first long long run

today i did my first long long run... haha, if that doesn't make sense i apologise! most of the marathon literature i have read suggests that the long run is probably the most important part of training. after my experience in the nagoya city marathon of struggling in the last few kilometres, i can totally understand this advice. i read an interesting article on the mcmillan running website (definitely worth a read - http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/marathonlongrun.htm) about not ingesting any fuel before or during the run and decided to give it a go. here was the result:

time: 1hour 56mins 33seconds
distance: 24.2 km
pace: 7mins 46s per mile.

as my dream for the marathon involves running under 3 hours i wanted to run around 7mins 50s - 8mins 20s per mile (about 1 - 1.5 minutes slower than my marathon pace), so in that sense it was perfect. i didn't need to take on any fuel although by the end my legs were definitely feeling heavier. it was a good workout. it is pretty cold over here in japan at the moment but it gives me the chance to wear my thermals and enjoy it!