Week 35: 24 – 30 August

Run: 8h 24m (60.8 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

This has been the biggest running week of the block so far: just over 60 miles and more than eight hours on my feet.

Thursday brought another eight-mile tempo, again averaging 6:41/mile. Tuesday was another interval session with substantial recovery running around the faster work.

The weekend then asked the real question. Eight miles on Saturday was followed by 16 on Sunday at about 7:39 pace, average heart rate 146. Finishing the highest-volume week with a controlled 16-miler is a particularly reassuring marker.

Worn running shoes and water bottle after a long run

This is where marathon training starts to become less about individual workouts and more about managing accumulated fatigue. There has been a lot of work this week, but the final long run remained controlled.

Week 34: 17 – 23 August

Rolling Northumberland road in soft morning light

Run: 7h 18m (54.0 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

Fifty-four miles this week and another solid chunk of marathon-specific work.

Thursday brought the main benchmark: an eight-mile tempo averaging 6:41/mile. With the warm-up and cool-down around it, the full session came to just over 11 miles.

The weekend has again used the Hansons-style cumulative approach rather than one giant long run: about 10 miles on Saturday and 12 on Sunday, both in the mid-7:30s per mile. Sunday’s average heart rate of 148 reflects the accumulated work in the legs.

The fitness is being built through repeated good weeks rather than one spectacular session.

Week 33: 10 – 16 August

Run: 6h 32m (48.2 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

Just under 50 miles this week, with the familiar rhythm of intervals, tempo work and steady mileage becoming well established.

Tuesday was three 1600m repetitions, with heart rate peaking at 178. Thursday brought a six-mile tempo averaging 6:39/mile, giving me another useful comparison with the previous week’s tempo.

The weekend has been about accumulating rather than racing: 10 miles on Saturday at around 7:37 pace followed by another 10 on Sunday, this time closer to 7:24. Heart rate remained controlled on both.

This has been a well-balanced marathon week — hard sessions hard enough to matter, easy running easy enough to recover, and useful mileage arriving without needing a heroic Sunday.

Week 32: 3 – 9 August

Run: 7h 07m (51.6 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

We as a family shifted our base up the coast for two weeks. Whilst the kids enjoyed their summer holidays, I spent this week and next combining holiday, work and training.

This produced another 50-mile-plus week, with hard work in the middle, genuinely easy running around it and a longer run to finish.

Tuesday’s interval session pushed heart rate to 178, with the recoveries pulling down the overall pace. Thursday then brought the week’s main benchmark: a seven-mile tempo averaging 6:32/mile.

Sports watch and running shoes beside an empty track

The easy days have been properly separated from that intensity. Monday and Friday both sat around an average heart rate of 131, before eight miles on Saturday and 14 on Sunday at about 7:39 pace.

That 14-miler has rounded out a strong week, with the faster work and the volume coexisting without the easy running turning into another hard session.

Week 31: 27 July – 2 August

Run: 7h 44m (56.7 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

A big change of gear this week. After the lower-volume holiday running, the mileage has jumped to almost 57 miles and the week suddenly looks very much like marathon training again.

Thursday has provided the main sustained quality session, while Tuesday also contained faster work with recovery running around it, pushing heart rate to 178bpm.

The weekend has then stacked eight miles on Saturday with 12 on Sunday, both around the 7:40 mark. That back-to-back running is a big part of the Hansons approach — building cumulative fatigue rather than waiting all week for one enormous long run.

Nearly eight hours of running in seven days has been a serious return to work after the holiday. And it’s great to be back at it!

Week 30: 20 – 26 July

Run: 4h 02m (27.2 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

Another holiday week, this time centred on Naxos, and another example of keeping the running going without turning the trip into a training camp.

Quiet running route overlooking the Aegean Sea on Naxos

The two main runs have both been around 10 miles. Tuesday came in at roughly 8:19 per mile and Friday at about 7:50, with both carrying an average heart rate of 153. There was also a shorter midweek run where heart rate climbed into the 170s.

The pace-to-heart-rate relationship has made these runs more demanding than similar-paced outings at home, with the Greek summer conditions adding to the workload.

Twenty-seven miles while away has been enough to keep continuity without letting the training dominate the holiday.

