Long runs so hard!

[Starlightstargazer]

Agh! So when do long runs get easier? I’m training for a marathon and each week I’m absolutely floored and it takes me days to recover.
Plan has gone like this:
15 miles, 18 miles, 16 miles, 20 miles, 15 today

20 miles took me 4 hours 13 minutes last weekend and I’d lost the plot by 3 hours. It was a looong last 75 mins. I didn’t even know my name at the end.

im fuelling every 20 minutes although I don’t feel any great burst of energy?! I wear a fluid backpack. I’m already slow as fuck.

still got 2 weekends of long runs (20 and 22 miles).

Just want to say thinking of you this week @Starlightstargazerand wishing you the absolute best marathon day.

You’ve put the hard work in and this is your victory lap! Have the best time and enjoy seeing the very very best of London and also of humanity.

My top tip is that even if you get injured or have a hard moment and end up walking for a bit, look up, look around. Those people are cheering for YOU, for the work you have put in and the feat that you are about to achieve. Every single person believes you can do it, they have faith in you, even when you may doubt yourself. All of the runners around you, even the ones that might be sailing past you in that moment, will have their own hard moments and times of doubt at some point, even if you are seeing them in a good moment! Just keep moving forward, no matter how. Even if it hurts, remind yourself that this might be a once in a lifetime experience (and if you don’t remind yourself, Tower Bridge will do it for you!).

No matter what happens out there, once you start, you have an over 99% chance of crossing that finish line. No matter what happens along the way, you get to call yourself a marathoner forever!

If you see a sign that says “pain is temporary, finishing is forever”, that’s me, waiting for my Dad!

@Starlightstargazer another one wanting to wish all the best for Sunday. Have your name on your top - the crowds are great at cheering you on with your name and it can give you a real boost. Just enjoy the vibe and forget about the time -the London atmosphere is too good to waste looking at your watch!

Enjoy your carb loading - you've earned it - and start drinking little and often now so that you are fully hydrated for Sunday.

I'll be thinking of you as I hang out of a pink baggage lorry on the Mall.....

@Londonmummy66are you one of the people on bungees collecting the bags?!! That always looks like SUCH a fun job!

And thank you for volunteering- 3 x London marathons and the volunteers are always SO amazing!

@user1471548941 - I'll be on the bungees but on the Mall so handing bags back rather than collecting them in. Can't wait!

Another one here to say all the very best of luck tomorrow. I’ve only ever run one marathon (not London) but found it a totally different experience to long runs because of the atmosphere and support, and I think London is 10 times this.

Will be thinking of you Xx

Aw thank you so much to all - I’m really touched by these messages. I really am.
Getting up and ready now, full of nerves and excitement!
Im covered in KT tape and unofficially sponsored by deep heat 😂.
Im almost the last wave so it’s going to be a hot one.
See you on the other side!!

Good luck!!! If I knew what you looked like I’d look out for you - I’ll be at mile 5.5 and about mile 16! Regardless, if your name is on your shirt I’ll be SCREAMING 😂eek enjoy the day

Just got to stick to the plan, run walk run, one foot in front of the other!

Good luck!!!

How did you get on???

@Starlightstargazer - how was it - I was on baggage lorry 17 on the Mall and everyone coming through said it was pretty brutal in heat.

You need to do long runs slowly, really slowly. If you're aiming for a 4 hour marathon your long slow runs should by at about 10:30 minute mile pace, otherwise you're too spent after the long runs to do the shorter training runs properly.

Hope you enjoyed it today despite the heat!

My son trained for San Sabastian marathon and it was cancelled when we were half way across Spain..flight had been redirected from Bilbao to Barcelona and on a coach to Bilbao !! Can you imagine the disappointment 🤦‍♀️He still ran the Marathon with thousands of others ..I hope you had a fabulous day.

I did it! It was incredibly hard, the heat really got to me. I started off run walk with a pacer and I couldn’t keep up, dropped back to my own pattern but by mile 16, it was walk-run and mile 18 to the end was walk only! My hip just gave out and I couldn’t do anything more.
Crowds were absolutely amazing, a constant wall of noise and support! Finished just under 6 hours.
Loving my medal 🥇.
Thanks for all good advice and wishes! X

Congratulations! That's a massive achievement and it was so warm. Wishing you the return of the ability to go downstairs forwards very soon.

Well done @Starlightstargazer

Extremely tough conditions today, i know a few people who DNF because of the heat so you did brilliantly.

Hope you are feeling really proud.

@Starlightstargazer - well done - you weren't the only one who had to stop and walk after a bit - I had a couple of people collecting baggage who were in tears that they had managed to finish it as their knees or hips popped and then walking in the heat was gruelling.

Fantastic work!

Well done on completing your marathon, London is a special one for sure.
Wear that medal with pride. Amazing achievement - even more so with the heat yesterday. I was spectating and we said, perfect weather for spectators, not so much for runners.

So pleased for you, I was out cheering and it reminded me how phenomenally hard the marathon is, particularly in that heat!

Wear the medal for at least a week, you earnt it!

Definitely wearing for a week and saying to people ‘did you know I did a marathon?!’