When I’m marathon training there’s normally one session each week I obsess about. 

The one that scares me a little.  

The one that actually tells me what sort of progress I’m making.  

The one that takes a bit of organising.  

The one when, ideally, you want some company (but not always). 

The one when you have to put a bit of thought into what you eat the day before and a few hours prior. 

The one that dangerously verges on being 'faffy' thanks to the amount of soft flasks and gels I have to source (regular readers of this column will know I have no time for faff of any sort). 

Yes, that’s right – it's the long run. 

There are so many different ways to train in preparation for a marathon but just about every programme highlights the importance of getting those longer training runs into your legs. 

When they go well, it can provide a spring in my step for the week ahead. On the flipside, if it doesn’t go how I want then it haunts me until the next one. 

During this training block so far, the long run has been a bit of a roller coaster. 

A few weeks ago, a 16-mile run turned into a trudge home to the extent that I had to walk up a hill late in to the run. Upon finishing, my legs didn’t quite feel part of my body and it was a timely reminder of what these long runs can do to you if you don’t approach them in the right way. 

Despite understanding that it was over 25 degrees by the end of the run, and I was very dehydrated in the latter stages, it affected my confidence. I had been beaten.

More importantly, it took me a few days to recover, and I was genuinely worried that I had put myself in a bit of a hole.  

Since then, I’ve made sure I’ve had access to a lot more water or electrolytes during runs whilst it also hasn’t been quite so hot, thankfully. 

It has resulted in a couple of decent training runs which has started to make me believe I can achieve my goal at the Berlin Marathon later this year. 

But I’m parking the long run this week to take part in the Great Yarmouth Half Marathon. I want to see where my legs are so I’m going to try and run most of it at goal marathon pace, perhaps with a quicker finish if it’s available to me. 

It feels a long time since the Wroxham 5K, the last time I took part in a race, and that was a lot easier to prepare for; go out hard and hang on. 

Yarmouth has to feed into the training for Berlin. Previously this year I pushed it too hard at the Cambridge Half Marathon and came away injured, missing the Manchester Marathon as a result. 

There needs to be a plan on Sunday – and it’s one of those rare occasions when I won’t be gunning for a new personal best. In my heart of hearts, I know I’m not in that kind of shape so I’m looking forward to using it as a training run. 

Remind me of this when I drop a six-minute first mile. 

After Sunday I’ll try and tick off those midweek runs until the weekend... then the long run fun can start again. 

It’s what marathon training is all about and I love it and hate it in equal measure.