Day 7 - Sunday 8th January 2012

The Long One!Distance - 14 miles. Time - 2 hours. Conditions - Lovely. Weekly Mileage - 52 miles

Sundays are traditionally a day of rest, family, DIY, come downs, sport, Sunday lunch, papers, relaxation, hangovers, crap TV, worship, odd jobs, cross dressing or whatever it is that you do on days off. For marathon runners, it is usually a day of what is known in the trade as 'The Long One'.

The day where you have to put the miles in your legs to prepare you to be able to run 26.2miles. Most training programmes will advise you to run 20 miles at least 2 times before the big day and to gradually build up to this over a period of weeks. Most people attempting their first marathon will be horrified at this thought and there will be times when you think, "I can't possibly run for that long or far". How many times have people watched the marathon on TV and thought, 'I want to do that next year', and then promptly cram another Ginsters in their gob and forget about it.

The long one, is what separates the men from the boys in terms of marathon running. Don't do enough long runs and you will be the retard at the end like Charlie Sheen at the end of Platoon (apologies to retards BTW, no offence, i am merely being un PC) Do the long runs and you will be able to enjoy the amazing crowds and atmosphere of the last 6 miles and feel the emotion and energy of the crowd on the day.

The Long one for me looms over the week. It;s fine to do the shorter runs, to tell everyone 'i'm in training for the marathon you know', however it;s the long ones on Sunday that is always in the back of my mind.

Seeing as I've done 6 marathons i know what it's like and if I'm being honest there has been many a marathon i have entered knowing i haven't put the necessary mileage in and scrimped on the long ones. I have paid for that on the 20 mile point, particularly last year where i would have cheerfully kipped in the doorway of the strand after shooting my load so to speak at Canary Wharf. (sounds like a good night out)

The Long one is dull. It is long. It is, or has been, something to fear for me. The body and mind is tuned to go a certain distance. Physically you are generally able to keep running for around 2 hours before you need more fuel, energy to keep going. Mentally, just like anything else you need to practice the sheer mental discipline to keep moving and keep going for long periods of time.

Some like to run in a group, some like to run to music (I will have a little rant about that on another occasion as i think MP3's should be banned on marathon day - why plug into music and ignore the crowd and whole atmosphere of the day, it's almost like driving a car but in running form. Selfish!)  Some go out early morning so it is done and dusted early. Some later on, and some just kybosh the whole concept of the long one and end up the retard on marathon day and drop out (Peter Andre and Katie Price in 2008 anyone?)

Me, i usually like to get out early on a Sunday, as for me Sunday is the perfect day for the long one. Saturday is too busy, midweek, well it's too midweek. Sunday is a marker. The end of the week. The beginning of a new one. A Mythical, spiritual day and besides you can eat like a horse and veg out with the papers after the long run with a guilt free warm sense of knackered achievement.

And so to today. My goal? 12 miles to take me up to 50 miles for the week. I figured I'm not too worried about speed and technical advances (That is the real hard graft to increase speed, time and do so over a long distance - brutal) i just want to run loads and get miles in the legs and get my body used to running lots of miles and my head into the rhythm and discipline of running for 1-2 hours.

I left it until the afternoon, after a morning of Flood Street meeting action and tea with the boys, i got home and headed out at 3.30pm. I had decided on my route. I knew where i was going. No music. No distractions. Just me and the 'long one'.

I decided to try and look forward to it. To enjoy it and embrace it, Not dread it or drag myself around. The advantage of the long one, particularly in London is that if you choose the right route, you see so many different landmarks and flavours of London, it really makes the City and all of it's different offerings so fabulous.

Also the long one provides you with an opportunity to experience your body and mind in a different way. You will generally go through so many contrasting feelings. From 'wow look at that tree', to 'oh god I've got another 10 miles to go' , From ' i hate this' to 'i feel great'. The long one helps you to view your body and mind with a form of detachment that you simply don't get on shorter runs.

So off i went, feeling pretty relaxed. I ran at a pretty slow pace and here is why for me the 'Long one' is such a groovy thing. This is my route; Home, built up area, PutneySouthfields, Home. 14 miles, 2 hours and several different locations, atmospheres and areas. Brilliant.

I felt good though and was pleased to clock up 14 miles and could have gone allot longer, so this is a very good sign so early in the training programme.

One thing i thought was very funny happened in Richmond Park, on around the 10 mile point. I had been running for 1hour 15mins or so and was feeling strong. I kicked and felt i was running smooth and pretty quickly (for me) I heard footsteps behind me and i was overtaken by another runner who looked as if he was just trotting. He was going double the pace of me, but his strides were short and looked like he was going really slow. A crushing defeat in my perception that i was motoring. I had to go and find an OAP on a mobility scooter to overtake just to get the superiority feeling back and competitive juices flowing again (joke)

So that's the end of week 1. 52 miles. Ran 6 days out of 7. Written the blog every day and if I'm being honest I've really enjoyed doing it. (both running and writing) It has given me a new found focus and purpose to what i'm doing i have not had before and i am enjoying the process.

Thanks for all your posts and comments, keep them coming and spread the word. Bring on week 2. Track and 7 miles tomorrow along with a long slow rub down, but that's got nothing to do with the training. Yuk!

Tomorrow i shall explain the charity I'm doing it for and why. Something to do with addictions, not that i have many. Now what is the name of that specialist site I've been told about....ahem

Nicholas Edward Evans
xx