Marathon training 2026: Weeks 13 to 16

So my training for Newport marathon 2026 is over. Over the last 16 weeks, I’ve run a total of 497 miles over the course of 71 runs. I’ve run my most miles ever in a week – 46 – and my most miles ever in a month – 168 in March. I ran in more wind and rain in January and February than I would normally run in over the course of an entire year. And I’m proud to say that I haven’t missed or cut short a single scheduled run on my plan.

I’ve been working from a bespoke plan from a very experienced coach – Fi Barnes from Run Cotswolds – and totally trusting the process. I’ve made changes to my diet – making sure I hit at least 90g of protein a day (not that easy for a vegetarian). Although I’ve started to struggle with eating nuts and peanut butter on rice cakes – particularly after a long run.

I’ve also been increasing my carbohydrates before my big Sunday run and my Thursday speed endurance session. I know it’s silly, but I always thought carb loading was a bit of a joke, but I’ve been taking it more seriously this time, and actually increasing my carbs on a Friday in preparation for my long run on Sunday. In the past, I would just eat a bigger pile of rice on Saturday evening.

You can read about my weeks 1 to 4 here, my weeks 5 to 8 here and my weeks 9 to 12 here.

My coach has introduced me to creatine, block chain amino acids and salt sticks. She got me taking a daily antihistamine in the last few days before the race.

I’ve put in all the hard work to try to secure myself a Good for Age (GFA) place at next year’s London marathon, after missing out on a place for 2025 by just 17 seconds. We are leaving nothing to chance and doing everything possible to gain even an extra few seconds and hopefully give me the edge to secure a comfortable GFA place.

Week 13 was a total of 46 miles – supposedly my second biggest week of the training block and my biggest running week ever to date. It started with a double day of running – four miles easy in the morning and six miles in the evening, with three miles of threshold pace. My evening run was in horrendous wind and rain, so I really fought for that threshold pace! After that, I spent the rest of the week feeling tired, much more tired than I usually do. I ended the week with a 20 mile run, which was everything the Fission 20 race two weeks earlier wasn’t. It was cold and windy and I struggled to hit my pace. My trainers and socks felt wrong, my mental state was poor. I just wanted it over and I knew I had to do it again the following week!

Week 14 started with another double day of running – four miles in the morning and six miles in the evening. I also had a conversation with my coach and we decided that week 13 was my highest mileage week and I would start my taper with a 16 mile run on Sunday, rather than the 20 we’d originally planned. The 16 miles went pretty well. For starters, I was wearing different trainers and socks! I was supposed to get gradually faster every mile for the last six, which I more or less managed – scraping in at 7:59 minute/ mile average pace for the last mile.

Week 15 was proper tapering – a total of 27 miles with just 10 miles for my long run. Even my weekly speed endurance session was a mile shorter than usual. After thinking I don’t want to run with the hydration vest/ backpack on the day, I’ve concluded that I’m going to use it after all. I found a belt which seemed to tick all the boxes for me (can carry 500ml of liquid, plus six gels with a bit of extra space for other stuff), but I managed to order the wrong size, so I missed the chance to test it out over 16 miles. I feel like testing it over 10 wouldn’t be enough. The weather forecast is fairly cool, so I should be fine with the hydration vest.

Week 16 was just two three-mile runs – one on Monday evening and one on Wednesday evening – with a bit of variation in pace in both of them.

I’ve got a sports massage booked for Thursday morning and I’ve been going to bed earlier all week so I’m fully rested on the day. I will walk less on Friday and Saturday, although I am volunteering as tailwalker at parkrun on Saturday.

Now I just need to put all that hard work into practice and run a marathon PB on Sunday. I’ll let you know how I get on next week.