14/10/2026
🏃♂️ Road to London Marathon 2027 – Training Update! 👣
Marathon training doesn’t always go to plan, and that’s something I’ve been reminded of over the last couple of months!
Back in August, I started increasing my weekly running mileage and things were going pretty well. However, after a while I started feeling a bit run down and wasn’t feeling quite myself, so I made the decision to ease off and reduce my mileage for a few weeks.
Now I’m gradually building things back up, I’ve treated myself to some new running trainers, and most importantly, I’m making a conscious effort to listen to my body a little more.
📈 Why is gradually increasing mileage so important?
As a podiatrist, I regularly see how changes in training load can contribute to running injuries.
When we run, we’re placing repeated loads through our muscles, tendons, bones and joints. These structures are incredibly good at adapting to exercise, but they need sufficient time and recovery to do so.
Increasing mileage or intensity too quickly, particularly when we’re not recovering well, can increase the risk of problems such as tendon pain and bone stress injuries.
There’s no magic percentage for how much you should increase your mileage each week. It’s about finding a balance between training, recovery and what your body can currently tolerate.
And sometimes, the best thing you can do for your training is to take a step back rather than keep pushing forward.
The Strava graph shows my weekly mileage over the past few months. It’s certainly not been a perfectly straight line upwards, but that’s okay!
The goal isn’t to get to the highest mileage as quickly as possible. It’s to build up consistently, stay healthy and hopefully make it to that London Marathon start line feeling ready.
Plenty of miles still to go! 🏅
