Return to marathon training 2024: The 22 mile run

For me, a 22 mile run is the longest run on my marathon training programme. Most people have a longest run of between 20 and 23 miles. Some people stop at 18 miles or even 16 miles. Some people will have two 20 mile runs, but not run any further than that. My plan has three 18 mile runs (although I only managed two of them, thanks to Covid!) and just the one 22 mile run.

The 22 mile run is three weeks before race. After that, it’s tapering all the way!

Starting a 22 mile run and knowing I’m going to be running pretty much all morning is fairly daunting. In many ways, it’s worse than the marathon itself. For the marathon, I will be properly rested. There will also be crowds and the general buzz and adrenaline of the race.

In training, it’s just me (and luckily a member of my family) and the roads…

I’m pleased to say that I at least slept well before the run. That was the first hurdle crossed!

We have various routes we run from home. We have a 4.5 route, a 6 mile route and an 8 mile route, which all cover similar ground. Then we have an alternative 8 mile route, which covers most of the same ground as our 10 mile route. Then we have a 13 mile route. When we need to run further, we just add our routes together. Sometimes we stick on a lap of the village too to help us reach the distance.

The 22 mile route was going to be the 13 mile route, plus our usual 8 mile route (although in retrospect, I should have done the alternative 8 mile as there’s less duplication), plus a lap of the village.

My husband ran the first 13 miles with me.

We were running in the tail end of Storm Kathleen, so we had to deal with strong wind, a bit of rain and some strong sun. I wore suncream, as well as Vaseline on the parts that chafe – my thighs and, bizarrely, my armpits. I wore my hydration vest/ backpack thing, which is still very new to me (and a bit challenging). I’ll write a post about that at some point.

The first half mile of our half marathon route is flat. Then it’s a gradual uphill for about a mile. Every time I run it, it feels hard. My legs just aren’t warm enough for an uphill at that point. I was feeling tired and my legs were aching right from the start! This was not good. I generally don’t suffer with my legs until much later on – if at all.

In the past, when I’ve trained for marathons, I’ve slowed my parkruns down from about week 5, to avoid being tired for my long runs. This time, because I’m more confident about my strength and pace, and know the importance of speed work, I’ve carried on running parkruns ‘properly’. The day before the 22 mile run, I paced 25 minutes. That is a minute and a bit slower than my usual time, but it’s still pretty quick for a 5k.

It was a silly thing to do before a 22 mile run.

If I ever run a marathon again. – and it is an ‘if’ – I won’t run a proper parkrun the day before I run 22 miles.

We kept running. The pace was up and down a bit, but I managed to more or less maintain my target 9 minute/ mile pace. The wind was strong and it generally felt pretty tough.

Even though I knew I was running 22 miles, I was quite focused on the end of the first 13 miles. So, at 11 miles, half of my head was thinking ‘nearly finished now’ and the other half was thinking ‘only halfway through’. My legs really were so tired.

My husband told me if I needed to stop early, that would be OK. And if I made it 20 miles, that would be really good.

I managed my fuelling pretty well and was definitely dealing with the silly hydration vest and straw situation than I was the previous week.

After 13 miles, I stopped at home to change my shoes. I was horrified a few days ago to discover that my ‘new’ trainers were more worn out than my ‘old’ trainers. I usually keep trainers for about 500 miles/ five months. I haven’t had the new trainers for even three months. I know I’m running more with the marathon training, but not that much more! And I was still wearing my old trainers for some runs anyway.

So I took the plunge and chose a different brand of trainer. I can’t afford to have them wear out so often. My latest trainers are Brooks. They are very lightweight and feel a better fit than my usual Mizunos.

My eldest came out with me for the second nine miles. He’s got a couple of half marathons coming up, but has been struggling with injury.

The new trainers felt a bit odd at first. Less supportive and I could feel the ground more through them. But to be honest, my legs were aching so much and I felt so tired that I didn’t really notice after that.

It was the hills which were killing me. I ran up a hill at 16 miles and again thought I wouldn’t be able to finish. But it felt better once we were on the flat. Just one more hill to go!

Once I got to 18 miles, my legs just generally felt numb – beyond aching. At this point, I knew I would finish.

My husband drove out to find me at 21 miles, just in case I needed to give up, but I was going more strongly than I had in the previous 20 miles.

It was such a relief to finish and to know there are no more very long runs until the big day.

I just about managed by 9 minute/ mile pace, despite my legs aching and despite the challenging weather. I really wasn’t sure I would be able to complete it and was very proud of myself that I did!

And there were a few lessons learned if I ever need them again…