I love analysis as everyone knows, but this is it. Recently I discovered the āgemā that I only did one 21km run as my longest run in the six weeks up to Brighton ā21.
What am I like?
Right, training starts now. Goal? Three runs a week for twelve weeks. Then reassess.
So you did NO long runs, calling @Poet he will tell ya. 
And longest was a half mara. 
I think you should give it another crack.
Long runs in marathon training are over-rated. Look up Hansonās, 16 mile max. But run 2 consecutive days 8 then 16 or 10 then 10 to get the fatigue. And lots of MP runs, and faster than MP sessions too.
One of my best marathons was when I made sure there was at least one session a week where there was a continuous hour at mara pace.
That wasnāt the only mara pace efforts I did in the week but it was the longest one. Think I put about 5km either side of it.
That is still nearly 26km
Cant remember who but someone recommended running a hard reasonable length tempo run on the Saturday and a shorter than traditional (whatever that is, I guess you 20+ miler) on the Sunday. The idea being that it gives you a similar stimulus over less distance.
Seemed to work well for a half.
Yeah. I ran an 80min half marathon where my
Longest run in the four months previous was 10km.
Running is overrated.
You just need to HTFU and JFDI
YOLO.
So I did look it up, 6 days a week peaking with 2x 25km in a week, three times, alternating with 2x 16km per week. Volume looks big with the non-quality runs 10km long youāre looking at over 6hrs running per week easily and up to something like 10hrs maybe for a 4hr marathoner?
How many hours do marathoners tend to train a week anyway? 
You just need to get into ultras. Then when you go out and do a 20km run or so, it doesnāt register anywhere near a long run. Just an evening amble! 
Funny you say thatā¦ ultras is my next targetā¦ no need to be afraidā¦ be veryā¦
Just keep moving and eat all day.
Eating I can do, moving not so sure.
You sir, like me, already have 50% of the skillset nailed. 
Yeah but may I suggest you arent typical?
Not many can run a 80 minute HM full stop and definitely not off 10km longest run.
You canāt be talking sensible talk with your man Poet. You must know that!
Iāve got plenty of N=1 weirdo analogies too, that would not work for the majority of people!
Iāve made that point elsewhere a few times. lol
I love a challenge, and apparently poking bears 
, oh wrong thread.
I am a newbie around these here parts donāt you know?
I was doing 3 x >3hr bike rides and 4 x 1hr swims per week during that period, too 
Training weeks were 10-15hrs per week for around the five months leading up to the HM - barring the fortnight prior when I did next to naff all, due to changing jobs.
Running was mainly 400s, 800s and 1600 intervals (Tues and Thus PM)
Then an ~18min parkrun on the Saturday, with a ploddy amble off the bike at some point on Weds or Fri, depending on how hilly the ride was.
Iād also not done āanyā exercise of note in the five years prior to that. Started in May 2018, built a nice buttery biscuit base until October, then started some structured stuff.
RACE DAY?
Iād bought a pair of 4% Nike shoes and was only
Aiming for a <90, but did the first 10km in under 38mins, so just held on. I was fortunate that I bumped
Into an old XC rival and held onto his shoulder ā¦ until I dropped him
Actual running training doesnāt tell the full story.
Being a beligerent, stubborn old bat, does 
Thatās strange, as I was thinking about this on my morning run today. My mates were ripping the pi$$ again last night on the group text about my sandbagging. Iāve long given up fighting it - you know how blokes in pi$$ taking mode are, the more you fight back, the more you get fired back at you!
I seem to have split personality traits when it comes to sport. 50% is constant feeling that iāve not done enough, could do more, am not prepared enough, not confident etc - and not sand bagging!!!
But then the other 50% is this unshakeable not arrogance, but confidence that Iāll get it done. This part doesnāt line up as well with things like time targets, but definitely applies to long distance runs, hard sessions, massive hill sessions etc. Belligerent stubbornness is a great way to describe it. No matter how hard it gets, I know iāll get it done.
That makes a lot more sense with the additional context.
Would you get away with that doing a full marathon though?
Erm ā¦ I donāt know.
As Iāve only done one sole Mara.
HungoverAF. In a snow storm.
Did a 3:38. Without much running.
I did a 29.3 mile canal run, with a backpack, and went through the Mara distance in 3:08, using a 9:1 run/walk. Again, not much run training for that either. Although I was running 17min 5km and 35min 10km back then
So, the answer is, it depends 