsom salts do the job.

The distance of the long run is slowly edging up, after 2 hours 15 last week it was 2 hours 30 this week (to be repeated again next week). It was split into 70 minutes easy (z2), 70 minutes steady (z3), 10 minutes easy (z2). I judged the turnaround point better this time, though went out even further along the railway path, properly into the countryside.

I was hoping to practise in some of my marathon gear to check how it held up over the longer distance as there aren’t that many long runs left to go now, but it was far too cold for the shorts I intend to wear, so I made do with practising fuelling and reviewing my marathon playlist (which is mostly cheesy pop with some mash-up and rock thrown in). I managed to get through 4 gels (one after 40 minutes, then one every 30, which felt about right), and even took on some water (which meant the belt had to come out as I’m not running with a bottle).

Today’s solo Sunday long run saw me heading out on the railway path once more (and there will be many more miles spent on it over the next couple of months). I started off counting the other runners and was up to 8 women and 15 men before encountering Fleur in a group too large to count everyone in time, just before Warmley.

This was the furthest I had been out on the railway path to date, and I slightly miscalculated when to turn and head back, particularly when I found out I was turning back into a headwind. This meant I ended up finishing a little bit further from home than intended (after a bit of a faff with my watch when I accidentally told it I’d finished when I hadn’t). I uploaded my run while walking back then did a bonus jog to Tesco for some milk for my protein recovery drink (which was much needed, along with the stretching) and to not freeze to death.

Sunday is still long run day, but with a progression run on the schedule and lots of friends off at the Doynton Hard Half Marathon, it was a solo rather than a social run. Out onto the railway path (so not really undulating or off-road, sorry coach but the off-road trails I won’t get lost on are narrow and muddy at the moment) and out past Warmley this time. The initial 25 minutes were still awkward at such a low heart rate/pace and it was good to be able to stretch the legs out as I went into Warmley and moved into the ‘steady’ part of the run.

I was trying out my High5 nutrition belt, which allowed me to carry my phone as well as some gels, so paused a couple of times to take some photos (and took two gels, one every 45 minutes). As I turned around to come back home I was taking a photo when a fox trotted out across the path and over the rail tracks.

I was so close to half marathon distance at the end that I sped up a smidge and just went over my 2 hour limit in order to register it (since I’d gone so far). This is much more like it in terms of long run distance and I think all of my future long runs are going to have to be done solo without the pauses you get on a social run. I’ll still see the gang at parkrun on a Saturday (for as long as the schedule allows).

Sunday is still long run day and week 5 was brought to a close by taking in the new link road before it opens to vehicles tomorrow. This only took the very first part of the run though and the remainder was the more traditional off-road and muddy fare. No cows today, but three very interested horses at one point when we cut through their field (it was marked as a footpath, we think).

I had to do a smidge extra when we got back to Ashton Court, just to get up to the allotted 2 hours, but just an extra lap of the house and a bit of the car park. My longest run since before training officially started (when I did an off-road over 13-miler the day before meeting up with everyone and starting the BigMarathonChallenge).