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).