Week 29: 13 – 19 July

Quiet coastal running route on Paros in the early morning

Run: 4h 53m (29.0 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 44m

Holiday running has taken over this week, with the bulk of the miles logged on Paros before moving on to Naxos.

There have been three proper runs on Paros, including two eight-milers, with heart rates in the mid-140s at more relaxed paces. The Greek summer conditions have made these runs a different proposition from the equivalent mileage at home.

A 44-minute mobility session has also made it into the week, useful with the change in routine and regular running away from home.

This hasn’t been a textbook training week, but training has carried on while the holiday has carried on around it — exactly the sort of balance I want this diary to capture.

Week 28: 6 – 12 July

Run: 3h 21m (22.9 miles) | Cross Train: 1h 31m | Gym: 0h 00m

Running has returned this week, but at a fairly modest level: just under 23 miles, with four pool sessions adding another hour and a half of aerobic work.

The runs have gradually sharpened as the week has gone on. Monday and Tuesday were gentle, Thursday a little quicker, and Friday’s seven miles were controlled at just over eight-minute-mile pace with an average heart rate of 138.

Running shoes and swimming goggles beside an open kit bag

There has been no attempt to make up for last week’s lack of running. Swimming has carried some of the aerobic work while the running volume has come back steadily.

After the 70.3 and a quiet recovery week, this was a deliberate measured return to normal training.

Week 27: 29 June – 5 July

Run: 0h 00m (0.0 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 53m | Gym: 0h 00m

No running at all this week, and only two short swims.

Swimming goggles and towel beside a quiet pool

Coming straight after the Northumbrian 70.3, this has clearly been a recovery week rather than a training week. The two pool sessions totalled less than an hour and were both low-intensity.

There has been no attempt to force mileage back in after the race. This week has simply been a reset before getting back to regular running.

Week 26: 22 – 28 June

Kielder Water and an empty road beneath Northumberland skies

Run: 3h 37m (22.0 miles) | Cross Train: 5h 38m | Gym: 0h 00m

Race week: dominated by the Northumbrian 70.3 at Kielder.

Quite a bit went wrong today, despite going into it with some confidence. If my Garmin feed is anything to go by I swam close to twice the required distance, hitting 3,400 metres. Given the shakiness of the lines, I’m assuming we had some signal interference. So what took approximately 40 mins 2 years ago, took me over 52 minutes. Whilst my swimming technique is improving due to the lessons, I’d done nowhere near the distances in that training that I’d been clocking up prior to the 2024 edition. My first of a number of mistakes. Added to this, was repeated bouts of cramp on lap 2, which struck every 10 strokes or so. I’d been aware of cramping in training in the pool after about 20-25 minutes and cursed myself for not taking one of the salt tablets I’d so deliberately packed, before the swim. Instead they were sitting at T1 with the rest of my gear. Another mistake.

The bike: as long as the roads are dry, I’m happy to push hard up and down the hills. Cue the rain. I still did want I could, battling the head wind down the ‘back straight’ of the bike loop. Mistake number 3 (or was it 4 now?) was fuelling, and the lack of practice. Hunched over the bars, I was acutely aware of the awful stabbing sensation of GI issues. It put me off fuelling further, and I tried to restrict intake to whole foods like bananas and, well, more bananas. Trying to then adopt an upright position coming off the bike to run was not easy.

I got moving and ran the first 2 to 3 miles in someone else’s legs. I eventually found mine again, and as I drank more water, the stomach started to settle. Just in time for the sun to come out, and blaze down on the competitors battling below. The climbing temperature and continually undulating track drained my already under-fuelled legs, and I staggered up the longest of the hills on both laps, using my hands to push my legs along. Although this was my strongest discipline, I spent most of the run in fear of bonking – that moment when your legs simply lock and stop. The first lap passed and the sight of my wife and daughter (complete with “your unstoppable” sign ) flooded me with emotion. I better get this done, I thought to myself. What an underwhelming sight I must have been. Soon the 6 miles turned into 7 then 8, and eventually the 10 mile point rolled past. When I got well into the 12th mile, I opened up my legs and enjoyed running at a decent cadence for the first time. Even if I ran out of fuel now, I knew that the adrenaline could take me over the line from here. I was laughing when I crossed the line – so many lessons to take from here.

The rest of this week has been deliberately modest: a short indoor ride, a couple of short runs and pool work, keeping things moving without piling on more fatigue before Sunday.